Elephants, birds, bears, ogres… All the characters that the kids loved came alive at the story telling session by Eric Miller, Director, World Storytelling Institute. Curious and excited, the kids gathered at the Cha Bar of the Oxford Bookstore, Nungambakkam, for a fun-filled evening.
They were all ears when the elephant in the story took charge of the bird's egg while the bird was on holiday. This story of the kind-hearted and responsible elephant was from a popular collection by Dr. Seuss.
Eric narrated the story of a girl who was so naughty that she got into trouble. Tales of migratory birds, talking trees, monkeys, lions and rabbits followed. He surprised the audience with stories of the cows who learnt to use the typewriter and more, a few kids came forward to present their stories.
Then, it was time to play with the puppets. From among the puppets of lion, rabbit and elephant, kids chose their favourite characters and coloured them. Some choose to make puppets while others tried to tell stories using them.
“I usually choose stories that are my favourites and also include those that I think the kids could easily connect with. Many kids tend to do mischievous things like simply hitting people and the story of the “girl and the bear” was intended to make them understand that it is wrong to do so. These are a few of the things that they can practise in real life,” says Eric.
VIJAYTHA , V, Arsha Vidyalaya: The session was fun. I enjoyed colouring the puppets. I usually like funny stories. The story of the girl and the bear was interesting.
SHAKTHI , V, Ponvidyashram: “All the stories were nice. I like listening to stories as well as narrating them.
”Check out www.storytellinginstitute.org to know more about their workshops and events.
