STORYTELLING TEACHING IN THE CHINESE EFL CLASS
Make it fun and effective for Chinese EFL students to learn English !
CHALLENGES FOR CHINESE EFL STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LEARNING
CHALLENGE 1
Students' language output ability is weak.
Chinese candidates' listening and reading skills are stronger than their writing and speaking skills. The high correlation of reading with listening is aligned with the cognitive load process in reading comprehension; Rankin conducted a study and found that the listening skill was the most dominant skill for the mode of human communication. Listening occupies almost 50% of our daily communications (Rankin,1926). In this regard, two studies conducted by Ralph and Stevens (G. N. Ralph & L. S. Stevens,1957) and Rankin (P. T. Rankin,1930) reported that listening (46%), speaking (30%), reading (16%), and writing (9%) are all involved our daily communication. In the field of English teaching, we consider listening and reading to be the input of English learning, because students acquire material information through listening and watching. This is mainly related to students' comprehension ability. Writing and speaking are classified as output and students must organize language to express their opinions through writing and talking, which imposes higher requirements on students' comprehensive abilities.
CHALLENGE 2
English learning input is greater than output
Chinese teachers, students and parents invest a lot of time, money and energy in English learning. According to the current instructions of the Ministry of Education, Chinese students are exposed to English courses from the first grade of elementary school until they graduate from university (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, 2014, P22-23). Essentially, every student is required to receive at least twelve years of English education. As compared with education in other disciplines, English education can be described as the most large number of inputs one in Chinese students' curriculum and this does not even include the English training classes and daily morning reading that many students attend outside of the classroom. Many parents try their best to help their kids succeed with many children being sent to bilingual teaching classes in kindergarten, and receiving tutoring in various English training classes after school. Many students also receive one-on-one English teaching from foreign nativeborn English teachers and during winter and summer vacations students will participate in various English training sessions or go abroad for English summer camps. All of this shows the significance of China's investment in English learning.
CHALLENGE 3
The exam-oriented education system limits the development of language competence
Faced with the pressure of entrance examinations, English education in China has turned from simple language ability education to exam-oriented education. The disadvantage of this is that students do not learn enough grammar knowledge or practical application. Many Chinese students find that what they have learned from multiple-choice and reading questions cannot be applied to their comprehensive abilities in writing, speaking, and listening. Even though many students have a good grasp of grammar, they do not have the awareness to actually use it (Kirkpatrick, R., Zang, Y.,2011). There are also many students who have difficulty remembering and understanding knowledge points. In fact, a lot of knowledge has been learned but cannot be used, which leads to inability to remember. Such a vicious circle causes students to be disgusted with English learning, and even students with better grades lack the ability to communicate with foreigners or to read English literature.
IELTS is a comprehensive English proficiency test for immigrants and overseas students, yet concerningly, many students who have performed well on the Chinese high school and college entrance examinations also failed the IELTS examination (Kirkpatrick, R., Zang, Y.,2011). The data presented in Table 1 are sufficient to illustrate the significant limitations that exist in our English teaching model which is that Chinese English instruction pays too much attention to test-taking skills and testing grammar. In some areas of China, the college entrance examination for English does not even have a listening test so often there are no listening exercises in high school classes and this skill goes undeveloped.
STORYTELLING
Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination
STORYTELLING IS INTERACTIVE
Storytelling involves a two-way interaction between a storyteller and one or more listeners. The responses of the listeners influence the telling of the story. In fact, storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience.
In particular, storytelling does not create an imaginary barrier between the speaker and the listeners. This is part of what distinguishes storytelling from the forms of theatre that use an imaginary “fourth wall.”
Different cultures and situations create different expectations for the exact roles of storyteller and listener – who speaks how often and when, for example – and therefore create different forms of interaction.
The interactive nature of storytelling partially accounts for its immediacy and impact. At its best, storytelling can directly and tightly connect the teller and audience.
STORYTELLING USES WORDS
Storytelling uses language, whether it be a spoken language or a manual language such as American Sign Language. The use of language distinguishes storytelling from most forms of dance and mime.
STORYTELLING USES ACTIONS SUCH AS VOCALIZATION, PHYSICAL MOVEMENT AND/OR GESTURE
These actions are the parts of spoken or manual language other than words. Their use distinguishes storytelling from writing and text-based computer interactions. Not all nonverbal language behaviors need to be present in storytelling. Some storytellers use body movement extensively, for example, whereas others use little or none.
STORYTELLING PRESENTS A STORY
Storytelling always involves the presentation of a story—a narrative. Many other art forms also present story, but storytelling presents it with the other four components. Every culture has its own definition of story. What is recognized as a story in one situation may not be accepted as one in another. Some situations call for spontaneity and playful digression, for example; others call for near-exact repetition of a revered text. Art forms such as poetry recitation and stand-up comedy sometimes present stories and sometimes don’t. Since they generally involve the other four components, they can be regarded as forms of storytelling whenever they also present stories.
STORYTELLING ENCOURAGES THE ACTIVE IMAGINATION OF THE LISTENERS
The storytelling listener’s role is to actively create the vivid, multi-sensory images, actions, characters, and events—the reality—of the story in his or her mind, based on the performance by the teller and on the listener’s own past experiences, beliefs, and understandings. The completed story happens in the mind of the listener, a unique and personalized individual. The listener becomes, therefore, a co-creator of the story as experienced.
Storytelling can be combined with other art forms. The fruit born by the vital, contemporary storytelling movement includes the development of ways to combine storytelling with drama, music, dance, comedy, puppetry, and numerous other forms of expression. Yet, even as it blends imperceptibly into other arts, the essence of storytelling remains recognizable as the intersection of the five components included in the above definition.
ACTIVITIES
TELL A STORY
These story telling games for kids are perfect for the elementary school classroom! The storytelling activities are a fun and engaging way to build creativity and imagination.
EFFICIENT ENGLISH :STORYTELLING
This is an intermediate/high intermediate lesson. Learn the basic skills involved in telling past tense stories including using time words, mixing past and present tense, and reporting the speech of others using "said."
INTERACTIVE STORY ACTIVITIES
This video introduce some storytelling activities with younger kids in the classroom.
DISCUSSION FORUM
Storytelling teaching in class
Welcome! let's make friends here and help each other with the difficulties in English teaching.
FREE STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES
The Colorful Apple
This website is free and it is to help you engage all your students in reading. I love sharing book titles and activities that you can do in your classroom to turn all your students.
NANCY DUARTE
Duarte is a graphic designer-turned-agency owner, who’s quickly become the leading expert on visual brand storytelling. Her blog is an often-updated resource that includes pop-culture inspiration, creative process analysis, and plenty of insight on how to improve your skills.
BRAND STORYTELLING LESSONS FROM THE CONTENT 2020 PROJECT
Coca Cola’s latest YouTube venture, the Content 2020 project has gotten a lot of attention. It’s something between a narrative and a manifesto, and CMI has the interview with the genius behind the project, Jonathan Mildenhall.
BRAINPOP
The story section of BrainPOP provides story lessons and activities for the students. The content is neatly organized into separate categories with an easy navigation layout.