World of Story is an ongoing collection of folk tales developed by the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers in collaboration with community partners to support language and literacy development in families. The materials developed encourage families to read together and maintain first language fluency with their children. Through storytelling, we validate and celebrate the use of diverse languages in our community.
World of Story Online
Project History
In August 2003 the Edmonton Mennonite Centre For Newcomers in partnership with ASSIST Community Services Centre and Multicultural Health Brokers Co-operative initiated the Multicultural Literacy and Language Enhancement Project. The project began work through Alberta Advanced Education and Technology - Family Literacy Initiative Fund.
As the family literacy work began with refugee and immigrant families from around the world, the need for multilingual family literacy resources emerged.
In December 2004 the idea to host a multilingual storytelling celebration for Family Literacy Day developed to respond to the need for increased resources in diverse languages. The folk tale “The Enormous Turnip” by Alexis Tolstoy was chosen as the theme story for the day and retold in over 30 languages by volunteer storytellers. From there the little project grew and grew.
In the following two years the stories recorded include Uwungelema and A Bundle of Sticks. Each year the story was recorded by volunteer storytellers in over 30 languages.
In 2007 World of Story received funding from the Edmonton Cultural Capital: Voices Less Heard project to further expand the collection of stories. Working in collaboration with professional storytellers Renée Englot and Bethany Ellis, English Language Learners shared folk tales from their home countries. From these tales, a theme story was selected for the project. Theresa Saffa, originally from Sierra Leone, shared the story “The Stranger Who Snored”, learned from her grandfather as a child growing up in her village. This story was chosen for its humour and its message – a newcomer is welcomed into a community, enriching it with new practices. Participants were encouraged to use the story to reflect life in beautiful villages around the world, and the storytelling practices common to the respective cultures. Volunteer storytellers representing 36 languages retold and recorded the story.
Some stories reflect historic villages and practises. Some stories reflect the memories of special places described by family and friends. Some stories reflect the personal experience of the storyteller. The stories are not intended to be a cultural historical document, but rather provide an opportunity for sharing and learning across cultures.
2008-2009 saw yet another addition to our ongoing World of Story project. This year, we selected a Vietnamese folk story, "Toad is the Uncle of Heaven" and recorded it in 35 different languages. As well, on Family Literacy Day, January 27, we hosted an event to a packed house in City Hall to celebrate Family literacy through the telling of our story. The grade 2 children at Balwin School, a school we know well through our work in settlement in the schools, developed a theatrical telling of the story. As well, Global Voices choir sang, and the LINC students provided a popcorn telling of the story in over 18 languages.
Another highlight of the World of Story project was the printing of last year's story "The Stranger Who Snored, And Intercultural Folk Tale Exploration." This book is a collection of 15 tellings of the story in as many cultural settings. Story-teller Renee Englot compiled and edited the stories, and Roger Garcia, an Edmonton immigrant artist provided lively illustrations for each story. The book is available for purchase.
Through the support of E4C, we have been able to produce the folk stories to date as a printed series to distribute to libraries and headstart programs. As well, all materials except the "The Stranger Who Snored" book will be available on the EMCN website. The materials in audio and written form continue to be met with great interest.
Discoveries along the Way:
Although the primary goal of the initial project was to support language and literacy development in families, along the way other discoveries emerged:
Sharing of folk stories builds intercultural understanding. Although the folk stories may take different forms, the key values that the stories express are the same and these values can serve to connect diverse cultures.
Storytelling builds relationships in the family, community and inter-community level. Storytelling gives families, schools and communities opportunities to learn and celebrate together; to honour and appreciate diverse languages and together discover the value of
relationships.
Learning through the arts engages new ways of knowing and makes knowledge accessible to a wider variety of people. Through story, song, art and dance the creative process is ignited. Learning through the arts also has the ability to bridge gaps across generations, and indeed across cultures.
Shortly after the first celebration, a young child recently arrived in Canada listened to the story the Enormous Turnip in her home language and with a big smile reported, “I understood every word!” It is our hope that through this project children and parents can listen to the story and together say, “We understand.” May families also be inspired to share their stories, songs, and games in their home language and enhance the oral language skills of their children interconnected with culture, identity and literacy.
As you use the World of Story resources and share them with families in your program, school or community, we invite you to embark on a journey of learning and discovery together with parents and children from diverse cultures.
The World of Story collection of folk tales includes:
- Enormous Turnip (2005)
- Uwungelema (2006)
- Bundle of Sticks (2007)
- The Stranger Who Snored (2008)
- Toad is the Uncle of Heaven (2009)
- The Treasure in the Orchard (2010)
- The Mice and the Elephants (2011)
World of Story is an ongoing collection of folk tales developed by the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers in collaboration with community partners to support language and literacy development in families. The materials developed encourage families to read together and maintain first language fluency with their children. Through storytelling, we validate and celebrate the use of diverse languages in our community.
World of Story Online
Project History
In August 2003 the Edmonton Mennonite Centre For Newcomers in partnership with ASSIST Community Services Centre and Multicultural Health Brokers Co-operative initiated the Multicultural Literacy and Language Enhancement Project. The project began work through Alberta Advanced Education and Technology - Family Literacy Initiative Fund.
As the family literacy work began with refugee and immigrant families from around the world, the need for multilingual family literacy resources emerged.
In December 2004 the idea to host a multilingual storytelling celebration for Family Literacy Day developed to respond to the need for increased resources in diverse languages. The folk tale “The Enormous Turnip” by Alexis Tolstoy was chosen as the theme story for the day and retold in over 30 languages by volunteer storytellers. From there the little project grew and grew.
In the following two years the stories recorded include Uwungelema and A Bundle of Sticks. Each year the story was recorded by volunteer storytellers in over 30 languages.
In 2007 World of Story received funding from the Edmonton Cultural Capital: Voices Less Heard project to further expand the collection of stories. Working in collaboration with professional storytellers Renée Englot and Bethany Ellis, English Language Learners shared folk tales from their home countries. From these tales, a theme story was selected for the project. Theresa Saffa, originally from Sierra Leone, shared the story “The Stranger Who Snored”, learned from her grandfather as a child growing up in her village. This story was chosen for its humour and its message – a newcomer is welcomed into a community, enriching it with new practices. Participants were encouraged to use the story to reflect life in beautiful villages around the world, and the storytelling practices common to the respective cultures. Volunteer storytellers representing 36 languages retold and recorded the story.
Some stories reflect historic villages and practises. Some stories reflect the memories of special places described by family and friends. Some stories reflect the personal experience of the storyteller. The stories are not intended to be a cultural historical document, but rather provide an opportunity for sharing and learning across cultures.
2008-2009 saw yet another addition to our ongoing World of Story project. This year, we selected a Vietnamese folk story, "Toad is the Uncle of Heaven" and recorded it in 35 different languages. As well, on Family Literacy Day, January 27, we hosted an event to a packed house in City Hall to celebrate Family literacy through the telling of our story. The grade 2 children at Balwin School, a school we know well through our work in settlement in the schools, developed a theatrical telling of the story. As well, Global Voices choir sang, and the LINC students provided a popcorn telling of the story in over 18 languages.
Another highlight of the World of Story project was the printing of last year's story "The Stranger Who Snored, And Intercultural Folk Tale Exploration." This book is a collection of 15 tellings of the story in as many cultural settings. Story-teller Renee Englot compiled and edited the stories, and Roger Garcia, an Edmonton immigrant artist provided lively illustrations for each story. The book is available for purchase.
Through the support of E4C, we have been able to produce the folk stories to date as a printed series to distribute to libraries and headstart programs. As well, all materials except the "The Stranger Who Snored" book will be available on the EMCN website. The materials in audio and written form continue to be met with great interest.
Discoveries along the Way:
Although the primary goal of the initial project was to support language and literacy development in families, along the way other discoveries emerged:
Sharing of folk stories builds intercultural understanding. Although the folk stories may take different forms, the key values that the stories express are the same and these values can serve to connect diverse cultures.
Storytelling builds relationships in the family, community and inter-community level. Storytelling gives families, schools and communities opportunities to learn and celebrate together; to honour and appreciate diverse languages and together discover the value of
relationships.
Learning through the arts engages new ways of knowing and makes knowledge accessible to a wider variety of people. Through story, song, art and dance the creative process is ignited. Learning through the arts also has the ability to bridge gaps across generations, and indeed across cultures.
Shortly after the first celebration, a young child recently arrived in Canada listened to the story the Enormous Turnip in her home language and with a big smile reported, “I understood every word!” It is our hope that through this project children and parents can listen to the story and together say, “We understand.” May families also be inspired to share their stories, songs, and games in their home language and enhance the oral language skills of their children interconnected with culture, identity and literacy.
As you use the World of Story resources and share them with families in your program, school or community, we invite you to embark on a journey of learning and discovery together with parents and children from diverse cultures.
The World of Story collection of folk tales includes:
- Enormous Turnip (2005)
- Uwungelema (2006)
- Bundle of Sticks (2007)
- The Stranger Who Snored (2008)
- Toad is the Uncle of Heaven (2009)
- The Treasure in the Orchard (2010)
- The Mice and the Elephants (2011)