The art of telling stories is commonly known as storytelling. This is an ancient method for persuading students to pay attention to their teacher. This includes movements, nonverbal cues, and proper intonation to pique someone’s interest. A storyteller uses words to create new worlds in the mind of a reader or a listener. Similarly, this is used in a specific sense to transmit knowledge, ideologies, and experiences.
For many years, telling a story has been utilized by many educators to effectively interact with the class. Most of the time they use this teaching strategy during classroom discussions. They even use it during the presentation of their lessons. In addition, some teachers use this strategy as part of motivating the learners. This implies that storytelling unquestionably increases student engagement. It also fosters a bond between a teacher and a pupil.
Meanwhile, up to this date, storytelling is considered one of the most powerful tools used in the educative process. In this fast and evolving world, teachers could honestly describe that storytelling has been more useful today in their field. Since localizing materials becomes more crucial in the classroom, many teachers opt to create or make their own stories that are suited and applicable to the cognitive levels, needs, and interests of their learners. Oftentimes, they make big books containing their localized stories with pictures to help students understand the story.
In addition, the teachers can use different approaches to telling stories among learners. For instance, they are applying the “interactive method” or telling me what will happen next on the following page to excite the listeners and check if they are still hooked on the story. Moreover, they can use dialogue to portray the characters. They must also be animated and cartoonish in their expressions to encourage the children to finish the story. Truly, this approach continues to support instruction and learning in a remarkably unique manner.
Undoubtedly, there are a few traditional methods of teaching that are becoming obsolete; however, the art of storytelling proves that many are still to be preserved.
By: Verona C. Bergonia | Teacher I | Cataning Integrated School | Balanga City, Bataan
