Raising a tribe of bubbly  storytellers  this summer vacation

BENGALURU: It’s summer time and if you are a parent, you are alreading looking at summer programmes and activities for your child.

Well, how about unleashing the storyteller in them? 
That is exactly what Nisha Abdulla is upto. She,along with her partner at Ever After Learning, Deeptha Vivekanand have come up with a summer programme for children -- “Tribe of Tellers”.

“We noticed from our work with schools that children often perform on stage in groups, but rarely get opportunities to perform solo at such a young age,” says Nisha, a performance storyteller. 

The opportunity to perform solo, however, is a huge learning experience, says Nisha. “The confidence the child gains from such a performance can be empowering,” says the writer and theatre practitioner.

With the programme, children will learn to coherently communicate their story in their own words. 
“In our first ever workshop of Tribe of Tellers, we had a 10-year-old who was so shy that she wasn’t audible to the person next to her in the circle we made every morning to kick off the day.

At the end of the workshop, when she went up on stage and performed a story with a voice that reached the last row, confidently using her hands and her body to engage the audience - we knew we had to do more of this,” says Nisha.

The programme has group activities to flourish a sense of community. 
“The tribe help each other in the preparation for performance, including how to give each other sincere and constructive feedback - a very important life lesson that is never taught to us in schools or at home,” adds Nisha. 

The summer programme for children - “Tribe of Tellers” will be held from May 1 to 6 for ages eight to 12 and from May 8 to 13 for ages five to seven at The Atelier, on Sarjapur Road.