Written by: Ayla Tosun
I have sorely missed doing storytime with kids during this age of social distancing. So just like many other things today, I decided to go online!
Through some research, we were able to connect with an orphanage for children with special needs in the Philippines, who welcomed volunteers interested in sharing their time. After some planning, we finally reached a solution where I could be miles away in Dubai yet able to share stories with kids in real time — all thanks to Zoom!
We had our first session on Wednesday 29 July, where we met each other ‘face-to-face’ for the first time. We learned each other’s names and got to know each other a bit, before going on to read some of my own favourite childhood stories: ‘Dear Zoo’, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Moo, Baa, La La La.’
In Rod Campbell’s ‘Dear Zoo’, I had the kids join me in acting out the different animals, like using our arms to mimic a trumpeting elephant or scratching our heads and tummies while whooping like a monkey.
The kids were especially taken by Eric Carle’s beautifully coloured butterfly in ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar.’ Together, we went through the different colours and I flapped the pages of the book to make the butterfly come to life!
Finally, we wrapped things up with ‘Moo, Baa, La La La’ by Sandra Boynton. Seeing their enjoyment from ‘Dear Zoo’, it was only natural to have some more fun engaging in different animal sounds. I even got to use the new Tagalog word I had learned: ‘aso’ in Tagolog means ‘dog’!
Some time later, we met again for a second time with more exciting books and even an animated video of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ to end with. Yesterday, I also had the opportunity to read to an older group of boys who had a keen interest in adventure stories!
Reading to all of the kids has been an absolute pleasure; the act of sharing stories really knows no bounds!