📘 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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