By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
"Storytelling is the thread that pulls the beads together,"
says Elly Tepper, a teacher at Keolu Elementary.

Backyard tales,
spooky stories
come alive

'Mouthy' is a good
thing for Talk Fest's star
storyteller Elly Tepper

HALLOWEEN EVENTS

By Burl Burlingame
Star-Bulletin

GO into any math class and watch the kids' eyes glaze over. Numbers are just too abstract. But place the problem into some sort of real-world context, into a story with characters and plot, and the lesson sinks into their little brains and stays there, like chocolate into milk. The technique works for any kind of lesson.

Elly Tepper, third-grade teacher at Keolu Elementary, figured this out long ago. She figured it out so well that she's the state of Hawaii's Teacher of the Year. You'll read about that in a future story in the Star-Bulletin. In the meantime, Tepper's storytelling skills will be featured at this weekend's Talk Story Festival.

TALK STORY What: The 11th Annual Talk Story Festival. Storytellers include Makia Mala, Nyla Fujii, Marie Solomon, James McCarthy, Sanda MacLees, Dawn Wasson, Mark Jeffer, Betty Santos and Ed Chevy, Neff Maiawa, Alshaa Rayne, Elly Tepper, and host Jeff Gere. When: 7 p.m. nightly, tonight through Saturday Where: McCoy Pavilion, Ala Moana Park Cost: Free Call: 973-7262

It begins tonight with the loosely-structured "Backyard Tales." Tomorrow, it's the Halloween-themed "Spooky Stories," and Saturday, it's wall-to-wall hearttuggers; "Tales of Aloha: Inspiration, Tolerance and Peace."

Almost a decade ago, while Tepper was teaching in Hauula, "Talk Story" Jedi master Jeff Gere visited the school to spin tales, and, as he generally does, asked which teacher tells good stories. The kids all pointed at Tepper.

"I was drafted by Jeff on the spot," laughed Tepper, who has since become regular at the annual festival. "I was always a mouthy kid and told imaginative family stories."

Imagination, said Tepper, is the "key to everything.

"Imagination is the power to visualize what doesn't exist in front of you, the ability to put real feelings into words."

Storytelling is very personal, said Tepper. "It's better than TV or movies in that regard, because it harnesses the imagination. It communicates directly to the listener, a person-to-person connection.

"And that's the key in class. Relationships between subjects and objects have to be clear; storytelling does that. It makes the subject come alive.

"Storytelling is the original communication business, and a time-honored teaching method. When people listen to stories in a group, they're not isolated.

"It's a shared experience. You can almost see the electricity jumping from person to person. Storytelling is the thread that pulls the beads together."

RELATED EVENTS:

The Story Dancers, Ruth Halpern and Jyoti Rout, appearing at 7:30 p.m. Sunday ("Ramayana Tales") and Monday ("Worshipping the Divine Mother") at Kumu Kahua Theatre. Admission is $7. Information and reservations: 536-4441.

"Let's Make Up a Story: Structured Story Improvisation," a workshop with Ruth Halpern, 1:30 p.m. Sunday at McCoy Pavilion. Admission is $20. Information and reservations: 922-0459.

"Spooky Kind Tales" with storyteller Jeff Gere and guest James McCarthy, 4 p.m. Oct. 24 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 and 25 at Kumu Kahua Theatre. Admission is $7. Information and reservations: 536-4441.

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