Teaching English Through Stories

We all need stories, but it is surprising that so little time is normally allowed for the use of stories in foreign language learning. Stories engage people of all ages in a personal way, people want to listen and to read and sometimes want to respond to what they have experienced. And, of course, stories are particularly important to children, offering them not only entertainment but ways of making sense of their everyday life. And stories are inexpensive! So why is so little made of them in foreign language teaching? Perhaps it is that teachers do not quite know what to do with them. My dissertation provides some useful ideas on ways of using stories with young learners.This is particularly recommended to those of us who, trained as a secondary language teachers, are faced with young learners for the first time.