Designing a Storytelling and Comparative Narrative Workshop Series for Secondary Schools in South South Nigeria

Secondary school students in South South Nigeria occupy a unique position at the intersection of multiple oral literary traditions, including Ijaw, Yoruba, Efik, Itsekiri, and Ogoni, and a comparative narrative workshop series that draws on these traditions while introducing analogous storytelling traditions from other African and world cultures would enrich their literary education and cultural self-awareness. This study designed a storytelling and comparative narrative workshop series for Senior Secondary School students in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa States. A programme design methodology was employed, drawing on consultations with 12 literature teachers, 8 community storytellers, and 30 students from six secondary schools across the three states. The consultations identified strong student engagement with oral storytelling when connected to their own cultural experience and enthusiasm for learning about storytelling from other African traditions. The workshop series comprises six sessions: local oral narrative forms, Niger Delta oral performance tradition, comparison with East African storytelling, Griotic tradition in West Africa, global fairy tale and folk narrative comparison, and student performance creation. Session guides, comparative discussion questions, assessment criteria for original storytelling performances, and a resource reading list are provided. Expert review by four comparative literature scholars and three drama educators confirmed the programme's cultural grounding and pedagogical effectiveness. The study recommends piloting in four schools per state, with student narrative performance assessment at the end of the series.

Keywords: storytelling workshop, comparative narrative, South South Nigeria, secondary school, oral literature