📘 Part 3: Telling stories

This episode's vocabulary

Vivid (adj.) - vivid descriptions, memories, etc. produce very clear, powerful, and detailed images in the mind.

Temperament (noun) - the part of your character that affects your moods and the way you behave.

Act sth. out (phrasal verb) - to perform the actions and say the words of a situation or story.

Goody (noun) - someone, especially in a film or story, who is good.

Baddy (noun) - a bad person in a film, book, etc.

To resolve (verb) - to solve or end a problem or difficulty.

To extract (verb) - to remove or take out something.

Feature (noun) - a noticeable or important characteristic or part.

Complexities (plural noun) - the features of something that make it difficult to understand or find an answer to.

Intricacies (plural noun) - complicated details.

Overarching (adj.) - most important, because of including or affecting all other areas.

Comprehension (noun) - the ability to understand completely and be familiar with a situation, facts, etc.

In a nutshell (idiom) - very briefly, giving only the main points.

Interactively (adverb) - in a way that involves communication between people.

Enhanced (adj.) - better than before.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you all ready?

R: Yes.

M: Why do children like stories?

R: Well, they tend to have very vivid imaginations, don't they? So this means they enjoy imagining the words coming to life, I suppose. And they can see it clearly in their heads. It also helps them to think and, well, to think about things in new ways and introduce them to interesting topics for the first time. Plus, storytellers often do the voices of characters in interesting ways, which can be quite engaging.

M: What kinds of stories the children like?

R: I think that will depend on lots of different factors like age, temperament, likes and dislikes, won't it? For example, a primary school child will have wildly different tastes in stories to one in high school, well, at least you would hope so. Let's assume we're speaking about young children, though. They probably like things connected to their fantasies and the toys they play with, or the games and role plays they act out. Probably something with goodies and baddies and a happy ending.

M: What can a child learn from a story?

R: Oh, all kinds of things. The most obvious thing would be new words, in addition to how to tell a story and to further develop their tastes in fiction. I suppose there are also moral lessons you can learn from stories like why telling lies is bad? Or how to resolve conflicts without fighting. Outside from this though, the possibilities are endless.

M: And do you think that stories should always teach children something?

R: I don't, I don't think it's a choice. They probably do regardless. Like, they might teach them new words, or they might teach them a new moral, it will depend. But there's always something that you can extract from a story, even if it's something that you don't like.

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

R: Well, they probably like the same features and structure, but the complexities might go over their heads. So they might get the idea of a beginning, a middle and an end of a plot. But not the intricacies of the relationships involved, or how one character is different to another, even though they're on the same side. They just aren't capable of it yet. No, there's no reason they can't try and ask questions if they get confused about something like that.

M: So you think that young children may not be able to understand certain stories, right?

R: Probably not with the same ease as older children. They probably get the overarching points, though.

M: How do people tell stories to children?

R: Well, I already talked about the use of voice, so different tones for different characters. I imagine many adults act out the parts of the story with their hands to show the actions involved. Whenever I tell stories to young children, I always ask questions about what they heard, just to check their comprehension and understanding of different words as well. So I suppose in a nutshell, they do it interactively.

M: And when people tell stories to children, do they usually have a book or they just tell the story from memory?

R: I think it will depend on what kind of story it is. If it's a life story or describing a memory, then you could do that, well, you would have to do it from your head. But if it's a, if it's like a story with a moral or just to entertain a large group of children, then probably you would need a book for that.

M: How has technology changed storytelling?

R: Well, I'm not sure it's radically changed in terms of the basics. I mean, we still have words, pictures and sounds. But the variety of media is greater if we think about videos that can be watched online, translation has allowed stories to be shared across cultures and borders. And there's even color if we think of color printing as a kind of technology. So it's probably enhanced things rather than change them.

M: And do you think that today, most people enjoy reading stories or listening to stories?

R: Well, you keep hearing about this trend of people, hearing stories, but print media is far from dying out. So I'd probably say that print media is still the most popular way of consuming stories.

M: And how have the stories from the past changed?

R: Well, they're probably a lot more child-friendly and interactive. I imagine some of the older biblical stories have had their morals changed to fit the times as well. So those would be the big things I've noticed, but I'm not that much older than a lot of children. So, or indeed than a lot of people, so it's difficult for me to say off the top of my head.

M: Do you think that in the future storytelling will still be popular?

R: I don't think it'll ever not be popular. It's like it's part of the human experience. You can't really go through life without engaging with some sort of narrative or engaging in some sort of narrative even.

M: And you think that adults enjoy telling stories more than children?

R: Well, that's a good, that's a good question. Probably, adults enjoy telling stories on their level, more than children enjoy telling stories on their level, because adults are capable of creating more detail. And they have a better understanding of the shared context. But that's just a guess. I mean, children would still enjoy telling stories. It's all relative, I just think adults probably enjoy it more, because they're capable of more.

M: Thank you very much for your answers!

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