FEAST’s newest Special Interest Group, focusing on ECOLOGICAL stories, launched in October 2022 and had a very enjoyable and productive meeting which augurs well for its future.
Led by Fran Stallings, arising very early in her home in Oklahoma (US), there were 14 participants signing in from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bogor, Chennai, New South Wales, as well as England, Ireland and Scotland! The meeting began with pairs in breakout rooms getting to know one another – in particular, sharing one aspect of ecological concern to each of us. Returning to the meeting, each of us introduced our partner and highlighted their concern which immediately demonstrated the group’s diversity but also our common ground. While our collective experience - either as tellers or as environmentalists - varies wildly, this seems like it's going to be a friendly and encouraging group!
Three people volunteered to share a story. The first was one the teller had heard some years, but she couldn’t remember the ending as she had made only minimal notes after hearing it - and so she wondered if any of us knew it? As it happened, I had a detailed summary of the story (Who owns the water?) in my computer (!) and when I mentioned the name of the person who had ‘retold’ it, Kiran Shah immediately connected it to a collection of water stories published by Tulika press and so, within 5 minutes of telling, our SIG had provided a text.docx and a source! The teller also received supportive comments in answer to her questions about her ending of the story (which she had fashioned, as she couldn’t remember the ‘original’.)
To me, this incident illustrated a key raison d’etre for a Special Interest Group – a sharing of knowledge between like-minded people.
The second story was a variation on the star-in-the-apple story, captivatingly presented with song and supportive gesturing (the branches of the old apple tree stretching over the low stone wall of the orchard.) We were astonished to learn that this was the very first time she had told the story, for the telling was so well-paced and assured. It was like a moment on a talent show when someone quite unassuming and low-key unexpectedly delivers an awesome performance. Given it was the first telling , having supportive feedback highlighting what we liked about the telling was clearly appreciated by the teller.
I then shared the story behind a story, and how I felt I’d missed an opportunity to explore the environmental issues inherent in it , and in an age-appropriate way for the kindergarten audience.
The way I presented the story for the pre-school teachers at Mendaki (a Malay community organisation in Singapore) was using the fabulous felt storyboard pictured above with its gorgeous sea-creature cut-outs – and naturally I shared the link where I purchased this on Alibaba for US$6! (shipping is extra) I was truly grateful to receive some excellent suggestions on how I might develop the kids’ awareness of pollution (connect to their experience: what examples have the kids seen themselves while visiting the beach?) and add some factual content (plastic bags can look like jellyfish, and jellyfish predators mistaken gobble plastic bags for lunch!)