Education/schools

Paraig MacNeil, scotsbard
Scottish traditional teller of tales, singer, bard, and author.
Travelling schools since 1988

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Sole trading storyteller since 1988
Full public liability insurance




Current rates for schools:

Negotiable



For your event, or enquiry please contact me at home to discuss details on:  01786 824563 (BT Call Guardian Service) or email me.

Storytelling

At its heart, storytelling is a creative activity that connects us with the people around us and with our past, present and future, opening the world of imagination.Storytelling engages the four core creativity skills identified in Education Scotland’s Impact Report on creative learning which apply across the Curriculum for Excellence.

Curiosity
Imagination
Problem solving


Storytelling has the power to bring the curriculum to life, enabling vivid and embodied learning and understanding across all subject areas.
Stories are a great way to explore themes and projects that meet cross-curricular experiences and outcomes.

Above told by Paraig MacNeil, scotsbard, is a tale of George Buchanan, The King's Fool, who from the days of King James V of the Scots (Stirling Castle), Mary Queen of Scots and James VI/I is tutor to all of those monarchs but he is also a renowned great wit.
Just click on  the video, watch and listen.

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Personal Profile:
Spinner o’ yarns and weaver o’ words, Paraig MacNeil delights in telling traditional tales with verse both traditional and original from Scotland and elsewhere. Paraig has an oral repertoire of around 500 tales on most topics of the Curriculum for Excellence and about the same amount of poems and songs both traditional and contemporary. Paraig is also the author of five books, mostly of original verse but based upon the traditional lore and in all of Scotland’s languages.


Skills and working methods
In schools, Paraig simply tells traditional tales from memory in according with the requested topic(s). This can be and often is accompanied with augmenting verse such as riddle, proverb, poem or song. See traditional storytelling and song: Testimonials and scroll down to Schools.


Sessions and workshops
Paraig works through the medium of English but can tell in all of Scotland’s languages. His work reflects the ethos of: Storytelling in Education, Storytelling and Creative Learning the Curriculum for Excellence and Children in Scotland. The normal average length of one slot is one hour although slots may be divided if need be. Paraig can do up to four hour slots in one day.


Advice to schools on the day of the visit the day:
For insurance and child protection requirements, a responsible person must be present throughout the session.


Popular topics include:

.       Biblical Accounts
       The record of the divine creation, THE THREE TREES:
       The TREE fall of man, the TREE redemption of man, and the         TREE of the regeneration of man.


·       Tales for wee ones – interactive animal moral tales

·       Saints, & scholars - the spiritual fathers of our nation.

·       Vikings – As with Scottish Clans and Scots language
      
·       Clan legends, histories and genealogies

.       Ancient hero romances

·       Comic tales, riddles, wisdom and wise fools

·       Place name tales, castles, and rocks

·       The Stuarts, Mary Queen o’ Scots 

·       Emigration, pioneers of the new world and clearances

·       Jacobites, and Tartan Truths 

.       Highland drovers and caterans

.       The Highland Clearances

·       Heroes of the Wars of Scottish Independence  - 
        (Wallace, Moray and Bruce).   

.       Tales of Wit and Wise Fools

·       Great Scots - Great Scottish inventors in tale, rhyme & riddle
       from Brainheart & Scotland the Brain

·       Tales and lore from other related nations e.g.:
        Ireland and Norway.


(Please note that any traditional material may be recorded by the school in either audio or video form for the school's archive on request for further use, since traditional material by law is not governed by copyright law.  However, original material is.) 


Possible Benefits:
The storyteller’s visit is a positive learning activity and can enrich on-going classroom activity in a number of ways, including:
· using stories and storytelling to explore themes, projects or curriculum areas
· allowing children to develop their own storytelling skills
· telling stories to other children in the school or to adults
· collecting stories from families and communities
· exploring use of languages and dialects
· moving from oral to written versions of stories through storyboards
· exploring stories through the expressive arts such as music and dance


Children can benefit from developing their storytelling skills throughout their education. Storytelling is a wonderful and much-needed way to make schools more engaging and effective, especially in areas of social deprivation.


Listening to stories provides a springboard for active learning play and creativity. Children can ‘play’ with stories using different media, including creative writing, drama, music, movement, dance, visual art, craft activities, animation and ICT.


Creating and telling stories encourages a child's confidence to express themselves. It teaches an awareness of how to contribute appropriately and to value other people's contributions. It can help develop emotional literacy, as pupils gain confidence by telling their own story in front of their peers and also learn to respect other children’s stories.

3 - 18 curriculum impact report - Creativity

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Please note:  Would all those booking or engaging Paraig MacNeil, please note that since he is a tradition-bearer, who endeavours to represent his national culture in an authentic manner, to show respect for it, and its time-honoured values.