Jamie Crawford: Storyteller

Journey to extraordinary worlds                   

  

                                                 Laugh out loud  

    Join in             Fall silent

                                in wonder                             

       Call out 

                                                       Jump with surprise

        Face the Monster    

                                      Grapple with riddles

                                            

     Follow the hero’s path                Sing along

               

               Get back in time for tea

 

         CAPTIVATE YOUR CLASS!

 

   Bring stories to life for your children.

    Engage reluctant readers and writers.  

    Transform speaking and listening skills.

   Instil a lifelong love of reading and stories.

    

As one of the most experienced storytellers in the country, I have developed a range of imaginative and innovative performance programmes specifically tailored for schools which truly lift stories of the page for all ages and abilities.

Story is the bridge from communication and language into literacy.                 Pie Corbett (Storytelling into Writing)

I actively encourage children to engage and participate in carefully selected stories through my shows and workshops to create a world of wonder and excitement about storytelling, reading, writing and sheer enjoyment of words.

 

Active involvement in traditional storytelling opens up access to the following key areas of learning:

CREATIVITY

Imaginative participation

Emotionally engaged listening

Interpretation, visualisation and improvisation

Active retelling to fresh audiences from other classes

COLLABORATION

Bonding as the audience in a live performance

Close co-operation in pairs and groups rehearsing a story

Children perform to each other, swapping stories they have practised

CONFIDENCE

Permission to play through story games

Valuing the child’s voice for its creative potential

Safe, supported, simple one-to-one storytelling tasks

Children allowed to choose their own performance boundaries  

Peer-group respect through telling and listening

 

Satisfied Customers

Following an extended year 6 project at St. John's Primary School in Gosport, literacy co-ordinator Anna Dawson wrote to me: My awe and wonder moment was watching James and Chloe, who have no confidence in themselves and who have been on the special needs register for much of their time with us, blossom during their time with you. Both have gone on to audition for main parts in our Shakespeare production and I really feel that is a result of their new found confidence.

 

Liz Upton of West Blatchington Junior School, Hove writes: The skills and confidence of the children on the autistic spectrum who took part in the weekly sessions grew as stories were carefully developed and then performed in front of others. The children benefited hugely. Facility staff now use story-telling as a means of helping to organise thoughts and focusing on the listener.

Verity Marlow of Purbeck School writes: We saw a marked improvement in a number of the Year 9 boys' attitudes towards writing and group activities and this transformed itself into some pleasing results in their first GCSE controlled assessment.

 

                        

I’M CURRICULUM FRIENDLY!
The National Literacy Strategy recommends that children explore differences and similarities between oral and written storytelling, and learn to retell stories themselves. Storytelling enriches National Curriculum topics, i.e. creation stories, Egyptian and Greek myths, Invaders and Settlers, multicultural themes, religious education, numeracy work. Ideal for arts and book weeks, and to celebrate the festival calendar, e.g. Christmas, Chinese New Year, Divali.

I also have a growing suite of legends and stories (and even the odd song!) from Sussex that are proving very popular. Among the themes covered are saints, dragons, blacksmithing, invaders and settlers.

PERFORMANCES:
For any size group up to whole school, usually 20-60 minutes.

WORKSHOPS:
For small groups (max 30) of junior age. Workshops involve the children hearing, practicing and retelling a traditional story. The form workshops take varies. For example: a 45 minutes session in which a class of children work in pairs to retell a 5 minute story to their peers, with up to half a dozen such sessions in a single day. Or, another example: a whole day for the creation of a storytelling cabaret, performed to a wider audience, with parents and staff involved. Works well for Gifted and Talented.

RATES:
Negotiable, from around £290 per day.

• Equity member
• Society for Storytelling member
• Qualified Primary Teacher
• Enhanced Disclosure Certificate

                                        For free stories click here