Give a gift of a story well-read
Classic Christmas stories to share with family and friends
It's that time of year when families and friends get together. Uncles and aunts arrive, cousins, small and big, call by, out-of-town friends drop in... It's a time of giving, getting, sharing and yes, even honing your public speaking skills. That doesn't always mean making a speech. It could be reading a story.
Some of the best and most memorable gifts are the simple ones: for instance, a story read aloud.
This collection of Christmas Stories * contains two of my favorites: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and The Gift of the Magi by American short story writer, O. Henry.
Both are wonderful. Even though I’ve have heard others read them, read them to myself and out loud for students, family and friends, multiple times, they remain fresh and vibrantly alive.
Have a look! See what you can find that you’d like to share. The link I’ve given you goes to a page of multiple Christmas themed stories and books sorted by popularity.
If you are not used to reading aloud here's some tips as a guide.
Read your chosen story several times silently to yourself before attempting to read it to others. That will familiarize you with the flow of it and the language used.
Next try some, or all of it, out loud. Use the punctuation as a guide for when to pause or stop.
Experiment with 'voices' for the characters. For instance, Scrooge, the principal character from A Christmas Carol, is mean; a cold-hearted miser who loathes Christmas. Make him sound like that! When you do, you'll find your body language spontaneously changes to echo and amplify what you're doing with your voice. Allow that to happen, because we know showing as well as telling makes the story compelling listening.
Experiment with volume. Which bits need to be louder? Which passages call for a quiet voice?
How fast or slow should you go? One speed seldom fits an entire story. Where do you need to slow down or speed up?
Repeated practice, listening to yourself, and closely observing how your listeners respond, will help you improve.
Go on. When the kids are getting jumpy from hyper-stimulation, or you simply want to feel a real sense of community turn off the television, the computer, or whatever electronic gizmo is claiming attention and read a story out loud.
Go to Christmas stories*
This is my last newsletter for 2023. I’ll be back with another in the new year, 2024.
Here’s wishing you happy storytelling, love, understanding and above all, peace wherever you are in the world.
Susan
*These stories, and literally thousands more, are all free and available to download in multiple formats through Project Gutenberg. The site is a treasure trove of books of all sorts that are in the Public Domain.
PS. If you found this beneficial, feel free to share it and click the ❤️ button so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏Thank you.
PPS. As I said last week, and I’ll say next, if you have ideas for topics you’d like to see covered in this newsletter, or if you’d like to share an article on some aspect of public speaking, or a speech of your own, please get in touch. Either reply to this email or contact me through the form on my about me page on my website. I’d love to hear from you!
I love the tip about experimenting with character voices out loud. I love doing this when reading to my kids, they are definitely more enthralled and listen better when I engage in storytelling this way!