IBBY-Yamada 2020: Sri Lanka

IBBY Sri Lanka – Activities and training to revive the art of storytelling in pre-schools

Kathandara Kadalla – Story Nest is a project to promote storytelling and reading in pre-schools in Sri Lanka. The state education system in Sri Lanka has no provision for storybooks and book-related activities. The project seeks to promote storytelling and book-related activities in five preschools in each of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. The training was to be in the form of workshops for approximately 80 pre-school teachers in reading aloud, storytelling with animation and conducting story-related activities. The teachers would then reach parents/guardians of pre-school students to train them on the importance of storytelling and reading, both at pre-school and at home with guidance for acquiring a small collection of books for use at home. The first sessions for the teacher trainers were held in January 2020 and the workshops for the pre-school teachers were held in February and March and implementation was begun in 34 out of 36 pre-schools. However, a series of lockdowns prevented the distribution of books to the pre-schools for children to take home, as well as delayed the project stage of reaching parents and guardians. It is hoped to re-start the project in June 2022 by contacting the two remaining pre-schools and ensuring all the teachers have the materials to present to parents.