Storytelling and Religious Education
Why tell stories?
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Story is one of the most potent of vehicles for the transmission of truths,
heritage, values, traditions and purpose.
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Religions commonly tell stories as part of communicating and teaching the faith.
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As teachers of RMPS part of our task is to encourage dialogue with and
understanding of different belief systems. Story is an excellent way in to this.

Story plays an essential part in developing and enriching children’s imagination,
intellect and ability to understand and make sense of human experience.

Stories can help us become capable of reflecting on things glimpsed but not fully
understood.

Stories are an effective way of communicating with a wide age/ability range
because they can operate on different levels depending on the receptivity of the
listener.

People enjoy stories!
“Stories are powerful things. They take you into new worlds, full of new sights
and sounds and smells and feelings. In these new worlds, things may be done
quite differently from the way they are done at home or at school. People in
story worlds may value and believe in different things from you. But you can
live in that different world as long as the story lasts. You learn a lot, and enjoy
yourself too.”
From The Slaying of the Dragon
by Prabhu Guptara
Some Examples of Ways of Using Stories in RMPS
To explore the teaching and beliefs of a religious tradition.

Tell the story of the crucifixion of Jesus (perhaps using David Kossof’s version
told through the eyes of the thief) and link to Christian teaching about
Resurrection or Godhood of Christ.
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‘Useless Work’ – a tale about two Buddhist monks and a young maiden – to
illustrate Buddhists teachings on right mindfulness. I think there is a version in
one of Fisher’s books.
To explore key features of religion.

Get pupils, working in groups, to tell different stories based on the theme the
class is studying, e.g. creation, festivals, good and evil, important people, people’s
relationship to nature/animals.

Use stories to explore key religious concepts, e.g. ‘Good in Bad, Bad in Good’ (Ying
and Yang) and other stories from Fisher’s books.
To explore the purpose/use of religious artefacts.

Use the artefact as a prop when telling a story associated with it, e.g. the 5 Ks
when telling the story of the formation of the Khalsa.

A version of ‘Call My Bluff’ using artefacts. Pupils should research how and why a
specific artefact is used and then create two or three stories (only one of which
is true) to tell to the rest of the class. The class then guess which is the true
version.
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Personal artefact – Pupils could be asked to bring in something that means a lot to
them and talk about why. Teacher could model this with an example of their own.
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’What am I?’ - Take on role of a believer and tell the story of a specific time you
used the chosen artefact and why it is important to you - class to guess which
artefact you have in box.

‘Artefact Hot Seat’ - Someone sits in middle of circle holding artefact. Rest of
class ask questions to find out about what the artefact is, how it is used, etc.
To explore moral values/issues of morality.

Use Jakata Tales or Aesop’s Tales to illustrate the idea of common values like
honesty, generosity, patience, friendliness, equality, etc.

‘The Clever Hunter and the Moon Spirit’ (See Ganeri’s book) – Malaysian tale
which explains how humans first learned right from wrong – told at the beginning
of a unit looking at rules and responsibilities.
To explore the idea of sacred space.

In pairs – tell your partner about a place that is special to you – say where it is,
what it is like and why it is special. Perhaps you have a story about it. Discuss
features of these special places and use this as a way in to talk about sacred
places and their importance for believers.

Tell stories associated with sacred places, e.g. Bernadette of Lourdes; the origin
of the Ganges.

I bring to this sacred building… Pupils form a circle and ‘create’ a place of worship
– each one in turn says what they will bring to the sacred building; allow passes.
The idea is to end up with an imaginary ‘sacred place’ within the circle which
contains all the major features. Volunteers could go for a walk in the sacred space
and describe in more detail what they ‘see’ and ‘feel’. Could be used for
assessment.
To explore ‘ways of seeing’.
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The Elephant Story – an old Indian tale which explores different
perspectives/’ways of seeing’.
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Re-telling a familiar story from an unfamiliar angle, e.g. the story of Little Red
Riding Hood from the wolf’s perspective.
To give pupils an opportunity to apply problem solving skills.
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Stories like ‘The Guru and His Cloak’ give opportunities for pupils to apply
problem solving in a moral context. When telling the story pupils could be
presented with the problem facing the Guru – he wants to get all 52 of his
friends out of prison but he is only allowed to take out those who can hold on to
his cloak – and asked how they would solve the problem.
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Stories based on real-life situations can give pupils the opportunity to suggest
solutions to difficult dilemmas. For example, a dilemma is presented as a story –
you see your friend stealing from someone’s schoolbag – and pupils have to
continue the story giving a variety of alternative endings depending on the actions
taken by the different characters.
To ‘break the ice’/getting to know your pupils/engage pupils in lesson.
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Use ‘Things about me’ stories as a fun ice breaker. State two or three things
about yourself – one should be false – rest of class decide which is false.
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This can also be adapted to explore the nature of truth/untruth? In this version
you tell two short anecdotal stories about yourself – one is true and one is false
and get class to vote on which is which. How did they decide? How do we tell
when someone is lying?
To encourage pupils to relate to religious experience in a personal way.

Each pupil gets one minute to tell a personal tale. Maybe on theme – awe, wonder,
quiet, stillness, happiness. Or maybe about an event related to topic being
studied. - Need to make time to get to relate to people’s experiences. To open up
the ‘spirit’ in everyone. Story allows that – it touches places pure facts don’t
reach. Essence. Sharing. Creative space. Don’t get bogged down.

Think about personal, special places, e.g. a tree that is important to you – how do
you feel when you are there?, why is it important?, etc > link to religious sacred
places.

Create stories from pictures/music. Look at religious art or listen to religious
music and get pupils to create the story which comes to mind when they
look/listen.
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Journal writing – reflective writing - see Bibliography for some sources of ideas.
To provide pupils with an opportunity to present their work in an alternative way
and/or extend their creativity.

If pupils have to give feedback to their classmates why not allow them to ‘tell a
story’. This is especially welcomed by pupils with certain specific learning needs
who may find talking much easier than writing.

Getting pupils to re-tell/re-write stories to suit a modern audience can be a good
way of checking if they have understood the basic message of the tale.

Using existing tales as exemplars get pupils to write their own ‘religious’ tales, e.g.
to explain how a local feature in the landscape was formed, or to explain why
people die, or to encourage people to love their neighbour, etc.
Some Tips on How to Memorize a Story
“When you tell a story, one of the reasons that you feel as if you are
thinking of what to say is that that is precisely what you are doing.
The gist of a story is what is held in memory, not the particular words
that comprise the story itself. When we tell a story, we are
transforming the gist into a story in a particular language with
particular words, suitable for telling to the person who is listening. We
can tell the same story in different ways in order to satisfy different
goals.”
(p.170/171, ‘Tell Me a Story’ by Roger C. Shank)
So when memorizing a story it is the gist you want to commit to your memory, not
every tiny detail. Don’t worry unduly about the details; they will come to you in the
process of telling the story. The secret is to commit the essential elements to
memory and then practise telling your tale a few times before the actual
‘performance’.
Keep practicing. People love to listen to stories so you shouldn’t be short of an
audience. And remember, at the end of a ‘telling’ don’t apologise for the quality of
what you did and don’t identify any omissions. Be gentle with yourself. The listener
may not have noticed/ ‘mistakes’ might not detract from their imagining of the story.
Whatever happens, don’t panic! Enjoy and let the story do its work.
Some Techniques to Try (with thanks to Alan Davies)
Mapping:
On a large sheet of paper draw a series of simple images that
tell the story. Focus on the really important characters and
events. Don’t worry about the artistic merit of the drawings.
Try not to use any words, and join the pictures by means of
arrows. Do it as quickly as you can. The aim is to get a sense of
the overall shape of the story without being distracted by
details.
Seven Words:
Make a list of the seven words that you feel summarises the
story best. The list might contain central characters, key
props, locations or abstract things like ‘revenge’, ‘loss’, ‘truth’,
etc. This is a good way to reduce the story to its barest bones.
Newspaper
Headline:
Try and summarise the story in a newspaper headline. It can be
fun to think of how different newspapers might ‘headline’ the
story. This helps to clarify the essential aspects and overall
feel of the story.
Three Minute
Story:
Tell the story to a partner as quickly as you can – strictly no
more than three minutes. This forces you to concentrate on the
essentials of the story. There is no time for details. It’s also a
good laugh.
Story in a
Breath:
Again working with a partner, tell the story in one breath! This
is quite a challenge but great fun.
Action/
Description:
Work with a partner and select a section of the story. Take
turns to tell each other the section of the story. As the teller
progresses the listener says either ‘action’ or ‘description’.
If the listener says ‘action’ the teller must avoid any descriptive
language and relate only what happens in the simplest, most
direct language possible.
If the listener says ‘description’ the teller must freeze the
action and describe the scene in great detail.