Sarah Rundle,  a professional storyteller and actor based in London, gave a performance to our PYP4, PYP5,MYP1 and MYP2  students early in the month and the students were captivated by her performance. The Primary students were enthusiastic participants in the performance and had many questions for her at the end of the session.

Two of our teachers then attended a  workshop on storytelling at the British Council Library, Pune, facilitated by Sarah. It was a fun filled afternoon, telling and enacting stories.

At the workshop they learned some storytelling techniques such as  ‘Boning a story’ – to reduce a story to a few simple bones, then adding some ‘flesh’ to the story. It became clear that detailed visual images could be created simply by the power of listening and speaking. The brain often processes visual images. It was interesting to note that what really made a story interesting were the ‘emotions’.

The workshop ended with a quote from Vayu Naidu, “The storyteller does not construct the story. The listener constructs the story inside their own mind. It is the storyteller’s job to connect the listener with their own half-remembered emotions.”

It was a very engaging and interesting workshop and we look forward to sharing our new skills with students and teachers alike.

Monday, 21st November, saw the long awaited arrival of Craig Jenkins.  He has been to MBIS previously and our students were excited that he was returning, it is fair to say he is a firm favourite with our teachers and students alike.

In the PYP we had three sessions to allow him to present to specific age groups and ensure that all the students could benefit from his visit.

Craig was amazed at how our students could recall in detail his stories from previous visits over the years. As always the students were full of questions, eager to take part and presented themselves as an appreciative audience.

Craig, as always, captivated his audience, we all took an active part and thoroughly enjoyed our time with him.  We look forward to his return in the years to come.