School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The first thing you notice about Tanya is her amazing dresses. She also loves stories and came all the way from Waiheke Island, Aotearoa, New Zealand to share them with prep and year 1 students in Ipswich. She began with a song, getting the kids to copy her. She told her own story of how she first grew up in a caravan on the side of a mountain. At school she loved to dress up and do plays. Now she goes all over the world telling stories. She now lives with fruit trees which she fertilises with what she collects from her “princess poo tower” (see photo). She told a story from Mongolia and Siberia and had the children laughing at her funny voices and sound effects. The scary character made them jump in fright then scream in laughter. She then read from her book, “My Dad is a dragon Catcher.” Find out more about Tanya Batt - http://imagined-worlds.net/
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Adult Program Story by Rebecca Sheraton Tanya Batt led an interactive workshop with authors and illustrators, demonstrating the power of oral storytelling. It’s like we were kids again! She loves to start each session with a story, which helps groups of people, strangers or companions to connect. One technique that engages children is telling foot stories and having children join in the actions through their feet. Another fantastic technique is ‘What’s in the sack?’ She loves pulling out objects, particularly the characters hare and tortoise, to introduce children to the famous Aesop’s fable. She also enjoys using story improvisation or story making connected to objects in the sack. This can include drawing out an object like a key, and asking the audience open questions such as ‘I wonder …’ to inspire children to create their own story. Tanya recommended that all workshop teachers set clear expectations for children participating in their workshops. All the adults enjoyed the fun-filled workshop and can’t wait to test out their stories on a young audience. School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey New Zealand author and storyteller, Tanya Batt, had year 1 and 2 students wild with enthusiasm when she took centre-stage. Eyes were glued to her orange-field-of-flowers and trees landscape dress, ebbing beneath in a sea of tulle. ‘No matter where you go in the world, everybody has stories to share. Not everybody can read or write, but they can tell stories.’ That was how old stories survived from other cultures. Batt performed a Native American story about Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle. Her wind and voice sound effects had students so captivated, that one asked how she did it. Batt pulled out her 1000-voice sim card from the back of her neck. ‘Whoooaaa.’ Then she said, ’Do you think that’s true?’ as students’ mouths stayed agape. ‘I made that one up.’ The world needed old stories as well as new stories. She performed her story, My Dad’s a Dragon Catcher. Kids scootched a little closer. They loved the idea that Toby’s dad might have a team of dragon catchers because it was a big night-time job. See her YouTube version. Batt felt lucky to tell stories from other cultures that been around for a very long time. When she travelled the world people told her stories. She felt like it was being in service to the story because they weren't her stories. Being a good storyteller was not about talking but ‘being a good listener’. But most of her stories lived inside her because she often told stories and not read stories. She encouraged students, when it was story time, to be the story teller. Tell a story from the workshop, or about Princess Poo Tower — recycling horse poo into her compost or make one up. Her passion for telling stories started 27 years ago, ‘as the world becomes increasingly more rationalized, mega -fied, screen -ified and compartmentalized the need for arts education is greater than ever. The Batt website Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com |
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