Weekend storytelling a hit with children
By Yao Minji |
March 7, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN Neil Griffiths tells a story, it involves puppets, props, role playing by children and parents, interesting sound and movements, and generally, a lot of laughter.
He hosted an hour at the Shanghai International Literary Festival's beloved children's sessions on weekend mornings.
The festival, running through March 17, will include four more children's sessions at 10am on upcoming Saturdays and Sundays at M on the Bund.
"Reading is not something you can pursue. Don't put too much pressure on yourself or the kids to learn from reading. Just read a lot with your kids and laugh out loud with them," the British children's books author and inspirational training expert tells Shanghai Daily.
"Parents should read bedtime stories for their children. If they have more than one, they should do the story sessions separately with each child so they each enjoy a precious and special reading time alone," he says.
Griffiths, a head teacher for 13 years, tours schools around the world with his story sacks and works with parents and teachers on bringing the stories to life and encouraging the kids to read more.
His large cloth bag contains soft toys representing the main characters from his books, as well as props and scenery.
Many parents see him and his story sacks - and such storytelling in general - as a way to draw children's attention away from addictive TV, mobile devices and games that have been linked with lack of social skills and shortened attention span.
"Children need sessions like this, where they can play with each other, enjoy the hand-on puppets like we did in our childhood and just laugh out a lot," says Griffiths.
He is now touring schools in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province's Xuzhou City with his large story sacks, and he has enjoyed working with Chinese parents.
"Chinese parents are very receptive. Of course, it involves translators, but the parents are very excited to learn how to get their kids into reading," he says.
Forthcoming sessions at the literary festival include veteran participant Sarah Brennan, who moved to Hong Kong 14 years ago when she was still a medical lawyer. She started writing children's books in 2004 and soon began incorporating Chinese elements into her stories.
She amazes children with her Chinese calendar series that includes stories of a Chinese dragon who eats children, a rat who goes to the Beijing Olympics and this time, Brennan comes with "The Tale of Sybil Snake," as 2013 is the Chinese Year of the Snake.
Nury Vittachi, another Hong Kong-based festival favorite, has earned fame as a detective writer with a series featuring feng shui master CF Wong, who is often called by victim's friends and relatives to spot the disharmonies at a crime scene.
Born in Sri Lanka, Vittachi has long been interested in Asian mysteries and has incorporated many Asian elements in his stories through the perspective of Wong, who is focuses on issues of money and qi (energy flow). He will hold a session with Luther Tsai about the various mystery stories of Asia.
? Sarah Brennan - "Sybil the Snake"
Date: March 9, 10am
? Anne Spudvilas - Drawing workshop: "The Peasant Prince"
Date: March 10, 10am
? Darce Goodwin and Marianne Kaulima - "Neti the Yeti Saves His Mountain"
Date: March 16, 10am
? Nury Vittachi and Luther Tsai - "The Magic Mirror"
Date: March 17, 10am
Address: 6-7/F, 20 Guangdong Rd
He hosted an hour at the Shanghai International Literary Festival's beloved children's sessions on weekend mornings.
The festival, running through March 17, will include four more children's sessions at 10am on upcoming Saturdays and Sundays at M on the Bund.
"Reading is not something you can pursue. Don't put too much pressure on yourself or the kids to learn from reading. Just read a lot with your kids and laugh out loud with them," the British children's books author and inspirational training expert tells Shanghai Daily.
"Parents should read bedtime stories for their children. If they have more than one, they should do the story sessions separately with each child so they each enjoy a precious and special reading time alone," he says.
Griffiths, a head teacher for 13 years, tours schools around the world with his story sacks and works with parents and teachers on bringing the stories to life and encouraging the kids to read more.
His large cloth bag contains soft toys representing the main characters from his books, as well as props and scenery.
Many parents see him and his story sacks - and such storytelling in general - as a way to draw children's attention away from addictive TV, mobile devices and games that have been linked with lack of social skills and shortened attention span.
"Children need sessions like this, where they can play with each other, enjoy the hand-on puppets like we did in our childhood and just laugh out a lot," says Griffiths.
He is now touring schools in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province's Xuzhou City with his large story sacks, and he has enjoyed working with Chinese parents.
"Chinese parents are very receptive. Of course, it involves translators, but the parents are very excited to learn how to get their kids into reading," he says.
Forthcoming sessions at the literary festival include veteran participant Sarah Brennan, who moved to Hong Kong 14 years ago when she was still a medical lawyer. She started writing children's books in 2004 and soon began incorporating Chinese elements into her stories.
She amazes children with her Chinese calendar series that includes stories of a Chinese dragon who eats children, a rat who goes to the Beijing Olympics and this time, Brennan comes with "The Tale of Sybil Snake," as 2013 is the Chinese Year of the Snake.
Nury Vittachi, another Hong Kong-based festival favorite, has earned fame as a detective writer with a series featuring feng shui master CF Wong, who is often called by victim's friends and relatives to spot the disharmonies at a crime scene.
Born in Sri Lanka, Vittachi has long been interested in Asian mysteries and has incorporated many Asian elements in his stories through the perspective of Wong, who is focuses on issues of money and qi (energy flow). He will hold a session with Luther Tsai about the various mystery stories of Asia.
? Sarah Brennan - "Sybil the Snake"
Date: March 9, 10am
? Anne Spudvilas - Drawing workshop: "The Peasant Prince"
Date: March 10, 10am
? Darce Goodwin and Marianne Kaulima - "Neti the Yeti Saves His Mountain"
Date: March 16, 10am
? Nury Vittachi and Luther Tsai - "The Magic Mirror"
Date: March 17, 10am
Address: 6-7/F, 20 Guangdong Rd
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
