This article was written by the founder of Story Telling Club, Ana Sousa Gavin.

We would like to thank Shannon Yeh for preparing and telling her personal story to the Story Telling Club SAS members. Shannon Yeh is a Singapore American School parent of twin second graders. She is also a passionate freelance writer. 

Yeh has worked for publishing companies as a freelance writer and meeting deadlines was no problem until she decided to write her very own book!

She told us the story of her journey, from getting her book ideas to getting started writing, the roadblocks she met along the way and the ways she found to overcome them and keep writing.

When listening to Yeh’s story, I thought of Tri Time in middle school. Middle school students are faced with the opportunity to start any project they like for three weeks, twice a year, and then reflect on their resilience to see their project through. This is a learning journey with a great impact on all areas of their lives. Knowing yourself better makes you stronger.

Yeh shared with us some valuable tips on dealing with typical problems, that most of us are faced with every day. Because writing her book was so important to her, she didn’t give up, and looked for ways to overcome these obstacles:

Procrastination
Who has things to do and finds excuses to do something else instead?! We all do! Shannon said that she constantly found excuses not to write, mostly urgent motherhood tasks. So she asked herself to write something, even if just a sentence or outlines, every day, and monitor her work progress more. 

Distractions
We live in a world where smartphones or tablets have become an integral part of our lives. Shannon found that she was easily distracted by news, social media, notifications, and emails, etc. So she got into the routine of writing something, first thing in the morning.

Writer’s Block
Sometimes we really want to do something but run out of ideas! Shannon found that she can’t write sometimes. So, whenever that happens, she changes environment, like going to a coffee shop or the MS cafeteria! Sometimes, just a change of scenery is enough to unblock our thoughts.

Shannon’s book is about essential reading skills for young readers. Her inspiration comes from what she already does at home with her children, and her years of teaching experience in the field of reading skills.

Love of reading is a feeling and therefore it cannot be taught, only shared. Even though Shannon’s children can already read by themselves, they love the special moments spent reading with Mom. This is a feeling they will carry within themselves throughout their lives whenever they open a book. 
 
Shannon shared a tip on reading with children, which she uses everyday: the picture walk. 
The picture walk is previewing the images or graphic features before starting to read the book.
The pictures can grab their attention, spark their interest, and activate their prior knowledge.  During the picture walk, Shannon asks her children to try to guess what the story is about, and to make predictions.  Her children want to find out if they are right, so they want to read the story. And they do all of this great reading and learning while having fun!

Shannon suggested a few sources for those interested in learning more about reading skills:

• The Reading Edge: 13 Ways to Build Comprehension by Ben E. Johnson
• How To Read Faster And Better by Franklin J. Agardy, Ph.D., President, Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics. INC

During our break, we enjoyed lots of snacks, brought in by our members. It was a wonderful informal opportunity to share and listen to personal stories on many different topics.

Next, we had a mini-workshop on how to engage with the audience when telling a story. Each group chose a target age for their audience, a story and a question to ask during the telling. The audience role-played an age group while listening to the tellers. The storytellers had to find ways to react to their audience’s participation, which could be quite unexpected. 

It was a great learning opportunity to look at storytelling from the teller and from the audience point of view. We talked about the importance of having training in improvisation to be able to think on the spot and make the audience feel included.

Do you wish you heard Shannon’s story? Would you love to experiment with storytelling techniques? Then don’t miss our next storyteller and workshop!

We can’t wait to listen to our upcoming speakers, you could even be one of them!
Do you have a passion you would like to share in the form of a story? Contact Ana Sousa Gavin.

You (think!) never told a story before and would like to get started? The Story Telling Club at SAS is the perfect safe space to get started. Join like-minded people from the SAS community, to discover the storyteller within you and have fun in our workshops and meetings. 

If you’re not yet a member of the Story Telling Club at SAS, then make a request on our Facebook page or send an email to gavin.ana@gmail.com

The Story Telling Club at SAS is organized by Ana Sousa Gavin, SAS parent, professional storyteller, and coach. We meet monthly! Just drop in and find out what we are all about.

We are grateful to SAS for offering us the space to conduct our meetings.