Storytelling in the English Classroom

Beata Wojciechowska, Poland

Beata Wojciechowska is a teacher at Comprehensive School Number 1 in Łódź. She is interested in creative approach to teaching teenagers and adults. E-mail: beatawoj@wp.pl

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Introduction
Examples
Conclusion
References

Introduction

I have been working as a teacher for more than ten years. At the beginning of my teaching career I was closely following the coursebook, making students do all the included exercises. However, I soon noticed that a coursebook should not be the sole tool of my craft. This observation led me to my constant pursuit of new classroom ideas to compliment the curriculum. I have already written about my favourite classroom activities, therefore now I have decided to describe one of the aspects of my classroom work in more detail. Below I am presenting how to use storytelling while teaching English. I have come across these ideas during various conferences and workshops I have had a pleasure to attend.

Examples

1. Students predict the content of a short story they are going to watch on the basis of a word cloud. Later they can ask the teacher questions about the content to create a coherent version. Then the teacher brainstorms ways of beginning of telling the story and finally the students watch the story to see how much they have managed to guess. The teacher pauses the recording before the end and together with the students brainstorms the possible endings. In the end the teacher plays the end of the film. It is best to choose a short film with some kind of twist at the end so that it would be surprising for students. As a follow-up activity students can write alternative endings to the story at home or make a video on their own.
2. The man in the lift – the teacher asks students questions related to a short film they are going to watch. On the basis of the title and the teacher’s questions, the students work in pairs and write what might have happened in that short story. Then they present their ideas. The teacher plays the film and the pair whose description is closest to the story shown in a real video get marks.
3. Ghost writer – the teacher prepares a word cloud including the words from a story and on the basis of it the students predict the content. Then the teacher reads out the story and students ask him / her questions which will help develop the story. The teacher elicits from the students different ways of beginning a story, e.g. I remember once …, You’ll never believe …, Guess what!, etc. Then the teacher may ask the students to prepare a list of key phrases suitable for the story. Then the students can develop it on their own. The stories are corrected by the teacher and displayed in the classroom. Students pick the one they like best.
4. An exchange student – the teacher asks the students to imagine that an exchange student is going to come to their school. The teacher reads out a letter from this student and encourages students to write back asking about things they want to know. Then the students think about places they could take the exchange students to (let them be landmarks of the city the students live in) and present their ideas by miming a photo. The rest of the group are trying to guess which place it is. In the end each student writes a page from a diary describing how it was with an exchange student in their family – what they did, where they went and how they felt.
5. Creating your own text – the teacher writes three words on the board – mummy, daddy and baby – and elicits from the students what these people usually do on a Sunday morning. Students give their ideas and the teacher writes them on the board and then s/he asks them that suddenly something happens and it wakes up the baby. The students’ task is to think what it was and develop the story.
6. A story in the picture – the teacher brings a picture to class. The task for the students is to write what happened before the situation present in the picture and what will happen next.
7. Retelling the story together – the teacher writes on the board a list of phrases from the story and asks the students to memorise them. Students watch a short story. Then the teacher starts telling the story and expects the students to produce the missing parts at certain times.
8. Designing posters – students listen to a narrative text read/ told by the teacher. Their task is to design a poster of a film based on the story they have heard.

Conclusion

I hope that from now on you will use storytelling in your classroom as often as I do since the activities are not only creative but also demand little preparation so that you could enjoy the time spent with your students and not your coursebooks.

References

Fisher, D. Improvising in the Classroom, IATEFL Poland Lublin 2014 Conference

Harmer, J. Be a ghost writer: telling and retelling in the writing and speaking class – LESSON for teachers, IATEFL Poland Łódź 2013 Conference

Keddie, J. Storytelling skills for language teachers, IATEFL Poland Łódź 2013 Conference

Please check the Methodology & Language for Secondary course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.