Joi2learn

Story telling as an integral part of primary education

What is story telling? Is it just reading a storybook or narrating an episode or just a waste of time?

No, it is much more than all that. Story telling plays a major role in primary education today. It helps to bring about the development of many skills to achieve the components of language development, which are speaking, writing and reading. These skills can be successfully developed with the help of story telling when conducted effectively.

At the infant level, stories can be part of a daily routine. At a later stage subjects like literature, history, geography and even mathematics require a very narrative teacher to bring out the best in children.

Listening, recognition, identification, comprehension, reading, writing, recall, drawing, conversation and dramatization are among the more important skills that can be developed through story telling. All these skills will finally lead to successful language development.

One must break the monotony of the so-called lecture method of teaching by introducing the story method. This can kindle the curiosity in children, entertain them, stimulate their imagination, appeal to their sense of adventure and arouse strong feelings and emotion. Thus children’s involvement in the learning process reaches its peak, enabling them to understand things better. Learning becomes more meaningful.

Read to the infants with expression; show them the pictures, daily. Use apt words by giving the meanings clearly and be very expressive. This will help develop their listening and observation skills that become vital as they grow. By doing so regularly, one is building up the reading interest in children and the ability to narrate stories effectively.

As they grow up, they will be able to tackle comprehension passages well, as they would have by then developed their understanding skills as well. Sentence construction becomes easy and writing of essays more challenging. Their imagination will run wild and essay and story writing will become more creative.

Observation of illustrations and pictures in the books will develop colour sense and the art of drawing. Drawing is an excellent way of expression and communication. It helps in the improvement of handwriting and brings about great satisfaction of achievement.

A good narrative teacher can help children speak accurately and eloquently. There will be clarity in the manner in which they speak as the stories are not narrated once but repeated.

Encourage story telling and motivate children to narrate, listen, read and write stories. The learning process becomes more innovative, interesting, worthwhile and fulfilling and helps to bring out the best in every child.

The ‘Companion Note’ for teachers and parents, accompanying all ‘Learner’s Choice’ activity-based storybooks, lends further credence to the concept of story telling by providing guidelines on simple ways of enacting the story, developing games and quiz programs – cumulatively helping in enriching the mind of the child while also making that process a most enjoyable experience.

These stories have been retold by an experienced School Teacher.