Bilingual Storytelling

Susan O’Halloran and Edie Armstrong perform at Plainfield School District this summer for K-5th graders.

June 30, 2011 Bilingual story tellers teach value of cultural communications “Mama” Edie Armstrong, dressed in African garb told a cute story about a family of mice who encountered a big, scary green-eyed cat while on a family picnic. Armstrong relayed the tale in Spanish while her storytelling partner, Sue O’Holloran translated it into English on June 27, 2011 to the classes of children attending Title 1 and Title III elementary summer school classes at River View Elementary School. Title 1 serves low income students, and Title III serves bilingual students. The mother mouse, and eventually the whole family began barking like dogs, and the cat ran away, leaving the mice to enjoy the rest of their picnic. The punch line was just as funny – and the point just as clear – in both languages: “It is very important to speak a second language!” the women said. O’Holloran and Armstrong presented assemblies for the students to teach them the importance of cultural awareness and appreciation. They sang songs, played special instruments from Africa, Mexico and Ireland, and shared personal stories to show how cultural information can enhance communications. O’Holloran also worked with teachers to teach how personal cultural stories can be integrated into the classroom. “The objective was to show teachers that they don’t have to be ‘the expert’ of every culture, but that they can include the children’s voices in the classroom via the students’ own stories,” said Dr. Carmen Ayala, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. O’Holloran will work with students to develop their own stories on July 20-21, 2011, before students present their own stories at another assembly. “District 202 continues to grow and change,” Ayala said. Student enrollment was about 96 percent white in 1990. Last school year it was about 59 percent white, 23 percent Latino, and 9 percent African American. Nearly 80 different languages were represented in District 202 last year. “This program was a great opportunity for us to serve the special needs of our English Language Learner students, engage in some unique teacher professional development, and continue to show our commitment to every student in our community,” Ayala said.

College Speaking on Diversity and Inclusion

I had the chance to perform in front of college students on the themes of Diversity and Inclusion. I love their responses! I used stories as THE BEST WAY to discuss difficult topics. In the breakout sessions, we worked on communicating across lines of difference. That’s what the one student is referring to – she wants to post the communication guidelines on her wall. All of us get in situations where we just don’t know what to say especially when the conversation is about race, gender and other hot topics. Young people are looking for this guidance but they don’t want to be preached at! Sharing our stories is the most respectful and productive way to value others and feel appreciated yourself.

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Bring a Harmony Day to Your School

I stopped by a school where we had presented a Harmony Day: a multicultural assembly with storytellers, Antonio Sacre, Michael D. McCarty, Anne Shimojima and moi, Susan O’Halloran, followed by breakout sessions on race, immigration, cyber bullying, Japanese American internment camps and other family stories and leaving a legacy of inclusion. Here’s what one of the teachers had to say and some examples of  the posters the students made after our day. The event was sponsored by Angels Studio, a communications ministry of the Society of the Divine Word, Chicago Province.

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Speaking at Youth Diversity Conference

I had the pleasure of giving the keynote address at the Fenwick, Oak Park/River Forest and Trinity High Schools’ Youth Conference on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. The student leaders were wonderful and following the keynote I was able to do breakout sessions on Valuing Difference Religions.

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Why Use a Story Coach?

Yes! Even the best storytellers rely on coaches to help edit their new stories before they perform them in public. Syd came over to my house this week to work on a new story that he is going to perform at the Celtic Knot in Evanston, IL at 8 pm on March 20, 2011. It was an honor to work with him and he was a huge help to me as I am working on a new story as well. Storytelling: don’t try this art form alone! Get yourself a story coach!

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Taking Time to Create Community

To me, one of the most serious causalities of our polarized election season is the lack of community. I spent a couple of months in Bali, Indonesia several years ago and I envied their village life. Families and neighbors lived in close proximity – near to each other for sharing chores, watching babies, and just plain visiting. I’d walk the streets of Kuta in the evening and hear families laughing, singing and playing instruments from within their compounds. Some of you know my stories about growing up in a front porch society on the south side of Chicago. Having had a place when I was younger to “hang out,” I find myself longing for those drop-in, spontaneous happenings as an adult. I am lucky that as a storyteller I work at storytelling festivals that often turn into pajama parties with my colleagues and friends. But I hate that I so often have to hop on a plane to get that kind of simple camaraderie.

So many people tell me they feel a sense of isolation, that we all say that being with the people we love is what matters the most, yet they’re the very ones with whom we spend the least amount of time.

Especially for anyone doing social justice work, community support is essential.

Opening our hearts to the suffering in the world is not for sissies. All of us are stronger and braver with the right group of fellow travelers. I have to constantly remind myself that spending time nurturing my community is as important as “doing my job.”

Susan O’Halloran is a diversity speaker who uses powerful and engaging stories to grab her audiences. She is an author of four books plus diversity curriculums, CDs and films. The Chicago Reader says O’Halloran “has mastered the Irish art of telling stories that are funny and heart-wrenching at the same time.” For a FREE GIFT go to: www.susanohalloran.com or by calling 1-866-997-8726. This article may be reprinted when this full byline is used.

Community = Strength

There was a Rabbi who saw the same woman sitting in the same seat for services year after year after year. Then, suddenly, one winter’s day, she wasn’t there. The Rabbi went to the woman’s home to check on her.

The woman told the Rabbi that she was fine. She said, “I like everything you say during the services, but I’ve realized that I pray just as well at home on my own. But thank you for checking. You’ve come a long way. Come sit by the fire and have a cup of tea.”

It was cold outside. The fire was roaring. As they sat and talked, the Rabbi took the poker and picked off one sliver of wood from a burning log. He set the sliver off to the side. While the rest of the fire blazed, this one little ember of wood flickered and finally died out. The woman looked up at the Rabbi and said, “I’ll be there next week.”

The woman realized that she was just not as strong on her own.

Susan O’Halloran is a diversity speaker who uses powerful and engaging stories to grab her audiences. She is an author of four books plus diversity curriculums, CDs and films. The Chicago Reader says O’Halloran “has mastered the Irish art of telling stories that are funny and heart-wrenching at the same time.” For a FREE GIFT go to: www.susanohalloran.com or by calling 1-866-997-8726. This article may be reprinted when this full byline is used.

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