Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 3; May 03

Working with Wisdom Tales

Michael Berman, Flying Witch Publications

This is the first in a series of Wisedom Tales… The stories enrich our understanding of the human mind, soul, heart and motives. They are suitable for people of all ages and cultures.

Children especially love the interactive nature of the stories and adults enjoy the opportunity to explore the many layers of meanings and see how they aplly to their own lives in the 21st century.

ISBN: 1-900433-15-X 6 GB pounds

The Power of Love

Michael Berman, Flying Witch Publications , 2003

This is the second book in the Working with Wisedom Tales series. Contemporary and tradiitional folktales and poetry, all on the topic of love, with notes for trainers and teachers on how thwey can be used with both counselling clients and in the language classroom.

ISBN: 1-900433-17-6 6 GB pounds

Flying Witch Publications does not offer credit. All orders should be accompanied by a cheque for the relevant amount. Prices are inclusive of postage and packing in the UK.

Cheques to be made payable to:

Flying Witch Publications and sent to

P.0. Box 6462,
Coalville , Leics
LE 67 2ZU

A few Words on Story-telling

Michael Berman

Storytelling is as old as humankind. Long before stories were recorded, they were entrusted to storytellers. Why did our ancestors tell stories? Historians believe storytelling was used for a number of purposes: to teach history, to settle arguments, to make sense of the world (through Creation Myths), to satisfy a need for play and entertainment, to honour supernatural forces, to communicate experiences to other humans, and to record the actions and characteristics of ancestors for future generations (through legends).

Some of the books of the Bible, such as the Song of Songs and the Book of Job, were written in dramatic storytelling form and we have documentation of storytelling from many cultures. Records of storytelling have been found in many languages, including Sanskrit, Old German, Latin, Chinese, Greek, Latin, Icelandic and Old Slavonic. The origins of storytelling, however, are ancient. One of our earliest surviving records is found in the Westcar Papyrus of the Egyptians in which the sons of Cheops (the pyramid builder) entertained their father with stories. The epic tale, Gilgamesh, which relates the story of a Sumerian king, is frequently cited in history texts as our oldest, surviving epic tale.

Both Hinduism and Buddhism made use of storytelling for teaching purposes. Hindu storytellers used story cloths from The Ramayana to illustrate their narratives. The Ramayana, the great epic tale of India, is part of the Hindu scriptures for Rama is believed to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Within the Buddhist faith, Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, incorporated storytelling in his teachings. The Jataka or birth tales, are stories of previous incarnations of the Buddha. There is evidence that early Christian prophets used stories in their preaching, but little more is known. In Judges 9:7, Jotham tells the people of Shechem a tale to point out the wickedness of their ruler. The Hasidic Jews also used storytelling in introducing their rituals and belief to young children. In the New Testament Jesus Christ used the parable form in his teachings. Even today, storytelling remains a part of Christian services, especially for young children and for use in Sunday Schools.

Why tell stories in the classroom? Because storytelling engages the imagination, promotes language development, encourages reading, teaches people about other cultures, and helps them to understand themselves and others.

When we listen to a story the heart rate changes, the eyes dilate, the muscles contract, and in a safe way, we really do confront witches, overcome monsters, fall in love, and find our way out of dark forests. Storytelling uses the left brain's functions (language, a story line, sequences of cause and effect) to speak the right brain's language of symbolic, intuitive, imaginative truths. For example, the small bird sits on the shoulder of the boy lost in the woods and tells him how to go home. The left brain says, “I understand the words, but birds don't speak.” The right brains says, “What did the boy say back to the bird?” It understands these impossible developments as facts. In this way storytelling helps the brain to integrate its two sides into a whole, which promotes health and self-realization.

As people listen to stories, they form images in their minds that are stored in the memory as symbols. Studies have shown that humans retain only 20% of what they read, but they recall 80% of symbols, which helps to explain why stories can have such a powerful impact on us.

As for those of you who are apprehensive about telling stories, it is a skill that improves with practice. The scariest part is starting. How did you learn to swim? By drowning for a while. How did you learn to ride a bike? By falling many times. To tell a story well, you need to practise. The more you practise, the better you get. It might also be helpful to bear in mind that we all tell stories, all the time. When someone asks you how your day went, that's an invitation for a story. We then allow the listener to participate in our lives by sharing the interesting highlights of the events we experience. Storytelling in the classroom is merely an extension of what we already do on a daily basis.

The stories presented in this series of books are all teaching tales and each story is followed Notes for Trainers / Teachers with suggestions as to how it can be exploited in the classroom.