Once Upon a Time, Kids Practiced an Ancient Art

Hoping to breathe life into the lost art of storytelling, a group of middle school students Thursday shared their talents and tales with young pupils at Hidden Hills Elementary School.

Rotating from class to class, the 20 students from Niguel Hills Middle School’s Storytelling Club entertained kids from kindergarten through fifth grade with animated and engaging stories that ranged from animal anecdotes and German folk tales to Native American legends and American fables.

“It’s fun,” said eighth-grade presenter Maureen Vincenty, president of the storytellers club. “I like working with kids and I like telling stories.”

Developed four years ago on campus to help students improve their public speaking and develop storytelling skills, the club is made up of about 30 boys and girls from sixth to eighth grade.

Meeting twice a week before school, the junior storytellers discuss various stories, select a tale to tell and practice memorizing and reciting their lines in front of each other. The students also receive professional pointers from members of the South Coast Storytellers Guild, who volunteer their time to teach students storytelling skills such as voice inflection, characterization, delivery and movement.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Niguel Hills teacher and club advisor Dennis Orgeron said. “It’s kind of neat to see someone who’s 11 or 12 years old standing in front of a classroom.”

Club members trained for five months before taking their tales on the road, visiting four nearby elementary schools. The response to their work has been so positive that the storytelling students have been invited by guild members to showcase their skills at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach this summer.

Sixth-grader Brent Lawson said he joined the club because he liked telling stories and thought the training would help his public speaking. But he said the best part about storytelling is seeing how the students’ eyes light up when they like a story.

“You feel like you’re doing something for the students and not just for yourself,” Lawson said.

At the end of the presentations, the middle school students answered questions and talked to the elementary classes about their tales and storytelling techniques, inviting them to participate in the program when they get to Niguel Hills.

Second-grader Tristan Devaney enjoyed the storytelling performance, adding, “The stories were so funny.”