There are no right or wrong answers so there should be no pressure on students. Students can respond as they wish, whether in English or in their mother tongue.
Preparation
Get ready to tell your students a short and suitable folk tale which you know well (alternatively learn a simple story – see resources below). Prepare the classroom by making an informal receptive storytelling environment. Consider informal seating, gentle lighting and ensure there are no distracting background noises. Ask students to put away pens and paper and just enjoy listening to a story.
Procedure
Tell the story.
A moment after telling the story, say:
I'm going to ask you three questions about what you imagined when you were listening to the story. Choose just one of the questions and tell your answer to your partner. Relax your eyes, you can close them if you want to.
- Question 1: Choose a moment in the story which you can imagine clearly. What shapes, colours and movements do you see in your imagination? What sounds do you hear? What textures, sensations and emotions do you feel?
- Question 2: Describe one character in the story. What do they look like and what do they wear? Who do they remind you of? How do you feel about them? What present would you like to give this character?
- Question 3: What does this story make you think about? What does it mean to you personally?
After students have had enough time to listen to each other in pairs, invite students to talk about their answers as a whole class. The teacher's role can be to draw attention to and celebrate differences in the ways people imagine and interpret stories.
Extension
Students prepare to tell short folk tales in groups and set similar personal response tasks. It is motivating for students to find out the impact their storytelling has on other students' imaginations.
Further reading
See article Storytelling to celebrate cultural diversity.
There are huge resources of folk and fairy tales from all over the world published in English on the internet – here are just a few of the ones that I recommend:
For everyone: https://www.sacred-texts.com/
Especially for children: https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/
David Heathfield is a storyteller and English teacher. Find more ideas in his teacher resource book Spontaneous Speaking: Drama Activities for Confidence and Fluency (DELTA Publishing). www.davidheathfield.co.uk