Task 1: Storytelling is a memorable moment in which learners establish strong connections with the language.

Task 1: Storytelling is a memorable moment in which learners establish strong connections with the language. What aspects are important in your opinion to take in consideration when planning a storytelling activity? How do they affect the moment in which we are with our students?

Seeing this question reminds me of my favorite teachers back when I was a kid. They always had an interesting tale, there was a hook, building tension and the outcome would always makes us laugh, or at least get startled by it. And as a teacher, I try to implement these elements in the stories I create for students: there should always be a hook, where I draw all students' attention to what I'm doing, and there must be some kind of conflict/tension we need to solve. I try to involve students in the story as they are co-authors in it (even if they don't know it) by asking questions, letting them decide which way the story should go and not letting it drift too much off track (or maybe doing it, oftentimes their ideas are better than the original plan). After that, something light and fun to end it up in a nice climax and that can be done and redone by them. It can be used to introduce a topic, to show specific target language in a light and fun way and making them eager to try it out on their own.

P.S.: This question also reminded me (part #2) of an opportunity I told students to try and retell the story behind One Direction's 'Glad you came'. A group of enthusiastic boys said it was about an alien who wanted to abduct a girl back to her mother planet. Scary!

Comments

  1. Carolina Brenes BurgosMay 4, 2016 at 7:58 AM

    I really like how you build expectation. Seeing all I've learned about story telling, I am very excited to have some storytelling time soon.
    I am interested in the activity about the song. Could you share a little bit more?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Teacher Thiago CastilhoMay 4, 2016 at 11:07 PM

    Sure. I work with the lyrics, which tell a short story about how boy meets girl, presumably, and as an outcome activity, I tell them to rewrite the story behind the lyrics: what's going on, where are they, what's the situation in general. Since it's a romantic plotline, stories usually come out as such. Or as the one I told above.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carolina Brenes BurgosMay 5, 2016 at 7:20 AM

    Very nice! I like that activity. I think I'm going to use that with older students soon.

    ReplyDelete

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