Why stories?
Storytelling is a deeply creative part of being human. We learn about ourselves and the world around us from the stories we are told and the stories we tell. The language classroom is a perfect environment for learners to tell and be told stories about their own lives and experiences. In this article, storytelling means sharing a story orally, either spontaneously or after rehearsal, without referring to or reciting from a fixed script. It is the earliest and most deeply human way of passing on knowledge, both literally and metaphorically. When you set aside books and screens to tell your learners a story, you become inseparable from the story, which is transmitted through you into the hearts and minds of your students. As a teacher you naturally modify the English you use to make the story comprehensible for your learners. You might interact with your learners while you're sharing the story. This kind of live listening is deeply satisfying for language learners because they are involved and engaged in listening in a more naturally human way than when they are listening to a recording.
Using folk tales and fables to get your learners storytelling
Short folk tales and fables can be used to prompt personal stories. They offer meanings and metaphors that learners can easily relate to their own life experiences. To illustrate this, I will outline a classroom lesson that is designed to build language learners' confidence and fluency in personal storytelling. The procedure can be applied to other folk tales and fables that carry different meanings and metaphors and can easily be adapted for learners of different ages, levels and needs in both small and large classes and on different types of courses. Your learners can get a clear sense of themselves as tellers of their own stories and, in doing so, learn to communicate more creatively, expressively and confidently in English.
Support for learners
Elementary learners may struggle to express themselves with a limited range of words and expressions, while advanced speakers will strive to tell their stories vividly and precisely. The confidence to share their own stories – whether in their mother tongue or in an additional language such as English – comes through nurturing, support and plenty of regular practice, and this is precisely what you as a teacher of English can offer. The nature of the tasks you can invite your learners to do can be compatible with this humanistic approach to language learning. Rather than giving them comprehension questions and grammar or vocabulary exercises with only one right answer, you can invite learners to respond personally and creatively by listening closely to each other telling personal stories prompted not only by the folk tale but also by each other's personal stories. Of course, learners will find it challenging to express what they want to say, and here you can encourage them to support each other and, where possible, make yourself available to translate or reformulate their ideas into English that is appropriate to their level and to the story they are telling. These are moments when meaningful learning happens.
How to use this technique in the classroom
Here's an example class procedure which can easily be adapted to your learners, using a Palestinian folk tale, The snake, the hunter and the milk.
Preparation: You can learn to tell the folk tale by reading the text below (or downloading the PDF) as well as by listening to David Heathfield telling the story.
You might rehearse by recording yourself or by telling it to people you trust. Tell the story in your own words. Also, prepare to tell your own personal story about a time when you made a mistake but were able to put things right before it was too late (see prompt questions in 10 below).
1. Say: 'Let's tell stories about a time when we made a mistake but were able to put things right before it was too late. First, I'll tell you a short folk tale that was told by a teenager from Palestine, then I'll tell you my personal story, and after that we can listen to, learn and retell each other's stories.'
2. Ask learners to each take a piece of paper, and say: 'Draw a snake and her eggs in a nest; draw a hunter with a bow and arrow; draw a bowlful of milk.'
3. In pairs, learners use their drawings as prompts to tell the story they expect you to tell.
4. Learners listen to you tell the real story of The snake, the hunter and the milk and then, in their pairs, compare it with the story they predicted. Then they talk about what the story means to them. Be prepared to tell the story a second time if they want you to.
5. Show your class a story title that summarises in one short sentence a true story (that you are comfortable to share with your learners) about a time when you made a mistake but were able to put things right before it was too late. For example, my (David's) summary title might be 'We adapted our building plans at the very last minute so that our elderly neighbour could keep his precious view'.
6. Tell the story as you have rehearsed it, interacting with your learners, and include your own responses to the prompts below in 10.
7. Ask learners to talk about any connections they notice between your story and the folk tale The snake, the hunter, and the milk.
8. Invite learners to give specific examples of what they liked most about the way you told the story, such as physical expression, vocal expression, clarity, suspense, humour, unexpected twists, creativity. They can give only positive feedback.
9. Invite learners in pairs to help each other to retell your story as faithfully as they can. It's not necessary for them to use the same words.
10. Say: 'Remember a time when you made a mistake but were able to put things right before it was too late. Make sure it's a story you're happy to tell other students and for other students to retell in this class.
'Close your eyes and listen to the following prompt questions. It's OK if you don't have a story yet. Perhaps a story will come to you. It's OK if it doesn't and it's OK if it does. When did the story take place? Where were you? Who were you with? Who else was part of the story? What mistake did you make? Remember the details. What could you see? What could you hear? What happened exactly? How did you feel? How were you able to put it right before it was too late? How did you and the other people feel at the end? Why do you remember this story?
'Now open your eyes.'
11. Ask learners who have a story in mind to quietly write their one-sentence story summary title, and make sure that they are comfortable for their story to be retold by their classmates.
12. The learners get into groups so that there is one storytelling learner in each group. Each group could have between two learners and a quarter of the total number of learners in the class. The storyteller shows their summary title and then tells their story. The story listeners' challenge is to remember and make sure they can retell the storytellers' stories faithfully to people in other groups. When the story is finished, the listeners comment on any connections they notice between the story and the folk tale The snake, the hunter and the milk. Then they tell the storyteller what they liked most about the way they told the story, giving specific examples (see 8).
13. Listeners ask questions to clarify details in the story and check the pronunciation of names and places. They can rehearse by telling the story back to the storytellers so that they can retell the story faithfully.
14. The story listeners can now be storytellers as well. They pair with learners who have a different story to tell. Each learner tells the same story to at least three different partners and is told at least three different stories. After each telling, the listeners can talk about connections to the snake story and give examples of what they liked most about their partner's storytelling. With each retelling, learners tend to become more confident, fluent and accurate and can be encouraged to add more detail.
Optional follow-up: Learners can be invited to write and/or make an audio recording of their own or another learner's story. These can be uploaded to a shared platform. Again, learners comment only positively on each other's expression and creativity (focusing on accuracy has its place in other kinds of writing and speaking activities).
A classroom of storytellers
When these kinds of storytelling activities become a regular part of their learning, learners' inhibitions begin to fall away. Having classmates pay close attention and respond positively builds learners' confidence as both storytellers and English users, while promoting and maintaining positive classroom dynamics and an inclusive learning environment. Learners become more comfortable about sharing their feelings, and their sense of personal worth grows. One learner sharing a story leads naturally to another learner sharing a story, and soon you find that you have a class of storytellers where the teacher can focus on being an enabler. Your students' stories are the richest renewable resources that can be shared for a community of learners to thrive.
- The snake, the hunter and the milk – A Palestinian folk tale
-
There was once a hunter who lived in a lonely place on the edge of the desert with his wife and children. His wife kept sheep and she milked them, bringing in a bowl of milk every day.
One day the hunter went out to hunt. After a long time of finding nothing, he found a nest of eggs in the sand. He took them, knowing that these were snake eggs, but then he saw the snake returning. He hid behind a rock watching her, and, when she found her eggs were gone, she turned away. The snake knew that the only one who could have taken her eggs was that hunter. He followed her through the sand to his home. He saw her slide inside and watched from the doorway as she slid towards the bowl of milk. She put her mouth to the milk in the bowl and released her poison.
'Because I took her eggs, now she wants to poison my family,' he thought.
He ran back through the sand faster than the snake and put the eggs back in the nest. When the snake reached the nest, she saw her eggs were there. Then she turned again towards the hunter's home.
Once again he followed her, and from the doorway he saw her move against the bowl until it tipped, splashing the milk onto the floor. After that she slid out of the house.
The hunter thought: 'Why did I take what isn't mine? If I take what isn't mine, then I deserve bad fortune. It's better that we live in peace and harmony, side by side.'
David Heathfield is a storyteller, teacher of English and teacher trainer from Exeter, UK. He is the author of the teacher development books Storytelling with our students: Techniques for telling tales from around the world (DELTA Publishing), Spontaneous speaking: drama activities for confidence and fluency (DELTA Publishing) and a host of articles and chapters on storytelling and drama in education. He loves celebrating cultural diversity. Watch a previous webinar from David here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/news-and-events/webinars/webinars-teachers/online-storytelling-engaging-personal-creative