York team brings Kamishibai storytelling to primary classrooms

Posted on Thursday 11 June 2026

On 3 June 2026, the Kamishibai Team from the Department of Language and Linguistic Science delivered six consecutive workshops for Year 3 pupils at Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy. All 72 pupils took part, discovering how a centuries-old Japanese storytelling form can open the door to several languages at once.

The visit began with an email. Luisa Garcia, who teaches Spanish at the academy, contacted the department's Outreach Team for help raising the profile of language learning.

"I am trying to find ways to raise the profile of foreign languages," she wrote. "I run a German Club but am looking for opportunities to expose my students to other languages. Could the University of York help?"

Géraldine Enjelvin, Yumi Nixon and Ulrike Wray, who make up the Kamishibai Team, were glad to respond. Kamishibai uses colourful picture cards slotted into a small wooden theatre known as a butai. Watching and listening to The Rainbow Fish, a story about friendship, the pupils learnt several colours in German and Japanese, as well as in British Sign Language and Makaton.

They also practised counting to three in Japanese, helped by the fact that the words sound like "itchy", "knee" and "sun", which makes them easy to remember. The session ended on a Spanish note, with pupils presenting in pairs a conversation between two of the story's sea creatures, prepared in advance with Ms Garcia.

The pupils' enthusiasm showed how storytelling can capture young learners' interest and support meaningful language learning.

Read more about the department's outreach work: https://www.york.ac.uk/language-linguistic-science/resources-for-schools/outreach/