Storytelling is the earliest art form known to mankind.
Our national history is steeped in oral telling and retellings of important events, from Anglo-Saxon poetry to Second World War news bulletins on the radio. Our personal history, too, consists of story: mum’s reminiscences about the embarrassing thing you said at the age of three, the same old joke that Uncle Bert always tells at family occasions, the story of a proposal that comes with every engagement ring.
Storytelling is the earliest art form we know: even cave paintings tell the stories that our earliest ancestors were communicating. So why, in this age of film, television, iPods and texting, has it stuck around?
The answer is that storytelling, more than any other art form, provides a chance to be completely involved in the act of creation even while it is taking place. Not only are the listeners' own imaginations providing the illustrations and special effects, but their participation may even sway the direction of the story and take it to a place not even the teller could predict, as we so often find in our creative projects with children.
This makes it ideal to use with children investigating problem solving: a story makes a very effective 'test lab' for real life as children begin to think about actions, emotions and consequences for their characters. That's why storytelling fits in so well with the seven SEAL themes used by many schools: for example, Snail Tales' Camelot! programme fits the SEAL theme "Good To Be Me" by investigating Arthurian tales in which a knight's identity is closely bound up with his skills, conquests and challenges. Many traditional stories can spark discussions about issues such as bullying, relationships and resolving differences.
Storytelling informs every other part of the curriculum, too. That's because a story is the quickest, most memorable and most enjoyable way to give an example, introduce a subject or inspire an investigation. At Snail Tales, we love to use stories to explore other cultures, experience history and celebrate faith.
Even the props we use in story can inspire interest in other subjects. From life-like animal puppets to discover a rainforest setting in In The Beginning, to tangrams in Tales of the Orient, you never know which lesson a Snail Tales story might turn up in next.
Despite all this, there are fears that we are losing the ability to communicate, to tell our stories. Early in July 2008, a review by John Bercow, MP, found that “in some socio-economically disadvantaged populations, approximately 50 per cent of children and young people have speech and language skills that are significantly lower than those of other children of the same age.” His report resulted in the Government programme, Every Child a Talker (DCSF press release, 8 July 2008).
Traditional storytelling has so much to offer today’s children. It engages them directly, face-to-face; it removes the barrier of text, allowing early readers to experience the joy of the story first, and take part in it. Storytelling increases confidence, builds literacy skills, provides speaking and listening skills, but above all gives listeners the experience and excitement of being inside a story in a way that no other method does. Nowhere is there a more thorough programme for schools to grant their children all of these storytelling benefits than the Snail Tales Little Birds programme.
That’s why Dr Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, calls storytelling "the most fantastic tool for cracking the Curriculum for Excellence... Storytelling is about inclusion and the desire to grow and develop. It is the human art" (TES 27 June 2008).