Engage Learners with [English as] an Additional Language
Engage Learners with [English as] an Additional Language
How can storytelling enthral children who are new to your language?
While delivering a string of teacher development workshops in the weeks around World Book Day 2024, I noticed some common themes emerging across the Q&A portions. So for the rest of this World Book Month, I’ll be opening those conversations for all…
“We have a large proportion of EAL children who haven’t been learning English very long. Any tips for engaging those in storytelling or reading – or at all?”
This has been a popular question for a while in my home country of the UK, though I popped “[English]” in square brackets because I’m pretty sure the same must happen elsewhere – refugees in Germany, for example. Is it at all possible to get learners hanging on your every word when they maybe only understand 30–50% of them?
When they ask this, I reckon most teachers expect an answer along the lines of, “Use facial expressions worthy of Rowan Atkinson!” or “Learn puppetry!” or “Try interpretive dance!” It’s certainly true that children are often enthralled without the need for words.
But such advice would focus on performance – and as I’ve mentioned in a previous post (and at greater length in the book All the Better to Read You With), that is not synonymous with enthralling storytelling. What follows is a swift summary of the argument…
Performers enthral by putting on a talented sensory display. Storytelling enthrals by prompting the audience to invest in creating the story inside their own minds.
I’m not suggesting for one minute that performances can’t be enthralling and/or empowering – the best usually are. But storytelling is intrinsically both enthralling and empowering.
Enthralling because… when you invest in things, you care about them (money in property, time in relationships, etc). The same is true for the imagination.
Empowering because… being assured that their own experience of the story is valid means everyone in the audience feels a sense of self-worth.
This was the basis for the ‘Bigging It Up’ principle that I developed early on in my storytelling career, took into my writing, and explored at length in ABRYW. If you invite that imaginative investment early on in a story, then it doesn’t matter how greatly your audience has mastered your language – you’ll soon bring them up to the same level as you.
Here’s a step-by-step guide.
1. Choose a suitable story.
The best stories for these purposes are those that…
regularly return to similar scenes, maybe even with similar action.
e.g. pretty much every fairy tale with the number 3 in the title!involve familiar objects and/or characters.
e.g. stories with everyday animals, local settings, etc.are already known to your learners.
That last one is particularly powerful for Additional Language learners. Do some research to find common stories from their part of the world, that their grown-ups or grand-grown-ups have shared with them, and they’ll be able to engage far faster – because they can already picture it with their minds’ eyes.
2. Begin your story using language that everyone in your audience can grasp.
Think of it as the ‘lowest common denominator’. This can also include pictures, provided they are clear and recognisable.
Here’s an example, taken from my story ‘Fit for the Moon’ (currently out-of-print, but soon to be re-released (ED: though, it turns out, there’s 1 left in stock on Amazon at the time of writing…)):
…in a flash, the trees changed into a dress that was exactly size 8.
Excitedly, the Sun took the dress to the Moon for her to try on.
But when she did, the dress looked really baggy. Like, really baggy. …
… He really wanted to marry her, so he wasn’t going to give up.
3. As you return to scenes, characters, and actions, gradually up the vocabulary level.
Here’s an extract taken from further on in ‘Fit for the Moon’…
…in a flash, the sands transformed into a skirt that was exactly size 6.
Eagerly, the Sun took the skirt to the Moon for her to try on.
But when she did, the dress looked really baggy. Like, extremely baggy. …
… He was desperate to marry her – so he would give it one more go.
And here’s one from even further in…
…in a flash, the diamonds metamorphosed into some trousers that were exactly size 4.
Earnestly, the Sun took the trousers to the Moon for her to try on.
But when she did, the dress looked really baggy. I mean, excessively baggy. …
The Sun felt deflated. He had tried and tried and earnestly endeavoured …
What’s going on?
Because your learners have the pictures in their minds’ eyes, they already know what the story looks like. So when you describe that scene using vocab they’ve never heard before, they already know what they mean.
Put another way, you’ve attracted their imaginative investment by getting them to create the story in their own heads – and now you’re paying it back with interest. $;-)
My example above is a refrain story (i.e. it repeats a similar action several times, a la ‘The Three Little Pigs’), but Bigging It Up can be achieved even within a single line. Let’s hone in closer on one of those extracts…
…when she did, the dress looked really baggy. Like, extremely baggy.
The use of “Like” and the emphasis on “extremely” make it very clear for anyone reading or listening that this is another way of saying “really baggy”. Like, it’s a more pertinent description than “really baggy.”
Storytelling vs Reading
Bigging It Up is easy when you’re telling a story using your own words, words you’re choosing on the spot. But it can be done when reading any book too, when used in combination with the keyring skill I introduced in this post here: paying attention to your audience.
If you read a passage from a book and notice one or more of your learners looking blank, just take a moment to rephrase it in your own words. It’s almost like you’re using Bigging It Up in reverse.
You don’t have to draw attention to the fact you’re doing this, just let it happen naturally. You’ll likely find this easier than you first think. We all repeat ourselves in everyday conversation to emphasise our point. Saying the same thing again, perhaps with clearer words, can make our point more powerful.
Once you’ve helped your audience to picture the scene, however, you’ll find you need to use this ‘Reverse Bigging’ technique less and less.
I’d love to know how you get on with this technique! Or, if there’s another area of literacy your learners are struggling with, perhaps that could be a future topic for one of these posts? Either way, please…
