Pete Kalu, Storyteller Primary Schools Introduction: The stories I tell, while entertaining, attempt to seed discussions around Development issues. Themes and issues the stories touch upon include North South inequalities, legacies of slavery and colonialism, migration, identity, and cultural and community cohesion. My visit can involve me telling a range of stories to whole classes, several classes at once and combined age groups. Each story lasts around 20 minutes. Follow-up activities and lessons include Development issues, such as the slave trade, the current FairTrade initiative, exploring cultural identity and histories, story writing, story structure, essay writing, oral presentation skills, drama, thinking skills and children devising in groups their own stories and telling them to the full group. Trickster tales
These feature assorted loveable rogues from Anansi the Spider, to Monkey, to Tortoise. The stories are a warm and perceptive introduction to aspects of West African and Caribbean culture. They touch upon indigenous strategies of resistance to slavery and colonialism while promoting the universal virtues of brains over brawn, of inventiveness, quick-wittedness and resourcefulness under pressure. Delivered in Pete Kalu's own inimitable style, the stories are funny, engaging and always surprising. |  | | | |  | Dilemma stories
Dilemma stories work with the upper range of Primary school ages. They have proved popular with adult as well as child audiences. Dilemma stories are modernisations of traditional African dilemma tales. They always feature a knotty, moral dilemma at their core which the audience has to resolve. They are good for provoking debate on a range of issues, for developing argumentative essay skills and stimulating thinking skills. Most dilemma stories are funny, some are sombre. |
Pete Kalu has told his stories to all age ranges from reception class age to eleven year olds and in contexts including state schools, supplementary schools and youth services. He automatically adapts the material to the audience before him. He has worked with a classroom assistant/ interpreter when taking classes containing children whose first language is Punjabi. He has collaborated with musicians and visual artists. Pete Kalu has worked across the Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Huddersfield areas, for schools, Summer schools, playschemes and libraries. He is the author of five novels, and has won numerous writing awards including BBC Young Playwright of the Year, First Prize, Liverpool Film Script Competition and BBC North West Comedy Competition Winner. He has worked closely with Local Authority Ethnic Minority Support Services.
 Secondary Schools: For secondary schools he tells dilemma stories as well as a diverse range of thought-provoking tales from around the world. Below is a description of a typical whole day programme for secondary schools. Whole Day Programme:
Individual class session lasting approximately one hour to one hour thirty minutes. Four sessions across a whole day. Each session breaks down into:
- 30 minutes 'dilemma story' storytelling by Pete Kalu followed by either: (a) the pupils in groups debating the resolution of the dilemma Pete's story poses then presenting their solutions to the whole class
The stories are good for building thinking skills, and developing ways of presenting an argument. These skills feed directly into essay writing skills. or (b) the pupils investigating further the themes the story hold at their core. This may involve a Devlopment Education led investigation of such curriculum areas as geography, history and economics. Such projects rarely complete in one session. The length of the project will vary with the commitment of the school and teachers. Some schools have gone on to forge twinning links with Southern schools in South Africa, Zimbabwe or Ghana to name a few. (c) the students composing their own dilemma stories.
The stories are constructed on classic narrative lines (setting, development, complication, crisis, resolution) and so also foster a better understanding of story structure.
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