Use of the storyboad when children create stories

So far in DigiStory we have experimented with two types of techniques to get children to invent a story. One of them is allowing them to work individually, developing their own characters and drawing the plot up within storyboards. I have developed a little video that illustrates the practice. The advantage of this approach is that the children develop their imagination and zero in on the characters that they like. We have found the use of storyboards highly effective for this because the storyboard presents a sequence where the children can develop a plot in an orderly sequential manner. Using blank pages does not seem to be as conducive to sequential plot development as children seem to then concentrate on doing just one illustration. Story boarding seems to be more conducive for the children to think in terms of small sequences of events tied together which then they can illustrate.





Individual work also allows children to explore the situations that are of importance or relevant to them. I had for example a little girl developing a story about a crab caught in a fishing net, and this story meant something to her because her father took her fishing frequently and her father was abroad and she missed him. Individual work therefore seems to allow children to explore their own emotional issues within a safe environment. Group work seems to do different things.... More about this later on.

The legend of the tree and the moon: the mate tree

Having a mate is one of the pleasures of spending time in Argentina. I have had the fortune of visiting this country a number of times and have always been fascinated by the pungent, strong and very very invigorating mate tea. It is much healthier and nicer than coffee. It is also drunk socially sharing from a gourd. I can still feel the strength coming into my tired jet-lagged body as an Argentinean friend prepared it for me, or as they say...'cebar el mate". The story that I have just placed on the Stories from the Americas is coming from the Guarani Indians and is a wonderful story combining, magic, a lost child, a tiger and the moon.

Why does the melipona bee love the scent of vanilla?

Well, you guessed it, vanilla, also comes from the Americas and is another one of the wonderful gifts from this continent to the rest of the world.

I researched a number of legends and eventually settled on the story of the love
between Xanath and her artist lover Tzarahuin (beautiful goldfinch). It is a lovely story with magical transformations, an irate god and a bee. Interestingly, apparently when the Spaniards came to Mexico, they were soon enchanted by the flavour and wonderful smell of this plant, however, although they took the plant back to Spain, they could not pollinate the plant. It needed the magic of a very special insect which only grew in Veracruz. John Todd junior has a wonderful website called Adventures detailing the pollination of this wonderful plant. . However, if what you want is to read the legend of the vainilla, as told by the Totonaca people, the builders of the pyramid of the niches in Tajin, look no further and take yourself to Stories from the Americas.

The wondeful image of the "danzantes" the flying dancers in Tajin was taken by AboGabo.