Simmies Spotlight: Telling Tales

In the latest edition of Simmies Spotlight, where we are looking at how the students, staff and alumni of St Mary’s University, Twickenham are supporting their communities nationally and locally in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, we caught up with recent graduate Crystal Dyke.

Crystal, who graduated from Education Studies in 2019 and now works as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant in a school, launched a new YouTube channel to help keep young children entertained whilst they are away from school by performing readings of classic tales in costume (cosplay).

What was your inspiration to create Tale as Old as Time?

“Whilst at St Mary’s, my English Elective classes reignited my passion for children’s stories. The need for home-schooling resources during the Covid-19 pandemic encouraged me to combine my love of children’s literature and cosplay to help inspire children and support parents during this difficult time.

“My passion for cosplay started when I went to my first Comic Con in May 2019. I enjoy putting outfits together and being creative with my make-up to create a wide range of different characters.

“I decided to combine these two passions to create Tale as Old as Time to help keep children entertained at home during the Coronavirus lockdown.”

What was your favourite memory of studying at St Mary’s?

”My favourite memory has to be visiting The Alligator’s Mouth children’s bookshop in Richmond with my English Elective class. Learning about the shop itself and exploring the books was an inspiring experience.”

Can you tell us more about your love of storytelling?

“During my third year at St Mary’s, I was given the opportunity to dress up and perform The Pig in the Pond to a Key Stage 1 class, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I believe that the most important part of storytelling is being passionate about the book you’re reading with the hope of cultivating a love of reading within the children. There’s nothing more important for their studies as they grow than learning to love books.”

What future plans do you have for your channel?

“I’m really enjoying making videos for my channel and look forward to seeing where it goes. I’m very excited that we’ll be reading ‘Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy’ soon!”

You can find Crystal’s YouTube Channel here, where she is sharing regular new videos for young children all over the world.