Teach English in Ekou Zhen - Xinzhou Shi

No matter what age a person is or where they are from, there is something inside of us as humans that attracts us to stories. In the ancient days, story telling was used in order to pass down the history of a civilization. They relayed their stories orally, until civilizations began to write them down with pen and paper. We have come a long way since then, but stories still never cease to capture the curiosity and imagination of children, adolescents and even adults. However, storytelling has a much broader use today than simply relaying stories to one another. Story telling is versatile and incredibly useful, even in an ESL classroom, because of the integration of reading, writing, and listening skills, the cultural education it provides, and the plethora of authentic resources available for each level. First off, Storytelling in an ESL classroom can also be used for enhancing reading, listening, and writing skills, as well as practicing certain grammatical functions. Teachers could use anything from a Dr. Seuss book for teaching rhyming, to a short novel that helps with more complex grammatical understanding. Reading out loud to the students is an obvious way to practice listening and comprehension skills. Another useful activity would be to have the students come up with their own short stories using specific grammar points so they can not only practice their writing skills, but feed their creativity and imagination. Activities like this can be done individually, in a group setting, as well as sent home for homework, so it is versatile for every type of ESL classroom. The most obvious uses for storytelling may seem to come about in a classroom full of children, however it is possible to integrate these practices into an adult class as well, even in a business class. Many times in the business world, employees are expected to be able to present in front of a conference meeting. Storytelling can be used to practice not only writing ones own presentation, but also becoming comfortable standing in front of a group of people. Telling students to write a presentation with resources and statistics can be a daunting task, but telling them to present a story is something less terrifying that will help them feel comfortable standing in front of people before they begin to practice those official presentations. When reading and listening to stories, we often can get a feel for the culture that the author is a part of, through their word usage and the context the story is written in. Culture and language are so closely intertwined that learning a language is like stepping into the shoes of someone from another world. It’s a completely different perspective and lifestyle. Authors often write their stories from their own cultural perspective, and many of their stories portray this. This is helpful at any level, but especially when teaching a business English classroom. The people who are learning business English are likely learning it because they often interact with English speakers in their day to day lives. Reading stories in English not only practices the basic receptive and productive skills, but also gives insight into the culture of native English speakers. Stories may include introductions between characters, different slang that is commonly used in that area, little bits of history or common cultural knowledge, and many other things that would be helpful to business students in order to better interact with their cross-cultural partners. And last but not least, there are so many authentic story telling materials out there, as well as advice on how to create unique materials. Materials can be adapted for each level of student and each type of learner. There are many picture books that help visual learners, and the general practice of storytelling is already catered to auditory learners. Storytelling can be a very useful tool in the ESL classroom because it brings in imagination and creativity while also providing the ability to practice grammar, listening, reading, and writing skills Students will benefit from having such a wide range of resources to work from, and it can take up as little or as much time during a class period as is necessary. Overall, it is a skill that we as humans have always been inspired by, and now we can bring it to life in the classroom.