[Publib] Re: Storytelling in aboriginal languages

[Julie Bauer]

I took my kids to a program at the National Museum of
African Art in Washington DC that featured two
storytellers.  Each told the same story, alternating
English and an African language -- sorry, can't
remember which language.  While they spoke, a
projector showed illustrations from the book they were
using.  It was lovely.  The illustrations helped keep
the children focused, and the African language speaker
made it sound  almost like music.


--- Kate Wolicki <Kwolicki at nileslibrary.org> wrote:

> I once saw two storytellers tell the same story,
> taking turns, to show
> how the same story existed in both african-american
> and jewish-american
> folk tales.  One would say a sentence or give a
> brief incident, and then
> the other would give the parallel.  It wasn't boring
> at all, in fact it
> was fascinating because you were able to see the
> similarities and
> differences in the tales right away, and you didn't
> lose the thread of
> the story.  Would something like that work for your
> stories?  You could
> alternate lines and work out gestures to be similar.
> 
> If no storyteller speaks the aboriginal language, I
> have two more ideas
> that assume someone can work out a few phrases:
> 
> Perhaps you could use the aboriginal language to
> give dialogue, and
> repeat in spanish?  "So and so said 'aboriginal
> language phrase' [pause]
> 'spanish language phrase'"  
> 
> I have seen storytellers very effectively teach the
> listeners to repeat
> a line in another language, and put parts in the
> story where the
> listeners use that phrase, or have a call/response
> at the beginning of
> the story where listeners use a phrase in another
> language.  There is an
> interesting discussion of this at
>
http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afrstory.htm.
> 
> 
> traditional costume & gestures might help show
> respect for the original
> language, and maybe a book display about the
> language.  And bilingual
> leaflets sound like a great idea! 
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> Kate Wolicki
> Niles Public Library District
> Niles, IL
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Publib mailing list
> Publib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib
>