On 3rd of February, our S3 story pilots were honoured to be invited to visit Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Primary School for the first ever storytelling event of the year. The Story Pilots team had been hard at work brushing up their story telling skills and making sure that students would be able to keep their audiences engaged and entertained through lively and interactive storytelling. With weekly training sessions taking place in the first school term, our students’ hard work finally paid off while they were reading to a group of 10 students ranging from P5 to P6. The event was a great success, with students and teachers alike enjoying various story books.
Testimonial #1:
I really enjoyed going to the primary school and interacting with the very cute children. The kids over there were so smart and so good at English that I didn’t have to translate any word into Chinese because their vocabulary was already perfect. I learnt in the past how to represent our school, but this school trip helped me build my communication skills. I’d like to tell the next group of story pilots: keep your voice loud and clear so you don’t have to repeat yourselves and the students who are shy won’t be embarrassed to ask you. It is also vital to use intonation or tone so that the students will stay focused, engaged and last but not the least happy while listening to you.
Shraddha Sharma 3T (9)
Testimonial #2:
From this experience, I learnt to control my pace, slowing it down while narrating the story while speeding it up during exciting moments of the book. I also learnt the importance of asking the audience questions as it helps warm up the vibes and hook up the primary school pupils’ interest.
To the future story pilots, remember 3 things: Choose a longer story, ask more questions and young participants are much more welcoming than you’d think. I chose a relatively short story and asked only a few questions. I then finished much earlier than others, and had to endure the dead silence. Remember don’t become me 2.0. If you’re anxious because you think the little children you’re visiting are pure monkeys jumping on chairs and screaming straight into your eardrum, then you’re wrong! They are in fact much more mature and wholesome than you’d think.
Jacky Cheung 3S (16)