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A C H A P T E R฀ n฀ The฀Place฀of฀Story-telling฀in฀ Language฀Teaching฀ Erica฀Laine฀ INTRODUCTION฀ Story-telling occurs in all cultures and in all languages. In this chapter, reasons will be given, with examples, for the use of story-telling in the English as a second language classroom. PRE-READING฀QUESTION S฀ Before reading this chapter think about the following questions: 1. Wh y do children like hearing stories time and time again? 2. Ho w can story-telling be used in the second language classroom? 3. Ho w can story-telling create 'constant and immediate' motivation in the second language primary classroom? 4 Once upon a time' is one of the most evocative phrases that a child can hear. It means that someone is going to tell a story. Few teachers would disagree that story-telling is one of the most compelling and attractive activities fo r children. It digs deep into our universal and early, even primitive, memory of listening to stories around a fire; stories that explained the inexplicable, that taught the taboos of the tribe, that captured the events of the day and season — that began to make our history. Story-telling in the primary English classroom may seem a long way from the primitive life of early man but it has the ability to captivate children with 66฀Eric a฀Lain e฀- r==============^^฀ its elements of imagination, suspense and fantasy. The creative uses of language need to be encouraged and within the framework of a shared story-telling there are entertaining and pleasurable ways to do this. Not only does a story always present language in context it also provides a 'medium of delight'. Story-telling is language which goes beyond its use in practical action, in rational thought and in behaviour. It is what Meek (1985) has called the language of the 'alternativ e universe'. Story-telling belong s t o the place where w e learn abou t ou r capacity t o have fun, t o know tha t 'thi s i s play'. Par t of language learning i s concerne d with being able to control feelings and it is important for children to find their own voice, to get their feelings into words and see that their words have their own feel about them. Children who listen to stories (or who are read to) are able to understand the distinctive narrative . This in turn help s the m t o create narrativ e form. A story-teller ca n lea d childre n t o wan t t o rea d th e stor y fo r themselves , t o incorporate vocabulary and ideas into their own writing and to develop more and more their own voice. It would see m to be accepted that children learn to read faster an d mor e easily if a story is a familiar story. Although they may not know and recognize every singl e word , the y will , i f th e boo k i s wel l illustrated , begi n t o mak e word/picture associations. If the story has been well exploited initially befor e reading takes place and the meaning of the whole story has been made clear, the meaning and graphic representation of unfamiliar word s will begin to fall into place. The surprise element in story-telling is one of the factors which makes the activity s o appealing t o children an d wherea s on e might thin k that onc e th e story is told, there is no more to be done, experience shows that children love to be retold and to reread stories time and again. They love the expectation of surprise, the predictable but pleasurable memory, the comfort of knowing that the story is 'onl y a story'. This is why th e ritual openings tha t introduce th e narrative are as important as are the stylized endings. Children seem to like the story to be either the same each time or, if changed, to be retold with help from themselves. They prefer the change to be something they invest in, something that they are involved with. In these personalized retells the story can become really valuable. Story-telling bot h generate s an d control s emotions . The realit y an d th e make-believe are both dealt with. Later, in their reading of imaginative literature, children can revisit these places...

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