Can’t Get Children To Read? Try These Tips

Rey Bufi is the founder of The Storytelling Project or TSP, which aims to spark hope, inspiration and imagination through storytelling; to make reading an enjoyable experience for children; to start a reading habit, and to instill the love of reading and learning in all children.

To make this happen, the TSP team stays in remote communities for a month and tell children stories. “We’ve tirelessly crossed rivers and excitedly conquered mountains to reach remote communities — to bring our own brand of happy learning,” TSP said on its website.

Bufi has these tips for those who want to make children, including their own, realize that reading is fun and not a chore.

1. Know your audience

Always know the profile of your audience, their age, background, the number of participants, the venue setup, etc. These are helpful considerations in choosing the story for the activity and your strategy on how to tell the story. Always bring extra storybooks so you can easily adjust if there are changes in the profile of your audience. For example, it is not advisable to tell a long story to preschoolers because small children have a short attention span.

2. Be creative

You should be quick in assessing your audience during the storytelling session. If your planned strategy doesn’t work, then think of other ways to present the story. Storytelling is all about improvisation. Learn to improvise. Decide based on the behavior and reaction of your audience. This is difficult; the only way to learn it is to do frequent storytelling sessions. It is your exposure and experience to different types of audiences that will help you become a versatile storyteller. Every storytelling activity is a unique experience.

3. Connect to your audience

Build connections by finding common ground. You may do this by asking questions relatable to them or you may approach and talk to your audience before the storytelling starts. Make your audience comfortable so that they would open up and participate. Remember that storytelling is a shared experience. It is a conversation between you and your audience. The story is your connection with each other and in the end, your goal is to make that story a shared experience. During the storytelling session, always keep eye contact with your audience.

4. Discover your own style

Start with your own storytelling style. In this way, you will be comfortable in your first storytelling activity. This will help you gain your confidence and as you do it frequently, you could try other styles of storytelling. You can always play with your voice or convey different emotions that the story requires. This will make the story more interesting. You can also use props, but keep in mind that it should not distract your audience from the story.

5.  Know the story

This means that you should learn the sequence of the story by heart as well as the elements: characters, setting, time, conflict, resolution. This will guide you in making the right pauses, emotions and questions. If you forget the words, it would be easier for you to ad lib. 

6. Acknowledge audience reactions

If you are in the middle of a storytelling session and a child reacted to what you said, then always acknowledge the child’s reaction. Do your best to connect it to the story. If it is unrelated, find an acceptable way to explain it to the kids.

7. What you give is what you receive

Children are like mirrors. They imitate what they see and respond accordingly. If your energy is low and you are shy or not giving your best in storytelling, then children will do the same.

8. Be in control

Classroom management is very important in storytelling. The success of your session depends on how you handle your audience. You have to be in control of the children and not the other way around. You won't be able to deliver your storytelling strategy properly if the kids are noisy and unruly. Always remember that kids have different attention spans. Some have longer attention span while some, shorter. Kids who have shorter attention span are easily bored and distracted. There are different reasons why they have shorter attention span. But as a storyteller, your challenge is to make them stay engaged and for them to listen to your story. Be creative in telling the story like what was noted earlier. Immediately change your style if it doesn’t work. Set rules before the start of the storytelling session.

9. Be attentive to your audience and take cues from them

Storytelling is all about your audience. It is not about how you perfectly deliver your storytelling strategy. Your goal is to make them enjoy and understand the story. Be alert and be aware of your timing and pacing. If you see that the children’s faces seem bewildered, maybe they can’t keep up with your pacing or they can’t understand the story. If the children have low energy and they seem uninterested in the storytelling session, do some activities first to boost their energy.

10. Be in the moment

When you are telling a story, you should be reliving the story. You should always be present with your audience. Do not let your mind wander to other tasks, set them aside. You should be in the moment with your audience.

11. Unleash the child in you

We all have a child within us — that part of our inner selves that enables us to be free to do what we want, free to share what we think and free to let our imagination come through in our actions. This will make you relatable to the children. They would see you as their playmate and at the same time as an adult. If you can show that you can be a child like them, then you are giving them permission to be themselves as well.

12. Be authentic and show that you care

One of my favorite African proverbs is this: “Children don’t care what you know unless they know that you care.” It is easy to get the attention of the children, but it is difficult to get their trust. Children are very open to the people they trust. If they trust you, they would follow you. In storytelling, be yourself and be authentic.