The Introduction to Storytelling  Workshop registration is now open, and the course will run on Saturday 25th May and Saturday 1st June. 

This course which \has been run in one form or another by Sheila Wee since 1999, has come back to its original home under Singapore Book Council and will be held at the Book Councils’ Training Room in  Goodman Arts Centre.

It has been expanded into a 2-day course (which can be separated into 2  x 1-day modules)  and has been approved for SkillsFuture funding.  (This means that  Singaporeans over 25 can use their $500  SkillsFuture credit to offset the cost of the course). 

To see more information about the course please go the following Eventbrite links.

Introduction to Storytelling 1 – Saturday 25 May, 9.30am to 5.45pm 

https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/introduction-to-storytelling-i-tickets-56964530444?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Introduction to Storytelling 2  – Saturday 1 June, 9.30am to 5.45pm 

https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/introduction-to-storytelling-ii-tickets-57152955027

You can register through any of the links above.

If you want to use your Skills Future Funding  and you are not sure how to go about it, please contact Celine at  Book Council  celine@bookcouncil.sg and she will take you through how to do it. 

50% FUNDING FOR NTUC MEMBERS 

If you are interested in storytelling, but don’t know where to start; this workshop, facilitated by Sheila Wee, is for you.  It will  give  you  a firm grounding in storytelling skills and you will  leave with one ready-to-tell story and the tools to learn and tell more stories.

In a warm and supportive group environment you will learn why storytelling is such a powerful form of communication; how stories can be structured  to  hook listeners attention and discover your own personal storytelling style.

Through  group, partner and individual exercises,  you will be guided  through  a  step-by-step method  of learning to tell a story without memorising the words. You will also discover how to add details to make the story uniquely yours, and learn story rehearsal and performance techniques.

The 10-hour workshop (over one weekend) is for anyone interested in learning to tell stories: whether at work or at home, to adults or children, just for fun, or as a step towards telling professionally.

Trainer: Sheila Wee

The workshop has been running in this format since 2007 and in a previous format since 1999.   Here is what some of the past participants have  said about it…

“A fantastic workshop. Every second is worth a million! Thanks a lot for waking up the storyteller in me.”

“Sheila came across as very sincere and passionate about sharing her expertise in storytelling. She not only taught us how to tell stories, but inspired us as well. The workshop was also well paced with a very relevant and well planned programme.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop! Really benefited from the session and am looking forward to using what I learnt back in school with my students. Thank you so much!”

“Sheila showed that she has deep knowledge in storytelling and she was able to give useful/practical/easy to understand  examples too.  What I liked most was that she shared with us lots of ideas, so we can choose the best which is applicable to us. My time and money were well spent.”

“Sheila is very approachable and engaging. The workshop is rather empowering too; I always thought I can’t tell stories, but now I believe I can.”

“Would recommend it to others. A solid introduction. Inspiring.”

“Well organised and paced. Fantastic attention to detail.”

“Sheila is an outstanding and humorous Storytelling Expert. It’s my honour to be able to learn from her. Simply Great!”

Dates/Times:  Saturday 21 April 2018  (10am to 5pm) & Sunday 22 April 2018 (2.30pm to 6.30pm)

Venue:  Net Singapore, 62 Cecil Street, Level 5, TPI Buiding (3 minutes walk from Raffles Place MRT Exit F)

Cost: S$360

S$330 for  Storytelling Association (Singapore) Associate Members

Funding Information:  NTUC members enjoy 50% unfunded course fee support for up to $250 each year when you sign up for courses supported under UTAP (Union Training Assistance Programme).

Terms and conditions apply.

UTAP Brochure (Oct 2017)

For enquiries contact Sheila Wee on:

Tel: 62583307  Email: sheila@storywise.com.sg

Register and pay via EVENTBRITE  HERE 

Join Sheila Wee on a journey into the enchanted forest of the imagination; a place where old stories are told; a place where magic lives.  Listen to stories from lands near and far; where trees and animals can talk; where there’s fun and adventure to be had, and absolutely anything can happen.

Date: Saturday 22 July 2017

Time: 4pm to 5pm

Venue: Plain Vanilla Bakery,  1D Yong Siak Street, Tiong Bahru Estate, Singapore 168641

Suitable for : Children 4 years and up

Cost  $15 per child

To book,  please  go to:  https://goo.gl/s1zH6u

I will be taking part in this online storytelling event to celebrate World Storytelling Day. It will take place on Monday 20 March at 6.30pm Singapore time. The event, which is organised by the Bangalore Storytelling Society, will feature stories and discussion from Sheila Wee (Singapore), Jan Blake (UK), Dr Eric Miller (India), Sowmya Rajan Srinivasan (India), Wangari Grace (Kenya) and John Mukeni Namai (Kenya). It will be hosted by Deeptha Vivekanand and Aparna Athreya.

Tune in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFujT31OBs

Limited places may be available for non-guides

About the Workshop

A visitor’s experience of a tourist site, or a museum can be transformed by the people they meet there. The host, or guide can be a mere functionary, or can bring the experience to life, touching the heart and mind of the visitor. Storytelling is a valuable approach to engaging visitors and can be used to turn dry facts into a meaningful experience. In this workshop you will learn how to select suitable stories for your tours, craft them for telling and deliver them in an effective manner.

This workshop is commissioned by Singapore Tourism Board to train Licensed Tourist Guides. In some runs of the course there may be limited places available for aspiring tourist guides or other interested individuals. Singaporean and Permanent Resident Licensed Guides are subsidised for the Professional Development workshop, but others must pay the full cost of $165.

Workshop Outline

• Introduction, overview and icebreaker
• Demo storytelling
• What is storytelling and how it works as a powerful communication and connection tool
• Understanding and effectively using story architecture
• Understanding the elements that make a story convincing and captivating
• Performance tips and techniques
• Discovering your personal storytelling style
• Selecting effective stories for tourist guiding and integrating stories into existing tours
• How to retell a story without memorising the words. A step-by-step process for internalising story structure and generating details that gives the participants the ability to create their own unique version of the story and the tools to work on any story.
• Understanding the elements of vocal expression and practical vocal expression and vocal energy work.
• Supportive feedback on storytelling strengths and areas to work on via a storytelling skills checklist
• There will be presentations and demonstrations by the presenter and practical exercises for the participants. Storytelling techniques will be taught through engaging practical activities that harness the participants’ natural storytelling abilities and foster the development of their own storytelling style.

Scheduled workshop dates are:

• Thursday 30 June 2016
• Thursday 1 September 2016
• Thursday 20 October 2016
• Thursday 6 December 2016

Timing:  9am to 5pm

Cost:  Singaporean and Permanent Resident Licensed Tourist Guides – $82.50   Others – $165         (UTAP funding of $42.25 funding is available after completing the workshop for NTUC members)

Venue:  Irving Place, #07-13 ,The Commerze@Irving, Singapore 369546  (Less than 2 minutes walk from Tai Seng MRT). For full directions see:   http://www.trainingroomcommerze.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/directions-full.jpg

For enquiries and registration please contact Sheila Wee at sheila@storywise.com.sg

Limited places may be available for non-guides

About the Workshop

Storytelling is one of our most powerful communication tools and using stories in your guiding is a great way to make your tours engaging, entertaining and memorable. In this workshop you will learn how to select suitable stories, craft them for telling and deliver them in an effective manner.

This workshop is commissioned by Singapore Tourism Board to train Licensed Tourist Guides. In some runs of the course there may be limited places available for aspiring tourist guides, or other interested individuals. Singaporean and Permanent Resident Licensed Guides are subsidised for the Professional Development workshop, but others must pay the full cost of $165.

Workshop Outline

• Introduction, overview and icebreaker
• Demo storytelling
• What is storytelling and how it works as a powerful communication and connection tool
• Understanding and effectively using story architecture
• Understanding the elements that make a story convincing and captivating
• Performance tips and techniques
• Discovering your personal storytelling style
• Selecting effective stories for tourist guiding and integrating stories into existing tours
• How to retell a story without memorising the words. A step-by-step process for internalising story structure and generating details that gives the participants the ability to create their own unique version of the story and the tools to work on any story.
• Understanding the elements of vocal expression and practical vocal expression and vocal energy work.
• Supportive feedback on storytelling strengths and areas to work on via a storytelling skills checklist
• There will be presentations and demonstrations by the presenter and practical exercises for the participants. Storytelling techniques will be taught through engaging practical activities that harness the participants’ natural storytelling abilities and foster the development of their own storytelling style.

Scheduled workshop dates are:

• Thursday 30 June 2016
• Thursday 1 September 2016
• Thursday 20 October 2016
• Thursday 6 December 2016

Timing:  9am to 5pm

Cost:  Singaporean and Permanent Resident Licensed Tourist Guides – $82.50   Others – $165         (UTAP funding of $42.25 funding is available after completing the workshop for NTUC members)

Venue: The Seminar Room, Heritage Place, 21 Tan Quee Lan St, #02-08, Singapore, 188108

For enquiries and registration please contact Sheila Wee at sheila@storywise.com.sg

In the words of an old Scottish proverb stories are told “eye to eye, mind to mind and heart to heart”. It is this ability of storytelling to break through our mental barriers and reach deep inside us, that make it such a powerful tool for values education. In this workshop Sheila Wee will show you how you can use storytelling to impart positive values and foster the emotional and social development of children.

Places are still available for the next run of this workshop  for early childhood teachers on 9 March and 12 April 2016. This course  is conducted for ECDA by Sheila Wee of Storywise and  enjoys  enhanced  funding under  WDA Skills Connect. 

Cost  is $166,  but for ECDA registered teachers  sent by their organisations, significant subsidies are available through WDA Skills connect (Absentee payroll payments are also available to their organisations).

Independent applicants and non-teachers can also apply and can be given places if the  course is not completely full with ECDA registered teachers.   The cost for independent  applicants is $166. (WDA Skills Connect subsidies may be available to such  independent applicants  who are sponsored by their companies). 

Please see below for links to  further details.

ECDA Story Reading and Storytelling Course_Objectives and Outline

For enquiries please contact Sheila Wee at sheila@storywise.com.sg  Tel 6258 3307

This was a great ending to the story reading and storytelling workshop I conducted on 10/12/2015 for the staff of Our Music School in Tanglin Mall. I was blown away by the warmth, energy and passion of these ladies of music.

Please see below for the video.

https://www.facebook.com/137546253040060/videos/766652460129433/

For 11 days  in August and September 2015 I was on a heady ride through 3 Indian cities Bangalore, Chennai and Pune.  It was made all the more exhilarating as I was in the company of some great storytellers, who also happened to be wonderful people. We told stories, we  conducted workshops,  we sweated and we ate delicious food. we ate and we sweated –  a lot.  By the  end of the  festival  I was  so tired that I slept for 16 hours straight. But I was also full of happy memories,  and eager to do it all over again. Which happily I will be able to do, in  the next edition of the festival in Chennai and Coimbatore, in the last week of September 2016.

At the  start of the Festival in Bangalore. The storytellers from left to right; Jeeva Ragunath, Groark, Randel McGee, Antonio Rocha, Jeff Gere (kneeling), Diane Ferlatte, Craig Jenkins and yours truly.

Catching up with my old friend Groark the Dragon – and his friend Randel McGee.

Storytelling during a workshop at the Army Public School in Bangalore.

Our first performance of the Festival was in the very atmospheric hall of the Army Public School In Bangalore. It was a very long and narrow space and the stage was was small and frighteningly high, but the audience was fantastically supportive.

The Festival got very good coverage in the press.

In Bangalore we also performed in a very large theatre.

With my dear friend, festival organiser, storytelling superstar and all round wonder woman Jeeva Raghunath.

After our lunch stop on the 8 hour bus ride from Bangalore to Chennai. It didn’t seem that long though, as between naps we had wonderful discussions.

The Chennai leg of the Festival took place in the Dr MGR Janaki College of Arts and Science for Women. MGR being the legendary Indian actor, director, producer, and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The college was his old film studio and I did my workshops and performances in what used to be a movie studio and we rested between activities in MGR’s dressing room.

In Bangalore and Chennai each international storyteller was assigned a local storyteller to look after us. In both cities I was taken very good care of by Aparna Athreya in Banglalore and by Kavitha Thyagarajan in Chennai. (Kavitha is pictured with me here).

In Chennai we performed to a packed house in the historic Egmore Museum Theatre.

The theatre was build in 1854 and the dressing rooms took you right back to that time. I loved it.

Taking our bows after a wonderful evening at the Museum Theatre in Chennai.

At the opening of the Pune leg of the festival.

Here’s  a video made by the  Sakal Times, the organisers of the Pune leg of the Festival.

A Workshop on Using Storytelling to Support Children’s Creative Writing

Many children enjoy listening to stories, telling stories, reading stories, but too few enjoy writing them. Discover how you can harness that enthusiasm for stories and channel it into creative writing. This workshop will show how speaking, listening and reading activities can be woven into the writing process, to engage pupils in a holistic language learning environment.

The  workshop will be highly interactive, it will include  some formal presentations and  demonstrations of the techniques by the trainer and lots of participation by the attendees.

In the workshop you will:

• learn how storytelling can be used to enhance pupils creative writing.
• experience activities that that can be used in classrooms to bridge the oral  and  written forms of the language and improve both.
• discover which types of stories will lend themselves to the creative writing process.

This workshop is suitable for primary school language teachers, or anyone working   with  improving the language skills of learners at different levels.  

For more  information and registration   see:  http://alap.bookcouncil.sg/courses/detail/did-i-hear-you-write

BLOOD & MARRIAGE

Storytelling for Adults by Sheila Wee

Mother, father, husband, wife, child, ancestor, descendant;
many stories are intertwined in those relationships
Join Sheila Wee for an adult storytelling performance
that will take you on a lyrical journey from East to West;
through blood and marriage; through birth and death.

Part of WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES FOUR Sessions

Venue: Plain Vanilla Bakery
1D Yong Siak Street, Tiong Bahru, (S)168641

Date/Time:  Sunday 14 July at 4pm

FREE PERFORMANCE
Donations of any amount to Riverkids will be welcomed.
www.riverkidsproject.org

On the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of November I headed up to Penang  for their  3rd International Kid’s Storytelling Festival. I  have to confess that I was pleased when I found out that this year it would be held indoors at the Penang State Library in Butterworth.  I had been  at the first festival in 2010  which was held outdoors in  the beautiful setting of Penang Municipal Park. While the setting was idyllic, the combination  of sweltering heat and thunderstorms  meant that by the end of the  day I was definitely not  looking my best.

Despite  fighting off a heavy cold I had a wonderful weekend  meeting up with old friends and making new ones. Somehow when you are telling stories, or conducting a  storytelling workshop you forget how bad you are feeling.

On 12 October 2013  I  conducted a parent and child  storytelling  workshop for Ulu Pandan PCF Kindergarten.  I had met some of the teachers  and the principal  during the Books Alive! Project 2012  a nine month kindergarten mentoring  project I conducted for  the MOE Preschool Unit and the National Library Board.  During the project I saw what a talented and dedicated team they had and so  I was delighted to  be asked to  do a workshop for their parents and children.

When you conduct  a workshop for both parents and children, you have to  do a  balancing act between teaching  the parents and keeping the children  stimulated and happy.  Fortunately storytelling  is a highly practical art; making it easy to capture the  attention of both  parents and children.  A good time was had by all  and the parents went away with some easy stories and story activities up their sleeves.