Gupta, Madhu and Chandna, Yashika
(2014)
A workshops on storytelling and creative
writing.
Language and Language Teaching, 3 (2).
pp. 61-63.
ISSN 2277-307X
Abstract
Storytelling is one of the most ancient art forms,
and continues to this day as a vibrant part of
culture throughout the world. However, the
traditional Indian custom of passing down epics
and village folklore from one generation to the
next through storytelling is slowly dying due to
increasing globalization and the all-pervasive
media. At one time, stories were a part of the
day-to-day teaching-learning processes, but in
the current educational system, storytelling has
become a lost art; it is considered nothing more
than a leisure activity. This workshop on
storytelling and creative writing was organized
by Katha Manch to reinvent the art of
storytelling and story writing.
Katha Manch, a group dedicated to the use of
stories as a pedagogical tool, aspires to fill the
Language and Language Teaching
Participant Profile
The participants included 50 students of class
IX and X, and teachers from 25 schools of
Hardoi District, where Kusuma Foundation has
been carrying out various intervention
programmes. The teachers accompanying these
students also actively participated in the
workshop. Experts (Yashika Chandna, Madhu
Gupta and Vijay Kumar) from Katha Manch
were invited to conduct the workshop from
Delhi.
Sessions
The workshop was divided into two sessions,
pre-lunch and post-lunch. The pre-lunch session
started with introductions. Participants were
encouraged to introduce themselves by adding
a qualifying noun starting with the first letter of
Volume 3 Number 2 Issue 6 July 2014
61their name, for example, charming Chanchal,
sweet Shreya, ashavaadi Akash (optimistic
Akash), etc. Children were encouraged to share
things that they like doing. The idea was to help
the participants overcome their hesitation and
encourage them to interact freely with the
resource persons and with each other.
Familiarity with the hobbies of the participants
helped the resource persons to understand the
inclination of the participants towards reading
and writing stories. After the introductions, the
experts asked questions related to different
aspects of stories—characters, characterization,
contextualization, narrative style, flow of the
story, etc. Participants were encouraged to think
and express their views on why stories were
important. They were asked to express their
opinion on various kinds of stories such as
historical, social issue-based, biographical, horror,
fantasy, investigative, science-fiction, etc. There
was a discussion on how stories impact a
person’s worldview, how stories are part of our
daily life and how the same story can be read
through different perspectives. How stories can
be developed was one of the most pivotal points
of the discussion. Through this discussion, it was
concluded that a story needs to have full-bodied
characters, and a problem which needs to be
resolved or an experience to be shared. The
language should be such that it enhances the
impact of the story; literary tools such as
personification, description, metaphors and
similes, etc., make a story worth a read.
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