Less attention has been paid to storytelling in the educational system

Mojtaba Hemtifar, head of the National Child Education and Training Organization, in an interview with the Fars news agency’s education reporter, said about the importance of stories and storytelling in the education of children and adolescents: Children are a group that communicates better with stories and narratives than direct telling; Sometimes we use abstract concepts or metaphors to understand some points. This is what stories do; Transforming and depicting the abstract and allegorical matter. Stories have such a function. Sometimes, a child may not understand the language of an adult in philosophical concepts; Such as death, friendship, self-sacrifice, etc., if these meanings can be easily conveyed through storytelling, and this is one of the special features of stories that have been used a lot even in the Qur’an.

In response to the question that “virtual space has had a negative effect on storytelling, he said: Today’s world is intermingled with the internet and this cannot be denied. It is important to know the injury part. In order to reduce this damage, we need to engage children with the real world and introduce them to the history and culture of their country. The story can be a strong competitor for the digital world. Even some internet programs have been able to include the story in their work and this is a step forward. Of course, there are limitations in this way, and it is not important to simply provide the story with a digital tool; Storytelling is much more effective when it is alive. The storyteller is involved in telling the story face to face, his emotions are involved and he can convey his feeling better.

The head of the National Child Education and Training Organization continued: “If we limit ourselves to cyberspace and remove live storytelling, it’s like leaving a child alone in a bookstore.” Well, he may not know his need and that’s why he should have a coach by his side. The storyteller is like a guardian who stands next to the flower bush to provide it with the needs of growth. Therefore, the storytelling festival can reveal those aspects and actually be a tribute to storytelling, which is a cultural issue.

Emphasizing the role of storytelling in building the world of children, Hemtifar added: Storytelling builds the world of people. The child learns many things from this passer-by; Especially children under school age who do not know how to read and write. Parents can create the children’s world with fictional stories or social facts or old stories. We can talk about the story of the creation of the world.

Referring to the importance of audience in storytelling, he emphasized: In the Qur’an, God guides people through story-telling, and in expressing part of the issues, he deals with the historical stories of prophets and previous nations. So we see that the story is a kind of tool for God and it can be for us too. Of course, in storytelling, we must consider the audience. The story for different ages is different in terms of expression and content. Storytelling culture has a historical background, especially in our oral literature, such as the stories read on Yalda night. Until a few years ago, grandmothers played an important role in storytelling. They had not bleached their hair in the mill, so to speak, and they had a lot to say.

The head of the National Child Education and Training Organization said about the cultural and social role of a festival like “Storytelling” from the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents: We had a lot of oral stories; The stories that were told from chest to chest. But in today’s educational system, storytelling is an element that receives less attention. Storytelling festival is an event that can achieve these goals with the help of prominent people in this field.

He continued: As I mentioned, the storytelling festival as a cultural event can highlight the place of storytelling in children’s education. Especially for organizations dealing with children under the age of seven. In kindergartens where children don’t have homework like in schools, games and stories are our educational tools. Therefore, in an event in the form of a festival where everyone gathers, it is both a presentation of experience and a symbolic aspect, and of course it is also a real and informative event.

The 24th International Storytelling Festival of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents has started on January 25 and will continue until the 29th of this month in Yazd.

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