What is SEAL and how can storytelling help?
SEAL stands for Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning. It is a whole-school approach that promotes social and emotional skills alongside teaching and learning in every area of the curriculum.
There are seven themes in SEAL, which are often used by schools as a focus for each term. Each of these themes can be linked to stories to promote on-theme thinking and discussion. Below is a list of the seven themes with some suggestions for stories or story types, some of which can be found on this website or in our current programmes. If you are interested by a suggestion that is not elsewhere on the site, please contact Snail Tales for more information or have a look at our Create Your Own page.
Theme 1: New Beginnings
Try looking at creation myths from different cultures, or pourquoi stories (stories which explain how animals, plants and other natural features came to be). These stories exist in many different cultures, for example Aboriginal Dreamtime myths, Alamat tales from the Philippines and legends from Ancient Greece and Rome. Our In The Beginning programme is ideally suited, and keep an eye out for collections of this type of traditional tale on our list of programmes.
Theme 2: Getting On and Falling Out
Many, if not most, stories contain conflict of some kind between the characters. Try trickster tales such as the Djuha stories, which look at cunning ways out of a tight spot: many of these also ask questions about fairness and rights, such as The Smell of Soup and the Sound of Money, or The Clothes that were Invited to Dinner. Also look for traditional fairy tales that focus on helping others, making new and unlikely friends and being rewarded, such as Puddocky and Little Half Chick.
Theme 3: Say No to Bullying
Here is another theme that is well suited to discussing trickster tales. The Snail Tales Brer Rabbit programme deals with the choice between violence and words to sort out problems. Anansi tales, too, show the cunning spider helping his friends against the common threat of an apparently stronger creature. These tales can also spark discussions relating to what exactly bullying is - is Brer Rabbit sometimes just as bad as the fox and bear he tries to trick? Which is the real bully in each story - or are they only playing?
Theme 4: Going for Goals!
Goal-oriented thinking is successful when we can set realistic goals. Have a look for traditional stories like The Porridge Pot or The King Who Wanted The Moon, that relate what happens when greed sets in or a goal is set too high. Snail Tales' Tales of the Orient programme is a collection of stories from China and Japan, all of which explore ways of getting what you want.
Theme 5: Good To Be Me
The focus of this theme is on understanding and managing feelings, and developing a positive self-awareness, self-confidence and pride in skills. Look for stories like The Hare and the Tortoise, in which the least significant character (in the eyes of the others) wins the day through perseverance and self-confidence. The programme Camelot! is ideally suited to this theme, as the Arthurian stories show values such as generosity, honour and mercy coming through over mere physical strength. The Knights of the Round Table know their strengths and weaknesses, yet almost always have something else to find out about themselves by the end of the story.
Theme 6: Relationships
This theme has a focus on feelings surrounding family and friends. Look for traditional stories about close-knit groups or pairs, such as Rose Red and Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This is an ideal theme to start looking at how stories are passed down through the family, maybe sharing some personal stories with the children and encouraging them to ask their parents and carers for family stories that they can share. This is also the keystone to our Little Birds workshops, the most thorough storytelling course currently on offer to schools.
Resurrection myths such as the Norse myth Balder, the Hercules story Alcestis or the ancient Egyptian Isis and Osiris can help older children as they think about grief and loss, as can tales such as The Seal Wife.
Theme 7: Change
Change is another very common device in story. Have a look for stories retold from Ovid's Metamorphoses - they are all about changes happening to the central characters. Have a go at changing some well-known stories, as we did in our Alternative Fairy Tales programme. There are also many traditional tales to be found involving journeys, new additions to the family and magical transformations, and some of the best can be found in our Tales of the Orient.
For more information about SEAL, click here.
Nowhere is there a more thorough storytelling programme than the Snail Tales Little Birds programme, with which schools can grant their children all of the SEAL benefits. Click here to find out more.