Mara Iranzo Esteban

2014/2015

STORYTELLING REFLECTION
The story as an educational resource can be a very useful tool for
working various areas and contents.
Storytelling is a great vehicle for teaching English to the children. It is
a kind teaching and learning resource which has a lot of benefits for
children: it is a great way of getting students to listening and, it is a
good resource to develop other basic skills in the learner, in a
communicative, interactive and participative way, making them think
and, therefore, develop their cognitive skills, too. Furthermore, stories
introduce

children

to

the

rhythm,

sounds,

pronunciation

and

intonation of English.

We, as teachers, can take advantage of the storytelling as it is a

resource which provides children with enjoyment and fun so, that
makes children to be motivated and engaged in the activity. It also
provides with real context, dealing with childrens lives and their
concerns. Storytelling gives us and the students the opportunity to
revisit and repeat the target language, so they can reinforce it and
learn it better. And it let us use a controlled language to focus on the
language we want to teach, pursuing our teaching objectives.

HOW TO USE STORYTELLING

If we use this resource to teach English, it is vital to look carefully at
books when choosing them because there are many aspects we have
to take into account such as the age of the children, the
characteristics of the students as individuals and as a group, the level
and the degree of knowledge of the pupils, their abilities and needs,
the criteria

specified in the overall objectives, the childrens

evolutionary development, whether it has a strong and clear storyline

Mara Iranzo Esteban

2014/2015

and appeals to children, if it is supported by visual support or it is not,

and, also, if it provides children with opportunities to participate in the
storytelling. Sometimes it would be also necessary to adapt the story
to be comprehensible for the students.
For us, as English teachers who are going to use this resource, it
would be useful to use some kind of checklists for assessing the
stories before choosing this one or another one, to make sure it has
all the characteristics necessaries to consider it a good election.
To tell the story we have also to choose the best way to present it to
our students, as there are more than one way to tell a story telling the
story, instead of reading it, by using visual support, such as videos,
flashcards, pictures, by using puppets or toys; and, depending on how
you tell it, the activity might succeed or fail. Depending on the aims
to achieve or what you want your students learn you will choose one
way or another.
To tell the story we have to pay attention and take care of many
aspects such as to our voice, producing a clear articulation and
exaggerated intonation, and to our body language. We also have to
take care when telling the story to make sure we use simple and short
sentences

easily

understandable

by

the children

and

lots

of

repetitions to facilitate their learning and the acquisition of the

vocabulary. We have to involve the children in the storytelling and
make them participate in an active way, motivate and encourage
them to take part in the activity, too. We have to be as natural as
possible and tell the story in a entertain way but also in a serious way,
not making fun of it, to make children see the importance of the
storytelling as an opportunity for learning.
As we do when we plan any kind of activity, when carrying out
storytelling, we also have to plan the lesson according to the structure
before/while/after activities:

Mara Iranzo Esteban

2014/2015

Before telling the story, you should provide your students with
activities and resources to have the very first contact with the
new language or vocabulary they are going to learn. This will
enable children to follow the storyline in an easier way.

While the storytelling is being carried out, we have to makeour

students participate actively in the storytelling to motivate and
engage them. In this way, they will develop some basic skills
such as listening and speaking as they will have to participate in
the activity.

After the Storytelling is time to revise, to ground knowledge and

to reinforce language.

Finally, assessing yourself and your students after the storytelling

would be useful to revise the activity and change something for the
next time if it would be necessary. Checklists will be, again, a good
option when assessing.
In conclusion, using Storytelling might be a useful resource to improve
aural skills in children, as well as to learn new vocabulary, structures
and, even, contents in the Curriculum. Storytelling enables children to
actively participate in the learning process and interact. Through
Storytelling we can also make children work on cooperation,
socialisation and collaboration, working in group or in assembly and,
in this way, they will also develop other aspects such as respect, turntaking, etc.