📘 Part 3: Stories and children

This episode's vocabulary

Engaging (adj.) - pleasant, attractive, and charming.

To act something out (phrasal verb) - to perform the actions and say the words of a situation or story.

Scene (noun) - a part of a play or film in which the action stays in one place for a continuous period of time.

Imagination (noun) - the ability to form pictures in the mind.

Narrative (noun) - a story or a description of a series of events.

Theme (noun) - the main subject of a talk, book, film, etc.

To opt (verb) - to make a choice, especially of one thing or possibility instead of others.

To pitch (verb) - to express or set something at a particular level.

To reinforce (verb) - to make something stronger.

To pick up (phrasal verb) - to learn interesting or useful information from someone or something.

Moral (noun) - The moral of a story, event, or experience is the message that you understand from it about how you should or should not behave.

Plot (noun) - the story of a book, film, play, etc.

To discern (verb) - to see, recognize, or understand something that is not clear.

Engrossing (adj.) - very interesting and needing all your attention.

Scaffold (noun) - a structure made of scaffolding for workers to stand on when they want to reach high parts of a building.

To scaffold (verb) - to provide with a scaffold or to support by means of a scaffold.

Mental image (noun) - the idea that you have of someone or something in your mind.

To be au fait with something - to be familiar with or know about something.

Setting (noun) - the time and the place in which the action of a book, film, play, etc. happens.

Bonding (noun) - the process by which a close emotional relationship is developed.

To mediate (verb) - If something mediates a particular process or event, it allows that process or event to happen and influences the way in which it happens.

Climax (noun) - the most important or exciting point in a story or situation, especially when this happens near the end.

Inevitable (adj.) - certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented.

Twist (noun) - a change in the way in which something happens.

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Questions and Answers

M: Why do children like listening to the same bedtime stories?

R: Well, I suppose it's the closest they get to reading at that age. And it's probably quite engaging hearing the parents put on the voices of the different characters and act out some of the scenes from the book. Between that and they have very active imaginations, which can add to the experience.

M: What kind of stories do children like to listen to?

R: Well, I suppose that will depend on their age, won't it? Since that will determine the extent and complexity of the narratives they can enjoy. It's clearly younger children will enjoy something shorter with fewer characters and simpler themes, while older children would usually opt for something longer and more complex.

M: And why do some children dislike stories, listening to stories?

R: Well, they probably don't, they maybe just, it's not pitched to the correct level of development. Or maybe it's not pitched to their interests. That might be why. I don't think they don't like the experience of listening. It will be something about how it's being done that's the problem.

M: What can a child learn from a story?

R: By themselves? Probably nothing, since learning has to be reinforced and practised in order to be useful and, well, retained. However, they might pick up on the theme, the structure. Perhaps even the moral of story with the appropriate guidance. I mean, for example, in "The Boy Who Cried, Wolf" the moral is pretty clear.

M: What's the moral?

R: Don't get caught telling the same lie twice, of course.

M: Do young children like the same stories as older children?

R: They probably like the larger plot points and elements they can understand. But the degree of depth to that understanding will likely be shallower, since they lack the life experience and the knowledge to do it successfully. It shouldn't stop them enjoying themes like good versus evil, though, I think that's a pretty easy thing to understand and relate to.

M: And what kinds of stories do older children usually prefer?

R: I don't think that's something that's determined by age, that will be something that's determined by individual preferences. Like, if you like dark stories, versus if you like stories with a happy ending. I don't think that can be something that's connected to age.

M: How do people tell stories to children?

R: Ideally, with lots of actions and a variety of voices so the children can discern who's saying what and how they're behaving in the narrative. If done well, it's usually pretty engrossing, since it helps scaffold the mental image the children are building in their minds.

M: And do you think most parents tell stories to their children these days?

R: Well, I'm not exactly au fait with the statistics. But I would say, given the level of language development in a lot of children, they probably do get read to or have some parental reading time. But it won't be all children. Some children are very unfortunate in that respect.

M: How has technology changed storytelling?

R: Well, if you talk about the basics of what's told, then it hasn't changed too much, since you always need a setting, characters and the plot to follow. However, it's added variety in terms of how it can be told, since there are different sound effects that can be inserted into, well, the audio. Things can be sped up or slowed down. And it's easier to create material as well since almost everything can be a voice recorder these days.

M: And do you think it's for the better?

R: To support the children that need it? Yes. But if you're a child that doesn't have issues, then, really, you should be being read to by your parents. Like it's important for bonding, for developing social skills. Overall, it's better, I don't think having this mediated by technology is a great idea. But if what if you don't have parents? Then technology will be useful.

M: And what do you think of the future of storytelling? How will it change? And how will it develop in the future?

R: Well, like I said in the answer to the question about the role of technology. There will probably be more ways to tell stories. So the how it's done will be expanded. But the what that gets told will stay pretty fixed, to be honest. I mean, the story elements don't change. I can't imagine a story without a plot, for example. Even a terrible story has a plot to it, it could just be a bit silly or not thought through.

M: Why are mystery novels so popular nowadays?

R: They are? I suppose that will be because people get engrossed in the plot and trying to work out what exactly is going on before the climax or some sort of inevitable plot twist. But I don't know much about that. Like, I'm not an expert in the statistics behind mystery books.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your lovely answers!

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Discussion

M: So bedtime stories. Children listen to bedtime stories. And when parents read some stories out loud to their children, it's called, like bedtime stories, right? And Rory used some nice words and phrases here. So children get read to. So parents read stories to their children, children get read to. And there is some parental reading time. Parents, parental, is an adjective. Reading time? Parental reading time. Which means that parents read stories to their children.

R: It's probably not what it's called. I just made it up on the spot. Parental reading time. It sounds like really technical.

M: Yeah, yeah. Technical and academic. Yeah. Yes, there should be some parental reading time. So there should be some time for bedtime stories. And also, we can paraphrase it like children should be read to by their parents. Again, children should be read to. It's passive voice. Because parents read to children. Children should be read to by their parents, not by a tablet. And then bedtime stories are quite engaging. And parents can put on different voices. To put on voices.

R: If something is put on then it's not your normal voice. It's something that you've created for the specific purpose.

M: You put on different voices of different characters. So there are different characters in the book, and then you act out some of the scenes. So you act out the scenes from a book. Yeah? Scenes it's called. Like also from films we have. What's your favourite scene? And children may have very active imaginations. Well, usually, children have active imaginations, so they can add their images to the story, to the experience. Children enjoy listening to stories. So listen to, right? Don't forget this one. How can you paraphrase a story? A nice word is a narrative. And Rory said, it depends on the complexity of the narratives. Narratives - stories.

R: Just trying to think if there's another thing, why was a narrative different to a story? A story is definitely fictional. Whereas a narrative is like the beginning and the middle of it, on end of a story, but it could be real, or it could be fictional. It's something that you're trying to construct.

M: Some stories could be short, with few characters, simple themes. Theme like the main topic of the story. Simple plots, simple themes. And other stories might be longer, more complex, with lots of characters. And some children may not like stories, because the stories are not pitched to their interests. So that's a nice verb. If the story is pitched to the children's interests, it matches their interests, and it's suitable for their interests. Or maybe it's not pitched to their age. So it could be too complex for their age. So you won't be reading, I don't know, Tolstoy's War and Peace to a five-year-old. Yeah?

R: Or we you are, you will read a very simple version.

M: Yeah. So pitch the story to the children's interest. And then Rory said that children may not learn anything from a story by themselves, because learning has to be reinforced, in order to be useful. What did you mean by this?

R: Well, you've got to revise it and revisit the learning and try looking at it in different ways in order for it to be built up and, well, reinforced. If you reinforce something you build it up, you strengthen it, you make sure it's not weak.

M: Children might pick up on the theme. So pick up like understand. Like get the topic of the story. Pick up on the theme, the structure. And Rory, could you please have a listen to this? Rory said like, they can pick up on the structure. So you pronounce the structure, like pick up on the structure.

R: The structure. What's wrong with the structure?

M: The structure. You said it in a kind of nice way. And then they may even understand the moral of the story, right? So a moral like the main message of the story is called the moral of the story. And then Rory gave an example" The Boy Who Cried, Wolf". So in that story, the boy cried wolf all the time just for the fun of it. And then when the real wolf came, nobody believed the boy and the boy was eaten up, yeah? He died in the end. Ha-ha, what a lovely story.

R: So the moral should be don't tell lies, but actually what the moral is, is don't tell the same lie more than once.

M: Yeah, or you can be eaten by a wolf.

R: Or you could be eaten by wolf. Yes, perfectly reasonable fear in the modern age.

M: And is it true that in Britain, fairy tales and children's books have a lot of, you know, these endings when people die in the end, you know, like, they get eaten up by a...

R: I will not accept that criticism coming from a Russian person. Like your fairy tales are pretty dark, to be honest with you. It's a German thing anyway.

M: No, we have "Little Red Riding Hood", "Little Red Riding Hood".

R: Yes, "Little Red Riding Hood" who takes an axe to the wolf.

M: Yeah, to save the grandma and the daughter. No, not daughter, her granddaughter.

R: I feel like the extrajudicial killing of a wolf is a bit dumb.

M: Yeah, yeah. So I wonder, dear listener, in your culture, do children's stories have this, you know, touch? Like wolf gets killed, or the boy gets killed by a wolf? Because he lied too much, you know. Do the children's stories have these, you know, parts?

R: Well, children's stories are supposed to teach them something and avoid consequences. Death is a pretty serious consequence.

M: Don't lie or you die. Then you talk about the plot of different stories, right? And the depth. Maybe like the depth of the understanding of a story. Some people enjoy dark stories, or, I don't know, evil stories. Some enjoy shallow stories. Like shallow like simple, like light reading. Some like, nothing special. It's a light-reading story. How do people tell stories? They use different voices, yeah? So a variety of voices, so children can discern who is saying what. So to discern the voices means to understand which character says what?

R: Yes. So if you can discern something, you distinguish it from the other things around it.

M: And then parents can act out certain scenes, put up different voices to make it engrossing for children.

R: That just means that it makes them more interested in something.

M: And this part of the sentence is amazing. So if parents do it well, it's usually pretty engrossing, since it helps scaffold the mental image the children are building in their minds. Oh, my God, engrossing, scaffold, the mental image.

R: Scaffold is like support, and the mental image is just the picture you have in your head.

M: And pretty engrossing means interesting, exciting. Technology and storytelling. Right? So technology has changed storytelling, we can talk about different gadgets, devices, YouTube, a video, and a story, not just an audio story. Yeah? And, for example, when parents read different stories to their children, they also show pictures from a picture book or from a storybook, they act things out. So it's kind of visual and also audio. And Rory talked about the setting. So the setting on the story, characters, and a plot to follow, right? And technology has added variety in terms of how the story is told. And Rory's point is that the content of the story hasn't changed. So it's the same stories, but how it's done? With sound effects. So sound effects can be added to the story. And things can be sped up or slowed down. So you can speed up the story, make it faster, speed it up, or slow it down, yeah? On any device, on YouTube. So if, dear listener, you feel that Rory is speaking too fast, you can always slow it down. Just use your app, settings and slow it down. So you can listen and understand better. Okay? And you can talk about voice recordings. So you've used engrossing as an adjective. What does it mean, when people get engrossed in the story, in the plot?

R: Well, it's like they're so interested, that other things fade away into the background and they're focused on this thing.

M: Could you give us an example sentence?

R: Yeah, I missed my bus because I was so engrossed in the book I was reading.

M: Yep. Engrossed, engrossed. It's kind of to give all your attention to something, right? And usually, children get so engrossed in the book, that they don't pay attention to anything else, or they were so engrossed in something. Engrossed. It's C2, so this word is like wow.

R: Is it?

M: Band nine. Oh, yeah, that's like a C2.

R: Oh, wow. I didn't even know that. I just thought it was a good word.

M: And then the climax of the story. The climax is this, you know, peak of the story when something important happens, when the truth is revealed. So who the murderer is is like the climax of the story, yeah? And also, it's sometimes called a plot twist. An interesting plot twist, when we know like the truth or the answer. Sweet. Thank you very much for listening to our stories, to our vocabulary stories, dear listener!

R: And if you got any stories to recommend to us, then you can always drop us a line on Instagram.

M: We love you, we hug you! Bye!

R: Bye!

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