English storytelling: using questions, adapting texts, extracting ...

Elementary English

Unit 5: English storytelling: using questions, adapting texts, extracting learning

Teacher Education through School-based Support in India www.TESS-India.edu.in

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

The TESS-India project (Teacher Education through School-based Support) aims to improve the classroom practices of elementary and secondary teachers in India through studentcentred and activity-based approaches. This has been realised through 105 teacher development units (TDUs) available online and downloaded in printed form. Teachers are encouraged to read the whole TDU and try out the activities in their classroom in order to maximise their learning and enhance their practice. The TDUs are written in a supportive manner, with a narrative that helps to establish the context and principles that underpin the activities. The activities are written for the teacher rather than the student, acting as a companion to textbooks. TESS-India TDUs were co-written by Indian authors and UK subject leads to address Indian curriculum and pedagogic targets and contexts. Originally written in English, the TDUs have then been localised to ensure that they have relevance and resonance in each participating Indian state’s context. TESS-India is led by The Open University and funded by UKAID from the Department for International Development.

Version 1.0 Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/3.0/

Contents Introduction

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Learning Outcomes

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1

The importance of storytelling

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2

What stories teach

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3

What can students learn from a short story?

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4

'The Birth of Ganesh'

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5

A text in two languages

9

6

Using two languages in class

10

7

Classroom language for storytelling

13

8

Summary

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9

Resources

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Resource 1: Lesson outline plan for storytelling Resource 2: Further reading

16 17

10 Related units

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References

19

Acknowledgements

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Transcript

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Introduction

Introduction Everyone enjoys a good story. Stories can make us laugh and sometimes cry. They often make us think. Stories can be mysterious and magical, or they can convey information, history and traditions. From the time we are young children, stories are naturally a part of our lives. When we hear stories or tell stories, we are learning about language and about the world spontaneously. In the classroom, reading stories aloud and storytelling are key elements of language teaching. Do you tell stories to your class? How confident are you as a storyteller? Do you use stories as opportunities to use and practise English – for yourself as well as for the students in your class? In this unit the focus is on learning and using English through storytelling with the students in your class. Through stories, we can start to use a new language in a familiar context.

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TDU 5

English storytelling: using questions, adapting texts, extracting learning

Learning outcomes After studying this unit, you should have developed:

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knowledge of specific language features of stories

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understanding of the value of stories for language learning

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skills in interactive storytelling with students

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skills in speaking and listening in English.

1 The importance of storytelling

1 The importance of storytelling Do you have a favourite story that you remember from your childhood? Perhaps it was a story that made you wonder or laugh, or a story that made you thoughtful or sad. Maybe it was a story where you learned something new. Maybe you can remember a story that frightened you. Stories are so memorable that most of us can recall at least one story from when we were very young, and even where we first heard it and who told it to us. In our daily life as adults we continue to tell stories – about what happened to us on the way to work, what we saw on the bus, or what happened yesterday in school. Many of us switch languages when we do this – for instance, do you use mainly Hindi for some words, or mix in English phrases? We often switch languages and use different ‘voices’ when we tell a story to emphasise a point or get our meaning across in the most effective way.

Pause for thought When you were a student in school, did your teacher tell or read stories? Can you recall any of these? Was there a special story time in your classroom when you were a young student? Teachers often tell a story at the end of the school day. Maybe you remember this as a relaxing time, without the stress of lessons. Telling and listening to stories is a pleasurable activity that can bring teachers and students together in a shared experience.

Experienced teachers know that students will remember any information very well when it is told to them as a story. Storytelling can be a powerful teaching method because you (the teacher) are in direct communication with your class. Stories and storytelling require only one resource – you, the teacher. Storytelling allows you to ask open questions such as ‘What do you think will happen next?’ and ‘Why do you think he does this?’ that encourage students to think, recall, reflect, imagine and respond – which will all develop their language skills. It is good practice to tell and read stories regularly in the classroom, because these are learning opportunities as well as fun occasions. In India we are fortunate to have many stories from folklore and tradition that teachers can draw upon to promote language learning in the classroom. The aim of this unit is to develop your skills in using stories for English language teaching, but of course it will be natural and expected in the classroom to mix languages (English, mother tongue and other local languages) – especially in the early years of school.

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2 What stories teach There is a traditional saying: ‘If you don't know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don't know the stories you may be lost in life.’ Stories are how we make sense of life and how we understand the lives of others. This is because stories are narratives that provide a comprehensible structure to information. A story is, after all, a sequence of linked events. Stories can be personal (‘this happened to me’), reported fact (‘this happened yesterday, or long ago’), or fiction (‘imagine this happening!’). Stories cover the full range of life experience: they can be light-hearted, funny, thoughtful and moralistic, or they can be strange, serious, frightening and tragic.

What is the significance of stories for students’ learning? Stories offer students a safe way to explore powerful feelings such as love, sadness, fear and anger. Stories can help students to develop empathy and understanding of how others feel. Stories boost students’ intellectual development by presenting them with new information about the world. Through stories, students learn about nature, social systems, history, traditions and culture, as well as unfamiliar, faraway worlds and cultures so that they understand them better. Stories invite students to solve dilemmas, challenges and problems. Stories promote students’ language development by exposing them to new words and high-level literary language: vocabulary, metaphors, similes and complex sentence structures they are not yet be able to read independently. Stories develop students’ listening and speaking skills, which are vital in their own right and are important stepping stones to reading and writing. Stories can motivate and inspire students to persevere with reading and writing.

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3 What can students learn from a short story?

3 What can students learn from a short story? Activity 1: ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’ Read this short story in English. You might like to read it more than once. Underline or circle any words you are not sure of, and look these up in a dictionary so that you are confident about their meaning. Read it aloud to yourself, or to someone in your family.

The Moon and His Two Wives Did you know that the moon has two wives? One is a brilliant cook and when he visits she makes him one delicious dish after another. She cooks and he eats. She cooks and he eats. She cooks and he eats. And he gets fatter and fatter until he is entirely round and can eat no more. Then he staggers off to see his other wife. For she is a storyteller and when he visits her she weaves one fabulous tale after another. Day and night, night and day, he sits entranced and listens. And he becomes so caught up in her stories that he forgets to eat anything at all. So he gets thinner and thinner until he is just a tiny crescent. Then hunger calls and he must visit his cook-wife once more … After you read the story several times, try to tell it aloud without looking at the text.

Discussion In a few very short paragraphs, the tale ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’ teaches a number of things, playfully and without explicit instruction. First, the story invites us to think and to wonder – why does the moon change its shape? Stories often embed new concepts in familiar contexts: there are descriptions of traditional family roles and everyday activities such as cooking and storytelling. But the story also describes the phases of the moon and introduces the astronomical term ‘crescent’ moon. The story reflects the tradition in many cultures of explaining the natural world and scientific phenomena through myth, allegory and imaginative anecdote, and of attributing human characteristics to natural or inanimate objects.

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Pause for thought What are some other words that have the same meaning as ‘staggers’? What are some other words that have the same meaning as ‘weaves’, in this story? Traditional stories often have gender stereotypes, such as the husband and wife roles in ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’. How would you talk to students about this? Could the story be changed, to make it less stereotypical? Of course, there is a scientific explanation for the way the moon changes shape. Do you think the story ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’ could cause students to develop misconceptions? Would you introduce the astronomical concepts at the same time as you tell this story? How would you talk to students about the differences between the science and the story? Think other traditional stories that you know. Do they present problems of stereotyping and scientific misconceptions?

Activity 2: Language features of ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’ Within the short story ‘The moon and his two wives’ there is a wealth of language instruction. Because you are an adult, you don’t think about all the language knowledge you use when you read ‘The Moon and His Two Wives’. However, try to list all of the following language features that you can find in the story: .

nouns

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adjectives

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verbs

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connectives

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antonyms

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comparatives

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dependent clauses

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personification.

Now list the literary language, poetic words and phrases that are unlike what students hear and say in everyday talk. What are the story’s repeated phrases?

Discussion Here are the story’s language features: .

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nouns: moon, wife, day, night, storyteller, stories, hunger, crescent

3 What can students learn from a short story?

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adjectives: thin, round, thin, brilliant, fabulous, delicious, tiny

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verbs: visits, cooks, eats, listen, forgets, staggers, weaves, sits, listens, calls

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connectives: then, until, so, and

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antonyms: thin/fat

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comparatives: fat/fatter, thin/thinner

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dependent clauses: ‘day and night, night and day, he sits entranced …’

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personification: the moon is a man who has two wives.

In the story students hear literary language, poetic words and phrases that are unlike everyday talk and conversation: .

‘she makes him one fabulous dish after another’

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‘until he can eat no more’

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‘she weaves one fabulous tale after another’

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‘he sits entranced’

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‘staggers’

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‘hunger calls’.

Students have opportunities to internalise and practise language through the repeated phrases of the story: .

‘she cooks and he eats’

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‘he gets fatter and fatter’

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‘he gets thinner and thinner’

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‘day and night, night and day’.

Students are developing their linguistic knowledge in English. When they listen to a story in English, they internalise important information about this language and how it works. When you tell a story to your class in English you are doing in-depth language teaching. Through stories, students learn how nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives create meaningful and interesting sentence structures. They hear the language of books and literature – language they could not read on their own. This kind of exposure, if sustained, will have a positive impact on students’ English oral language development and, later, on their English writing ability.

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4 ‘The Birth of Ganesh’ Case Study 1: Mrs Ramchand’s storytelling Mrs Ramchand is an experienced Class II teacher who often tells stories to her students in Hindi – especially traditional stories. She wanted to use storytelling to practise English, for herself as well as for her students. Read her account of how she told a familiar story in English and how she incorporated storytelling as part of her regular teaching schedule. I chose a story that I and my students knew very well in Hindi: ‘The Birth of Ganesh’. I did not need to read it – I knew it by heart in my first language. I then wrote out a short, simple version of the story in English. I had practised telling this story aloud to my husband at home. I practised until I felt very confident to tell the English version to my students. One morning, I told my students that we were going to practise English together. I asked the students to listen carefully as I told the story of the birth of Ganesh in English. As I told the story in English, I showed word cards with pictures of key vocabulary: ‘bath’, ‘river’, ‘boy’, ‘head’, ‘sword’, ‘elephant’. I encouraged the students to practise saying the words with me as I spoke them. I also had the students practise the English phrase that the boy in the story says to Shiva: ‘No, you can’t come in!’ After the story, I put the words and the sentence ‘You can’t come in!’ on the word wall so that students could continue to read and practise English. Now I plan English practice with storytelling every week for my Class II students. The students have always enjoyed storytelling, and now the sessions have a strong additional focus on learning and practising English. After each storytelling session, I put the English words and phrases on the word wall and use these for spelling and reading practice later in the week.

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5 A text in two languages

5 A text in two languages Activity 3: Understanding a story In this activity you will read a text at your own level in two languages and think about how you can apply this method in your classroom with students. There was this man and he seemed very agitated. This andras, this guy, he went round and round the kipo behind his house (‘kipo’ is a garden) looking for something. The andras got down on his hands and knees and started scrabbling around in the border underneath the traiandafila, the roses. Now the wife of the andra, his yineka, happened to be in one of the upstairs rooms of the house. The yineka looked out through the bedroom parathiro and saw her andra searching for something in the border under the traiandafila. She asked him what he was doing. ‘I’m looking for my house keys,’ her andras shouted back. ‘Did you lose your house klidia down there in the kipo, in the border under the traiandafila?’ ‘No,’ said her andras. ‘I didn’t lose my klidia here under the traiandafila, but the light is so much better here!’

Discussion As you read this story, you were learning some words – nouns – in Greek: ‘man’, ‘garden’, ‘roses’, ‘wife’. You probably did not struggle to understand the meaning of the Greek vocabulary, because nearly all the words were briefly explained and then immediately used in a familiar context within a logical narrative sequence and linguistic structure. How did you make sense of the words that are not explained in the text: ‘parathiro’ and ‘klidia’? You can teach students English vocabulary and phrases in this way, by adapting any text you are using in the classroom to introduce English words and phrases. Of course, because students do not have an adult’s knowledge of language and the world, you could use pictures to help the students identify and learn the words in English.

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6 Using two languages in class Activity 4: ‘When Humans Had Tails’ In this activity you will listen to a story in two languages. The story is called ‘When Humans Had Tails’ and is available on the Story Museum website – follow this link to visit the website and click on the audio player icon. It lasts around three minutes. You may already know of this story, or a version of it. You may wish to listen more than once. After you listen, think about the following: .

How does the storyteller begin? Why does he begin in this way?

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When does he switch languages? Why does he do this, do you think?

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How many different sounds and voices does the storyteller use?

Discussion Stories around the world begin with ‘Once upon a time …’, or ‘Long, long ago …’, or ‘When the world was young …’. This signals to everyone that a story is about to be told. It is an invitation to stop and listen. They are words that draw everyone together to listen and respond to the story. The storyteller switches to Punjabi to imitate the way that people admire their tails. He uses the same phrase in two languages to emphasise the way that people have become vain about their beautiful tails. He uses a mixture of voices and sounds to impersonate people, the Great Creator, the noise of the tails and the swishing of grasses. The storyteller speeds up and slows down, to give drama and excitement to the story. He uses the narrative device of time connectives such as ‘After some time …’, ‘And that was when …’, ‘Even now …’, and ‘All those years later …’ to link the different parts of the story. Imagine you are going to tell this story to your students. What words or phrases in English could you select and practise with them? What kinds of open questions could you ask students about this story, to encourage their participation? Open questions do not have a single right or wrong, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. We have suggested some open questions, but you will be able to think of others:

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Why were people so afraid of the Great Creator?

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What would you do if you had a tail?

6 Using two languages in class

Activity 5: Using English in lessons Now watch the video below where a teacher is telling the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’ in English to students. You may also find it useful to read the video’s transcript. Please note that the video will be available in early 2014. Notice how the teacher encourages students to listen and participate by asking questions and showing pictures.

Now watch the video clip. If it is unavailable or has not been provided separately, you can find it at the TESS-India YouTube channel. You will find the transcript at the end of this unit.

Activity 6: Telling a story in English Read the lesson outline plan in Resource 1. Adapt and expand it to suit your classroom, the needs of your students and your own professional development. Refer also to TDU 10, Creating opportunities to practise: listening and talking in English. Here are some issues to consider as you choose a story and plan this activity: .

Choose a story you know well. It can be from a book, but you will need to tell it aloud without the book. The story might be linked to a topic in your textbook, or it might be linked to a local festival or community event. The story might be important to students’ experiences in a general way, or it might develop their knowledge in a specific subject area such as science, history or geography. Perhaps the story has a moral message that you feel is important for students to learn. Perhaps you will choose a traditional tale. Why is this story a good one for your class?

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Consider the story in terms of its length. Can it be told in a short space of time?

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Consider the story in terms of complexity. Does it use familiar or unfamiliar words and phrases?

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Where in the story will you be able to stop and invite students to join in with you or repeat after you?

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Consider whether the story is inclusive from the perspective of marginalised groups. Will any student feel left out or embarrassed by the story? Will the students already know the story or will it be new to them?

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Think about what props or pictures you have or you need to make, to help the story come alive for the students. Will you need, for instance, pictures of a hat, a broom or a lamp? Or will you use real objects?

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Think about open questions you can ask students about the story as you tell it, or after you tell it.

7 Classroom language for storytelling

7 Classroom language for storytelling To gather the class together and prepare students to listen to a story, you can ring a story time bell or beat a story time drum. You can say a rhyme or sing a version of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’: If If If If

you you you you

want want want want

to to to to

hear hear hear hear

a a a a

story, story, story, story,

clap your hands! clap your hands! if you want to hear a story, clap your hands!

Try using these English phrases for storytelling in your classroom: .

It’s story time!

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Sit down, everyone.

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Are you ready?

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Is everyone ready to listen?

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Are you ready to listen?

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Listen to me.

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Who is listening?

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Repeat after me …

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Say it with me …

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Let’s say together …/Say it with me …

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Now you say it.

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What do you think will happen?

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What’s going to happen now?

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Close your eyes and imagine what it looks like.

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What do you think?

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You are good listeners!

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You are good storytellers!

Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) Storytelling can involve students actively in the learning process. It should provide opportunities for you to listen to students and observe their understanding. When you re-tell a story, ask the students ‘Now, what happened next?’, ‘Where did that happen?’ or ’Who did that?’ This is an opportunity to assess their understanding. Encourage students to tell stories in English. Make brief notes about individual students, using criteria such as: .

listens carefully to the narrative

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shows involvement (comments, asks questions)

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explains the plot or the characters of the story

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is able to use some English words and phrases in a story

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is able to tell a story partly in English

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is able to tell a story in English

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is able to make inferences and connections

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is able to extend the story

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imagines an alternative ending or title.

You can do this for small groups of students throughout the year. Weekly storytelling activities can help you evaluate students’ progress at regular intervals.

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8 Summary

8 Summary We hope you have enjoyed the storytelling activities in this unit, and that you have developed confidence to use English in your classroom. Creating, recalling and repeating stories are learning processes, for teachers as well as for students. The ability to tell a story in an interesting and lively way is an important teaching skill. A good story is entertaining, of course, but it can also hold students’ attention while they learn important concepts, attitudes and language skills. Now reflect and make some notes on the following: .

Identify three key ideas or skills you have learned in this unit.

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Identify your strengths as a storyteller.

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What skills for storytelling and using stories in teaching would you like to develop further?

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9 Resources Resource 1: Lesson outline plan for storytelling You may also want to refer to TDU 9, Content and language integration: coordinating, planning, implementing and assessing and TDU 10, Creating opportunities to practise: listening and talking in English.

Learning outcomes Students will develop: .

oral knowledge of English vocabulary and phrases

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skills in listening, responding and speaking in English

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understanding of story narrative structures.

Adapt the following checklist for your own class.

Preparation .

Choose a story you know well.

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Prepare a simple version of the story in English.

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Practise telling it, so that you are confident.

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Select key words and phrases. Choose words and phrases that are important to the story and are repeated in the story, so that students have more than one opportunity to listen and practise them. Make these words and phrases memorable and manageable, so that students will enjoy learning them.

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Write the key words and phrases in English on word cards.

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Make pictures (draw them or cut them out of a magazine) to match the word cards. Or use objects, such as a hat, broom or pot.

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Practise telling the story using the word cards and pictures or objects.

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Find moments in the story where you can stop and ask students to repeat after you, or to join in a repeating phrase.

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Decide how you will prepare the students to listen to the story (rhyme, song, drum, bell or other method).

Lesson

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Prepare the students for a story so that they are all listening (ring a bell, beat a drum, clap).

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Tell them they will hear a story in English and practise English together with you.

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Tell the story. Speak slowly. Use gestures and facial expressions. Show the word cards, pictures or objects. Encourage students to repeat and join in.

9 Resources

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Practise together the words and phrases in English, matching words with pictures or objects.

After the story .

Put English words and phrases on the word wall so that students can continue to read and practise them.

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Encourage the students to retell the story in English.

.

When you read the story again, ask the students questions such as ‘Now, what happened next?’, ‘Where did that happen?’ or ’Who did that?’ Take this as an opportunity to assess students’ understanding.

Resource 2: Further reading There are many story and storytelling resources you can find online. Here are a few of them: .

Karadi Tales

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Centre for Learning Resources (interactive audio)

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Tulika Publishers (bilingual books)

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Beginner’s English Language Teaching Programme (BELT)

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10 Related units

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TDU 6, Reading English: shared reading and guided reading.

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TDU 7, Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation.

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TDU 12, The input rich environment for learning English: displays, word walls, labelling and games.

References

References Centre for Learning Resources, http://www.clrindia.net/ (accessed 25 July 2013). Karadi Tales, http://www.karaditales.com/ (accessed 25 July 2013). R V Educational Consortium (undated) ‘About BELT’ (online). Available from: http://rvec.in/belt.html (accessed 25 July 2013). The Story Museum (undated) ‘When Humans Had Tails’ (online). Available from: http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/1001stories/detail/168/whenhumans-had-tails.html (accessed 24 July 2013). Tulika Publishers, http://www.tulikabooks.com/ (accessed 25 July 2013).

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Acknowledgements The content of this teacher development unit was developed collaboratively and incrementally by the following educators and academics from India and The Open University (UK) who discussed various drafts, including the feedback from Indian and UK critical readers: Mythili Ramchand and Kimberly Safford. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit: CCE logo: http://www.cbse.nc.in/. Video: thanks are extended to the heads and students in our partner schools across India who worked with The Open University in this production. Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Transcript

Transcript Narrator:

In this video the teacher tells a story in English that the students already know well in Hindi. She doesn’t use a book, she tells the story orally she has made some simple picture to reinforce the meaning of vocabulary, she also uses gestures and mime.

Teacher:

Children do you like stories?

Students:

Yes ma’am.

Teacher:

So, today I am going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was an old man. Do you know any old man in your family?

Students:

Yes ma’am.

Teacher:

Who’s the old man?

Students:

Grandfather.

Teacher:

Yes, a person maybe of fifty or sixty years?

Students:

Yes ma’am.

Teacher:

See this picture, this is an old man.

Students:

Yes ma’am.

Teacher:

Can anybody tell me what is this?

Students:

Turnips.

Teacher:

Yes. You like turnips?

Students:

Yes ma’am.

Teacher:

What do you call turnips in Hindi?

Students:

(Unclear) षलगम.

Teacher:

Story which I am going to tell you is about turnip. A huge turnip, huge means big …

Students:

(Unclear)

Teacher:

Enormous. What is the meaning of enormous? Big.

Teacher:

One day an old man planted some turnip seeds. When you plant something in the soil what you have to do?

Students:

We have to water the plants.

Teacher:

Yes. He planted some turnip seed then he waters after few days what he saw. A small plant came out, a small plant. Then, he again waters that plant after some days what he saw, it grew, grew, and grew a big turnip grew. How much big? This much big. Now, that old man wants to eat that turnip, so he pulled and pulled and pulled, do you think could he pull it out?

.

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TDU 05 English storytelling: using questions, adapting texts, extracting learning

Students:

No ma’am.

Teacher:

No. He pulled and pulled and pulled could he pull it out?

Students:

No ma’am.

Teacher:

No. He could not pull it out, so what do you think will happen next. Yes.

Students:

Will someone help.

Students:

Ma’am, dad will help.

Students:

Ma’am, sister can also help.

Teacher:

Yes. Sister can also help.

Students:

Ma’am, brother …

Narrator:

You can prepare a simple version of a story in English practice telling it slowly with gestures and props or pictures. Find moments where you can stop and ask the students questions about the story.

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