Preface

I am writing this unit because of the desperate need for more oral language instruction. Today more than ever students are coming into school with insufficient language knowledge. Our students oral language skills are not developed enough to support the curriculum and objectives we teachers are pushing so hard. They require formal language instruction before they can be expected to become fluent readers, writers, and thinkers.

This unit is a focused, intensive unit on storytelling. Storytelling is the strategy I use to help obtain oral language proficiency among second language learners and students with deficient language skills. Storytelling gives the students the daily practice they need in order to advance their language skills. This unit will help the students understand how telling stories and story structure enable them to express themselves more clearly. The students will also learn through storytelling that their ability to listen to others will increase, expanding both their vocabulary, knowledge base and sentence structure.

Background

I teach second grade at a dual language school focusing on international communication. Demographically, the majority of my students are of Hispanic and Black descent. Many of the students at John C. Daniels speak Spanish as their dominant language. It is through our dual language program that students learn English or Spanish as a second language. As a result, in the early grades, many students oral language skills in their second language, more so than in their primary language, are far below grade level. When I formally tested my students oral language level based on the MONDO oral language assessment, I found that some of my students scored at a Kindergarten level. Students at this level have difficulty following simple instructions and understanding texts read to them. The majority of my students scored at a beginning First Grade level, meaning they have difficulty comprehending texts above a DRA level of 6 read in class. Only a few of my students scored on a second grade level, in part because many of my students learned to read in Spanish. I found these results alarming.

How can I, as the teacher, force a curriculum onto these students who have not yet acquired the necessary fundamental skills to understand and tackle it successfully? My answer to this question is that I cant and we as teachers need to make an adjustment in our teaching to account for this. Much of the curriculum we are expected to follow is intended for students who are on grade level. Based on the assessment data I have for my classroom- which is that the majority of students fall below grade level in oral language, leading also to their deficiencies in both reading and writing- the second grade curriculum proves to be too advanced. Many of the books have vocabulary and structure that are too complex for their academic level. I see this a lot in my classroom where my students are able to read at a higher level than they can speak and function. One example of this is a student in my class who is able to read at a DRA level 12, yet his oral language level is so low that he cant structurally put a sentence together well enough to ask me if he can use the bathroom. Another example I see in students who have low language skills is that they look like fluent readers when you listen to them read, but when it comes down to comprehension questions and being able to retell what they have just read, they can not do it. They do not have the language skills or background to support a clear understanding of the story. Much of this discrepancy can be addressed if we as teachers take the time to focus on formal language instruction. We need to remember that you need to be able to speak and listen in order to read, write, and think.

Storytelling is perfect strategy to use with the students at my school because it also fits in with our international communication magnet theme and will honor the students cultural roots and individuality. The students at my school have rich heritages and it is through this unit that they will be able to express themselves and learn about the diverse backgrounds of their fellow classmates. Because this unit is focused on second language learners, my partner teacher who teaches the Spanish component will be working with the students who are learning Spanish as their second language, while I am working with the students who are learning English as their second language.

Oral Language

Oral Language is what gives children the foundation for literacy development. English language learners (ELLs) need and require daily language practice. It is through listening to other people that they gain much of their vocabulary and sentence structure. By listening to other people they also learn the context in which words are used. These children require not only listening to others but also a safe and comfortable environment in which they can practice the skills that they have learned. Children must learn to speak and carry on conversations before they can become active readers.

Formal language instruction is needed to assist our students to achieve the proficiency necessary to become successful learners in the classroom. In order to do this we need to bridge the gap between the informal language spoken at home and the formal instructional language they hear at school. To do this, students need language instruction so they can learn to speak appropriately and to listen. Oral language instruction will help students to be fluent and understand structured academic language.

Storytelling is a perfect avenue to explore when looking for ways to develop the oral language skills of second language learners in a classroom. This unit will encompass many of the techniques and strategies used to increase language skills as stated by Crevola and Vineis (MONDO 2005). For example this unit will:

Develop personal relationships among all the children.

Provide daily opportunities for language development.

Create opportunities to interact regularly on a one to one basis.

Challenge students to talk, think, and explore their knowledge of the world.

Support students as they develop the language and learning strategies necessary to articulate and extend their interactions with the w

Storytelling

Storytelling has long held an important role in history. People have passed down stories from generation to generation. It has served as a way to explain and understand the world. There are many different types of stories, which are told for many different purposes. Stories help explain different phenomena, cultural beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and much more. In this unit we will be focusing on folktales and traditional stories arising from the students heritages.

Storytelling has many key values for both the individual telling the story and the people listening to the story being told. Among the values that storytelling instills in its participants as stated by Margaret Read Macdonald, inThe Storytellers Start-Up Book,is that it hones our literary and imaginative skills. We improve our ability to listen, speak, imagine, compose phrases and create stories (Pg. 101). Macdonald continues on in her book to say that storytelling broadens our awareness of our own as well as other cultures, allows us to understand ourselves better, gives us a sense of belonging to a group and increases our vocabularies. Jack McGuire lists the benefits in his book, Creative Storytelling, by stating, The specific educational and social benefits to storytelling from a childs point of view are numerous and well documented (Pgs. 13-14). Some of the values McGuire touches upon are helping a child recognize patterns in language, stimulating a childs powers of creativity, providing a child with problem solving and decision making activities, strengthening a childs capacity to form objective, rational and practical applications, assisting a child to develop skills in dialogue and cooperative interpersonal behavior. It also familiarizes and introduces a child to symbols, and traditions of different cultural heritages shared among the people around them. There are tremendous gains to be made through storytelling as a strategy to increase the oral language of second language learners in particular.

Goals and Objectives

During this unit students will be given the opportunity to have daily language practice in the safe and relaxed environment of their classroom. This daily language practice will allow the students to interact on a personal level with both the teacher and fellow classmates. The students are able to gain language knowledge from their participation both as speakers and listeners. These personal interactions are meaningful because the students are able to interact with one another, carry on conversations, and hear significant rules being modeled involving sentence structure. Each lesson within the unit will focus on a particular aspect or skill set of storytelling, each week building upon the last in complexity. The skills learned in this unit will help to develop the students oral language, which is necessary to become successful academic learners in the classroom. This will further prepare the students to effectively take on the second grade curriculum.

In this unit students will meet the following objectives:

Students will develop vocabulary through listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Students will listen to and respect the opinions of others about written, oral and visual texts.

Students will listen to, read and respond to texts about and from many cultures and times.

Students will recognize values and beliefs included in a text.

Students will determine purpose, point of view and audience, and choose an appropriate written, oral or visual format.

Students will use oral language with clarity and voiceto communicate a message.

Students will use strategies to generate and develop ideas for speaking, writing and visual activities.

Students will read, listen to and tell stories from a variety of cultures, and identify the similarities and differences in the way language is used.

Strategies

Week 1, Day 1

This unit on storytelling begins with the teacher. In order to become successful teaching a unit on storytelling I had to be comfortable telling stories and had to become a storyteller myself. After all you wouldnt become a football coach if you didnt know how to play football. There is no need to be nervous about this; there are many resources (as listed under my teacher references) available to help you become an effective storyteller.

To introduce the unit on storytelling I begin by becoming a storyteller myself and I tell the students an intriguing, exciting story. I make sure to model all the important components of a great storyteller that I expect to see from the students during this unit. To do this, first I choose a folktale that I love. The story I tell my students isThe Three Billy Goats Gruff. I choose this folktale because it is one that I remember hearing and loving myself as a child. It has strong characters and a clear storyline that is easy to follow. Before I tell the story I make sure that I practice it a few times. This story is fun to tell because you can change your voice to fit and portray each character. Then, I give it my best effort and tell the story to my students as if I were a professional storyteller. It is exciting watching the students listen to my story and seeing their ears and eyes perk up with excitement as they listen.

After telling the students my story I introduce formal storytelling to them. I begin a discussion with the students and ask them a series of questions. I start out by asking them what storytelling is. In my own research I came across Esme Raji Codells website where she suggests a good way to tell your students about what storytelling is. She says, I tell them that in Africa, there is a saying: Every man dies two deaths. The first, when his body dies. The second, when the last person remembers him dies. Stories, too, die when the last person who knows the story dies. So the trick is not only to know the story, but to make people remember the story, so it will live on and on. After telling the students this about storytelling we discuss what she means. I also ask the students what makes a good storyteller, how do you become a storyteller (I let them know that some peoples job is to be a storyteller), and why stories are important? Once I have spent some time discussing storytelling, I tell the students that we are beginning a unit on storytelling. I tell my students that by the end of this unit they will all become storytellers.

Week 1, Days 2-4

As the students first opportunity or trial with storytelling, I partner the students up into pairs. I put one student with high language skills and one student with low language skills together in a group. This allows for the higher skilled student to act as a model for the lower skilled student. This is meaningful for the lower leveled student because they are able to hear correct sentence structure in a safe environment made up of his or her peer. This will allow the student to feel confident in producing and attempting oral language.

I have learned from past experiences that for my students first time speaking in front of an audience (the class), they always feel more comfortable with a buddy or friend at their side, taking a bit of the attention off themselves. In order to do this I use a series of books by Mary Anne Hoberman entitledYou Read to Me, Ill Read to You. These books are filled with short stories in dialogue form. One student reads the left side of the page and the other student reads the right side of the page, taking turns. Anything in the middle they read together. Each part is color coded so the student knows what line is his or hers. These stories are great because they are very short, including fairy tales, scary stories, stories from the 21stcentury and more. They are perfect for the students first storytelling experience because they are simple, and fun and they can be told with a partner.

After each pair of students chooses the short story they would like to perform out of this series of books, I tell the students the objective of the lesson. In this lesson the students will be focusing on the important mechanics of storytelling. These include speaking in a loud, confident voice that their audience can clearly hear, making eye contact with the audience, speaking fluently, and becoming involved with the story through props, emotions, and actions. At the end of the week, on Friday, each pair of students will have the opportunity to tell their story to the class. Before the pairs begin to practice I hand out a rubric to each group so that they can see how they will be assessed. I score the students by giving either a 0,1, or 2 for each category. An example of a rubric I use is as follows:

During the week I allow the students time each day to practice reading the skits together with their partner. I allow enough time for each group to read the skits at least three times through and discuss with one another how they can become great storytellers as they tell the story to the class. The students, as they practice, each have a copy of the rubric in order to focus their attention on the objectives of this lesson. As the students are practicing their stories, I circulate around the room, spending time with each group continually focusing each group on the mechanics of storytelling that we are focusing on this week. I go through each of these mechanics with the pair, checking for understanding and asking the students what they are doing to make sure they are addressing each category. At times I need to model these mechanics and get involved with each pair, to increase the students understanding.

My students get very excited with their skits and it gives them a sense of ownership over their story if they have a copy of it to take home and practice. I make copies of the skits so that they can take them home and practice them for homework. I tell the students that hopefully by Friday they will not need their paper any more to tell the story. Some of the students are able to perform their skits without the script in their hand.

It is important to allow the students sufficient time each day to work on their stories. This gives the students with low language skills more confidence and the daily practice they need in order to learn to tell the story. This activity is great for increasing oral language because it allows the students to create a personal relationship with a fellow classmate. This gives the students with low language skills the opportunity to hear correct sentence structure, learn vocabulary, and practice using language in a safe and comfortable environment.

Week 1, Day 5

On Friday, or the last day of the week, it is storytelling day. This is the day the students will finally be able to tell their stories to the class and begin the process of becoming storytellers. Before the students tell their stories I always make sure to go over respectful behavior. I remind the students to be polite, and tell them that there is no talking during storytelling because in storytelling the audience also plays a very important part. The audience has the role of listening and learning. I also remind the students that it is polite to clap at the end of a performance. In addition, before the storytelling begins I go over the rubric one last time to focus the students on the objectives of the lesson. I try not to make it seem like I am grading the students because this is supposed to be fun, not an intimidating activity like a test.

As each pair tells their story I fill out a rubric for each student. This allows the student to see where he or she needs to concentrate and what he or she can do to improve his or her storytelling. I also allow the audience to give the students constructive feedback. I call on two or three students and encourage them to tell the group something they learned, what the group did well or something they think the group can improve on.

Before concluding on Friday, I always ask the students if anyone would like to share anything that they enjoyed or learned. I ask if there is anything, as a pair, that they need to improve on, what they found difficult and what they enjoyed. Lastly, I tell the students that next week we will continue our unit on storytelling and be able to choose a story we would like to share with the class.

Week 2, Day 1

The second week of storytelling takes more preparation time on the part of the teacher. I pre-select stories the students will use this week for storytelling. The students will be given the opportunity to choose a story from the pre-selected books that they will be using for this weeks storytelling experience. I chose a wide variety of books for the students to look through. Each of the stories has simple language, strong characters, and a clear beginning, middle, and end. The students begin this week of storytelling by reading the different stories until they find a story that they love or have some connection with. There are many websites online that are great resources to use when choosing books for storytelling such as, http://www.planetesme.com/storytelling.html#storytellingbibliography and http://www.augusthouse.com/. I give the students time the first day to choose the story they want to tell and to get used to the story. The students should have enough time to read the story twice silently to themselves and once out loud. I allow the students to take the story home to read and practice the story for homework. I let the student know that this is the story they will be using this week as they continue the quest to become a storyteller.

Week 2, Day 2

Graphic organizers can be very helpful tools when learning to tell a story. In this lesson the students use a graphic organizer to clearly layout the story structure and to use as an aide when telling the story (see below for graphic organizer). Today, the students spend time filling out the graphic organizer. This graphic organizer will help the students see how the story is broken down and what the important elements are to include when telling a story. In each space provided on the graphic organizer, the student needs to draw in the story element. This graphic organizer also acts as a visual aide for the student when telling the story.

Week 2, Days 3 & 4

During centers this week the students continue to work on their stories. On Wednesday and Thursday I pair each student up with a different partner and have them practice retelling their story to their partner using the graphic organizer as an aide. The students who are listening to the story also have a job. They fill out a rubric as their partner tells his or her story. Once the student is finished telling his or her story their partner shows him or her the rubric. The group then has the opportunity to discuss the rubric and the listener can tell what he or she thinks was done well and what he or she thinks can be improved on. Before the students get into their groups I remind the students of the mechanics they focused on last week (voice, eye contact, volume, fluency, actions) so that the rubric or expectations are fresh in their minds.

The students continue to take their stories home and practice telling them to their families at home. I tell them that if no one is around to listen to their story they may want to tell their story in front of a mirror for extra practice.

Week 2, Day 5

Students will be working in groups of four or five students today. Each group is assigned a section of the classroom. Today students will be telling the story to their group that they have been working on this week. This will act as a practice session so that each student will see what he or she did well, what was improved on from last week, and what he or she can make further improve on. One at a time, each member of the group will stand up and tell his or her story. The rest of the group will act as the audience. I again remind the students how a good audience behaves prior to starting. After each student has a turn telling his or her story, I allow time for questions and comments pertaining to each story. Peers usually act as good teachers as long as they know the difference between negative criticism and constructive criticism. This should be taught prior to this lesson. I make it a rule that the students must begin by saying a positive comment. I also remember to allow time at the end for a whole group discussion. I ask the students if they learned anything new today in storytelling and allow time for positive comments. I then ask the students how the graphic organizer was able to help them become better storytellers. Continuing the discussion, I ask how they think they could become better storytellers and what types of qualities make a good storyteller?

* Now that the students have been working on storytelling for a few weeks it is a good time to invite a professional storyteller to come into the classroom. This is great for the students to see, so that they have a clear model of what a true storyteller is and the qualities that they possess.

Week 3, Day 1

This week the students will be working on and coming up with their own stories to tell. These stories will be true stories coming from their own lives, including family history, traditions, personal experience, a time when they got hurt, a vacation, a favorite relative, etc. To begin this lesson I model a story from my own personal experience as an example. The example I use is a story about my two brothers and me. In this story I make my brothers strong characters with distinctive personalities. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end to the story, giving it a simple structure. This makes the story easy to follow and understand, yet exciting to listen to. After I have told my story to the class, the students are usually very talkative, each student wanting to tell his or her own story relating to family. All of this talking is not bad. The students are actually practicing telling stories to each other. I give the students a few minutes to talk to their friends and tell each other their stories before moving on.

Next, I tell the students that this week the stories we will be telling are true stories about our own lives. With the students help I make a list of the different types of stories they can choose to tell this week. After generating a list and giving the students many options, I give the students two minutes to silently think of and choose a story to tell. Once the students have come up with a story I ask them to think of the beginning, middle and end of their stories so that it is clear in their minds. Then, I have the students turn and talk to their neighbor, telling their stories. When both of the partners have had a chance to tell their story, I have a discussion with the class. I start by asking the class if they used any of the techniques they have learned about storytelling. Then I ask what techniques they used and how they were helpful. If time allows I have the students fill out the graphic organizer used previously as an aide for future use.

The students homework tonight is to go home and talk to their families. The students need to come up with a story relating to their family. The story might be how their families came to New Haven, a special cultural tradition they may have, a vacation they have gone on, etc. I have the students take home a storytelling graphic organizer that they can color and fill out to help them tell the story the next day in school. On the back of the graphic organizer I write a letter to the parents explaining the unit on storytelling and telling the date of the storytelling festival coming up.

Week 3, Day 2

I divide the class into groups of three and the students take turns telling the story that they did for homework last night. When the students are finished telling their stories to one another I allow time for group members to ask each other questions, and to tell what they did well and what they could improve on. Next, we all move to the carpet. I tell the students that todays focus will be using the five senses when we are telling our stories. To begin, I start by asking the students to raise their hands if they can tell me one of the five senses. Once the class has named all five senses we take time to discuss each of these senses, one by one. We also talk about how using the five senses in our storytelling can help improve our stories and make them more exciting. After we have discussed the advantages of using the five senses to elaborate and make our stories more descriptive, each student returns to his or her seat and takes out his or her graphic organizer.

Using their graphic organizers, the students job is to look at each box and add a sense to the box. The students first need to write the name of the sense that can be used to enhance their story at the top of the box; then at the bottom of each box they need to write how they used it, either through something they smelled, what they heard or saw, what an object felt like or what they said. When they retell their stories again they will add in these details, making their stories more interesting and descriptive. I allow the students five more minutes to retell their stories again but this time using their five senses.

Homework: I ask the students if they know what props are, then I tell them that props are used to help people imagine, understand, and get a better image of a story. Next as a group we come up with a list of items that are props. The students need to go home and find two or three props that they can use tomorrow to help to enhance their stories.

Week 3, Days 3 & 4

The students will continue working on their family stories, now adding the props that they brought from home to help tell their stories. Students can work with a partner, when they finish their centers, practicing telling their stories including both the five senses in their stories as well as the props that they brought from home.

Week 3, Day 5

This is the class storytelling day! The students will take turns telling their stories. I will use a rubric to score the students, adding in both the five senses and the use of props.

Week 4, Days 1-4

This is the last week of the storytelling unit. The students this week will be able to choose one of the three stories they told in the past three weeks to share at the family storytelling festival. The students parents, guardians, and relatives will be invited to attend the festival during the school day on Friday. The festival will be held on the school stage. The students will be able to use a microphone and become a real storyteller.

This week will be spent practicing and getting ready for the big day. To do this there will be a storytelling center, giving students time to practice and get their stories ready. Once the students have chosen the story they want to tell, the students will need to work on making it better, adding the five senses and props to the story. We will have a dress rehearsal on Thursday on the stage to get the students comfortable and ready for the festival the next day.

Week 4, Day 5

This is the big day, the storytelling festival. To make this as professional as possible I create a program listing the individuals who will be storytelling. To begin the festival, I invite a professional storyteller to come into the school and perform for the start of the festival. After the professional storyteller is finished each student performing tells his or her story taking turns on the stage. After the students have finished telling their stories I allow about fifteen minutes for food, drinks and mingling. To end the festival each student is awarded a storytelling certificate, making them an official storyteller.

*Because John C. Daniels is a dual language school and not all of the parents speak either English or Spanish a translator will be necessary in order for the students to tell the story in their second language and still allow all the parents to understand what is being said.

Connecticut Literacy Standards

Standard 1: Reading and Responding

Students read, comprehend and respond in individual, literal, critical and evaluative ways to literary, informational and persuasive texts in multimedia formats.

1.3 Students select and apply strategies to facilitate word recognition and develop vocabulary in order to comprehend text. Students will develop vocabulary through listening, speaking, reading and writing.

1.4Students communicate with others to create interpretations of written, oral and visual texts

Students will listen to and respect the opinions of others about written, oral and visual texts.

Students will share opinions and judgments based on texts heard, viewed or read.

Standard 2: Exploring and Responding to Literature

Students read and respond to classical and contemporary texts from many cultures and literary periods.

2.1Students recognize how literary devices and conventions engage the reader.

Students will identify the elements of a genre and interact with the text.

Students will read or listen to a text and explain its appeal.

2.2Students explore multiple responses to literature.

Students will develop and discuss multiple responses while reading, listening or viewing texts.

2.3Students recognize and appreciate that contemporary and classical literature has shaped human thought.

Students will make connections between characters lives and the real world.

Students will listen to, read and respond to texts about and from many cultures and times.

Students will compare and respond to text about multicultural experiences.

2.4Students recognize that readers and authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural and historical contexts

Students will recognize values and beliefs included in a text.

Students will describe how the experiences of a reader influence the interpretation of a text.

Students will discuss the influence of culture, history and ethnicity on themes and issues in literature.

Standard 3: Communicating with Others

Students produce written, oral and visual texts to express, develop and substantiate ideas and experiences.

3.1Students use descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive and poetic modes.

Students will use oral language with clarity and voiceto communicate a message.

3.2Students prepare, publish and/or present work appropriate to audience, purpose and task.

Students will determine purpose, point of view and audience, and choose an appropriate written, oral or visual format.

Students will use strategies to generate and develop ideas for speaking, writing and visual activities.

Students will begin to revise texts for organization, elaboration, fluency and clarity.

Students will publish and/or present final products in a myriad of ways, including the use of the arts and technology.

Standard 4: Applying English Language Conventions

Students apply the conventions of standard English in oral, written and visual communication.

4.1Students use knowledge of their language and culture to improve competency in English.

Students will read, listen to and tell stories from a variety of cultures, and identify the similarities and differences in the way language is used.

Resources

Bibliography for Teachers

Bierhorst, John.Latin American Folktales. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002.

*A collection of Hispano-American folk narratives, good for storytelling.

Codell, Esme Raji. Storytelling!. 1999-2006 18 May 2008 http://www.planetesme.com/storytelling.html#storytellingbibliography>.

*Gives the benefits of storytelling and also a sequence of lessons to use when teaching storytelling.

Crevola, Carmel, and Mark Vineis.Lets Talk About It. New York, NY: MONDO Publishing, 2005.

*Oral language research and background information.

Ellis, Brian, and Stephanie McAndrews. Storytelling Magic Enhancing Children S Oral Language Reading And Writing.Fox Tales International. 2004. Reprinted From the Illinois Reading Council Journal. 6 Apr 2008 http://www.foxtalesint.com/Articles/StorytellingMagicEnhancingChildrenSOralLanguageReadingAndWriting>.

*Gives background and benefits of storytelling including its connection to education and oral language skills.

MacDonald, Margaret Read.The Storytellers Start-Up Book. Little Rock: August House, 1993.

*Includes techniques for learning and performing stories and ideas for incorporating storytelling into the classroom.

Maguire, Jack.Creative Storytelling. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1985.

*Provides information on becoming a storyteller.

Maurano, Margaret. Oral Language.Exemplary Practices that Support Early Literacy. 2003. Bridgewater State College. 6 Apr 2008 http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/CAGS_Projects/MMAURANO/OralLanguage.htm>.

*Outlines the importance of oral language acquisition in the early grades and factors that support it.

McWilliams, Barry.The Art of Storytelling. 1997. 6 Apr 2008 http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/art.htm>.

*Lists techniques and provides links to additional resources to use and research how to tell stories.

Mellon, Nancy.The Art of Storytelling. Rockport, MA: Element Books, Inc., 1992.

*A guide outlining the essentials of a good story through the use of visualization and imagination.

Mellon, Nancy.Storytelling with Children. Gloucestershire, UK: Hawthorn Press, 2000.

*How to become a confident storyteller.

Phelps, Ethel Johnston.Tatterhood and Other Tales. New York, NY: The Feminist Press, 1978.

*Folktales and legends where the central characters are successful females.

The Education Alliance at Brown University , Oral Language.Teaching Diverse Learners. 2206. Brown University. 6 Apr 2008 http://www.alliance.brown.edu/tdl/elemlit/orallanguage-prt.shtml>.

*How to improve oral language of ESL learners

Yolen, Jane.Favorite Folktales from aound the World. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

*A collection of folktales.

Reading List for Students

Bierhorst, John.Latin American Folktales. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.You read to me, Ill read to you: very short fairy tales to read together. New York: Little, Brown, 2004.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.You read to me, Ill read to you: very short mother goose tales to read together. New York: Little, Brown, 2005.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.You read to me, Ill read to you: very short scary tales to read together. New York: Little, Brown, 2007.

Finch, Mary.The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books, 2001.

McDermott, Gerald.Anansi the Spider. New York, NY: Landmark Production, Incorporated, 1972.

Musgrove, Margaret.The Spider Weaver. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2001

Phelps, Ethel Johnston.Tatterhood and Other Tales. New York, NY: The Feminist Press, 1978.

Yolen, Jane.Favorite Folktales from aound the World. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

Storytelling a good way to learn English

EVERY effort by the Education Ministry to improve the English proficiency of our students and teachers alike, must be lauded.

Storytelling is a common activity used in teaching English to primary as well as secondary students.

Storytelling competitions with attractive prizes are held to encourage students to develop their oratory skills in the language.

But then again, let us ask who are those telling the stories? More often than not, they are the average or above average students who get to participate.

What about the below average and no-hopers in English?

Do they get a chance to tell their stories? Most teachers will be quick to point out that since these students cant even construct a simple sentence correctly, how can they be expected to tell a story in English?

When I was a secondary school principal, I often took on certain relief periods for the last classes in the lower forms.

Students in these classes were branded as low achievers, uninspired and unteachable.

Most of them were from vernacular primary schools; they had little or no grasp of the English language. In fact, they felt shy and embarrassed to speak the language.

I went into these classes to teach them English! At times I chose the story-telling approach.

In order to do that, I had to first encourage them and to make them feel easy and relaxed.

They needed to understand that the principal standing before them was now a teacher just like any other.

I would randomly select a student and get him to start the story by speaking out on a topic that came to his mind. Next, another student would construct a sentence to build on the story. Another student would continue and that is how a story was developed.

The students did not discuss the storyline before they engaged in their storyelling.

Each student just used their respective ideas to make the story interesting. I helped to correct their sentences whenever necessary.

These students though branded as low-achievers and English no-hopers, had come up with imaginative storylines when they were given the freedom to explore.

There was a sense of camaraderie and much laughter as they teased on the ideas put forth. Let me describe a scene from a class where I encouraged students to come up with an interesting story.

The first sentence: I have a cat as my pet. Another student then said: I have a dog as my pet. And, so, the battle lines were drawn.

The story continued: The cat has a fight with the dog. They then continued saying that it led to a quarrel betweeen both the pet owners.

They looked for atai kor(middleman) to settle things.

The final solution was that the owners had to exchange their pets for a short period to gain understanding of their respective pets behaviour.

The story had a happy ending with the owners and pets shaking hands!

Well, this was certainly notAesops Fables! But, it generated much interest amongst the students.

I was most touched when they asked for new words to express themselves.

They had asked me to translate to English certain Chinese words it was interesting and it showed that they were trying their best to converse and find the right phrases in English.

They were no longerpai sehor embarrassed and no English word was too difficult for them to pronounce.

My point is that I managed to get a hopeless class to achieve some super storytelling skills!

They had enjoyed the experience and I believed it had also, to a small extent, built up their confidence in using and speaking the language. It was a good start for them!

LIONG KAM CHONGSeremban, Negri SembilanStorytelling in the EFL Speaking Classroom

Xu JianingSuzhou Industrial Park Institute of Vocational Technology (Jiangsu Province, China)jianing61 {at} yahoo.com.cn

Introduction

As English becomes increasingly important in various fields such as business, finance, industry and education, most Chinese students hope they can speak English fluently. However, from my observations and many EFL teachers' descriptions of their oral English classrooms, a considerable number of students are not responding actively in speaking exercises. How to motivate the students in EFL speaking classrooms has long been our concern. First of all, it is necessary to find out the main factors affecting their participation.

Why Stories?

As we all know, stories have always played a significant role in children's growth. Stories not only help in stimulating children's imagination and understanding of the world, but also in developing children's language ability and appreciating literature (Aiex, 1988; Cooper, 1989; Koki, 1998; Zobairi & Gulley, 1989). It is just as Wright wrote, "Stories which rely so much on words, offer a major and constant source of language experience for children" (Wright, 1995).

The primary reason to recommend storytelling in the EFL speaking classroom is that stories are motivating and immensely interesting, can best attract listeners and promote communication. "The excitement and drama of storytelling provide a context that holds students' attention." (Cooter, 1991; Bla, 1998).

Secondly, stories are an enormous language treasure. For hundreds of years, thousands of stories have been created and passed down. Many old stories are regarded as the models of language and treasures of the culture, from which learners at various language levels and age groups can find suitable stories to read and tell. It would be a waste and pity if they are neglected in the course of EFL/ESL. In addition, stories are easily accessible; storybooks can be found in bookstores and borrowed from libraries or friends. Today, the most convenient and quickest way to find stories is from the Internet. Storytelling costs nothing, is enjoyable, and can be used anywhere and at any time (Zabel, 1991).

Thirdly, the lively atmosphere and real life environment created by stories encourages the students to talk and discuss with each other. When telling and listening to a story, the learners will easily be plunged into the plots and the scene and forget about themselves, which will, to a great degree, relieve their nervousness. Colon-vila (1997) also commented that storytelling helps EFL learners become more self-confident to express themselves spontaneously and creatively. However, teachers have not been zealous to use it in the classroom (Alvey, 1977).

Some students say that they have no time to meet with their partners and practice dialogues when they fail to do it well. Though sometimes it is just an excuse, nevertheless, storytelling helps solve the problem: partners are not indispensable to practice storytelling though it is better to have an audience.

To Whom to Use Stories?

Stories are often connected with children. In fact, they are not only loyal listeners; they also like to tell stories. The language classroom is just the place for children to share stories and show their language abilities. In China, there are various kinds of storytelling competitions in kindergartens and schools, attracting many children to participate. As long as the teacher gives proper instruction, children would be very pleased to learn storytelling in English. Besides, many stories can be adopted into short plays and children enjoy performing.

It should also be pointed out that stories are not only for children. There are many stories for EFL learners of different levels and ages. I have tried using stories in college English classrooms and found that even the poorest storyteller can be the center of attention.

How to Use Stories?

The following are just a few examples of using stories in the EFL speaking classroom arranged in the order of difficulty. At first, if the students are not confident in their speaking skills, it is recommended that the students be given enough time to prepare. As the students build their confidence and the classroom language environment becomes more free and active, the teacher could gradually increase the difficulty and make the game more versatile. To motivate and encourage the students, points and prizes are granted to good tellers and groups each time.

Warming Up

The students listen to some stories downloaded from the Internet and repeat as they listen. This gives them an opportunity to improve their pronunciation, stress and intonation. They are offered three stories each time and required to practice the one they like best. A competition is held every two weeks. When every student has learned to tell three to five stories naturally and expressively, they feel much more confident in telling stories in English than before.

Activity 1

Divide the students into groups and each group prepares a story. Each member of the group tells two to three sentences and the next one continues until the end of the story. The length of the story could gradually increase from two or three minutes to four or five minutes. Before the lesson, the students could divide their tasks in advance and practice their own parts. They could also be given a few minutes to practice in class the whole story if necessary. The teacher moves among the groups and chooses two or three groups to present their stories before the class. Because the students have enough time to prepare and they are working together, this helps them build confidence and create a lively and brisk atmosphere.

Activity 2

Ask each student to prepare a story (about two minutes long) in advance. Divide the students into groups with four to five members in each group and ask them to tell his/her story in the group. The best storytellers in each group win ten points and compete for the best storyteller of the class. The winner wins another ten points for each member of his/her group and the second best wins eight points and so on. Since the performance of each representative is connected to the score of everyone, the students will be greatly involved in the whole process and listen to the stories attentatively, which will in turn promote the performance of the storytellers.

To avoid the few best storytellers dominating the activity, the best storytellers will be arranged in the same group next time. They will have to work harder in order to win again. This will make the winners stronger and at the same time, increase the opportunities of others and promote the whole class participation.

Activity 3

Divide the students into four to five groups and each group is given an opening of a story and asked to finish the story in about 20 minutes. Then select one student from each group to tell their story in the class and the best one wins 10 points for their group.

To get everyone fully involved and avoid the liability that each group just asks their best storyteller to do the job, the storytellers are selected by drawing lots instead of being chosen by themselves. This also helps enliven the atmosphere of the classroom. So each group must work together to make the story as interesting as they can. An alternative way is to ask each member of the group to tell a part of the story and make a whole.

Activity 4

Ask each group to hand in an incomplete story and redistribute them among the groups. Give the students 20 minutes to read their stories and finish them. After each group presents their story, compare it with the original one. The most interesting one and the one closest to the original win.

Activity 5

The teacher gives the first sentence to the class and then each student adds one more sentence to make a whole story impromptu. Because there is no preparation and no body has any idea about what the next person will say and where the story is going, there are often lots of fun and surprises in the game. This game is suitable to the classes with no more than 20 students. If there are too many students, the students will wait too long to make his/her sentence, which is likely to make the game sluggish; also, the students may not hear each other clearly and this will reduce the success of the game.

In the process of using stories, the teacher could, in different cases, choose to encourage the students to rewrite the stories, using their own language or ask them to keep the original language as much as they can. The former way encourages the students to understand the stories and adds their own characteristics to the stories and the latter prompts them to learn to use new words and expressions. Besides, pictures, movies and other materials would also be great help in storytelling. After a few months, the students speaking ability can be improved to considerable degree.

Conclusion

There are many ways to use stories in the oral English classroom. It is also advised to encourage the students to find more interesting stories and create different ways to use them. Besides, in the course of looking for, rewriting and completing stories, their reading, writing and imagination can be further developed; teamwork and friendship will become stronger by working in groups. So let stories be a member of your oral English class!

References

Aiex, N. K. (1998). Storytelling : Its wide-Ranging Impact in the Classroom. [ED: 299 574]. Alvey, R.G. (1974). The Historical Development of Organized Storytelling to Children in the United States. Phd Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

Chen, Xiaohua. (2004). Sun Yatsen University Forum, Vol.24 No.5

Colon-vila, L. (1997). Storytelling in the ESL Classroom. Teaching K-8, 58-59.

Cooter, 1991 in Adventures with Words, Black, 1998.

Cooper, P. (1989). Using storytelling to teach oral communication competencies K-12. Paper presents in the Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication. Association (75#, San Francisco, CA). [ED: 314 798]

Koki, Stan. (1998). Storytelling: the heart and soul of education. [ED: 426 398].

Wright, A. (1995). Storytelling with children. Oxford University Press.

Zable, M.K. (1991). Storytelling, Myths, and Folk Tales: Strategies for Multicultural Inclusion. Preventing School Failure, v36, nl, 32-34.

Zobairi, N. & Gulley, B. (1989). The told tale: Oral storytelling and the young children. [ED: 319 517]

Zhu, Hua. (2003). Journal of Liaoning Educational Administration Institute, Vol.20 No.9

CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION

Activation is a technique of teaching English that ask student to active in speaking. And story telling is one of way for teaches students to communicate creatively in learning English. As a second or foreign language, English is not easy to learn by the students at the beginning of the study. For them, English is likely to be one difficulty in learning. One of the basic skills in English is speaking. Speaking is the ability that requires the process of communicative competence, pronunciation, intonation, grammar and vocabulary improving. For the beginner, speaking exercise of story telling is difficult to try. Naturally, they feel confused on the rule, like: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. Some of students are afraid to be active in speaking. This phenomenon makes many students have low scores in English. The lessons must be relaxed and comfortable. So, the students feel confident, they will not need to try hard to learn language.It will just come naturally and easily. In addition, they say that learning English is confusing activity. For them, English is different from Indonesian. The students also say that they frequently get bored when learning English, especially speaking in story telling. Some of the teachers state that it is caused by the teaching technique which is applied by them. They are unable to create an interesting classroom situation. The teacher tells that when teaching learning process occurs in the classroom, students often seem unwilling to learn. Some of them are singing, some are laying their head and writing something that is not related to the material. In conclusion, they do not pay attention to the teaching-learning process.CHAPTER TWOTEACHING SPEAKING OF STORY TELLING

Storytelling is a creative art form that has entertained and informed across centuries and cultures (Fisher, 1985), and its instructional potential continues to serve teachers. Storytelling, or oral literature, has many of its roots in the attempt to explain life or the mysteries of the world and the universe--to try to make sense out of things (Tway, 1985). In doing so, the characters and themes in the stories have become cultural and often cross-cultural archetypes of historic and continuing importance (Lasser, 1979). Even in today's technological world, we have not changed to such a degree that the archetypes presented in traditional oral literature are no longer applicable (Livo and Rietz, 1986.Highlights for beginner educational story telling is dedicated to helping children grow in basic skills and knowledge, in creativeness, in ability to think and reason, in sensitivity to others, in high ideals, and worthy ways of living--for children are the world's most important people. This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension and oral storytelling as abilities. Reading comprehension was measured by the Reading Comprehension subtest of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. Storytelling was measured by (a) the Oral Production subtest of the Language Assessment Scales using the standard scoring protocol and (b) a story structure analysis. A comparison of the standard scoring protocol and reading comprehension revealed no relationship, while the comparison of the story structure analysis and reading comprehension revealed a significant correlation. The implications of these results for language assessment of bilingual students are discussed.1. Nature of Story TellingStorytelling has been used as a means of communication since earliest times. Many religions started with a person who told stories that conveyed values in a memorable and moving way, and which were also capable of being understood at many levels. Storytelling however today is becoming one of the key ingredients to managing communications, education, training, and innovation in the 21st century. Educators have long known that the arts can contribute to student academic success and emotional well being. The ancient art of storytelling is especially well-suited for student exploration. As a folk art, storytelling is accessible to all ages and abilities. No special equipment beyond the imagination and the power of listening and speaking is needed to create artistic images. As a learning tool, storytelling can encourage students to explore their unique expressiveness and can heighten a student's ability to communicate thoughts and feelings in an articulate, lucid manner. These benefits transcend the art experience to support daily life skills. In our fast-paced, media-driven world, storytelling can be a nurturing way to remind children that their spoken words are powerful, that listening is important, and that clear communication between people is an art.

2. Basic Concept of Story TellingTo build children's storytelling skills, Plourde (1985) recommends activities that focus on role playing, generating character, helping students find an appropriate voice, and developing the ability to make logical conclusions. Plourde elaborates on a dozen techniques appropriate for children in kindergarten through grade 6. One, for example, has the teacher or one child relate the beginning of a familiar fairy tale and another child make up an entirely new ending. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1984) offers several suggestions for making low-cost crafts materials that facilitate storytelling. Among them is the construction of a simple mini-cinema illustrating sequential events of a story. These stages of the story may then be presented with a flexible strip of drawings operated by pulling a string.Gross and Batchelder (1986) present exercises for older elementary and middle school students designed to improve group dynamics and create a learning environment for storytelling. One technique involves using a circle to practice games inspired by modern dance education and Native American rituals. These exercises help older students who are apt to be self conscious to become more confident, willing to participate, and supportive of the storytelling process. Music--classical or popular, recorded or live--can also be used to set the scene for storytelling, as can puppets and other simple props. (Sidorsky, 1985) But effective storytelling is a versatile strategy that stirs the imagination and enables children to visualize with few or no visual aids at all.

CHAPTER TRHEEA. PROCEDUREFor a classroom teacher who wishes to use storytelling, it is best to begin by choosing a simple story with only a few characters and an uncomplicated plot. The story should have action, the plot should be understandable to the listeners, and the events of the story should have a definite climax that leads to a conclusion the students will find satisfactory. Folk and fairy tales are the easiest kinds of stories for beginning storytellers to communicate (Ramey, 1986; Taub, 1984). In selecting these or any story, it is important to keep in mind the age of the children in the audience. Scott (1985) advises the storyteller to be flexible, to expect unexpected reactions, and to remember that enjoyment the first and chief consideration. Scott and other researchers (e.g., Ramey, 1986) emphasize that a storyteller need not be a "performer," but rather a person who has good memory and listening skills, who sincerely likes the story chosen for telling, and who knows the story so well that it can be recreated for an audience without any uncertainty or panic. Storytellers who are too "actorish" usually fascinate the audience, but at the expense of the story.The second consideration in effective storytelling should be to encourage exploration and experimentation with language (Schwartz, 1987). Constructing meaning through use of language is an implicit goal in storytelling. A language development focus can recommend retelling. Stories that are told and retold develop a patina with each new telling. Children's participation in storytelling provides not only novelty to stimulate the child's curiosity, but also enough familiarity to allow a child to perceive relationships and to experience success at using language (Wason-Ellam, 1986).B. ANALYSISPerhaps storytelling's greatest value for a teacher is its effectiveness in fostering a relaxed and intimate atmosphere in the classroom An experienced teacher or storyteller, explains how this practical and general objective can relate to the other benefits from using storytelling: It can 1) introduce children to a range of story experiences; 2) provide young students with models of story patterns, themes, characters, and incidents to help them in their own writing, oral language, and thinking; 3) nurture and encourage a sense of humor in children; 4) help put children's own words in perspective; 5) increase knowledge and understanding of other places, races, and beliefs; 6) introduce new ideas and be used to question established concepts without threat to the individual; 7) lead to discussions that are far ranging and often more satisfying than those arising from formal lessons; and 8) serve as the most painless way of teaching children to listen, to concentrate, and to follow the thread and logic of an argument.

CHAPTER FOURCONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONA.CONCLUSIONB.SUGGESTIONAfter read many books and finished this paper, the writer would like to put forward suggestion as follow:1. The beginner must be encourage to use English every time2. The beginner need to develop their ability especially of speaking English3. The teacher shouldnt force the students in making their speak but she should be able to make students interest in learning English especially in story telling4. The teacher be able to select a good technique in teaching English especially in teaching speaking.

Bibliography

1. Lillian M. Logan and Virgil G. Logan a Leona Paterson. Creative Communication, Teaching the Language Art, Mc Graw Hill Ryerson Limited, Canada.1972.2. Paul Roberts, Understanding English, Cornell University,1958.

Posted byUNIVERSITY OF IBN KHALDUN BOGOR-INDONESIAat3:31 AMHow to Learn English with Stories

ByJody Hanson, eHow Contributor

Read more :http://www.ehow.com/how_7730569_learn-english-stories.htmlThe art of storytelling -- like writing personal letters -- is being lost in the high-speed world of technology. Reintroducing the art is an effective way to learn English. If your students come from traditional cultures, particularly Africa or South East Asia, the art of storytelling may still be alive and well. But even if they come from Paris or Hamburg, stories can effectively be used to learn English. And no matter if your students are five or 55, everyone has stories to tell and likes to hear the ones other people have to offer.

Other People Are Reading

Read more :http://www.ehow.com/how_7730569_learn-english-stories.html"Stories and their importance in Language Teaching"

by Andrew Wright

Page 1 of 2This article was written for and first published by The Pan-Hellenic Federation of foreign language School Owners. Hence the Greek references in the body of the article.SummaryIn this article I offer the argument that stories are central to society and should be central to language teaching for three reasons. The first reason given is that stories offer so much richness in language learning and teaching. The second reason given is that the aim of most language learning is to be able to present oneself as a whole person through the foreign language and that is done very powerfully through storytelling. The third reason given is that many language teachers accept their broad responsibilities to the students as 'student developers' not only concerned with the foreign language development of their students. Stories are fundamental to one's sense of identity and to dealing with experience.What I mean by 'stories'I use the word stories with an extensive meaningany description of a series of events whether true or untrue.

Stories, for me, include: myths, legends, fairy stories and fables which originated in the oral form. But stories also include written fiction and in particular short stories: also theatre and film. Furthermore, for me the word 'story' includes our own personal anecdotes, descriptions of the development of a firm or a nation ('The Story of British Steel'), the news (The top stories today are) and, more difficult to grasp as an idea, the story in which we live (That's the story of my life!). I believe that we are producers, directors, costume directors, make up artists and actors in our own filmsbut films which have to be constantly adapted to changing circumstances.

This wide range of meanings for the word story is not due to my idiosyncrasy as our language shows:

Tell me a story daddy. (the most obvious sort of story)These trousers have shrunk! That's my story and I am sticking to it. (information asserted as factpartly wry humour)The story of Anglo-French relations. (selective fact)He told me the story of his life. (selective fact)BBC/ITV/CNNThe top stories today are(selective fact)BBC/ITV/CNN Breaking story(situation happening at the moment)She told me a story about a tarantula spider breeding in a cactus she bought at Marks and Spencers. (probably fiction but offered as fact)It would be interesting to hear his side of the story. (selective fact)Its the old storymoan, moan, moan!(behaviour)She just tells one silly story after another. (lie purporting to be the truth)

Writing and telling storiesOf course, the written story will always be important! However, the orally told story is now rampant and this will increase in the future as computers become more and more powerful and have enough memory to carry long videos and have developed voice recognition to a sophisticated level.

For a long time we have been given the feeling by our teachers that the spoken word is inferior to the written word. Now we have universities (Nottingham and Birmingham in the UK) giving respectability to the spoken wordeven producing spoken grammars.

Many of the forms we have in written English did not derive from the 'natural' growth of the language but were added by influential individuals imposing concepts of quality based on the classical languages of Greek and Latin. This artificiality was regarded as a positive virtue in the past rather like the tight clipping of hedges and pruning of trees in a symmetrically planned French gardennature dominated by man. Now more people give value to the 'natural' development of a language. Grammars are no longer written by erudite individuals crouched over their desks but based on enormous computer data banks revealing how language is actually used.

Oral storymaking and telling (in the broad way in which I define it in this article) is now and will become even more so, an immensely important form of communication and, as language teachers, we have an opportunity to contribute to the development of our students in developing their powers in this direction.

The importance of stories in language teachingThere are three broad reasons for language teachers to take the use of stories in their teaching very seriously for all kinds of student from children to adults and from beginners to advanced. The first is a short term reason:The cornflakes of the classroomThe second is longer term:What it means to be Greek when speaking English in international settingsThe third is a fundamental educational reason:We are the stories we hear and make.I would like to examine each one of these reasons

The cornflakes of the classroomCornflakes contain a wide range of nutritional elements. A plate of cornflakes a day provides a good basic set of the elements we need. Stories are similar. Here's why Everybody wants to hear a story. That is why stories are so central to our society. The students walking into our classrooms are not just language students, they are peoplemade of storiesand wanting more stories

We are who we are through stories.

Words are the most common medium for conceiving and communicating stories Language teaching and stories are all about words surely stories should be central to language teaching!

Here is a list of benefits in the classroom from the use of stories in language teaching either creating them or responding to them

1 Some exams expect the student to be able to give an explanation or story behind a picture, etc. Preparing for the exam is a motivating factor for most students.

2 Some people are only involved and only use their full intelligence if they can be creative. Making and responding to stories is one way of being creative.

By being creative rather than imitative we sharpen our observation and encourage our curiosity. We see the possibilities of new relationships between bits of information. We learn to be able to do something about our perceptions and have the confidence in ourselves to do it. We revel in sharing it with others, confident that they will be open to it if not in agreement with it.

We learn to associate the second language with experience of feelingsnot at one removedthrough translation but as a first hand element in real events which matter to us.

By doing all of this in the foreign language we make it into a second language rather than a foreign language to be used for real at some time in the future.

3 Making or responding to stories is one of the best ways of developing fluencyfluency is one of the most difficult skills for the students to acquire and they need reason and opportunity to do so.

4 Stories offer an effective way of introducing new language, making it meaningful and memorable.

5 There are so many activities you can do with stories.in my book,Creating Stories with Childrenpublished by OUP, I list 94 ways of using storiesI am sure there are many more.

6 Stories have a natural role to play in cross curricular work. In a story there can be a range of geographical, historical, sociological and cultural information. Activities arising out of stories might range from a study of foods in theHungry Caterpillarstory for young learners to a study of hubris in the story ofBellerophon and Pegasusfor the most advanced students.

7 Stories are a distinctive manifestation of cultural values and perceptions. Stories invite reflection on values and culture. For example there are hundreds of variations of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. In one version Little Red Riding Hood plays a trick on the wolf and gets away (traditional French country version), in another she and her grandmother are eaten and that is the end of the story (Perrault), in another a man saves the two of them (Grimm) and in another LRRH and her Grandma trick the wolf, kill it, skin it and then take it in turns to wear the wolfskin as a coat (Liverpool women's group)!

8 Making and telling stories requires the students to organise information into a cohesive and coherent whole in order to communicate to other people and develops the students' ability to sustain a monologue

9 Making and telling stories develops in the students a heightened sense and awareness of English due to familiarity with sustained texts

10 Stories invite empathy and sharing between students in class and later between the students and other users of English they meet. Indeed, anecdotes are a key part of everyday conversationshe's very kindI remember only last week I.

11 Stories and metaphors are the classic way of explaining something. To able to use stories and metaphors fluently, appropriately and naturally is one mark of an accomplished speaker and writer. The language class offers an opportunity to develop this ability.

12 Of course we can 'teach' new words by translating them. However, we all know that translation is far from being a perfect method! Very often the associations with the two words will be different. The word 'countryside' for a Greek and an English person are likely to conjure up very different images, not only sensually different but in terms of value. Furthermore, the superficial ease of translation does not help to make the word memorable.

If we want to create the concept of 'courage' in someone's mind how better to do it than through a story? And then the word, 'courage' associated with the experience of the concept is more likely to be meaningful and memorable.

13 Making and telling stories gives the students an opportunity to reflect on their own concerns, perceptions and values. Listening to the stories of other students presents an opportunity to reflect on the perceptions of others and to respond to those reflections.

Our own anecdotes help us to give shape and meaning to our livesother peoples anecdotes throw a new light on our own experience and become part of our own experience..

14 Making stories can give personal dignity and awareness. One student I worked with once told me, "I didn't know I had any stories in me and now I know I do."

15 Frequent listening to stories develops the students' listening skills.

16 Studying and learning stories contextualises language diversity in dialect, register, narrative description, speech.

17 Retelling stories develops awareness of language change from a written story to its spoken form

18 Storytelling develops in the teller a heightened feeling of the nature of spoken language and a feeling for the relationship between, language, voice and body and objects related to different content, contexts and listeners.

Stories link verbal language to the languages of voice and body. The voice can be used with great variety: pace, pitch, volume, rhythm, pause, timbre all used to be clear and to be expressive.

Similarly, the body can be used to help to communicate content meaning and feelings in conjunction with the words being used.

SummaryThe teacher may reasonably ask, "But what proficiency level of student are you talking about?"

The whole range of students from beginner to advanced can benefit from the use of stories and in particular the making and telling of stories. Beginners can be encouraged to 'have a go' at putting together the words they have and combining these words with pictures, drama or music to become 'real' storying.

By using dramatic art beginner students can even make a story out of the two words, 'Yes' and 'No'.

More advanced students can use English to develop their general story making and storytelling skills so crucial in social intercourse.

This article is not primarily on methodology and I can only refer you to my book,Creating stories with childrenpublished by OUP in which I offer 72 activities for helping teachers to help students to make stories.

But one thing is for sure, the students may be so used to trying to avoid mistakes that they are incapable of risking mistakes through their creative. Somehow one has to strive to bring into the language classroom that joy of dancing whatever shape and size you are and whatever the level of your skill which seems to fill Greeks after dinner when the music starts to play!

Storymaking and telling in the classroom can only flower if that spirit of joy is normal and as much a part of everyday life as dancing.

What it means to be Greek when speaking English in international settings.Some Greeks may have no wish to be seen as Greeks in international contexts. Such people might prefer to be like chameleons and to melt into the background of whatever culture they happen to be in.

But many Greeks are understandably proud of being Greek and want to offer their 'Greekness' to the world wherever they are.

But don't you show your Greek character and perceptions and values partly through the stories you tell? And remember 'stories' for me range from the current news items you decide to pass on to your personal anecdotes right through to your wonderful Greek myths!

The form and manner of the 'Greekness' you choose to manifest is your choice and your students' choice. The stories you choose to tell are thus your choice. It is not for me to say that youshouldbe able to tell Greek myths so that you can grip company at dinner or a companion on a train journey or your hosts' children at bedtime with the passion of your Greek myths. But if you could do so your listeners would never forget you!

Why should language teachers concern themselves with this aim which must seem rather distant from the classroom and even from the examination? I believe it is worth specifically working towards because students are motivated by the sense of itand being motivated are more likely to use the full potential of their brains and heartsand so learn and remember better.

How can language teachers help the students to develop their ability to tell stories and not to merely describe their pets, favourite music and say how many brothers and sisters they have got?

In this part of my article I will pass on a few thoughts about stories and the craft of storytelling. For a fuller version of these ideas please look at my books,Storytelling with Children, Oxford University Press andCreating Stories with Children, Oxford University Press.

"Stories and their importance in Language Teaching"

by Andrew Wright

Page 2 of 2StoriesThe whole range of stories I refer to above are relevant to the idea of being Greek in English. However, I would like to enthuse a little about the Greek myths. The Greek myths have influenced all Western societies and more broadly, the world at large. For me the Greek myths are not mere curiosities of a past culture but living metaphors for our hopes, fears, aims, for love, treachery and passion. I have no problem in telling Greek myths to large classes of teenage students; they are gripped. Teachers say to me afterwards, 'Do you realise you have had all the naughtiest students in the school in this room and I could have heard a pin drop.' 'I have never heard silence like that before, in this school!'

The students listen and they retell and make the stories their own. And they can practise retelling with the idea that they really will tell Greek myths in the families where they will stay when they go to Britain or North America, just as they might sing a Greek song or dance a Greek dance.

The stories which are the most useful for the language classroom and, later, the hosts' dinner table, are the shorter ones rather than the long sagas like the labours of Hercules. I recommend, for example:

OrpheusDemeter and PersephoneNarcissus and EchoBellerophon and PegasusKing MidasBut also help the students to learn those extra little snippets like the story ofTithonus the cicada.Eos loved Tithonus. She loved him so much that she begged the gods for his immortality. Unfortunately, she forgot to ask for immortal youth for him. Tithonus has immortal life but he is getting older and older. For a long time he has been nothing more than a little stick of a cicada with his high, hard ticking in the evenings and at night when he is thinking of Eos. But Eos became tired of him a long time ago.Here is a version of the story using lower proficiency level English.

Eos loved Tithonus. She didn't want him to die. She asked the Gods, "Please let Tithonus live for hundreds and thousands of years. Let him live for ever!"The Gods agreed. Wonderful? No! Eos forgot to ask for Tithonus to be young. He became older and older and older. He became thinner and thinner and smaller and smaller until he became a cicada. Eos didn't love him anymore! Tithonus was very angry. He couldn't shout because he was very little so he rubbed his hard, thin stick legs against each other and made a high, thin noise every evening and every night.

I advise that the students discuss the values and perceptions evidenced in the stories so that they can link their storytelling to whatever conversations are going on before they launch into their story telling. Of course, the students need a reasonable proficiency level of English to discuss storiesif their level is too low to do it satisfactorily then you might, for example, offer them five sentences expressing different opinions on the story and ask them to put them into their order of preferenceyou can adapt the activity out ofDictationbyMario Rinvolucri and Paul Davis,Cambridge University Pressin which the teacher dictates five sentences about the story and the students write them at the top of the page if they agree with them, in the middle if they half agree with them and at the bottom if they don't agree with them.

Of course you want the students to get their English right but emotionally it is more important to help the students to work on their craft of telling. The craft of telling is a big subject but I can list a few points which might be of some practical use. If you want to see more then look atStorytelling with ChildrenOUPor come on one of myCraft of Storytellingcourses in Godollo. Write to me for details.

Here are some of the basic considerations in developing a craft of storytelling:

1 Usually listeners have to be prepared in some way for the idea that you are going to launch into a storyunless it is a short personal anedote.

2 Always concentrate on how you can give the story and your feelings about it to the listener rather than thinking about yourself.

3 Of course, tell the story with feeling and put everything you have got into it.

4 The main components are: the gist of the story, crucial details, rich and precise words, expressive use of voice and body.

The students can work in groups to develop these skills and you can make audio and video recordings to study and analyse.

We are the stories we hear and make.Our bodies are made out of the food we eat and our minds out of the stories we have heard and made.

The fundamental developmental importance of stories is significant to the language teacher if the teacher accepts her or his responsibility for contributing to the building of the individual student's values, perceptions, identity and relationships with others.

All teachers do affect the personal growth of students, particularly young students, whether the teachers accept partial responsibility for this or not! For this reason I will note some of ways in which stories play a central part in our society at the adult level as well as for children. Stories are certainly not just for little children!

A few years before my mother died she asked me if I believed in an after life and in being able to speak to the dead. In those days I believed that truth was the most important thing and I said,"No"!Today I would probably be, at least, evasive in my reply. My mother was not gloomy about her own impending death except in so far as it would cut her off from the family she loved. That is why she hoped for the possibility of talking to us once she had 'gone to the other side'. My mother accepted what I said, but replied,"But you must admit one thing! We live on in the people we have affected. Even a smile at a bus stop affects us but how much more so a life of stories and shared experiences."When my mother died my brother and I had to sort out all her thingsand decide what to do with them. In her later years she had bought some rather good naturalistic water colours of Derbyshire which she loved. John and I agreed to sell them. The dealer who had sold the pictures to my mother agreed to come to the house. I expected him to be a ruthless business man and I had my price ready and all my determination not to budge!

The dealer came, sat down, looked at the first picture and said how nice it was! I was amazed! This was no way to do business!

"Your mother was woman of great taste!"he said."These are excellent pictures!""How much will you give me for them?""No, you are selling them. You must tell me the price you want for them!"I gave him my upper price expecting to have to begin to bargain. He took out his cheque book and signed a cheque without speaking a word. He gave the cheque to me and said,"I can't cheat your mother! They are worth twice as much!"My mother lived on in his action.

In 1997 the DNA of a 9000 year old skeleton found in the Chedder Gorge, in England, was examined. A local man, Adrian Targett, whose family, as far as he knew, had always lived in the Chedder Gorge area was found to have some crucially identical parts of the same DNA pattern. Adrian now knows that he is descended from the man whose skeleton was found in the cave! Adrian said that he had often been in the cave but had never known that it was his family home. Physically, people of only 9000 years ago looked just like usdress them up and put them on a bus and you wouldn't think about it.

My mother was right; we live on in other people. How many of Adrian's gestures are similar to those of his ancestor from 9000 years agothe way he walks and smiles? But what about his values and perceptions? What about his stories and the roles and behaviour he lives by? We are the stories we have heard and the stories we make.

I have lived in Hungary for about five years. I have not settled down here in the sense of adopting the Hungarian story as my own. On the other hand I am apart from my own story setting. In England I could feel the meaning of every stone in an old building, I could see the ridge and furrow in contemporary fields and 'see' the peasant making them in the middle ages before the fields were enclosed. When I use the word cow I can 'see' the Saxon farmers raising the cows. When I use the word beef I can see the Norman French speaking invaders eating the meat (boeuf).

Sometimes, in this different story setting, I feel 'story less' and barren and lost. Without stories we are without identity. Stories bring us into being.

But what sort of stories should we live by?

Once, in Vancouver, a man called Croft Island, a dealer in real estate who was small, wore a coffee coloured raincoat whenever I saw him and always wore dark glasses so that I never saw his eyes, suggested that I live in North America. I said I would miss my family furniture which dates back to 1650 and my friends and the ridge and furrow in the fields and the sound of the curlew high on the moors.

Croft replied, as he drove his long Chrysler smoothly through the traffic, "Listen! I don't own anything. Not this car, not my home, not my clothes, not even my shades! And I'll tell you something, I don't even own my name. I just invented it one day and had it accepted in law."Could you live in a life story in which you just hire yourself another story to live in? Who is Croft Island? I am not too worried about the possibility of his reading this part of the articlehe will have a new name by now, I supposeand may even have no memory of the man I met.

At an art school where I was a lecturer many years ago a colleague asked his students to write down ten things about their values and behaviour and ten things about their habits. He then asked them to spend one week living out the exact opposite of each one. He told me that some of the students never returned to their previous stories!

When people experience a sudden and horrific tragedy their lives are destroyed and specialist psychiatrists have to be brought in to help them to sort things out. They are living in their story and suddenly a calamity hits them and knocks them out of their story. One moment the people in Locherbie, in Scotland, were living out their normal evening lives at home and the next moment the airplane, blown up above them, crashed onto their village. People in a state of shock, stare, hardly respond to normal events around them. They have been derailed. A train without a track goes nowhere.

The psychiatrists must help them to build a new story which allows them to incorporate this horrific change to their circumstances.

Of course some people have a story which incorporates the notion of change and even of inevitable disaster so that when it comes it is not so shocking for them and they recover more quickly.

We are facing a millennium of great changes. Are the stories we are giving our students flexible enough for them to adapt to change, even horrific change. On the other hand, do the stories we are giving them offer stability and security, identity but the strength of good relationships with others?

There is no story we can give our students which does not contain values and perceptions. One bar of chocolate doesn't do anyone any harmregular chocolate makes you fat and makes your teeth drop out. One story manifesting questionable values probably does no harm to anyone but a regular diet of stories offering violence as a solution to problems, offering narrow roles for men and women, etc.?

Are stories and mental health the concern of the language teacher? Each teacher decides.

I would like to take a different tack and look at other analogies for the phenomenon I am calling story.

Some people refer to 'maps' and 'life maps' which are given to us and which we modify and which we travel across.

Some people refer to our 'path'a lit path through darkness with bottomless depths of c