Tell Me a Story: a Guide to Traditional Storytelling

via Udemy

Go to Course: https://www.udemy.com/course/tell-me-a-story/

Introduction

Certainly! Here's a comprehensive review and recommendation for the Coursera course "Tell Me a Story: a Guide to Traditional Storytelling": --- **Course Review: "Tell Me a Story: a Guide to Traditional Storytelling"** "Tell Me a Story: a Guide to Traditional Storytelling" is a deeply inspiring and enriching online course that aims to revive the ancient art of oral storytelling. Taught by Nicola-Jane le Breton, a seasoned creative writing teacher and arts facilitator, along with theatre director Silvia Lehmann, this course offers a unique exploration into the lost craft of storytelling and its profound cultural and spiritual significance. **Overview and Content** This course is a beautifully crafted journey into understanding and developing the timeless art of storytelling. It emphasizes reclaiming storytelling as a means of cultural connection, personal reflection, and reconnecting with nature and community. The course does not follow a rigid syllabus but instead guides students through practical techniques, personal reflection, and creative exercises to nurture their innate storytelling abilities. Participants will learn how to remember and craft traditional tales, build a personal relationship with stories, and experiment with delivering stories in various settings—whether around a fireside, outdoors, or within a community. The course also encourages exploring the deeper symbolic meanings of stories, offering insights into how storytelling can serve as a form of “story medicine” to foster healing, inspiration, and connection. **Who Is It For?** This course is ideal for a diverse range of learners: - Parents seeking meaningful ways to engage with their children - Individuals wanting to boost social confidence and share wisdom - Those interested in exploring their mythic and ancestral roots - Nature lovers eager to incorporate storytelling in outdoor settings - Anyone feeling they lack storytelling skills or memory confidence - People wanting to communicate insights and wisdom in a more engaging, non-didactic manner **What Will You Gain?** By the end of the course, you will: - Recognize and develop your natural storytelling talent - Gain practical storytelling techniques and resources - Connect with the global storytelling revival movement - Boost your confidence to improvise and personalize stories - Appreciate the symbolic and healing power of stories - Begin building your own collection of oral stories - Feel inspired to contribute to the worldwide storytelling renaissance **Pros & Highlights** - Personal and reflective approach emphasizing emotional and spiritual connection - Practical exercises for storytelling practice - Focus on traditional tales, cultural heritage, and nature-based stories - Courses’ flexibility allows learners to integrate lessons into their lives at their own pace - Taught by experienced educators with a passion for storytelling **Recommendation** I highly recommend "Tell Me a Story: a Guide to Traditional Storytelling" for anyone interested in exploring or revitalizing the art of oral storytelling. It is especially beneficial for those seeking a spiritual or cultural connection, parents looking to create meaningful experiences, or individuals who wish to develop their communication skills in a creative, non-verbal manner. Whether you're a complete beginner or someone with some storytelling experience, this course will deepen your understanding, awaken your creative spirit, and connect you to a centuries-old tradition that still holds relevance today. Enroll now and begin your journey back to the roots of storytelling—an art that can transform your personal life and enrich your community. --- Let me know if you'd like a shorter summary or additional insights!

Overview

Oral storytelling is a lost art that is beginning to revive across the world. Once it was a rich and integral tradition, passed on through families and communities. Stories carried important cultural knowledge and wisdom to be shared down through the generations. In the space of less than a century, this art has largely disappeared from our communities and families.Tell Me a Story will introduce you to the art and craft of developing this ancient skill, using proven story-learning techniques to help you remember the structure and detail of traditional tales.The course includes opportunities to reflect on what stops you from telling stories now and to clarify your vision of the kind of storyteller you'd like to become.You will be encouraged to explore the deeper meaning (for you) of the stories you select to learn - building a relationship with your story, making it your own and reflecting on its ‘story medicine' gifts.In a world now mapped by digital hyper-connectivity, so many of us are disconnected from the natural and human communities that surround us. Renewing the art of storytelling may offer a remedy for reconnection. As we sit by the family fireside, or in forests and by streams, listening to stories told from memory, with gesture and expressive voice, we feel our hearts and minds awaken to ancient ways of relating to each other, to nature and to the sacred. We begin to remap ourselves and our world into wholeness.A well-told story is spellbinding: we walk away with fresh insights, challenged by questions or mysteries-our emotions and spirits stirred into new possibilities of becoming.Toko-pa Turner writes in her book ‘Belonging': "There is a world behind this world. The old cultures used to be in constant conversation with it through the sacred practices of storytelling, dreaming, ceremony, and song. They invited the Otherworld to visit them, to transmit its wisdom to them, so that they might be guided by an ancient momentum. But as we succumbed to the spell of rationalism, the living bridge between the worlds fell into disrepair. As fewer made the journey ‘back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,' we forgot how to find the Otherworld."Reclaiming your inner storyteller builds a bridge between you and the Otherworld to enable many magical journeys back and forth for years to come.Who is this course for?You are a parent who would like to spend more creative and meaningful time with your childrenYou would like more social confidence - new ways of sharing old wisdom with friendsYou would like to reconnect with the magic of your mythic journey and draw inspiration from the old talesYou are keen to reconnect to your ancestral heritage and landsYou long to reconnect to Mother Earth by learning nature tales and telling stories outdoorsYou feel you lack the skills or presence to tell a story wellYou think your memory is not good enough to remember a storyYou want to deliver wisdom and insights in a more spacious way that is not didactic or moralising.During this course, you will…Recognise your innate storytelling ability and experienceDiscover many online resources and books for traditional storiesPractice tried and true story learning and telling skills.Gain insight into your life's journey through traditional talesGlimpse the power of story medicineBuild a relationship with your story to make it your own while retaining its key elements.Practice your story in different ways and contextsBe introduced to the worldwide storytelling renaissance.At the end of this course, you willFeel more confident in your unique storytelling styleTrust yourself to improvise your story, rather than trying to remember it word-for-wordNever be short of ideas or resources for story-findingHave begun your own oral story collectionUnderstand the importance of building a personal relationship with the stories you tellSee parallels and symbols in traditional tales that offer solace, encouragement, and inspiration for your life's journeyEnjoy being creative and experimenting with how you practice and tell your story.See many ways you could contribute to the worldwide storytelling renaissance.The course is taught by Nicola-Jane le Breton, a creative writing teacher and arts facilitator who runs a storytelling development project and monthly workshops in her home community in Western Australia, together with theatre director Silvia Lehmann.Enrol now to learn a uniquely insightful and powerful approach to storytelling.

Skills

Reviews