Storytelling is an ancient art that exists in every culture and age. It is used to entertain, inform, and promote cultural traditions and values. There are four main types of stories: oral, visual, written, and digital. Oral stories are told through voice and gestures, visual stories use mediums like paintings, films, and photographs, written stories have been documented since the development of writing systems, and digital stories are told using technologies like videos, podcasts, and blogs. Storytelling provides benefits like improving language skills, increasing cultural understanding, enhancing communication abilities, and developing social skills.

1. TSLB3483 STORYTELLING IN THE
ESL PRIMARY CLASSROOM
TYPES, FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF STORYTELLING

2. Learning Outcomes Success Criteria
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
• identify types of stories
• compare the differences between serious
storytelling and entertaining storytelling
I can…
• List the key features of oral, visual, written and
digital stories
• Distinguish the difference between serious
storytelling and entertaining storytelling

3. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is an ancient art, used to better understand the world
we inhabit. Ancient civilizations would seek out storytellers, works
of visual art, and written fables to witness tales of hard times and
happy endings.

4. STORYTELLERS
• Professional storytellers were often people who traveled from town to
town. Because they were very good at telling stories, they could receive food,
lodging and items of value in exchange for the stories they would tell.
• Every storyteller was different. Some storytellers could also sing or play a
musical instrument or recite poetry. Each one had their own style.
https://donwinn.blog/2014/02/20/medieval-storytelling-the-spoken-word/

5. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is ………………… and is as …………………. as humankind. Before
there was writing, there was storytelling. It occurs in every ……………….. and from
every……………... . It exists (and existed) to ……………., to ………………, and to
promulgate ……………… traditions and ……………… .
Storytelling is universal and is as ancient as humankind. Before there was
writing, there was storytelling. It occurs in every culture and from every
age. It exists (and existed) to entertain, to inform, and to promulgate
cultural traditions and values.

6. TYPES OF
STORIES
• Oral
• Visual
• Written
• Digital

7. ORAL STORYTELLING
Oral storytelling is telling a story through voice and gestures. The
oral tradition can take many forms, including epic poems, chants,
rhymes, songs, and more. Not all of these stories are historically
accurate or even true. Truth is less important than providing
cultural cohesion. It can encompass myths, legends, fables,
religion, prayers, proverbs, and instructions.
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/storytelling-and-cultural-traditions

8. ORAL STORYTELLING
Sun and theWind - An Aesop's Fable
https://www.heatherforest.com/attachments/Sun_and_Wind.mp3
Stone Soup- A European Folktale forYoung Listeners
• https://www.heatherforest.com/attachments/Stone_Soup_small_file.mp3
(https://www.heatherforest.com/)

9. ORAL STORYTELLING
Hikaye - Palestine
https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/palestinian-hikaye-00124
Narrative Songs: Cats in a Cradle Harry Chapin
https://youtu.be/XIIxlgESRWk
Narrative Poem: The Raven Edgar Allan Poe
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe | Poetry Foundation
Narrative Limericks
https://www.rd.com/list/funny-limericks/
Story Riddles
An old man wanted to leave all of his money to one of his three sons, but he didn't know which one he should give it to. He gave each of them a few
coins and told them to buy something that would be able to fill their living room. The first man bought straw, but there was not enough to fill the room.
The second bought some sticks, but they still did not fill the room. The third man bought two things that filled the room, so he obtained his father's
fortune. What were the two things that the man bought? The wise son bought a candle and a box of matches. After lighting the candle, the light filled the
entire room.
Read more: https://www.riddlesandanswers.com/v/233698/an-old-man-wanted-to-leave-all-of-his-money-to-one-of-his-three-sons-but-he-didnt-know-
which-one-h/#ixzz7bTkPJ8eu

10. READING
Oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the
intangible cultural heritage
https://ich.unesco.org/en/oral-traditions-and-expressions-00053

11. WRITTEN STORYTELLING
• As long as there have been written words, there have been written stories. As societies
developed alphabets, oral and visual forms of storytelling were transcribed into written
short stories and epics.
• A classic example: Aesop’s fables, which have their origins in the oral tradition but were
collected and transcribed centuries later.
• The invention of the printing press ushered in an era of mass communication, in which
different forms of story types—from fairy tales to newspapers to novels—reached global
audiences and altered the history of storytelling forever.

12. VISUAL
STORYTELLING
• Cave drawings/paintings

13. VISUAL
STORYTELLING
• Hieroglyphics

14. VISUAL
STORYTELLING
• Modern mediums of film and
television

15. VISUAL STORYTELLING
So, you wanna tell a “visual story.”
• Should you take a photo?
• Curate a photo gallery?
• Make a GIF?
• Edit a video? Illustrate it? Animate it? Put a map on it?
It’s hard to know when to do what!
https://training.npr.org/2015/09/23/so-you-wanna-tell-a-visual-story-where-do-you-even-begin/

16. VISUAL STORYTELLING
Visual storytelling is a visual narrative that is told or displayed through
the use of visual media.Visual stories may be displayed in different visual
formats, including:
• Video
• Illustration
• Photography
https://skedsocial.com/blog/visual-storytelling-examples/

17. VISUAL STORYTELLING
These forms of visual media are often complemented with enhanced graphics, music, and forms of
audio. Other forms of visual storytelling include:
• Bar graphs
• Column charts
• Area charts
• Short and long videos in the form of explainers or documentaries
• Instagram posts
https://skedsocial.com/blog/visual-storytelling-examples/

18. DIGITAL STORYTELLING
Telling stories with digital technologies. Digital stories are narratives built from the stuff
of cyberculture.
(Alexander, B. (2011). Creating Narratives with New Media: The New Digital
Storytelling. California: Praeger)

19. DIGITAL STORYTELLING
• A very short story about growing food, made out of remixed archival photographs
• A podcast about medieval history, where each installment takes listeners through the
extraordinary lives of Norman rulers
• A blog novel about America in 1968, following two teenagers as they travel through
political and personal landscapes
• An account of an alien invasion delivered through multipleTwitter accounts: an
updatedWar of theWorlds hoax, tweet by tweet
• A video clip about a mother–daughter relationship over time

20. DIGITAL STORYTELLING
• A game of sorts seemingly aboutThe Matrix, based on a Web site, but mysteriously
extending across multiple platforms including your email inbox
• Novels read on mobile phones—and often written on mobile phones
• Hundreds ofVermont teenagers creating multimedia stories for each other
• A Holocaust victim’s life retold by Facebook
(Alexander, B. (2011). Creating Narratives with New Media: The New Digital
Storytelling. California: Praeger)

21. READING
• Types of Storytelling: 4 Ways to Communicate Through Story
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-guide-to-storytelling#4-types-of-storytelling

22. FEATURES OF
STORYTELLING
• Serious Storytelling
• Entertaining Storytelling

23. Overlap between features of Storytelling, Serious Storytelling,
and Entertaining Storytelling.

24. SERIOUS STORYTELLING
Storytelling outside the context of entertainment,
where the narration progresses as a sequence of
patterns impressive in quality, relates to a serious
context, and is a matter of thoughtful process.

25. ENTERTAINING STORYLINES
1.Give your story strong dramatic content
2.Vary rhythm and structure in your prose
3.Create believable, memorable characters
4.Make the important story sections effective
5.Deepen your plot with subplots

26. ENTERTAINING STORYLINES
6. Make every line of dialogue count
7. Add what makes a good story (immersive setting)
8. Create conflict and tension
9. Craft beguiling beginnings
10. Deliver knockout endings
https://www.nownovel.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-story/

27. BENEFITS OF
STORYTELLING
• Improves the four language skills
• Increases cultural understanding
• Improves social skills
• Enhances communication skills

28. IMPROVESTHE FOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS
• Storytelling as a pedagogical tool. It can help children in memorizing words learned
(Arietawati, 2011), improve their vocabulary mastery (Widiastika, 2011), encourage
children to learn English (Slattery &Willis, 2001).
• Storytelling is categorized as one of teaching techniques that enable Asian EFL students in
elementary and secondary school to enjoy reading and writing (Paul, 2003).
• Storytelling is important to improve students’ listening and writing skills (McGrath, 2000).
It means that storytelling is a part of literacy practice that may influence students’
language proficiency.

29. INCREASES CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
• Storytelling reflects a culture because stories can be reactions to culture, sometimes
critically, or by conveying a different way of thinking or being.
• Storytelling is a sophisticated form of communication; stories are often used to convey
elements of culture that cannot be described simply.
• Storytelling is used to address issues in society that cannot be discussed directly.
• Storytelling reflects the collective wisdom and formation of a culture.

30. IMPROVES SOCIAL SKILLS
• Storytelling builds empathy, enabling us to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes,
creating the foundation of social emotional intelligence that is so important in early
education.
• Rahill (2002) examined the effectiveness of a story based program on improving the
quality of social skills and peer interaction skills in children with emotional disabilities,
where the story has been used as a means to explore children’s social problems in
school and improving selection skills and application of strategies for solving these
problems.

31. ENHANCES COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• Storytelling needs no special equipment beyond the imagination and the power of listening
and speaking to create artistic images.
• As a learning tool, storytelling can encourage students to explore their expressiveness and
can heighten a student's ability to communicate thoughts and feelings in an articulate, lucid
manner.
• These activities benefit the students in not only giving them the art experience but also in
supporting daily life skills.
• As Harriot and Martin (2004) say, oral practice through storytelling increases speech and oral
communication skills related to enunciation and articulation.