Stor e Telling August September 2015: Workshops

The Pearl of the Elephant
by
Edmund Dulac, 1920

I have been remiss in continuing to share my Stor  e Telling articles from 2015. Since the conference proposal season is upon us it seems timely to post these resources from the August September 2015 issue of Storytelling Magazine.

The theme for this issue of Storytelling Magazine issue was workshops and I selected some articles, tutorials and icebreakers to help make your next workshop truly work!

If you have the time or the inclination, I would love it if you would leave a comment and let me know if this information is useful for your work. I read and respond to every comment and love hearing from you!

10 Steps To Plan a Workshop – Tips to help you design your workshop, craft an agenda, select a venue, and more.

http://workshops.350.org/toolkit/planning/

A Workbook On Designing Successful Workshops – A forty-three page booklet with detailed instructions, including work pages, to plan and conduct a successful workshops.
http://www.mcgill.ca/medicinefacdev/files/medicinefacdev/DesigningWorkshopsWorkbook.pdf

Community Toolbox: Conducting a Workshop – Helpful steps and information organize and present your workshop. There are other sections that cover organizing conferences, retreats and teleconferences.

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/training-and-technical-assistance/workshops/main

How To Run a Good Workshop – Very useful tips in a short article by bestselling author and speaker Scott Berkun.
http://scottberkun.com/2013/run-a-good-workshop/

Planning A Workshop: Organizing and Running a Successful Event
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/PlanningAWorkshop.htm

Interested in using Skype to conduct your workshops? Below are three tutorials to help you quickly climb the learning ladder.

4 Things to Help Novice Users of Virtual Meeting Tools: Making Skype Meetings Run Smoothly

https://blog.piirus.ac.uk/2015/04/17/4-things-for-skype-meetings/

Skype Tutorial – Four separate, short tutorials that will help you learn how to use Skype from beginning to end.

http://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/install-skype/

And if you prefer a video tutorial, follow this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMAeAeyh7zM

Some sites offering icebreakers and activities to add conviviality to your workshops.

40 Icebreakers for Small Groups

http://insight.typepad.co.uk/40_icebreakers_for_small_groups.pdf

100 Ways to Energize Groups: Games to Use in Workshops, Meetings and the Community
http://www.aidsalliance.org/assets/000/001/052/ene0502_Energiser_guide_eng_original.pdf?1413808298

Partners for Your Empowerment: Workshop Activities/Icebreakers – A twenty-three page booklet chockfull of exercises.
http://pyeglobal.org/workshop-activities-icebreakers/

September 22 is Elephant Appreciation Day. Here are some stories to celebrate these gentle giants.

And Elephants Did Fly - Southern Orissa, India

http://tinyurl.com/ns7s8bl

The Blind Man and the Elephant - India

http://tinyurl.com/3hf2d

The Elephant and the Dog – Bhutan

http://tinyurl.com/njh9yoy

The Elephant and the Mahout – Magadha/Ancient India

http://tinyurl.com/pjsh6t2

Elephant and Tortoise – South Africa

http://tinyurl.com/nrk9sd6

Fearing the Wind - India

http://spiritoftrees.org/fearing-the-wind

How the Elephant Got His Tusks - Africa

http://tinyurl.com/o4eq88a

The Tortoise and the Elephant - Nigeria

http://tinyurl.com/p252edy

The Tortoise Captures the Elephant - Africa

http://tinyurl.com/k7ax99r

The Elephants Nose – India

http://tinyurl.com/p6y62ly

Story-lovers.com – More elephant information than you can shake your trunk at!

http://tinyurl.com/p78s93e

Curriculum for the classroom to complement Elephant Appreciation Day.

The Blind Man and the Elephant
https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/blind-men-and-elephant/

The Elephant Sanctuary – Two units focusing on the study of elephants offering teaching and learning activities for children grades K-8 consisting of  72 pages of instruction, background information, charts and graphs, activities, etc.
http://www.elephants.com/curriculum.php

September 7 is Labor Day in the United States. In this blog post I offer you some multicultural folktales about workers around the world to add to your repertoire. You will also find crafts, curriculum resources, and some history of the holiday.

Labor Day: A Tribute to the American Worker

http://tinyurl.com/nmp5dsa

Something Extra

The link below was not part of the original Storytelling Magazine article. However, since then I have written a new blog, Putting Your Proposal Pieces Together; I think it will be a useful complement to the above resources.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2016/05/putting-your-proposal-pieces-together.html

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

Karen Chace 2016 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Celebrating Daughter's Day in China

The Star Lovers

by Warwick Goble, 1910

In China, August 23 is known as Daughter's Day and also the celebration of Chinese Valentine’s Day, or the Double SeventhFestival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The holiday evolved from the ancient Chinese love story, The Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, also known as the story of Altair and Vega.

The raging river, formed in one version by the Empress as she attempts to keep the lovers apart, also explains how the Milky Way was formed. In some versions the bridge is formed by sparrows, in other versions, the magpie.

• The Daughter’s Day Festival is an important day for girls. In the evening, they prepare melons and fruits prior to engaging in worship and praying that their wishes for a good marriage will come true.
• Young girls display needlework, make paper flowers, burn incense and make fruit offerings to the night sky.
• It is the one day of the year when young girls may request for any wish to the Weaving Maid. (Vega star)
• When the star is high in the sky, the girls do a test, which involves placing a needle on the water surface. If the needle does not sink in the water, the girl is already smart enough and she is eligible for a married life.
• Since is it is also considered a holiday of friendship others cook horse beans and share with their neighbors.
• Girls throw five-color ropes, made by the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, on top of the roof for magpies. It is believed that magpies will use the ropes to build the bridge.

Sources for the above information:

http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/August/chinesevalentine.htm
http://www.celebrating-valentinesday.com/celebrating/chinese-valentines-day.shtml
http://www.ehow.com/how_2093105_celebrate-chinese-valentines-day.html#ixzz21Ss67RS9
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/from-china-to-japan-the-story-of-altair-and-vega-1026751.html

STORIES

Some tales to help you celebrate the daughter's in your life.

The Legend of the Magpie Bridge

http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valmagpie.html

The Bamboo Cutter’s Daughter – Japan 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/jft2/jft208.htm

The Blind Man’s Daughter – Korea 

http://www.sejongsociety.org/korean_theme/korean_folk_tales/shim_chong.html

The Boat that Went on Land and Water – France 

http://www.mordent.com/folktales/french/boat/
Daughter and Step Daughter – Russia 

http://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales/daughter-and-ste-daughter.html

The Daughter of the Rose – Romania 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/rft/rft06.htm

The Daughter of the Skies - West Highlands 
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt1/pt116.htm
The Daughter of the Sun – Cherokee/Native American 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/cher/motc/motc005.htm

Earl Mar’s Daughter – England
http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-32.html

Leelinau, the Lost Daughter – Native American
http://worldoftales.com/Native_American_folktales/Native_American_Folktale_29.html

The Marsh King’s Daughter – Denmark
http://hca.gilead.org.il/marsh_ki.html

The Padishah’s Daughter and the Young Slave – Tajik/Iran
http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Anthropology/Tajiks/TajikFolk.htm

The Sea King’s Daughter – Russia
http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/032.html
The Star Lovers – Japan (Found on page 65 in _Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales_, downloadable at the link.)http://archive.org/details/greenwillowother00jame

The Twelve Dancing Princesses – Germany
http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-9.html
The Three Daughter’s and the Lost Cow – Tibet
http://www.crosby-lundin.com/tibet/culture/folktales/cow.html

The Tortoise with a Pretty Daughter - Nigeria
http://worldoftales.com/African_folktales/Nigerian_folktale_1.html

The Widow and Her Daughters – Scotland
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt2/pt233.htm

The Worthy Daughter - India
http://stories4u.50webs.com/Folktales/theworthydaughter.htm

CRAFTS

In preparation for the festival young Chinese girls make paper flowers for the celebration.

Tie Dye Flowers – This cute craft is made with coffee filers.
http://tinyurl.com/d6jbfp8

Tissue Paper Flowers
http://crafts.kaboose.com/flower2.html

Weave a Paper Lantern
http://www.freekidscrafts.com/woven_paper_lantern-e847.html 

CURRICULUM

Magpies in Nature and Myth

http://www.wisdomportal.com/Magpie.html

Galaxies Galore

http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/galaxies-galore/teacher/lessonplan.html#new


SOMETHING EXTRA

Looking for stories to celebrate the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival?  Click over to this link.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/05/dragons-mythical-mystical-magical.html

Karen Chace 2012 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook