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Home What's New Profiles Activities Announcements Publications Articles Resources WWW Learning Network Learning Network Group Profiles	Kathalaya Keywords Story telling, arts, urban, rural, resource center, primary, upper primary, elementary, middle school Geographical Location Bangalore, Karnataka Languages English, Kannada, Tamil Objective/Mission/Goals Kathalaya founded in 1998, aims to make learning an enjoyable experience by introducing and integrating storytelling, folklores and arts in the classroom. Its main mission is to - Research and revival of story telling traditions and ancient knowledge systems, position the traditions of story telling in their correct social and historic perspective, influence policy makers to inculcate story telling as a methodology in Education, empower rural women teachers with innovative teaching techniques and to formulate programs for reducing dropout rates in school. Work Description Kathalaya has full time, part time and volunteer staff. Various activities that Kathalaya is involved in include the following: Story-telling sessions and workshops for schools using stories as an educational tool in schools using the techniques of narration, story reading, picture Stories, toy theatres, clay modeling, puppetry, shadow play, role play and craft activities. Story on wheels - a field trip for children during summer holidays that extends story telling to "out-door experiences" through Folk Trails, Nature Trails, Village Visits, heritage centers, industrial visits, art centers and Museums with stories of people and places. Teacher Empowerment through Orientation & Training programs on integration of storytelling and folk arts into the curriculum. Kathalaya has developed more than 10 training modules and certificate courses for teachers to strengthen their teaching skills to use storytelling in classroom transaction. Kathalaya has established a Resource & training Center for Storytelling and Education in Bangalore city. The center serves as a reference center for teachers and those interested in storytelling. Kathalaya works with both urban as well as rural schools. In urban schools their main aim is to enrich the curriculum by introducing stories in the classroom related to the curriculum. Example - while introducing calculus or a complex concept, they motivate the learning by using stories or instances of where this would be useful etc. The stories are not always fictional; some are real-life stories. The idea is to increase interest in what is being taught and thus encourage better learning. In rural schools in addition to supplementing the curriculum, they also provide resource materials free of cost including paints, books and other aids. Resources Available Training in the methods of story telling, for schools and other organizations. Database of folk stories Contact Information Kathalaya 192/A, 6th Main 16th Cross, BTM II Stage Bangalore, Karnataka 560076 Telefax: (080) 2668 9856 Website Links www.kathalaya.org Newsletter Jan 2006 Story Power Workshop Chennai Presentation at February 2004 conference Article in Revive 2004 The Storytelling Tapestry - Article in Revive 2005
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