Storytelling and drama share a number
of features which make it natural to integrate them during lessons. Both build
on children’s innate capacity for fantasy and imaginative play, and even very
young children can differentiate between the conventions of a story or drama
and real life. Through stories and drama, children develop understanding of
themselves and the world around them. The distance afforded by characters and
events which are not real also helps children to explore significant issues
which are relevant to their daily lives, in a way that is safe and enjoyable.
In storytelling and drama, the usual
norms of time, place and identity are temporarily suspended as, for example, in
a story which spans a hundred years yet takes three minutes to tell, or a drama
activity which transforms the classroom into a ‘jungle’ and all the children in
it to ‘hungry lions’. Storytelling and drama are above all shared, communal
classroom events which engage children’s interest, attention and imagination
and develop their language skills in a holistic way. They also appeal to
children with different intelligences and learning styles and provide a
framework for fostering social skills and attitudes, such as active listening,
collaborating, turn taking and respect for others, in a positive way.
Learning
through stories
Most children start school familiar
with stories and narrative conventions in their own language and quickly
transfer this familiarity into a willingness to listen to and participate in
stories in English. Stories provide a natural, relevant and enjoyable context
for exposure to language and an opportunity to familiarize children with the
sounds, rhythm and intonation of English. The discovery and construction of
meaning is supported through things such as visuals, mime, gesture, voice and
characterization, and children also develop learning strategies and thinking
skills, such as predicting, hypothesizing, guessing and inferring meaning.
Stories help young children to develop concentration skills and also aspects of
emotional intelligence, such as empathy and relating to other people. Stories
also provide a springboard for a wide range of activities which develop
language, thinking skills, positive attitudes and citizenship, as well as
appreciation of other cultures, or understanding of content from other areas of
the curriculum. As children increasingly develop their ability to understand,
retell, act out and/or create their own stories in English, this also has a
positive effect on their motivation, confidence and self-esteem.
There are various possible approaches
to using stories in class. These range from occasional use of stories to
supplement a topic or structure-based course book, to using a story-based
course book, and possibly supplementing this with additional stories as well,
to basing the whole language program and syllabus on a selection of stories
which the children study over a period of time, e.g. two or three stories per
term.
Choosing
stories
Stories can be selected from a range
of sources, including graded readers, story websites on the internet or picture
books originally written for children whose first language is English. Whatever
the source, the most important thing is that the story you choose is suitable
for the children it is intended for. You need to check that the content is relevant,
interesting, appealing and memorable and, if the story is illustrated, that the
visuals are clear and attractive and will support children’s understanding. The
language level of the story also needs to be appropriate and to fit in at least
partially with your syllabus. Other features, such as whether the discourse
pattern of the story is repetitive, cumulative or includes a rhythmic refrain
(and therefore promotes participation, aids memory and practises a particular
language pattern) will also influence your choice. Over time, it is important
to vary the kinds of stories you use, including, for example, traditional
stories or, with older children, spoof or modern versions of these, fables or
stories with a moral, myths, legends, funny stories, rhyming stories, stories
with flaps or pop-ups, biographical stories, stories which help children
understand their own feelings, stories from other cultures and stories which
are linked to content from other areas of the curriculum.
Telling
stories
Before telling a story to children
for the first time, it is usually advisable to practice how you are going to do
this, including for example, mime or actions you plan to use to convey meaning,
the way you are going to use your voice, e.g. for different characters or to create
surprise or suspense, and the places you are going to pause or ask questions to
encourage the children to show their understanding or predict what’s going to
happen next. When you tell the story, you need to make sure that everyone can
see and hear you and, if you are using a picture book, hold this up and show
each illustration slowly round the group. With younger children it is usually
best if they can sit on the floor in a semi-circle near you and you may also
like to introduce the story with a rhyme to settle the children before you
begin (see 6.1). As you tell the story, it is a good idea to maintain frequent
eye-contact with the children, in order to help them stay focused and
attentive. You also need to give them time to think, look, comment, ask or
respond to questions and, if appropriate, encourage them to join in with you as
you tell the story. At the end, it is important to invite a personal response,
e.g. by asking children if they like the story, or have had similar experiences
or feelings to the characters in the story, and be ready to recast or extend
their contributions in English as necessary. Above all, it is important to show
and share your own enjoyment of the story – it’s catching!
Planning
story-based lessons
As with other listening and reading
activities, it can be helpful to plan story-based lessons following the three
stages of before, while and after. If you decide to use a story in an extended
way over several lessons, then this is likely to be a cyclical process which
starts by creating interest, motivation and attention in the story and
predicting what it is about, followed by an initial telling of the story,
related activities and follow-up. The cycle can then be extended through a
combination of retelling(s) of the story in a variety of ways, interspersed
with a series of appropriately selected activities that lead children from an
initial, global understanding of the story to using more and more of the
language it contains. In some cases, the storytelling cycle may lead to children
producing their own versions of the story or dramatizing some aspect of it in a
role play.
With older children, as part of
their understanding of storytelling, it is also important to develop their
awareness of how stories are constructed and to give them opportunities to
create stories themselves.
As part of activities in the
storytelling cycle, and in order to enrich and enhance children’s learning, it
is often appropriate to integrate storytelling with drama.
Learning
through drama
Drama provides opportunities for
multi-sensory, kinaesthetic responses to stories and engages children in
‘learning by doing’ at a number of different levels. At a basic level, through
listening and responding to storytelling and doing short, introductory drama
activities, children use mime, sounds, gestures and imitation to show their
understanding and to make connections between language and corporal expression.
This helps young children associate actions, words and meanings and memorize
key language in a natural and enjoyable way. As children become familiar with
the story, more extended drama activities provide opportunities for recycling
the language it contains through retelling or acting out, either by the
children themselves or by the children using puppets. In these activities, the
use of drama provides a focus and support for children to use (some) language
from the story in an independent way and also contributes to building up their
confidence and self-esteem. At a more sophisticated level, the use of drama techniques
such as hot seating, role play or thought tunnel provides opportunities for
children to go beyond the story and explore the issues, problems or moral
dilemmas that it contains. This not only provides opportunities for children to
use language they know beyond the story script within a clearly defined
framework but also encourages them to develop critical and creative thinking
skills and to work with others in a collaborative way.
In addition to classroom drama, it
may sometimes be suitable to use a story the children have specially enjoyed as
the basis of a class play. The preparation of a class production for an
audience of parents and others is different from other classroom drama
activities in this section, which put the emphasis on using drama as part of a
process of personalized learning. However, preparing and performing a class
play can also have enormous benefits for children’s language development,
confidence and self-esteem and prove extremely worthwhile and rewarding.
Managing
drama activities
Drama activities with children can
be ‘risky’ in terms of classroom management and need to be handled carefully
and sensitively. It is usually advisable to introduce drama gradually, in
activities which are short and where you use techniques such as ‘freeze’ or
shaking maracas to control the action. In addition to general points about
classroom management, it is vital to show yourself willing to participate in
classroom drama and to model the kinds of responses you expect from the
children. Although it is important to give children encouraging feedback after
doing a drama activity, it is best not to look at them (too) directly during
the activity, as this may unwittingly convey an impression that you are judging
them. This can be off-putting to some children, who will be drawn in naturally
as long as they do not feel under pressure. If you regularly use story-related
drama activities with your classes, over time you may be surprised at the
increasingly confident and mature way in which children respond.
Reflection
time
As you use the storytelling and
drama activities in this section with your classes, you may like to think about
the following questions and use your responses to evaluate how things went and
plan possible improvements for next time:
- Interest: Did the story engage the children’s
curiosity, interest and attention? Why? / Why not? If so, how was this
sustained?
- Participation: Did the children participate actively?
What factors encouraged – or discouraged – this?
- Creative thinking: How did the children respond to
activities which invited a creative or imaginative response? Did this
affect the way they used language? If so, how?
- Kinaesthetic learning: How did the children respond to
activities involving mime and movement? In what ways did such activities
seem to help or detract from the children’s learning? What were the
reasons for this, do you think?
- Collaboration: Did the children collaborate and work
well together? What factors influenced this?
- Enjoyment: Did the children enjoy the story and related
activities? Why? / Why not? What effect did this have on their motivation,
confidence and self-esteem?
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