British Council celebrates Roald Dahl 100th birthday

The British Council Bahrain celebrated the 100th birthday anniversary of British story writer Roald Dahl.

British storyteller Kevin Graal hosted a three day storytelling programme for children and their parents last month.  

The programme was attended by more than 500 children, parents and academic staff.

Storytelling events took place during the last week of September in a number of venues across Bahrain. The programme partnershipped with many local organisations. In addition to the storytelling sessions, the British Council continues to offer a free online course for learners and free resources for teachers on British Council’s Teaching and Learn English websites https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/landlady  https://eal.britishcouncil.org/resources/roald-dahl-story-openings.

Many of Roald Dahl’s famous children’s publications came to life with storyteller Kevin Graal. The storyteller whose visit to Bahrain is the fourth, have delivered a total of six storytelling events for children and their parents, two of which were open to the public.

During the mornings, students, parents, and staff members from Al Iman School-Girls Section, Arabian Pearl Gulf School and Al Amal Special Education Institute enjoyed a number of storytelling sessions in their schools. Also, a special afternoon storytelling event for the Royal Charity Organisation orphans was held in partnership with the Rotary Club of Salmaniya at Golden Tulip Hotel.

The public also had the opportunity to enjoy the celebration via two public events that took place during the afternoons. The first event was held on at Bahrain National Museum in partnership with the Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiquities, while the second took place at Dilmun Club, in partnership with the Club itself.

About the celebration activities, Alan Rutt, British Council Country Director stated “The British Council was delighted to have British Storyteller Kevin Graal in Bahrain again, this time as part of our celebration of Roald Dahl’s 100th Birthday Anniversary; which forms part of our activities celebrating the Bahrain UK 200 anniversary. We hosted a number of storytelling events with various partners and in various venues to celebrate the work of the late writer. This comes as part of our efforts to further strengthen cultural relationships between Bahrain and the UK as well as our efforts to encourage youngsters to indulge in the world of English literature. I would like to thank Kevin and our partners for this program, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Rotary Club of Sulmaniya, Dilmun Club, and all the schools that took part in it”.

Additionally, hosted storyteller Kevin Graal mentioned, “I am very delighted to be in Bahrain again with the British Council, children everywhere in the world love stories; as stories bring us together. It makes us realize that the similarities between all of us are much more than we realize”.