Kathakalpa

Storytelling

Storytelling:

We, human beings are social creatures; we can’t live without interactions. If that interaction is in a profound way that makes sense to others then they will understand you better and story helps us here. E veryone enjoys a good story. Our brains become more active when we are being involved in a story. The reason behind this involvement is simple, when we are listening to a story we are not just listening to the words, we are able convert those words into characters, emotions, expressions etc. In this process we use our whole brain by asking questions, solving problems of the characters, visualizing places etc.

We learn by experience, but we can’t experience everything and learn, because, we have got only one life. So the shortest way to experience something is a STORY. We want our children to be good communicators, great achievers, well balanced folks. Stories are the shortest way to this. When the children are happy they learn more. What makes them happier than that immersing in a creative world of story? You don’t need expensive toys, games, electronic gadgets to teach your children learn important life skills, just tell them more stories.

Our Workshops include carefully chosen age wise Stories and related activities to teach respective skills to children. Here we pay attention not only on storytelling but also on communication and writing skills.

These skills are useful to us to analyse information, remember and retrieve data and take decisions. This is the reason why written test for any interview has reasoning, aptitude questions even through there is no direct relationship with the work they do. Employer believes that who score good marks will be able to solve problems, deal projects and figure out the good results.

Thinking skills mainly categorized into

Problem solving:
In our day to day life we need to solve so many problems irrespective of gender, age, position and size and impact of the decision. Some (many) times we may face failures but the experience is invaluable. If we come to kids, they learn problem solving from everyday situations if we put them in a correct direction they will make it into a habit and also teach leadership, teamwork, creativity, persistence and more Having critical thinking skills allows one to ascertain the problem and come up with creative solutions Once we get confidence on our capabilities like how you visualize the problems and analyse the situation that leads children develop their skills.

Critical Thinking:
Everyone thinks; but the way we think effects our decisions and the results. Critical thinking involves thinking clearly, understanding the logic between the ideas. It involves questions like what, who, where, when, why and how.It consists of seeing both sides of an issue.

Why are we able to think critically in one situation, but not in another?
Anything you hear or read is automatically interpreted in light of what you already know about similar subjects. The cognitive system gambles that incoming information will be related to what you’ve just been thinking about. Thus, it significantly narrows the scope of possible interpretations of words, sentences, and ideas. So Our Thought processes are intertwined with what is being thought about. So accessing information alone is not enough but acquiring knowledge, retaining experiences make differences in our thinking.

Communication:

Oral skills:
Many think just learning other language is enough to improve communication skills but not actually….Reading, writing and listening are 3 main facets of communication skills. Words can do little with communication because we communicate 75% through our body language. Expressing our feelings, thoughts play crucial role to get our point to get others understand our point. So here the point is not just communicating words but communicating our views effectively. Listening skills play a big role to improve our Interpersonal Skills which we use in the face-to-face communication.

Writing Skills:
In this globalized era it’s not always possible to communicate our point directly to others, so written communication is also very important. Here the ability to write effectively is the key because we don’t have a chance to use our body language.

Creativity:
It’s an ability see things in new ways and come up with brighter solutions. Children are not equally intelligent in the same they are all not equally creative. But we can help children develop their creativity. It’s a core skill to excel in any part of learning like science, math, social, Art; music etc. creative people are good at solving problems, being flexible and more adaptable, essential qualities to excel in anything in the world. We don’t need to expensive structured toys to develop children creativity, actually shouldn’t use. Here the key is to make them as problem solvers so provide them unstructured, messy, no rules environment with no time limit. Always ask them to come up with more than one solution to a problem. Always try to encourage them to focus on the process not on the outcome.

Attention skills
It is a skill that one can focus on a task and filtering distractions. Children might focus on tasks that are interesting to them, but have difficulty concentrating on activities that are not interesting. So make them interested on the important tasks is the key.

Children can develop their social and emotional skills through social relationships including adults and children around them. For small children they include how to wait for their turns while playing, how to negotiate in everyday situations, how to take decisions on what to eat, what to wear etc. For older children these skills include get along with others, knowing what they can do and feeling good about them and also expressing their feelings and solve problems and being resilient is important of all. We can teach these skills through every day everyday situations with little efforts.

Emotional Intelligence:

“It is an ability to recognize, control and express our emotions”. The most important facets of emotional intelligence are empathy and connecting to other people. We all agree that Brain is like a muscle the more we use the sharper it becomes. Children brains are young and brain development is 90% finished by the age of four, in this stage children can absorb and learn many things. So this is the best time to be inculcating the strategies of life skills. Children can develop their emotional intelligence during the early years of life with little efforts from our side as parents.

Resilience:A big banyan tree grows from a tiny seed, our children are just like that seed, all we need to do is to provide sunshine, water and soil in the farm of social and emotional skills. The sooner you begin this, the better chances they have of developing their skills. Resilience is the ability to bounce back the difficulties. This is not a skill we use in a regular basis, we don’t know when we need this because we don’t know when we get problems. Teaching how to handle stress in early years will help children to get ready for challenges ahead.