NINE TOP

STORYTELLING
TIPS FOR THE
CLASSROOM

@stories.in.a.bag.shows
 AGENDA
How to choose an oral story
How to exploit an oral story
The language in the oral story
The 3 P’S of storytelling
Attention spans
The “cinema” technique
Storytelling & follow-up activities
The role of the storyteller
The role of the characters
Certificates of attendance
will be sent

Be patient!
 ABOUT
STORYTELLING

It is a very old form of art

It is prior to reading & writing
It is prior to printing
It deals with ORATURE
It is social
It takes nothing but a
storyteller and the listeners
 ORY TIME
ST !
 STORYTELLING
IN THE CLASSROOM

What story to choose?

What is the starting point?

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La t m u re s
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Th tic a
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e ci o je
Sp l p r
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e s c
s t h
h e
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The students’ interest in...

CONF
EME LICT
TH

Connected to what is
happening to them
“Emotion for the sake of
emotion is the aim of art.”

Oscar Wilde
 What story to choose?
Contain a repetitive structure,
which is highly condusive to
language learning.

LKTALE
FO S Contain a simple narrative
style.
Can freely be adjusted to your
classroom needs, as they have
no author.
Provide instances of
audience participation.
THE ORANGE
TREE

Which of the above

characteristics can
you find?
THE ORANGE
TREE

How could you adjust

the language in the
story to match your
students’ linguistic
level?
 THE 3 P’S OF
STORYTELLING

Past

Present
Possibility
 THE 3 P’S OF
NARRATIVE THINKING

Jerome Bruner
 THE 3 P’S OF
STORYTELLING
&
THE LISTENERS’
ATTENTION
 HOW TO GRAB OUR LISTENERS’
ATTENTION ALL ALONG THE STORY?
 BY PROVIDING THE
ELEMENTS TO GENERATE
HYPOTHESES

How?
 The storyteller´s version of the story,
apart from being adjusted to your
listener’s age and level, must provide
elements to imagine fully.

This is the main role of the listener

Storyteller Listener
 In which of the 3 P’S does the
creation of a hypothesis occur?
Past

Present
Possibility
 It is in the checking out of my
hypothesis or hypotheses, as a
listener, that the interest to listen
to more is spurred.
This is likely to be altered or even
prevented from happening,
if we are showing
the pictures in the book.
How to achieve this?
By going back to the basics
How to achieve this?
 Telling a story is not about
memorizing the words and repeating
them gracefully.
It’s about generating mental images,
hypotheses, opinions, etc, in the
mind and soul of the listeners.
Again: this doesn’t happen if
emotions are not aroused.
So the recipe is:

Appropriate
language (verbal &
nonverbal) that
generates inner
images = a subtext
This is called:
INEMA TECHNIQ
E C U
TH E
 In storytelling, each listener
creates their own “film”: SUBTEXT
This is why there are so many
versions of folktales
Let’s work on THE ORANGE TREE
Let’s work on THE ORANGE TREE

Let’s choose an episode/event in the story

 In the classroom:

The listener’s subtext is creative

material for follow-up activities
 SHARING THE
LISTENER’S SUBTEXT
IN PLAYFUL WAYS

Let’s play with THE ORANGE TREE

 Point to….

Teacher mentions objetcs/characters in a scene.

Students point (according to their own inner
images/representations)
 Describe a scene
(The way you imagined it)

What is a SCENE in Storytelling?

Someone
Somewhere
Doing something
 Describe a scene
(The way you imagined it)

In pairs:
Each peer chooses a scene.
Student A tells/draws the scene to your player B
Student B tells/draws the scene to your player A.
They compare and contrast their versions
Comparing versions of a scene
(Similarities & Differences)

A In B
common
 Guess the lie
In pairs or small groups:
Each member chooses a scene.
A student tells/draws the scene to the other students.
One element of student’s A’s version it is not true.
The other students have to guess which part of the scene is
not true.
They change roles.
 Represent a scene with objects
Groups of 4/6:
Each member brings objects that would represent the different
elements of the scene chosen.
That student will display the objects on his/her desk.
The others will observe the display and tell/write down/draw
which scene it is.
 Represent a scene with objects
You can ask them to bring objects to class in advance or
they can do the activity with school utensils.
 Memory Game
After telling their scene with objects to another group, the
latter will retell that bit of the story.
The creators of the scene, will remove one of the objects and
challenge a member of the other group to narrate the
complete scene .
They will keep removing objects one by one, asking the other
group to tell until there are no more objects representing the
scene.
 STORYTELLING
&
VERBAL
ATTENTION GRABBERS
 - CRICK - CRACK - CLAP, CLAP, CLAP. ALL SET?
- CLAP, CLAP, CLAP. YOU BET!
- READY TO ROCK?
- READY TO ROLL! - I SAY BLACK, YOU SAY WHITE
- I SAY BIG, YOU SAY SMALL
- 1, 2, 3, EYES ON ME?
- I SAY LONG, YOU SAY SHORT
- 1, 2, 3, EYES ON YOU
- 1, 2, 3, EARS ON ME? - HOCUS POCUS
- 1, 2, 3, EARS ON YOU - EVERYBODY FOCUS!

ANY TIME IN THE STORY

 STORYTELLING
&
ATTENTION GRABBERS THROUGH
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
These can be:
Let’s think of audience-participation bits
for THE MAGICAL ORANGE TREE
 STORYTELLING
&
ATTENTION SPANS
 STORYTELLING
&
ATTENTION SPANS

How long should a story be?

 STORYTELLING
&
ATTENTION SPANS

Add 2 to the listener’s age

 STORYTELLING
&
THE USE OF
EXTRA RESOURCES
 THE USE OF
EXTRA RESOURCES

Absolutely unnecessary
 THE USE OF
EXTRA RESOURCES

Only if you have a talent, do I

recommend to resort to other
techniques
 ecapitulating
R

Choose a story your students will love.

Choose it from the conflict as a starting point.
Create your own mental pictures of the story.
Tell the story from your own imagery.
Make sure the time of the telling adjusts to your
students´age.
Plan ahead your audience-participation
strategies. (+ how to stop them).
 Certificates will be sent

Be patient!
ONLINE & ON SITE
STORYTELLING
SESSIONS
EDUCATIONAL
THEATRE
PLAYS
JUNGLE PARTY

A Play for
Kindergarten &
1st Cycle
DINOSAURS

As from 8
year-olds
THE BULLYING
CLOWN

Teens &
Pre-teens
 uestions Time
Q
 hank you all!
T

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