Cora Zon

Storytelling at Reservoir East Primary School

“Cover Design: The Magic Garden“
A response to a visual activity in the Magic Garden Project

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

The Magic Garden - A Collaborative Project

The Magic Garden is a project designed to show educators and their students how good curriculum can be delivered and the outcomes published, using new technology such as blogs, writeboard, photo board and many other exciting applications.

Cora Zon, a professional storyteller and Heather Blakey, an experienced web publisher and webmaster of the Soul Food Cafe, work collaboratively and demonstrate how educators can marry the ancient art of storytelling, apply current curriculum and publish using state of the art blogging software. Cora tells the enchanting Kazakh story of the ‘The Magic Garden’ while Heather Blakey delivers a curriculum package that climaxes with self publication on a constellation of Global Teacher, Global Student blogs. Watch, in wonder, at the way this virtual garden is growing as staff, students and the wider community contribute by responding to the activities within the Magic Garden Project.

The Magic Garden is an example of delivering curriculum in an IT rich, WEB2 environment without discarding tried and true practice.

Murrumbeena Primary School

April 9th, 2008

All students (Prep - 6) are taking part in a Global Classroom project called ‘The Magic Garden’. The project began with a visit from Cora Zon, a professional storyteller.

Angela H Says:

The children were transfixed by Cora’s expressive story telling.
Students described the story telling as ‘inspirational’ and the stories as ‘cliff-hangers’.
The children found Cora’s use of intonation, body language and facial expressions were instrumental in maintaining their interest and supporting their understanding of the story.

Students Comment:

Jacob A Says:

Cora is a fantastic storyteller. When I listened to her stories I was in a trance, they were sooo good!

Richard 5/6h Says:

I think that Cora is a good story teller. She presents herself very clearly and I loved her stories. She changes her volume to make us well focused. I could say that I loved her storytelling because I never really turned away, I kept looking at her. Well done Cora!

Srishti Says:

I think Cora’s story telling was really nice and funny. Cora did lots of actions and movements. I think Cora used lots of expressions and a clear voice. I liked Cora because she was a really cool story teller. She was really fun and talkative and she was very beautiful. I like her stories a lot.

Angus and Ryan Says:

Both of us enjoyed the whole lot because of Cora’s great expression. We both wish we could hear them over and over again. Thank you for coming to the school and telling us the stories you had. We wish you could tell us more stories next time.

Pavel Z Says:

Cora’s stories were so detailed and amazing. She really got me into the stories!

Callum Says:

I thought that it was going to be boring but it was actually pretty good. The actions were good too. Good job Cora.

Zalie Says:

Cora Zon was a really good story teller. She used great hand movements.
The story I liked best was The Magic Garden it was very entrancing.

Jacob R Says:

Cora was fantastic. The story telling was so wonderful. Her stories were detailed.

Amy M 5/6G Says:

I loved the story telling and thought it was great. I especially loved “The Blue Cocoon.”
Cora used alot of expresion and changed her voice to match the character.
She always knew what to say and never got stuck.
She also used body language and made the stories easy to understand.
I loved it! Bravo!

Maria M Says:

I loved the story telling. The best story was The Blue Cocoon. When you pulled it something would happen.
Cora did a very good job, she put a lot of expression into the story to match what the characters would sound like.
She never made a mistake.
Cora did very well.
” I loved it”

Amy G Says:

Cora stunned the whole of Murrumbeena Primary School with her wonderful story telling. Cora showed great facial expressions and body expressions as well. Everybody was so involved. The 3 stories that Cora shared with us were The Blue Cocoon, The Magic Garden and The Empty Pot. Her enthusiastic way of telling the story inspired everybody watching. I know I certainly enjoyed it.

Ella D-S Says:

I think Cora was great! I especially liked The Blue Cocoon. It was about a boy who skipped his life. It gave a great message-no matter how boring things can be in life you always get something good out of it!
Cora spoke clearly and change her voice with the characters.

Christina and Zoe Says:

We really liked the story telling especially the story about The Magic Garden.
Cora was very inspirational by the way she told the story and gave a very special and clear message.
You could always understand what she was saying and she expressed herself using facial expression and body language. It was very enjoyable. Well done Cora!

Jimmy and Stephen Says:

We found Cora’s stories were very interesting because we liked the way she spoke clearly and loud so everyone could understand what she was saying. Her body language was perfect.
Our favourite story was “The Blue Cocoon”. It was very interesting.

Emma and Milly Says:

We think that Cora was a very talented story teller. She showed a lot of expression while telling the stories which made the stories very interesting. We enjoyed all the stories but we liked The Blue Cocoon the best!

Sarah Says:

Cora is so amazing at story telling. She was so good at body language, facial expressions and she is just so good. Everyone was so involved because of the stories she told. The three stories that Cora told were The Blue Cocoon, The Magic Garden and The Empty Pot. I think that Cora’s story inspired everyone watching and listening.
Personally I think that Cora was fantastic.

harshita Says:

I liked Cora stories. I liked Cora expirations of her face, talking and how she changed her voice every time and her story was funny. The way that Cora made her story interesting I loved her story

Sammi Says:

Cora you are the best storyteller ever.

Vasili Says:

I think that Cora was a very good storyteller and she put feeling into her stories

Matthew L Says:

I liked The Blue Cocoon and The Empty Pot. It was really cool and the stories are good because they were told with expression.

Harshita Says:

I liked Cora’s story telling.

Connie and Erin Says:

We really liked the storyteller. She had great hand actions. We really liked The Blue Cocoon and The Empty Pot. Cora spoke very clearly and showed good body language. She inspired a lot of us with her fantastic story telling. We could see pictures of your stories in our minds. Thank you Cora for coming to Murrumbeena Primary School.

Ashley I Says:

I was amazed at how Cora managed to get such a detailed picture of what the story was about into my head so easily. My favourite story was The Blue Cocoon. I think it would take a lot of skill to memorize all of the stories. She showed a lot of expression. Well done Cora!

Mitchell Says:

Cora’s storytelling was an inspirational, masterful piece of work. She emphasized the stories with hand movements and pauses. She told her stories with practised ease and expression.

Deniz Says:

Cora was pretty good because she used lots of expression and the stories were good.

Emma and Dominique Says:

We think Cora was an amazing story teller. She used lots of expression and changed her voice for every character, which made it more interesting. She told three stories and our favourite was “The Magic Garden.”

Kade and Will Says:

We both liked the Blue Cocoon. It was very interesting. Thanks for telling us the stories Cora.

Karl and Ben Says:

The Blue Cocoon was really good and interesting. It caught our attention.

Maddy and Eliza Says:

Our favourite story was The Blue Cocoon. We loved it because it was very dramatic, especially when Cora said “Peter…….Peter…..!!!” It was great!

Maddie S Says:

I thought Cora was great at sharing the folktales. My favourite was “The Blue Cocoon”. She used a lot of expression in her words and it made it sound interesting.

Charlie W and Kameron and Kurt Says:

We think that the story telling was pretty good. We enjoyed the cocoon story with the magic string. Cora used plenty of expression. Thanks Cora.

Ross Says:

I really enjoyed the visit from Cora Zon the storyteller. I liked how she used expression and moved around. She also changed her voice. My favourite story was The Empty Pot.

Brigitte & Abbey Says:

We thought that the story teller Cora showed a lot of emotion and she used her imagination a lot. We thought that the Blue Cocoon was the best. We liked the boy Peter. We thought the story teller was great!

Jack Says:

I liked The Magic Garden it was the best story I have ever heard. The stories were detailed and enforced how Cora put a lot of effort into her story telling.

Sophia L Says:

Cora is a good story teller. She changed her voice, walked around and moved her hands, she was not just standing there and telling the stories. My favourite story was ‘The Empty Pot’.

Andre Says:

The Magic Garden was absolutely great. I think it was great how Cora used expression, it really tied you to every word she said. I especially liked The Magic Garden and The Empty Pot in fact, I liked them all. I’m sure she would be most welcome to come again. I’d give her a standing ovation.

Issy and Paris Says:

We Think all the stories were fantastic!
They were told with the expression! Everybody enjoyed it.
My favourite story was The Empty Pot. It was told so fantastically, every word was full of passion!
We also loved The Blue Cocoon!
It was told like the story teller was telling from her heart!

Callum.L Says:

I liked Cora’s story telling because it was interesting and it was enjoyable. The story I liked the best was the Magic Garden.
Keep up the good work Cora!

To invite Cora Zon to your school please send an email to corazon.storyteller@gmail.com