STORYTELLING

STORYTELLING

I have been a huge fan of storytelling for a long time (it sounds weird but I tells stories in English better than in any other language). I used to be reluctant to talk about my own experiences or tell anecdotes and jokes because of the pressure the idea of limited TTT put on me, but one of my colleagues said – and I completely agree with her – that when you are telling a story, you are providing students with valuable input besides other things.

So, this week I told stories as usual, but I would like to share two cases with you.

First was with a reluctant-to-ask-questions student. We read a story about a satnav failure and did some work with linkers. Then I decided to share my experience with satnav (a true and ridiculously funny story), but I tricked the student into asking questions by stopping and pretending to try to remember how things went. She was full of questions and enthusiasm, which later transformed into her telling me a great story about herself. (I sneaked in some linkers into my story and she tried to copy me when telling her own, so win-win!)

Second was with a student who struggles with remembering vocabulary. We were focusing on housework and I told her the difference between ‘wash up’ in American and British English. At the end of the class, I told her a funny story whose punch line was based on this difference. Guys, you should have seen the way her eyes lit up when she understood that she got the joke!

Thank you, Penny, for reminding us how great it is to tell stories.