In February I had a book published called ‘Tell Tales’ and illustrated by a friend, Joanne Tordoff. Why did I write it? Because I’ve been telling stories for children for many years, since my own children were young. My eldest two grandchildren were born and live in Munich, so it was important to my son, myself and the rest of the English family, that the children spoke both German and English fluently.
One way I’ve helped with this is by using a web-cam on my computer to talk to them regularly and making up stories something which they seemed to love.
As a result, both friends and strangers have often ask me how to do it and how can it be so spontaneous? In fact, I was once on a train in Germany with my eldest grandson, Thomas, then aged five, when a stranger asked his mum what we were doing. Thomas immediately said “I put a coin in here” (tapping her shoulder) “and a story just comes out here” (pointing to her mouth).
So, as I have had so much pleasure sharing the stories and encouraging the grandchildren to love stories and books, I thought I could help others develop or expand on similar skills for themselves.
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