Michelle
Barbuch
ENG
311.004
February 22, 2005
Story
Theater Report on Urashima Taro
Story Theater
is an excellent learning
tool for students. It allows students to
listen aesthetically or use aesthetic speaking to perform a story. Creativity and imagination are displayed
during this process. The atmosphere is
also more relaxed than during a performance where lines are memorized
or the
script is read. The process allows for a
story teller to use his or her imagination to tell the story the way
that he or
she pictures it or for a listener to envision the story while he or she
is
listening. During this Story
Theater presentation, the
group
will present the story of Urashima Taro.
Vivid descriptions will be created through language and pictures
will be
painted in the listeners' minds.
The
story of Urashima Taro is set in a small Japanese fishing
village. The main character, Taro, was
walking along
the beach one day when he came across a child beating a turtle. Taro buys the turtle’s freedom from the child
and then sets the turtle free. A few
days later, Taro comes across the turtle again and is invited to go to
the Coral Palace
with him. Taro accepts the offer and heads
underwater
with the turtle. There he meets the
queen, Otohime. Otohime makes Taro feel
very welcome and introduces him to many new experiences.
After a while at the Coral
Palace, Taro begins to miss
his
village greatly. He apologizes to the
queen and returns to the shore with a chest that Otohime gave him with
the
instructions to not open it. Once on
shore he realizes that a lot of time has passed and no one he knew
before was
around anymore. He feels very lonely and
opens the chest, which transforms Taro into the old man that he really
was.
To
perform this tale in Story Theater
the group will use props. The props we
will use include set backdrop pictures, an outfit fit for a queen, a
fisherman
outfit, a chest, a clip of colorful fish in a band, a fishing pole,
paper to
represent stones, spray painted plastic ware to represent gold china,
and a beard
for our old man. These props will be
used to add to the oral presentation of Urashima Taro. These props should create an interest in the
audience of listeners.
From
the original
tale, the group adapted a few parts. The
group changed the children to a single child and a group of old men to
a single
old man. This was done because of the
limitations of the number of storytellers.
The story was also adapted to remove some of the parts because
of time
restrictions. Additionally, the tale was
modified to add more dialogue situations for the characters other than
the
narrator, who has an overwhelming majority of the story.
Urashima
Taro
could be used in the classroom to stress the importance of listening. Taro learned what can happen if one does not
listen to what he or she has been told. Since
listening is such an important part of everyday life, this is an
important
moral to learn and also practice. The
students will have the opportunity to listen to the story and using
listening
techniques. This will provide practice
to help the students improve his or her ability to listen.
Urashima
Taro
is a good tale for Story Theater
because it has a simple plot and only a few characters.
The language of the story paints beautiful
mental images and also has an underlying theme.
Story Theater
is a valuable tool in the classroom because it provides practice with
listening
and speaking. Students are able to
interact and participate in "minds-on" activities.
Urashima Taro will
share the importance of listening to story about what happens when
people do not
listen.
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