- Blog By
Ms. Sumita Sen Mazumdar
Erode – KG Academic Coordinator
The Indian Public School
June 9, 2021 | In Blog 
Storytelling is the oldest form of teaching known to mankind. As youngsters take in tales of brave protagonists evincing courage, embracing adventure and finding the proverbial happy silver lining to every dark cloud they encounter, they too are drawn to the infinite possibilities that their own minds are capable of engendering.
BENEFITS OF STORYTELLING
Some of the benefits of introducing storytelling in the early years include:
• Listening skills improve by leaps and bounds when a child fascinatedly listens to a well-told story. The ability to listen with focus facilitates quicker understanding of concepts while at lessons and also in building strong and healthy relationships.
• Children broaden their creative horizons through story sessions as they imagine exotic backdrops, story settings in far-flung lands and interplay of various characters while the story unfolds.
• As children listen to stories, their curiosity is piqued as to what comes next or how something can be solved. Children are thus encouraged to contemplate solutions to problems and ingeniously find their own way to an answer, honing their problem-solving skills.
• Through storytelling, children can experience different worlds, countries, cultures and traditions, thereby developing a healthy appreciation of the larger world around them.
• Storytelling also helps children learn empathy when they imagine themselves as various story characters through the twists and turns of the story plot, delve into and analyse various actions and reactions of the characters in each situation.
• Improved vocabulary, better comprehension, superior sequencing skills, enhanced memory retention are some of the other benefits of storytelling.
STORYTELLING AT TIPS
Storytelling at TIPS is very interactive. As a story progresses and develops, children are encouraged to ask questions. This is a great learning activity. There are different ways that stories are narrated at school because it is important that children listen and understand various styles of narration too. Some story narrations are without much of voice modulation but narrated in a way that the time duration or choice of story captivates the children. The second way of narration is using a little bit of voice modulation and the third is using a lot. All of these help children develop their own conversation and social interaction skills.
THE 15-DAY STORY
Where stories are concerned, we will often have heard a child say, ‘Tell it again’! An often overlooked fact is how much children love and find comfort in repetition. There is perhaps a security blanket of reassurance with knowing what comes next, and this in turn allows for a significantly greater depth of learning when children feel safe to immerse their minds completely in a story.
In a TIPS early childhood classroom, from a carefully selected list of stories, one will be repeated for 15 days up to a month, at a time. Rather than being bored by hearing the same story over and over, the children delight in this repetition. The story is also processed in their subconscious mind and when they review the story over the next several days, they absorb it even more profoundly, connecting with the content at a deeper level. The story table or story board using natural materials is set up in the classroom for each 15-day story and children will gather around this during story narration. They are actively encouraged to go to the story corner any time they like between lessons and activities during the school day for the duration of the whole fortnight.
Thus, on a typical day at TIPS Kindergarten, you may find our little learners gathered around their favourite story corner sometimes silently observing it and at other times, taking turns at happily and confidently retelling the story to their teacher and friends!
