World known puppeteer assists educators to teach more effectively

World-renowned puppeteer Karen Konnerth visited Polokwane to impart her knowledge on using puppets as visual aids in education during workshops for educators held on Monday and Tuesday.
Konnerth’s visit forms part of the US Mission to South Africa’s ongoing collaboration with South Africans to promote education and innovation.
Speaking with Polokwane Observer exclusively prior to the start of Monday’s workshop, Konnerth said she had been a puppeteer for 35 years. “I often did puppet shows at schools, and teachers started approaching me to ask about doing puppet shows on specific topics they were having a challenge teaching their students,” Konnerth explained. “That is when I first started teaching others how to bring a specific topic alive by making and using puppets.”
During the workshop on Monday, attendees made shadow puppets, wrote their own stories and performed them with the shadow puppets.
Shadow puppetry is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which use flat articulated cut-out figures which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen. “Shadow puppetry is an ancient, magical and simple form of puppetry, which with South African’s strong, powerful storytelling tradition, blend together beautifully,” Konnerth further said.
“I am also planning to teach attendees how to make use of refuse and recyclable material to make puppets,” she added.
Her workshops help educators to integrate arts into their teaching to nurture learning and creative thinking in children with diverse learning styles and academic abilities. Skills such as problem solving, listening, sequencing, decision making and collaborative learning are strengthened in this way.
Konnerth was awarded the 2011 Puppeteers of America Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin Award for her contributions to the field of education and was awarded a 2015 National Arts and Humanities Youth Programme Award.

Storie en foto: KAREN VENTER
>>karen@observer.co.za