Video summary
Former National Storytelling Laureate Katrice Horsley talks about her life and the spark that got her interested in storytelling.
Katrice explains that, as a child, she chose not to speak because she had problems forming words.
As a result, she retreated into a world of imagination - creating internal narratives to help her feel safe.
At five her stories began tumbling out, and she hasn’t stopped talking since.
But it wasn’t until she went to live in Ghana, where she saw communities being educated in real life skills via the medium of storytelling, that her own ‘spark’ moment occurred.
Realising that stories are powerful and important tools she returned to the UK, where she has worked in schools and communities sharing brilliantly illuminating stories ever since.
Teacher Notes
This short film could be used in a careers lesson, to help pupils realise that anyone can become a storyteller.
This could lead to a research project about how to become an author and how your pupils' favourite authors started writing.
In creative writing classes, pupils could create their own fantasy world and write a story, either about something they have experienced or a fictional situation.
Pupils could practise their storytelling and oral skills by reading their stories to the rest of the class.
Afterwards they could put them together as a class book and write to publishers to see if they can get their book published.
This short film will be relevant for teaching Modern Studies or English.
This topic appears in KS2 / KS3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd level in Scotland.
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