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myth south african story storytelling for children

The two hungers of the bushmen

“The Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert talk about the two “hungers”. There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger. The Little Hunger wants food for the belly; but the Great Hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning… There is ultimately only one thing that makes human beings deeply […]

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change management conflict management corporate culture

The cheese and the christmas party

Once there was and once there was not, a successful IT company based in Johannesburg. It was expanding quickly and had a very hands-on managing director who had grown the company from his bedroom at home to an operation that employed 80 specialist developers and programmers in plush offices in Rosebank. The MD led by […]

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storytelling storytelling for children

International Literacy Day Storytelling Activities

International Literacy Day is celebrated annually on September 8th  throughout the world for 60 years now – you can read more about it here. Often schools like to do something to celebrate this event and each year we get requests from teachers from all over the world around what they could do on the day […]

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metaphor myth narrative storytelling

The edge of the village

Once there was, and once there was not that a traveler arrived at the outskirts of a village where he saw an old man sitting on a rock. ‘What kind of people live in this village?’ Asked the traveller. ‘First, tell me where have you come from and what were the people like there?’ Answered […]

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storytelling storytelling for children

The water bearer

Once Upon a Time…A water bearer from a dusty African village had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. The other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of […]

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storytelling storytelling coaching storytelling for children teaching story

Teaching story – the lipstick on the mirror

According to a news report, a certain private school in Brisbane was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving […]

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culture edutainment storytelling storytelling for children teaching story

Wangari Maathai about teaching through story

Because Kikuyu culture was oral, refined methods had been developed of passing knowledge to, and shaping the values of, future generations through, among other activities, stories. Many of the stories had become very elaborate and subtle, like myths, because they had been told in various forms over many generations. Kikuyu stories were filled with animals […]