Storyteller Reading Games Take On Technology
The art of reading a story to children has met with severe competition. Technology has deflected attention to Gameboy, Nintentdo, Wii, mobile phones and computers. Parents, seeing their child so occupied have little chance to infiltrate their busy schedule. Probably, as parents, they also lead a similar hectic lifestyle, at work and home. The story remains untold.
Technology in the form of MightyBook on-line reading games has come to the rescue. On-line stories are now available allowing children and parents to dip into libraries of stories and educational games. Actors are the story teller, cartoons characters animate the story and the script is highlighted in time with the spoken word. These reading resources allow parents an easy and enjoyable route to providing interactive support to their children whilst learning the techniques of storytelling by examples. MightyBook from keen2learn is maybe the answer to a parents and a child’s dream, especially as many of the 600 stories in the service have been written by children. Ah- storytelling and writing is not dead.
On the face of it do we still really need a good story teller? Is this skill still relevant in today’s technological world where video games, films and TV appear to have diminished the role of books? Strip down any film, documentary, advertisement or pop video and you will find the outline of how the story should be told and how the scenes should progress. Known as the “storyboard†it lays down all the facets needed to set the scene and tell the “story.†It would appear that we still need storytellers. The one great activity that brings children closer to parents, fires the imagination, develops self expression and creative skills all have a basis in the joy of storytelling.
It is claimed that all stories are based on a selection from seven themes. This includes soap operas and probably accounts for the reason East Enders has similar plots to Neighbours and Coronation Street. The soap opera, whose first proponent was attributed to Charles Dickens, has changed little in format but the quality of writing has perhaps suffered. The Dickens output, developing atmosphere intrigue and richness of plot and character still holds an audience spell board some 150 years later. The current series of “Little Dorrit†being shown on UK TV is a classic example of the genre.
Could storytelling, especially bedtime stories be at risk from the ogre of modern technology after thousands of years of conventional use? It is claimed our attention span has reduced; films need frequent action points, TV needs a change of pace or scene every 30 seconds to prevent channel hoping. Yet novels are now being written at an increasing rate. Is this perhaps the result of word processors with automatic grammar and spell checks making the process making it easier to capture the written word; or are we able to maintain the inbuilt storytelling talent despite all? Critically the analysis can only be compared over the last 10 years. Google, Internet, email and affordable computers only appeared from 1997. Ten years is not long, coinciding with the length of the schooling journey for a child. If any harm has been done we will find out in the next few years. Crucially during this same period there has been a huge decline in parents reading to their children, and the absence of this seed corn may have damaged the future potential. Not a pretty thought.
Alistair Owens Keen2learn
