World Storytelling Day
The art of storytelling has been a staple of humanity for thousands of years. Telling stories connects us, and helps us understand the ever changing world around us. While storytelling is something we all engage in every day, there is a special day dedicated to celebrating languages, stories, and human connection. Every year on March 20th, the spring equinox, we celebrate the global holiday “World Storytelling Day”. This is a day for telling stories in our own languages, and listening to the words others share . And while today it is celebrated all over the world, and in our own classrooms, the origins of this holiday can be traced back to Sweden in the early 90s with something called “Alla Berättares Dag”. Read on to learn more about World Storytelling Day (WSD), and how we can foster a celebration in our own classrooms.
History of World Storytelling Day:
In 1991 an event was organized in Sweden called Alla Berättares Dag, translated to “All Storytellers Day”. The event occurred on the spring equinox, and was instantly popularized. In the following years the idea spread like wildfire. In Australia in 1997 there began a 5-day celebration of story, commencing on March 20th with the “International Day of Oral Narrators”. Norway, Canada, France, and several Latin American countries also quickly began taking part in the celebration in the late 90s and early 2000s. As the world moved into the new century, 6 different continents took part in the celebration, and by 2009 the name “World Storytelling Day” was given to this beautiful global observance.
There is so much joy and cultural awareness to be had by celebrating WSD. While there are several unique ways to tell stories - written, through art, photography - this holiday gives special attention to the art of oral storytelling. Most importantly, this holiday encourages storytelling in our own languages, and about the places that we view as our own. This special day can unite storytellers from completely different backgrounds under a shared human art form. Celebrating this holiday in our classrooms can encourage equity, diversity, and the inclusion of all students’ unique voices. This post highlights a few activities you can do with your class to take part in World Storytelling Day!
1) Storytelling Jar:
Write short story prompts on slips of paper and put them all in a jar. Have students randomly select a prompt, and watch their imaginations run wild! This activity will give students’ oral storytelling skills a workout. It would work great in the classroom, or by using digital technology tools such as FlipGrid. Try bringing in, or making your own, props to bring stories to life!
2) "Voyage" Storytelling:
This is a fun and exciting group activity where every student can participate in making a story come to life! The story begins with just a title or prompt. One person will write a sentence or two, and pass it along to the next person. The paper is folded so that you can only see the text written just before your turn. Once everyone has added onto the story it can be read out loud! This sounds like it would be a hilarious and fun activity for all.
3) Read Aloud:
There are tons of great books that can take you and your students on a global journey, without ever leaving the rug! Usborne’s Illustrated Stories from Around the World brings 10 classic folktales to life with captivating characters and illustrations. On the Same Day in March highlights several countries’ traditions and weather patterns, all on the same day in March. I read this book to a first grade class recently, and it was a huge hit. The children loved pointing out the countries they have roots in, and hearing about how different the world can be all on one day. I’ve included a read aloud to the later title below:
4) Stories from Elders:
Plan for a day for family members of your students to come in and share stories from their lives. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents can all bring something unique to inspire and connect with the class. This is also a great activity to unite the community and foster positive connections between families. If the school doesn’t allow for in-person visitors, try having families record videos of themselves storytelling that can be shared with others!
5) Storytelling Roleplay:
Have students dress up as their favorite character, whether they be historical figures or fictional characters. Students can take turns orally sharing their favorite story, and engaging in a roleplay activity where they speak and act in character. Ask students what they would do if they could live their character’s life for a day. This activity will bring out the creativity in your and your students, and give them all a chance to engage with drama skills.
Regardless of how you choose to celebrate WSD, it’s important to remember that this holiday is a way to uplift and listen to stories from people of various backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages. Your students are full of unique stories that make them who they are. When given the right opportunity, you can encourage their oral storytelling skills to flourish. Try out some of these activities for yourself, and watch the magic of storytelling come to life!
Resources:
“Activities to Celebrate World Storytelling Day.” Waterford.org, 19 Mar. 2019, www.waterford.org/resources/activities-to-celebrate-world-storytelling-day/.
Shinenyc. “Storytelling Activities for World Storytelling Day.” ShineNYC, 16 Mar. 2020, shinenyc.net/storytelling-activities-for-world-storytelling-day/.
“World Storytelling Day.” Timeanddate.com, 18 Mar. 1970, www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/world-storytelling-day.
“World Storytelling Day.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Mar. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Storytelling_Day.
Www.facebook.com/culturalstoryweaver. “'World Storytelling Day'-Go Out and Tell a Story!” 'World Storytelling Day'-Go Out and Tell a Story! -, 20 Mar. 2020, culturalstoryweaver.com/staging/2052/world-storytelling-day-go-out-and-tell-a-story/.
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post about World Storytelling Day! I love how you highlighted the joy and cultural awareness this holiday brings. So many of the celebrations we explore focus on a specific culture: here is a chance to explore many different cultures and perspectives.
I had never heard of the book “On the Same Day in March”, but it is fantastic! I am ordering a copy myself - thanks for sharing the resource. It is so fun to hear the little cultural references for each part of the world. I would love to do an activity where students write about their area as an entry for the book or even research an area they would like to visit, and then create a class book. It could even be an activity combined with the “voyage” writing activity you included.
Thanks for the great resources and ideas to open up the world of storytelling to our students!
Hello Shawna,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog post! I have never heard of World Storytelling Day. I would love to celebrate it in my classroom in the future. I appreciate its focus on oral language and cultural diversity. Storytelling can be a daunting task for my students, who struggle with writing. Your post encourages me to show them that spoken stories hold immense power. They share spoken stories with their teachers and peers every day. This is a skill that I can help them appreciate and grow.
I am also always looking for ways to celebrate the different cultures and backgrounds of my students. Many of my students are from minority backgrounds, and a significant number of them do not speak English at home. Some of my students have only been in our school for two years, and have vivid memories of living in other countries. I appreciate their willingness to share their stories with me. I would love to make the stories all of my students have a bigger part of my classroom.
Your suggestions for activities to celebrate storytelling are wonderful. I remember loving voyage storytelling as a student! As a strong proponent for reader's theater and a lifelong theater artist, storytelling roleplay is very appealing to me. In my post on Play, Story, and the Imagination, I explain how role playing is beneficial for young learners. In role play, students are exposed to language and situations they would not normally face in their daily life. Through roleplay, the seemingly impossible is always possible, and the seemingly inaccessible is always accessible. I love seeing stories from history or fiction come alive for my students as they embody the characters. I am very interested in using this strategy in a context where a script is not given and reading is not required. I would love to see students initiating their own interactions in character.
Thank you again for this very fun and informative post!
Best,
Kate
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteWho knew there was such a day? I should have known after learning how important storytelling is in this class. I am interested in the suggestions you made for bringing storytelling into the classroom. I use prompts a lot for writing but I think rather than writing stories or responses all the time, voicing them out loud to the class could be just as effective. Role play is one of my favorites, I remember doing this when I was in elementary school. I'm hoping next year when Covid is hopefully less of a roadblock, we can get back to acting out and more group work. I agree with you when you say read-aloud are stories, and act as a storytelling in the classroom. I try to do a "for fun" read aloud everyday in my class. It builds a love for reading, sharing, and learning through stories.
I hope I remember that March 20th is this wonderful "day" and can take advantage of sharing the importance of storytelling in the classroom. Thank you for the informative history of this day and the modern day suggestions for students.
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post about World Storytelling Day. This year was the first year that I worked in a district where we celebrate it. My mom and her class (also the entire school) read Dr. Seuss. They also make a really big deal out of him when it is his birthday as well. At the school I work at we read and watched Amanda Gorman at the presidential ignoration. My students did not seem that into it. Although the wonderful librarians put together a really nice presentation about the history of it they seemed to not care. We tried to get the students to analyze the speech but did not get that much out of it.
Anyway I had no idea about the history of the day. I also had no idea that it is actually Swedish!
I also really loved your ideas about creating stories on this day maybe next year I can suggest some of these ideas instead of analyzing a poem. The voyage story telling is my favorite. It kind of reminds me of Mad Libs. I would love to do this with my high schoolers but they may have a tough time of keeping it appropriate.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this information. I definitely gained some knowledge after reading this post. I never knew there was a particular day devoted to storytelling and the origins of where this all started is really cool. What a great idea to incorporate this into our classrooms. These activities are great! I particularly like the storytelling jar because I can see some kids getting really into that. This activity really allows students to let their imaginations run wild and promotes creativity. This is something that I think as teachers we need to incorporate more of in the classroom. Additionally, the "voyage" storytelling activity sounds like another great idea to use in the classroom. This in a way reminds me a bit of the game, telephone. You never really know what the end product will be and I can see how students would definitely be engaged in an activity like this.
I can't wait to try out some of these in my classroom, thanks for sharing again! :)
Hi Shawna!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about World Storytelling Day but I'm so glad you wrote this post to teach us all about it! I enjoyed reading about the history of this day and how other countries celebrate. I also like how you presented and explained the many different ways storytelling can take place which provides so many great ideas for us in terms of implementing them in our own classrooms. My favorite that you talked about was listening to stories from our elders. I think there is so much history and wisdom to be learned from the older people in our lives and often times if they aren't asked, these stories remain in their memories when I'm sure they have so much that they'd love to share. I think it's really important to take time to stop and listen to these life stories and take away as much as we can from their experiences. Great job!!
-Grace
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing light to World Storytelling Day! I have learned so much from this post about the importance and impact world storytelling day has and the benefits we can get out of our students from storytelling. After reading this post I am going to construct a lesson for world storytelling day because we as teacher have so much power by telling stories to our students. Having positive and effective storytelling in the classroom will help the student in a variety of ways and make them feel more comfortable in the classroom.
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteI loved the history aspect of your post and the origin story! I think the origin story would even be beneficial to teach our students in the classroom because then they might feel more connected to the day. I also really liked your ideas of how to celebrate WSD in the classroom. I think the jar idea is something that could even be done as a morning prompt throughout the year, to always have some sort of storytelling throughout the year. I'm also going to be an English teacher, so that's something I could easily incorporate! The voyage storytelling reminded me of Mad Libs and it made me feel kind of old because I don't think our students will ever really sit around with their friends and fill out a Mad Libs packet.
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this awesome post and teaching us about world storytelling day! All of the activities you wrote about are so awesome. I can definitely see myself using some of these activities in my classroom on a weekly, or possibly even daily basis! I particularly love the storytelling jar, the voyage storytelling, and the storytelling roleplay. All of these activities can be used over and over again in the classroom to help students practice their storytelling skills. They also sound like they would be so engaging and fun for students of all ages. I could see myself integrating the jar storytelling into my morning meeting routine because it is so simple, yet so beneficial as it gives students the opportunity to be in the spotlight and practice oral storytelling. This could then help students with brainstorming new topics and ideas during writer’s workshop. Thanks for all of these amazing ideas!
-Colleen K.
Hi Shawna,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great article. I loved reading a little bit about the history and significance of world storytelling day. So much of our culture and history are built on a tradition of storytelling. I love the idea of taking time to appreciate that lineage of stories from our different cultures being passed from person to person over hundreds of years. I also agree with Colleen that the jar storytelling activity sounds awesome. I have tried similar activities with my students in the past and they love pulling random things at random. I think it can spark a flurry of creativity with it's spontaneous approach.
-Bob
Hello Shawna,
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog post. I found the different modes of storytelling that you described to be fun, interactive, and effective. Storytelling in general is a great way to have students feel welcomed, noticed, and appreciated in the classroom and I feel this can be done all year long. I especially like these three examples of storytelling that you mentioned: storytelling jar, storytelling voyage, and storytelling role-play. The storytelling jar is fun because it can disguise a writing promt as something fun. And the possibilities of writing topics are limitless. This also helps students write or share their thoughts without making them come up with a topic themselves, which some students struggle with. The storyelling voyage also sounds fun because it is like a game of telephone and it is a great way to have other students take a peek into what other students have to say and what their style of writing is. It can give them ideas! And lastly, the role-playing side of storytelling is active and fun because it can help students open up to the class by putting a persona on, but still allowing the students to be themselves. This reminded me of how I use "reader's voices" for students who struggle with reading aloud and fluidity. Sometimes reading or expressing oneself with a silly voice or persona is a great way to tell stories and connect with students.
~Chaisen
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI loved your post. I think this is such a great topic to write about. The sharing of stories is something that should be recognized more. Whether is is a story that is written down or a story about an aspect of life that a student it proud of, it is so important to let students share! We want our students to be able to have a voice in the classroom, and storytelling is the perfect way to let them do that. I love the idea of having student step into the shoes of a character. It would be amazing to see the perspectives on the stories that the students have. I also think voyage storytelling is something that should be used in every classroom! Whether students are adding on word by word or sentence by sentence, it is so amazing to see what unique ideas a class can come up with.
Thank you so much for sharing this post!
Ali Lombard