Storytelling in the family and at school

Being the 10th in a family of 15 children, in a French catholic family, I can absolutely relate to storytelling and its' role in the family dynamics. There was no television in our home until I was 12 and, living in northern Ontario, we never missed Hockey Night in Canada. Since our "hanglish was not too good", and the shows were all mostly English, we were entertained by the stories told by our mother. Since we had no camera or pictures of our humble life in Quebec before moving to northern Ontario, our mother used her stories to help us build memories that our young minds had not been able to. The stories were filled with descriptions that made it seem like we were watching a movie. Had it not been for her stories, we would have so many questions. Now having children of my own, I pass those stories onto them. They love to hear about how it was as a child of the 50s in Quebec and in Ontario. They even tell their friends about some of the things that happened in my family that I would not know about were it not forMaman la raconteuse.
As a teacher of social sciences and a child of the 50s, I tell stories all the time that fit in with the history curriculum. I believe that it brings that human element to the class and I KNOW from the reaction of my students that they enjoy it. I truly hope that it never stops.
The following site helps explain the history of storytelling. It is not a new concept.
http://www.callofstory.org/en/family/default.asp
It is the new approach of digital storytelling in the classroom that is new. There are many ways to use this teaching and learning approach. One that I really think young school age children will enjoy is storyline online put on by the Screen Actors' Guild. Celebrities can be seen, in full screen, reading some of the favourite books of young children.
http://www.storylineonline.net/ (I couldn't open it in Explorer, but I did in Mozzila Firefox) It is worth the visit if you have younger students.

Several years ago this was done on Reading Rainbow. (for those of you who remember). My children loved that show. Now it is on the computer and it more interactive. Wow!