Courses & Workshops
In-Person and Online Courses in Storytelling
Storytelling Toronto’s teaching program helps all our students, regardless of experience, to achieve a deeper connection with the stories they tell and better communicate those stories to to everyone who listens.
Our First Steps (Storytelling I) is typically the course most begin with. Next Steps (Storytelling II) is open to those who wish to take their telling further, whether they have taken First Steps in the past, or have equivalent experience. We offer the Master Class for advanced and professional-level storytellers.
We also offer a variety of themed courses, whether it is taking your story from a narrative to a script for a puppet show, shaping your family stories, to bilingual storytelling. Our non-foundational courses vary from year to year.
Financial aid is available for those students for whom cost is a barrier. Please email us at hello@storytellingtoronto.org. Be sure to let us know which course you are interested in taking; how the course can benefit you; and, how much you can afford to pay. Assistance will be awarded on a case by case basis.
In addition to our core and special courses, Storytelling Toronto also facilitates private courses and workshops tailored to client needs. If you are looking for a professional development workshop for teachers or librarians, or leadership development for corporate employees or interns, you have come to the right place. Reach out to us and we’ll help you create the right program to suit your needs!
Storytelling I (Online)
Are you curious about storytelling? Would you like to learn from the comfort of your own home? This beginners’ course will help you to discover the basics of what makes an engaging tale and how to tell one, without notes! We’ll use folktales as a starting point, to learn principles which you can apply to any other story. You will discover your strengths as you work in partners and small groups. Every class, you will tell a story and in every class, you will get supportive feedback. Each week, you will learn about a new aspect of storytelling through lecture, discussion and hands-on experience.
Lynn is a patient and experienced instructor who knows how to make an online class fun. A professional storyteller herself, she has told stories to everyone from toddlers to seniors, indulging in her passion for folktales and for stories from Canadian history.
Elemental Storytelling (Online)
In this course we’ll explore the elements of earth, air, fire, and water in storytelling. These elements appear in nature, in ourselves, and in the temperaments of story characters human and non human. Grounded reliable ones, flighty unpredictable ones, fiery characters who inflame situations, watery ones who can quench the conflict. With playfully deep exercises involving gentle movement, writing, and drawing we'll experience these elements within ourselves, around us in nature, and in stories. Developing tellers can strengthen foundations and experienced tellers can deepen skills and expand perspectives.
Storytelling II (Online)
If you’ve already taken a beginner’s storytelling course*, and would like to widen your repertoire, develop your confidence, and have more opportunities for telling, Storytelling II: Next Steps is for you. You will choose a personal or traditional story you want to work on and have the opportunity to hone your storytelling skills through practices including, story mapping, role playing and connecting with voice. Each participant will have a chance to tell their story and receive constructive and helpful feedback.
PREREQUISITE: Storytelling I: First Steps Into the Art of Storytelling OR equivalent experience.
Improv for Storytellers (Online)
This two-session workshop will focus on guided improv exercises to help you build confidence in your storytelling ability and loosen your inhibitions. Through a variety of interactive games and exercises, you’ll gain inspiration to be more spontaneous, find your authentic voice, and as a result, develop a deeper connection with any story, personal or traditional, that you choose to work on in the future. You’ll learn how to take risks and fail–but gracefully, and with wild abandon. And you’ll have fun!
Meet our Resident Teacher
Resident Instructor Marylyn Peringer joined the Toronto storytelling community over 40 years ago when she began sharing French-Canadian folktales and legends at local schools and at the 1,001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. Those stories, and many others which she added to her repertoire, have carried her into more than a thousand schools and libraries across Canada. She is grateful to Storytelling Toronto for the multiple awards which helped her in researching the traditional tales of her Maltese heritage and was delighted to have been chosen by Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada to record both French-Canadian and Maltese tales as the 2017 StorySave artist. Marylyn has taught with Storytelling Toronto for over twenty years and takes pleasure in knowing that many of her former students are accomplished tellers who contribute their talents to local and national storytelling organizations.