'Once upon a time' mother whispered stories...

Hi Dan Khanh! I think the name “Mom, Tell a Story!” is a special name. And the way you address each other during story time is also special for a program for the community!

- Yes! “Mommy, tell me a story!” was my daughter’s request to me when she wanted me to read her first book. I thought the request was so childish that I used it as the name of the program. Later, when the first listeners other than my daughter were homeless children, I hoped to bring them warmth through the spirit and the way of addressing them as if they were under one roof.

I remember when I invited a second narrator for the show (you are a dentist), when you accepted me, I shouted with joy to another friend who was sitting next to me, saying how happy I was because I invited another narrator to tell stories with me to other children who were not born by me.

Your audience includes not only children but also adults, do you think this special way of addressing will cause any effects, for example psychological barriers?

- Personally, I think of it as a support rather than a barrier. Bringing the need to listen to stories of young children into the program also shows the desire to create connections with families with young children and parents who have difficulty in arranging time. Or if parents still have time, but for some reason cannot tell stories to their children, "Mom, tell a story!" can become an alternative and older siblings can be there, listening to the story time with their children. Because after all, just like with a toy that children have, a storytelling program, although a very good choice for parents, with parents experiencing, listening, and talking with their children, is still what children expect. And that is also the family atmosphere that "Mom, tell a story!" hopes to bring to its audience.

Photo in article: NVCC

Why do you do a bedtime story program instead of just a regular story program at other times?

- As far as I know, the practice of evening storytelling has been present in cultures around the world since ancient times, when oral tradition was the main means of sharing knowledge and culture. In ancient cultures such as Greece, Egypt, or India, people used folk tales and myths to teach children about morality, history, and beliefs. These stories were often told before bedtime because this was the quietest time for children to listen and concentrate.

The practice of telling bedtime stories became more popular in the 18th and 19th centuries in European and American countries with the appearance of books written specifically for children. Works such as Grimm's Fairy Tales by the Grimm brothers (Germany) and The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault (France) became the basis for bedtime stories in Europe. In Asia, the custom of telling stories is also very popular, but often in the form of oral tradition or folk works such as Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese fairy tales...

From a scientific perspective, being exposed to literary works through stories from an early age helps children develop their thinking, language, and imagination skills, as well as build habits and concentration. Listening to stories and then going to sleep helps children sleep better, and also helps them develop their thinking while they sleep. From a mother's perspective, this is how we tell our children that we love them, that they are safe in our love, and that they should have a good night's sleep.

That said, your criteria for choosing a narrator is that the narrator is also a mother?

- Our Vietnamese narrators are all, yes, mothers. The English narrators are not. The program's criteria is to give children the love that parents have for their children, but the English narrator position requires correct and fluent foreign language skills in addition to love for children.

You, some of you are living abroad, some of you have lived abroad for many years and have returned to your country, are not yet mothers, you use English every day in your life like we speak Vietnamese in our country. In addition to the storytelling position, at “Mom, tell a story!” there are also other job positions (editing, design, sound engineering, video engineering, operations...) you have different backgrounds and life states but share the same love for children. You and your friends can refer to more ideas for “Mom, tell a story!” on our website meoikechuyen.com. In addition, it is not required that the Vietnamese narrators at “Mom, tell a story!” must all be mothers, we are looking for love for children, that is not only in the souls of mothers. And from the perspective of “Mom, tell a story!” If the wish for family affection is made into a program, then if it is the response from fathers, that would be wonderful too.

Why bilingual stories? I see that your English storytelling hours are entirely in English, without introductions or Vietnamese subtitles. Does this make it difficult for your listeners to accept?

- “Mom, tell a story!” was created with the desire to bring children stories through listening, the English language skills we can bring to children belong to the listening category, specifically creating listening habits for children, children practice listening skills passively and long-term through listening to stories periodically (daily, weekly). This is different from organizing listening skills training at English language teaching facilities (in fact, they have a complementary effect), so we do not apply the introduction in Vietnamese to enter English storytelling hours.

Finally, it is about the direction we are aiming for in terms of professionalism. “Mom, tell a story!” in the idea of ​​birth contains elements that are difficult to confirm using current and popular professional standards. For example, with the criterion of a storyteller from the roof, it is difficult to ask parents to bring both love for children and skills at the level of announcers to enter the story time right from the beginning. The process of professionalization will take place while the older siblings and friends create loving products for children. But setting up the structure of a story time is something that can be done from the beginning.

We have applied creating storytelling hours in pure English, without subtitles (subtitles will make listeners pay more attention to reading and understanding the content than focusing on listening skills) and providing accompanying documents (for listeners to refer to or review the content after listening is finished).

What criteria do you use to select works to read? What aspects do you look for links?

- Currently, the works we are reading are world fairy tales and classic literature. We are also collaborating with an author whose works are for children, she is Vietnamese, currently living abroad. I myself also write. And we always hope to be able to expand the connection of “Mom, tell a story!” more and more every day.

There’s more to it than just books. For books, we look for connections with authors, publishers, libraries. There’s also audio, music, video, art, design… and other things that every plan, every project needs.

“Mom, Tell Me a Story!” is a project for children, specifically Vietnamese children, and the more people join in, the better. And to achieve that, I hope our first efforts will find a touch point in everyone’s hearts.

Wishing Dan Khanh and the team more success in their story!

Nguyen Dan Khanh was born in 1987 and currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City. Graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and journalism. Currently working freelance in the fields of fine arts, translation, writing, and composition. "Mom, Tell a Story!" is a bilingual storytelling program for children before bedtime, a public program on social platforms such as YouTube and Spotify for many children. By November 2023, "Mom, Tell a Story!" had the participation of other members and began operating as a collective.

Tuan Ngoc (performed)

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/ngay-xua-ngay-xua-me-ke-chuyen-tham-thi-post549547.html