Teaching
Returning to Romania in Autumn 2023 for the first time since the pandemic, it was such a joy to see my students in person after teaching on Zoom for so very many months. They arranged a teaching tour for me in the West and the Carpathian regions, where I was hosted by many different kinds of organisations involved in training therapists and teachers. There I introduced hundreds of practitioners and students to the concept of applied storytelling, demonstrating techniques for how they could use a combination of traditional and personal storytelling in their practices. Having first taught in Romania on an occasional basis about 15 years ago, some of my original students became storytellers in their own right, several running well established applied storytelling practices in health, educational and care settings. In other public venues such as play schools and arts workshops, my approach was always to include staff and foster an interest in learning more about storytelling and/or starting their journey as tellers.
Otherwise I am astonished to realise that I have been teaching
an applied storytelling group on Zoom for over 3 years!
‘ …I can't thank you enough for delivering such an excellent course. Although I have attended other storytelling events this is the first where I have felt confident enough to stand up and deliver a story…’
Sharon teaches storytelling to beginners who are starting their storytelling journey, those who want to hone their skills and to professionals. Her practise is immersive, intense, and supports each participant in the discovery of their unique voice as a teller. Fortunate in coming from a multi-lingual background she also teaches abroad, comfortable working with interpreters or in French. She has taught in Romania, France and India and regularly teaches at Halsway Manor, England’s only residential centre for the traditional arts sited in the country's first designated area of outstanding natural beauty.
‘Fire in the Telling’ , was an immersive performance skills storytelling course for those with some storytelling experience or who had been on one of her courses before. This focused on pacing, range of expression and the individual qualities that each teller can use to develop their unique style within a variety of traditional material. Students also had an opportunity to perform for an invited audience. Sharon was also delighted to return with 'Adventures in Storytelling', for beginners, in Dec. 2019. She is currently discussing the possibility of teaching a course for those interested in using storytelling in their ecology focused work and for storytellers looking to increase their repertoire of 'green' stories for autumn 2020
