Stories are one of the most effective ways of imparting education to little children. Our ancestors did it for centuries. Even in this century, there are many storytellers and story educators who are raising an entire generation of story lovers. Saylee Dashrath is one such story educator, spreading stories through her story center in Nashik, India.
Saylee describes herself as a quiet person, who loves to observe and listen, with a rich imagination and an infinite love for stories. As a storyteller, she enjoys the stories as much as children. Telling stories gives her energy and her most rewarding moments are when the children enjoy the stories. She loves to act and sing and dance together with the children, making the stories come alive.
Here are some snippets of our chat with Saylee about her journey as a storyteller with Little Readers’ Nook.
What influenced you to become a storyteller?
My daughter. She loves stories and I have always loved telling her stories. As I told her stories, I realized that telling stories gave me as much joy as she received listening to them. That made me decide that I would look towards adopting storytelling as my vocation.
Tell us the story of your story venture.
With my growing interest in stories, I started spending my time searching for things I could do with them. One of my dearest wishes has been to open up a library and I was looking to do so in Nashik, India. That’s when I stumbled up on Little Readers’ Nook (LRN). I love reading nooks, so the name itself was attractive. When I read about the concept behind LRN, I really wanted to be a part of it. Luckily no one had taken up the franchise in Nashik, so there was a novelty factor attached to it.
We did face many challenges introducing the concept of storytelling in a smaller town. Then there was the hunt for venues to conduct the sessions, as well the struggle of getting the parents to send their kids. I distributed pamphlets, spoke with lots of people and even advertised online. But the time and effort was well invested, as it has helped me get a small but enthusiastic set of listeners in my class. For location, I now have one with which I am comfortable. The whole experience taught me an important lesson, that if one wants to do something and tries hard, it happens.
What are the kind of audiences you work with? Which is your favorite audience?
I work with small children in the age group of 3-7. My favorite kind of audience is one which is willing to do silly things and enjoy the stories to the fullest. So essentially pretty much all my audience is my favorite audience.
How have the stories in your life influenced your style of storytelling and the way you use stories?
Stories in my life have taught me to look at things with varied perspectives, to enjoy each thing to the fullest and to empathize with children as well as adults. It is incredible to see how much fun it is to bring stories to life. I select different kinds of stories and try to enact them so that the kids can feel the story from inside out.
Any particular incident/anecdote from your workshops/sessions that is special to you?
One day a mom called me saying that her son didn’t want to go to school and instead
wanted to come for my sessions everyday!
Any story that you particularly love using?
Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. I love the way in which the story allows the imagination to soar. At the end, it has a nice twist finishing the story on a high note. The lyrics and the pictures are just perfect for storytelling.
- Get Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson at Amazon (India) and Amazon (outside India)
Do you think storytelling can be adopted as a full-time profession?
In olden times, knowledge was imparted orally through stories. Narration and oral storytelling is an effective way of keeping memories alive and remembering things. When children are taught through stories, they remember it more effectively and for longer periods. They also develop fluency in the language used.
Your advice to those who want to pick up storytelling as a profession.
Love for stories is the minimum basic requirement for a storyteller. Like any other profession, storytelling also requires dedication and hard work, and cannot be treated as a way to pass time. Patience and practice then help one to become a successful storyteller.
Your advice to parents and teachers on why and how they should keep stories alive.
Please read to your child in any way possible. Make it a daily habit. The more you read, to and with, your child, the better it will be. Kids will remember these stories that you read-aloud to them or enact to them, for a very very long time. They will be more prompted to do the same with their kids in the future.
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Saylee Dashrath is a storyteller with Little Readers’ Nook. Read more about Little Readers’ Nook here.
Don’t Miss: We love storytellers as much as we love storytelling. On Tell-a-Tale, lwe’ve featured a lot of talented storytellers, in the past.
Are you a Storyteller? If you’re a storyteller who is actively pursuing storytelling and would like to be featured in this column, drop us a mail at contact AT tell-a-tale.com or reach out to us via Facebook or Twitter.
