Teacher Turned Storyteller: The Story of Sadhna Menon

Storytellers often cite immense joy in telling stories to little children and toddlers. They are uninhibited, responsive and extremely imaginative. This aspect of little kids is what appealed to Sadhna Menon and turned her into a storyteller. A chirpy and fun-loving person, Sadhna is a Montessori teacher gifted with immense patience. She loves it when toddlers open up their hearts to her and share all their stories. Their stories takes her to a far away land where she can be a child again and imagine the world through a child’s eye, enjoying every bit of it.

Sadhna became a storyteller after the birth of her son. As a full time mother, she realized that so many things, so many important lessons were best taught through stories. Her quest for more stories took her to Little Readers’ Nook (LRN) and she signed up as a LRN story-educator 2 years ago.

• Know more about Indian Storytelling Traditions [Get it here]

We spoke to Sadhna about her love for storytelling. Here are some excerpts:

Tell us the story of your journey to becoming a storyteller. What challenges did you face?

I took a break from my full time job after my son was born. With my kid, I realized the true power of storytelling, so I set about researching related fun activities for toddlers. That’s when I came across Little Readers’ Nook. There was no LRN center where we lived, so I decided to sign-up with them and start the sessions for the benefit of children in my neighborhood. Having already worked in a pre-school setup  and managed the same at different levels – as a teacher, center manager, area supervisor, was an advantage for me. I already had the requisite experience in this field.

Of course, this time it was my own venture, and setting up something new on your own is always a challenge. The main challenge is finding takers. I started at my residence, in a society, with lots of children between 3 to 6 years. When I started there were just 4 kids but slowly the numbers grew. I received mostly positive feedback, and soon was able to start multiple sessions. As word spread, I was approached by a children’s library – Nutty Newtons, to start sessions at their center as well. Numbers would fluctuate, parents would take breaks. But once they realized the benefits of these sessions the numbers started to grow. The children would not want to miss a single story and would keep coming back! Since then things have only looked up and there is a certain stability reached now.

What are the kind of audiences you work with? Which is your favorite audience?

My target audience are children in the age group of 3 to 6 years. Children are always the best audience, especially the young ones. They are forever curious and always eager to learn. They go with the flow and really get involved in the story. They are also highly observant, managing to always spot the minutest of details!

How have the stories in your life influenced your style of storytelling and the way you use stories?

When narrating a story to children it’s great to be able to connect it with a real life adventure or an actual event. This is when I bring out stories from my past. I’m able to express the story’s concept with a lot more detail .

For example, when talking about animals, ask how many have seen the animals – maybe on a safari or in a farm. Once while talking about balancing an object on your head, we remembered the Rajasthani folk dancers from Udaipur; and a little 4-year old was so excited to share her experiences of seeing these dancers.

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Any particular incident/anecdote from your workshops/sessions that is special to you?

Every session is fun. Some more so when the feedback is that the child reached home and repeated the story thrice to his mother! It is nice to know that a child remembers words heard in the stories and puts it to use very aptly, “Mama I will not be tardy for story class.”

There many such memorable moments from every session.

Any story that you particularly love using?

The theme of every session is different so we can’t really have a particular story that can be repeated. However, there is a favorite in every theme.

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Do you think storytelling can be adopted as a full-time profession? Your advice to those who want to do so.

One can definitely be a full time story teller. It is a profession that offers endless possibilities. Sessions can be conducted at various schools and for different age groups, including adults; as an extra curricular activity or as a part of school session; there are multiple techniques that can be employed. Other than schools, storytellers can also approach corporates, NGO’s, daycares. A story teller can, quite literally, travel places with just one story in hand.

For any storyteller, love for ‘all’ children, oodles of patience, a good command over the language one chooses, and a willingness to learn and experiment is mandatory. Once you know you have this you can surely be a good storyteller; the rest is just lots of hard work!

Your advice to parents and teachers on why and how they should keep stories alive.

Stories are not just for life skills and for kids. Stories are a way of teaching various subjects – language, maths, social skills, cultures and much more!! The best way to do it is through expressive narrative styles – sing a story, enact it and allow the child to imagine!

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Sadhna Menon is a storyteller with Little Readers’ Nook. Read more about Little Readers’ Nook here.

Don’t Miss: We love storytellers as much as we love storytelling. On Tell-a-Tale, lwe’ve featured a lot of talented storytellers, in the past.

Are you a Storyteller? If you’re a storyteller who is actively pursuing storytelling and would like to be featured in this column, drop us a mail at contact AT tell-a-tale.com or reach out to us via Facebook or Twitter.