Loekie Morales
PHILIPSBURG--Thanks to the commitment and financial support from Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Caribbean and Collaborative Funds, Beyond Kultura Events (BKE) Foundation will embark on a storytelling, reading and expressions programme soon.
(Grand-)parents, uncles and aunts and other adults who love to read or tell stories can participate in a workshop and receive training in reading to children. Those who like storytelling will be trained in how to develop and tell a story in a captivating way. Each module will consist of at least 10 hours of workshops that include the basic techniques of a puppet show.
After the training, participants will have to read and/or tell stories to children at Philipsburg Jubilee Library for 10 weeks and five times at community centres or afternoon-school programmes. At the end of the course, they will receive a certificate.
The participants will also receive training in organisational talents and children-coaching skills in organising Kids Night Out 2019. Ten to a maximum of 15 adults will be able to participate in each programme.
BKE will start first with the storytelling module in the second week of January 2019. The story-reading module will probably start early March 2019, but the registration of storytellers and readers has already started. Registration is open until December 1, 2018.
While the training and workshops for story readers and tellers will be mainly in English, children will also be read to in Dutch and Spanish.
Adults who want to participate may contact BKE at tel. 527-1223 for more details. Parents who want their children to participate in the storytelling or story reading programme can register their children at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
BKE President Loekie Morales said she is “very happy” with the “enormous” support of funding agencies. She said Dutch Literacy Funding Agency Nederlandse Taal Unie considers BKE’s reading programme “a very educational programme for all involved in it in St. Maarten.”
“Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel in convincing sponsors about the importance of such a programme for our community. Listening and reading are fundamental skills for comprehending text and understanding stories. It all starts with enhancing reading and listening skills of our children at a young age,” Morales said.
BKE developed a storytelling and reading programme for children 3-13 years old several years ago to enhance their reading skills and give them fun in reading and listening to stories.
“Our programme helps children and at the same time gives adults, our next beneficiaries, the skills needed in storytelling and reading to children,” Morales stated.
