| ABC (ART BASICS for CHILDREN)
is educational and cultural association in Brussels (Belgium). ABC
will come to Johannesburg in October 2006 for a project supported by the Flemish
Government and in cooperation with CDP Trust Community Centre for Arts and Culture
Learning. We will stay for three weeks working with Kamishibai. Kamishibai
is a traditional Japanese story format (Okami¹ means paper and Oshibai¹
drama, paper drama so to speak). A3-illustrations fit in a wooden theatre that
can also be assembled on a bicycle. Each plate shows a scene which the storyteller
moves slowly while he tells the story. As a tribute to the oral tradition of storytelling
ABC is sending narrators out into the streets with bicycles, and organizes lots
of workshops for kids, (becoming) teachers and librarians to work and entertain
with the kamishibai in different ways. It is a wonderful poetic instrument to
stimulate the pleasure of reading and to enjoy language in general. Our experiences
we would like to share with South-African teachers, teachers in training, (school)
children, librarians,... ABC also has
a growing collection of kamishibai-stories (original stories from Japan, kamishibais
based on existing children's books, new kamishibais illustrated and written by
Flemish authors and illustrators,...) Part of the project in Johannesburg is also
to create one or two new kamishibais, based on South-African stories and illustrated
by South-African illustrators. Could
you help us to the contacts of some South-African illustrators of children's books
(living in Johannesburg) who could be interested in working together with ABC? *
Why working with Kamishibai? Kamishibai
is a traditional Japanese storyformat ('kami' means paper and 'shibai' drama,
paper drama so to speak). A3-illustrations fit in a wooden theatre that can also
be assembled on a bicycle. Each plate shows a scene which the storyteller moves
slowly while he tells the story. In Japan, this 'bicycle' story theatre was a
huge success from the twenties until the fifties. As
a tribute to the oral tradition of storytelling ABC is sending narrators out into
the streets with bicycles, and organizes lots of workhops for kids, (becoming)
teachers and librarians to work and entertain with the kamishibai in different
ways. It is a wonderful poetic instrument to stimulate the pleasure of reading
and to enjoy language in general. ABC thinks the kamishibai
can be an ideal instrument to introduce in the Community Arts Centres, local libraries
and schools for teachers' training because of different reasons: - there
is a strong link with the African tradition of storytelling
- it's
a very small and mobile instrument
- it's for all
ages
- kamishibai has many didactic possibilities
concerning language/the joy of reading, social abilities, perception, arts education.....
cultural competencies which are important through out the world.
- ABC
already conducted a series of workshops of which children at the end of it performed
their personal kamishibai using their own drawings and the stories they made up.
- ABC
made a workbook (cahier) for teachers, librarians... based on this experiences:
it offers lots of ideas, tips & tricks to work with kamishibai.
Description
of the project
* Creation one or two new
kamishibais based on South-African storiesand ask local or international illustrators
for the pictures. * Production of a Kamishibai-bike
and kamishibai-kits (= a box which contains a little theatre, different stories
+ workbook for teachers...) ABC would like to make the kits and the bike in cooperation
with local craftsmen. The kits and the bike can stay in the schools/libraries/centres
where kamishibai-workshops took place. * Kamishibai-space
ABC has some experience in creation/decoration of spaces for different activities
(the studio's, an ideal class in a school in Brussels, kamishibai story-telling
space in a library, a kitchen for children in a local school) ABC would like to
create/decorate a kamishibai-space CDP in Johannesburg. *
Workshops for teachers (in training), librarians, children, parents.... A crucial
part of this project is 'teacher-training'. Offering teachers tools to work with
kamishibai and to create stories and drawings with children.
- Workshops for
librarians
- Workshops in a local school
- Work out a kamishibai-project
with children 10-12. If possible ABC would like to work together with teachers
in traning for this project. So we can exchange ideas about working with children
in a classroom on art education. Possible
goals of a kamishibai-project -
to stimulate reading: children discover and are amazed by
the stories and they are encouraged to look for the books themselves afterwards. -
the pleasure of language and the development of language:
children go in interaction with the story-teller (by means of questions, by describing
the drawings...), and after hearing the story we also offer them lots of activities
in which they are creative themselves with language and images -
to stimulate creativity: children make their own kamishibai-story
(text and illustrations), for which they make use of their imagination. There
is also the possibility to give different tasks to different kids: some will like
to tell/write the story, others will prefer drawing, still others would like to
tell the story in public, maybe others prefer to sing and make music...there are
lots of possibilities. - to learn
to cooperate/soclal abilities/citizenship: Children have
to learn to coöperate to create a good final result; because of this collectif
creatif process we are convinced of the fact that possible barriers based on different
social backgrounds, sexe... can disappear or at least diminished. On
our website you will find some photos of the kamishibai.
(http://www.abc-web.be/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=57).
Contact: Lien
Hemerijckx lien@abc-web.be ART BASICS for
CHILDREN (ABC vzw)
A. Dansaertstraat 98
1000 Brussel
+32 2 502 00 27
Www.abc-web.be | 
