Storytelling (primary learners)

Story can make our children’s learning memorable, fun and creative. How can a teach exploit stories?

The advantages of using stories:

• we can develop vocabulary; 
• we can present or consolidate grammatical areas;
• encourag creativity;
• help students to stimulate their imagination;
• help them to learn about the world;
• motivate them to learn; 
• stories promote a feeling of well-being and relaxation;
• they increase learners’ willingness to communicate their ideas;
• they encourage active participation;
• they encourage use of imagination and creativity;
• they encourage cooperation between learners;
• they encourage different learning styles;

Although stories are good to be used at lessons, a teacher should be careful at choosing stories. 

Good stories	Not very good stories
The story has a positive message.	The story has lots of different language structures.
The learners know the story in their own language.	The learners won’t relate to the characters.
The story is short and uncomplicated.	The story is very long.
The story has lots of pictures.	The storyline isn’t very clear.

After we have chosen a story, we need to think about what language to teach and how to teach it. Having clear teaching and learning objectives is crucial when using stories in the classroom if we are going to exploit the opportunities they provide.

How can we analyse what to teach on a language level?

• Language that learners already know

Integrate games or activities. The vocabulary can be seen in a natural context – this is one of the main elements of a communicative approach to language teaching and learning.

• New language that will be important for understanding

Identify key language that learners need to know to understand the story. Then simplify the story to help learners notice in context any pre-taught new words and deal with any unfamiliar vocabulary. It is often useful to change a language structure to one learners are familiar with (for example, past simple to present simple), especially for the initial storytelling stages. 

• New language that isn't crucial but that may interest learners

Predict words that learners may find interesting. Moments when children want to know more about new words are valuable learning opportunities; you can use them to integrate learning about the world as well as language learning.

How to plan storytelling?

1.                  Read and understand the main message of the story.

2.                  Decide on a structure to integrate - what language are you going to use? (for example, you might want to revise the past simple)

3.                  Choose a maximum of eight words that are crucial for the story.

4.                  Prepare some visuals to help understanding.

Stories naturally allow us to incorporate multi-sensory teaching techniques. 

1. You can tell a story (for auditory learners), 
2. use mime, gesture and pictures (for visual learners), 
3. hen retell the story asking learners to mime with you (for kinaesthetic learners).

To make the telling of a story more memorable you can use the strategies below:

• vary the volume and tone of your voice;
• use different and exaggerated character voices;
• use facial expressions and gestures;
• maintain eye contact with your learners;

While planning a lesson with storytelling, it's again advisable to divide the task into stages taking into consideration your learners' different learning styles. For example:

Preparation stage

• Use pictures to revise animal vocabulary and to introduce ‘hare’ and ‘tortoise’ - visual
• Learners mime how different animals move, including a hare and a tortoise - kinaesthetic

Main task stage

• Tell the story. Then retell it, asking learners to put up their hand when they hear a word they know - auditory                                         
•  Learners mime actions they remember from the story - kinaesthetic
• Learners say what they remember from the story - auditory

Post-task stage

• Learners draw a picture from the story - visual
• Learners draw a graph showing fast and slow animals - visual

Stories provide opportunities to incorporate a variety of language skills and they can help to integrate cross-curricular areas

•  writing - ask your learners to create an alternative ending ;
• speaking - have a role play;
• drama - act the story out;
• science - investigate, for instance, the habitats of different kinds of bears around the world;
• music - create a chant or a song

Links:

http://www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org/courses/details/18777/teaching-primary-learners-communicatively