As part of the British Council celebration of the 100th birthday anniversary of British story writer Roald Dahl during September, the British Council Bahrain hosted British storyteller Kevin Graal for a three day storytelling program for children and their parents. Attended by more than 500 children, parents, and academic staff, storytelling events took place during the last week of September in a number of venues across the kingdom, in partnership with many local organizations. In addition to the storytelling sessions, the British Council continues to offer a free online course for learners and free resources for teachers on British Council’s Teaching and LearnEnglish websites
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/landlady
https://eal.britishcouncil.org/resources/roald-dahl-story-openings
Many of Roald Dahl’s famous children’s publications came to life with storyteller Kevin Graal. The storyteller whose visit to Bahrain is the fourth, have delivered a total of six storytelling events for children and their parents, two of which were open to the public.
During the mornings, Students, parents, and staff members from Al Iman School-Girls Section, Arabian Pearl Gulf School and Al Amal Special Education Institute enjoyed a number of storytelling sessions in their schools. Also, a special afternoon storytelling event for the Royal Charity Organization orphans was held in partnership with the Rotary Club of Salmaniya at Golden Tulip Hotel.
The public also had the opportunity to enjoy the celebration via two public events that took place during the afternoons. The first event was held on at Bahrain National Museum in partnership with the Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiquities, while the second took place at Dilmun Club, in partnership with the Club itself.
About the celebration activities, Alan Rutt, British Council Country Director stated “The British Council was delighted to have British Storyteller Kevin Graal in Bahrain again, this time as part of our celebration of Roald Dahl’s 100th Birthday Anniversary; which forms part of our activities celebrating the Bahrain UK 200 anniversary. We hosted a number of storytelling events with various partners and in various venues to celebrate the work of the late writer. This comes as part of our efforts to further strengthen cultural relationships between Bahrain and the UK as well as our efforts to encourage youngsters to indulge in the world of English literature. I would like to thank Kevin and our partners for this program, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Rotary Club of Sulmaniya, Dilmun Club, and all the schools that took part in it”.
Additionally, hosted storyteller Kevin Graal mentioned “I am very delighted to be in Bahrain again with the British Council, children everywhere in the world love stories; as stories bring us together. It makes us realize that the similarities between all of us are much more than we realize”.
The three-day program celebrating the work of late British story writer Roald Dahl came as part of the British Council efforts to further strengthen cultural relationship between Bahrain and the United Kingdom and to encourage children to read and to learn English.