The Many Powers of Storytelling #1 Wellbeing

There have been many who have spoken loquaciously of the deep benefits of story both in and beyond school-based education. In our publication The New Zealand Storytelling Way-from Talking to Writing, we talk more about the many powers of storytelling, including the impact on wellbeing.

It is of course, never too early to begin reading to our tamariki. But, regardless of our children's current independent reading skills, storytelling provides a pleasure bridge to books and literary experience. Storytelling allows us to ignite their love for story and what might be found between the pages of a book. And so, mātua (parent), puako (teacher) and hapori whānui (community), gift to them the stories that we treasure in memory, this is storytelling.

Storytelling is good for the head and good for the heart. When a child is invited into a story world, they can learn about people, time, and place through the eyes of the story characters. Whether the character is villainous or heroic, gatekeeper, guide, mentor or trickster, the story exposes them to the thoughts, attributes, actions and emotional intelligences of these characters. It is through the eyes and behaviours of story characters (alongside our real-world experiences) that our children begin to develop their own values, ideals, and moral compass. It is this, along with the doorway that stories open into learning content across contexts, gaining cultural heritage and cross-cultural connection, that anchors storytelling as our oldest and most sustained educational pedagogy.

Viewing this BBC archive video footage of children in 1967 made me smile. I guarantee you'll each have a favourite as you listen to these young things talk loquaciously about the triggers and repercussions of their emotions. I of course especially like the one who has already leaned that she can take refuge in a good book and calm herself down. What each of these children do have, is emotional literacy. They are demonstrating the intrinsic link between language and intellect. Working in a boys only behaviour residential setting, I worked daily with boys who were the product of trauma, abuse and disfunction. Occasionally with the young person for whom there was no clear 'what' to what had gone wrong. And, all too often, with boys with unrecognised specific learning difficulties and differences. Their lives were already on a trajectory to trouble and their impact on self, peers, family and community was not good. They had many triggers and states of rage. What they did not have was the words; the range of language, expression and fluency to explain how they were feeling, to negotiate, to problem solve, or to build positive relationships and connection with others. Like Big Billy Goat Gruff, they reacted both physiologically and instinctively to protect themselves.

If you have known Judy and I from the start of our journey with teaching the storytelling way, you will know that we set off to proclaim and share the benefits of storytelling in accelerating achievement in writing. Along with the many teachers across Aotearoa who have put storytelling into their kete aronui, we have discovered much more. As facilitator of PLD in teaching and learning the storytelling way, as listener to the feedback and anecdotes of storytelling teachers, and as the privileged visitor to schools across Aotearoa, it has become clear that storytelling supports wellbeing. We know it's fun. We know that its engaging sequence and repertoire of teaching elements builds a broad neurological base for memory, language and thinking. And it is ever clearer, that storytelling nurtures emotional literacy and intelligence and fosters empathy. It seems to us that tell the stories, that with each one, we pass on a little wisdom on how to BE. Storytelling helps a child to feel that they belong, to build relationships and to use their words, because - He mana tō te kupu. Words have great power! It is the children that have been gifted their language that gain the knowledge and insight to think deeply about and beyond themselves. Is this not wellbeing or at least part of it?