By Jos Duncan
As the founder and Chief Storyteller of Love Now Media, I’ve had the pleasure of conducting dozens of storytelling workshops in communities throughout the country. While storytelling is something that all of us do in our daily lives, a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of storytelling when prompted to do so. One of the most fun and easy ways to engage communities with love stories has been to do an exercise we call “Love On Location” or the “Love Story Game.” This approach to offering story prompts adds a bit of suspense and excitement to presenting story prompts.
Goal: This lesson plan will help you to create videos of love stories using an interactive approach that makes storytelling low-pressure, fun and easy.
Ages: Any age, however, you will need to adjust your prompts for different age groups.
Children: 6 to 12 years
Youth: 12 to 18 years
Adults: 18 and over
Objectives:
- To prompt people to tell love stories in a fun and easy way
- To record the love stories with a mobile device or camera
- To share the videos with your family, community, or group via social media
Supplies:
At least 10 blank index cards
Sharpie or Marker
Pen or pencil
Camcorder or mobile device with a camera
Preparation:
Using the index cards and the marker, write a large number on one side of each card. The numbers can range from 1 through 10.
On each of the numbered cards, use the pencil or pen to write a question or story prompt on the other side of the card. For young children, keep the prompts very simple and give them room to use their imaginations. For youth, incorporate questions about activities they enjoy. For adults, I like to push the idea of love as a tool for social justice and wellness.
Here are sample story prompts and questions for the adult age group:
- When was the last time you witnessed an act of love?
- How did you learn to define love?
- Were you ever afraid of love?
- What is your favorite love scene in a movie and why?
- What song reminds you of love and why? Bonus: sing it.
- Describe a time when you felt most loved.
- Describe a time when you felt most loving.
- Who loves you? How do you know?
- Who do you love? How do you know?
- If love was a superpower, what would you do with it?
- If love could heal something, what or who would it heal?
- If love could change something in the world, what would it change?
Activity:
You can do this activity with a group of people, small or large – or alone with a camera.
Step 1: Spread out each card on a table or pin it to a wall so that the numbers are face up and the questions are hidden face down.
Step 2: Set up your camera.
Step 3: Have a person choose a number.
Bonus: If you are in a group, have the group say the number and cheer.
Example:
Card chooser: “I choose number 1”
Other people enthusiastically: “NUMBER 1” with applause
Step 4: Have the person read the question on the numbered card and answer it with a story.
Step 5: Do this for every person participating or alone.
Step 6: Upload the love story to social media with the hashtags #LessonsOnLove #LoveStorytelling or send it to us on Facebook or Instagram and we may share it.
Do this in as many communities as possible to help people to tell their love stories and remember to let us know how it goes by writing to lovenowmedia@gmail.com.
