Children’s meetings Storytelling

A powerful tool for drawing children into meaningful learning Storytelling A powerful tool for drawing children into meaningful learning

Choosing the story Is it a tellable story? Do you love this story? Does this story support your message?

Learning the story Outline Know the story, don’t memorise it Know who your audience is Personalise – relate to the children See and feel what you are talking about Practise, Practise, practise Make an outline of the main points and sub-points. Don’t sound like you have memorised it – you need to memorise important facts/verses – but not the whole story.

Focal resources for the story Books Cards Puppets Significant items from the story Flannel graph Magnetic board Props for role-play Computer visuals (digital stories – make your own) Digital story – Cookies and my conscience Bible storysongs https://vimeo.com/channels/778371/page:2

Preparing for the story Arrange the space so it’s right for you Know your audience Be ready – well prepared Know what words you want to emphasise Practise emphasising the words that are important – that you want emphasised.

Telling the Story Maintain eye contact Vary voice – different voice for different people speaking Speak clearly – not too fast Enunciate Draw in children who appear distracted – use their name e.g. What do you think happens next Tim? Some stories can be told a thousand times – they never get old because you can bring them to life – and there’s always a new audience. ‘I’m going on a story. We’ve been here before. Let‘s see what we’re going to find this time’.

Make sure all children can see pictures or focal resources

Listening to the audience Monitoring the audience Are children listening and understanding? It’s all about the story and the audience (lose face/drop your ego)