Provide a series of images and have students create a story connecting those images, helping them practice sequencing and descriptive language. How can I implement picture-based story telling with ESL learners? There are various types, such as collaborative story writing, picture-based storytelling, role-playing stories, and adapting well-known tales to new contexts. What types of story telling activities can be used in ESL classes? Stories promote language retention, boost confidence in speaking, encourage critical thinking, and foster cultural understanding. What are some benefits of using stories in ESL classes? Storytelling activities help ESL learners improve their language skills by enhancing vocabulary, grammar, speaking, and listening abilities in a creative and engaging way. Why are story telling activities important for ESL learners? What are ESL storytelling activities?ĮSL storytelling activities are interactive exercises that involve English as a Second Language learners in creating, sharing, or retelling stories in English. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones. There are a number of common questions that people have about this topic. Which of course, equals more learning! FAQs for Storytelling Activities They’ll help you get beyond the standard stuff in the textbook and make your English classes more fun and engaging. Hint: The best questions are open-ended, and not yes/no ones.Īt the end of the activity, I choose one person from each group and get them to tell me 1-2 interesting things that they learned about their classmates during the activity.ĭo you need more ideas for teaching about the past? Check out: ESL Past Tense Games. You can review the “W” questions for lower-level students, if required (who, what, when, why, where and how) and also give some examples of good and bad questions. Each person goes in turn telling their story and every other person listening will have to ask them 1 question.Įmphasize that everyone is to listen carefully to the story and think of 1 interesting question to ask the student and not just to think about their own story. Put the students in groups of 3 or 4 to tell their story. This gives the other students a reason to listen and helps everyone to participate equally in class.īigger Classes? Do This Variation for Telling a Story If you have a very small class like this, you can require that each person (including you) ask at least 1-2 follow-up questions. However, in a class of only 2-4 students, it’s often unavoidable. This is usually not my favourite option because it becomes quite teacher-centred (as opposed to student-centred). If you have a small class, you can listen to everyone’s stories together. Once the thinking time is up, you have a few options. I emphasize to the students that it is a speaking activity and not a writing activity, so while they can jot down a few words, they cannot write full sentences. The amount of time depends on the level of students. However, if you do it the way that I’ve just described, it can be over in only a couple of minutes.ĮSL storytelling activity ESL Story Telling Activity: The Better WayĪ better way to get students to tell a story is to give them 2-5 minutes of preparation time before they have to tell their story. This activitywhere you tell a story could be very useful for generating some interesting conversation and discussion. Then, it’s done and you move on to the next thing. You go around the class and everyone says a few sentences. I swam ocean.”īut the grammar is usually worse! And many of the students will say the exact same thing. Their “story” of their best vacation, for example, will sound like this: It’s pretty boring to listen to quite often, especially with lower-level students. You can most often find this activity in the unit related to the past verb tenses.Ī big problem with telling stories in class is that most students will not do a very good job of it if they are given no time to prepare. In almost all general, 4-skills ESL textbooks such as Smart Choice, or World Link there are usually pages with discussion starters that require students to tell a story of some kind. Storytelling Activities: What Doesn’t Work It turns up from purely a speaking activity to a listening and conversation one and will make ESOL stories far more memorable. Keep on reading for everything you need to know about making this storytelling ESL activity far more interesting (and useful) for your students. However, telling a story for ESL students can be a very useful activity if designed correctly. It’s often kind of a throwaway activity and I used to do it as kind of an afterthought. It seems like every ESL textbook has a unit where students have to tell a story.
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