This course is designed to help you learn and improve storytelling skills. 

Yes, it would be possible to simply show these stories to students, because they are presented in full as if being told to an audience. However, we hope that most will attempt to tell the stories because it is such a lively experience to share that process with children young and old.

The telling of and listening to the story is the foundation of almost all of the work done in Waldorf education. So, when we are able to tell stories in a way that supports the imagination process, we give the student the best possible foundation on which to build. 

​

We will take each lesson to look at simple skills that enhance the entire experience of storytelling, for both the storyteller and for the listeners. We will look at classic and archetypal gestures, the overall mood appropriate for the audience you have, how to use the five physical senses to engage the full imagination of the audience, and how to appeal to the four classic temperaments. While the primary focus of this course is in relation to storytelling for First Grade Waldorf Education, the skills introduced and practiced in this course are universally applicable to any storytelling setting. 

This course includes thirty-six stories from the fairytale and folktale traditions of many cultures in the world, each one presented in full by Rev Bowen, the course instructor. As such, they are only examples of what can be done. You will be able to copy these stories and techniques. You will also be able to apply your storytelling skills to any stories you choose to tell your student(s) or any other audiences.