★ Storytelling: The quintessential 21st century skill

The cappuccino incident

A few months ago, I was sitting in a cafe, getting some work done. I was editing a video for a course that I run. On the table in front of me, beside my laptop, the waitress had just placed a fresh cappuccino. I was really looking forward to taking my first sip.

And then, that thing that I have always feared: I accidentally knocked over my cup and spilled the coffee all over the keyboard of my poor computer.

As quickly as I could, I grabbed a handful of paper towels. And after wiping up as much milky coffee as possible, I Googled: “What should you do if you spill coffee on your MacBook?”

I spent about 15 minutes browsing the various blog posts and Q&A forums before finally getting the definitive answer: Switch off the computer immediately!

I did that and then got a taxi to a certified Apple specialist. It turned out to be the most expensive coffee that I have ever had.

My Sunday Post

Every other Sunday, I send out a story or a storytelling idea to over 8000 teachers who subscribe to my website. I call this my Sunday Post.

On the weekend of the cappuccino incident, I borrowed a computer from a friend and sent out a quick email to my

subscribers – a brief explanation of what had happened. This was intended to be an apology for the lack of a proper Sunday Post. As evidence, I included a couple of pictures of the disaster scene.

What happened next was quite fascinating.

I always get a few replies to my Sunday Post. Subscribers like to let me know what they think about what I have shared. Or sometimes they just like to say thank you.

A few replies, yes. But in response to my cappuccino incident post, I received well over 100.

There were emails to express condolence. There were ‘get well soon’ messages for my laptop. But the most notable thing of all was the number of similar stories that my subscribers had to share – their own experiences of liquids being accidentally spilled on electronic devices.

This is what I got:

* 2 stories about spilled coffee on laptops.

* 2 stories about spilled orange juice on laptops.

* 1 story about spilled Coca Cola on a laptop.

* 1 story about spilled beer on a laptop.

* 1 story about red wine. (This one was a bit more complex and may have involved inebriation.)

* 1 story about a two-year old baby accidentally peeing on a computer. (This was my favorite.)

* 1 story about dropping a mobile phone into a sink which was full of hot soapy water.

* 1 story about losing a mobile phone in a public toilet.

I also received emails from the following people:

* A subscriber who worked as a producer and journalist on radio for many years and had some great advice on how to deal with accidents like these.

* A subscriber whose husband, as a hobby, refurbishes computers and sends them to people in need in various developing countries.

* A subscriber who is interested in aviation. He told me about the importance of designing airplane controls so that they are resistant to accidental liquid spills – something that I had never thought about before. Apparently, there was once an air disaster in the 1970s which may have been caused by a coffee-induced short circuit in a control panel in the cockpit.

And it didn’t stop there. A few weeks ago I went to a conference and met a subscriber who told me that since reading about my experience, she has been extra careful with drinks around her own computer. In other words, my story has actually influenced her behaviour.

Do you see what is going on here? It took me some time to understand it. What I experienced here was the potential of story. As insignificant as it might seem, my coffee experience seemed to speak to people. And people wanted to speak back.

The story effect

Do you remember that man called Barack Obama? He once said that when he won the 2008 US presidential election, he did so by relating to people by telling stories.

And what about this Trump character? Well, he did exactly the same. In fact, the democrats are currently being accused of losing the 2016 US election by failing to tell their party’s story.

That shouldn’t surprise us. After all, human beings are creatures of narrative. Stories define us. We use stories to entertain, stories to strengthen bonds, stories to persuade, stories to sell, stories to understand the world, stories to communicate.

Look at the reaction that my cappuccino incident got. It created a community. People empathised. People felt the need to advise. People were motivated to share their own experiences.

And notably, there was nothing remarkable about my story. It was an every day event – a meaningful one albeit – that seemed to be accessible to others. Story is everywhere. Whether you work in photography, film making, business, advertising, marketing, PR, entertainment, politics, journalism, law or religion, story is often at the front of things. Story is a powerful force. It can win elections. It can even win wars. Storytelling is the quintessential 21st Century skill.

But what about English language teaching? Well, in my experience, it is the teachers of young learners who are the quickest to embrace story and storytelling as a way to engage students and structure lessons. But surely we are considering something which is far too valuable to be associated exclusively with one group alone.

Story and language are inseparable. And whether or not you realise it, story already has established its place in your classroom. It’s in the YouTube videos that you use, the narrative texts in your course book, the anecdotes that you share, the classroom experiences that you live.

It can be good to acknowledge the importance of story in teaching. And that’s what this article is all about. For the last few years, I have been giving talks and courses on story and storytelling for teachers. And I would like to share five useful principles which have come out of this.

1. Everyone is a storyteller

As I mentioned above, our stories define us. And importantly, there are as many ways to tell a story as there are human beings on the planet.

Have you ever been in a relationship? Remember those early months? Those conversations and discussions. This was a time for storytelling – sharing your experiences. Each person finding out about who this other person is. After a few months, the stories slow down. And with your new partner, you start to create your own stories, together.

Read through the standard conversation tasks in course books. In too many cases, the task evolves around giving opinion about an issue. But in many cases, the issues in question are weak in narrative.

Look for ways to turn up the narrative. If your course book has a topic on unusual pets, as a lead in, tell your students about an unusual pet that you used to have. Don’t tell them what it was though – describe it and ask them to guess. And if you didn’t have an unusual pet, invent one. They’ll never know. This is what storytellers do. They embellish. As a teacher, you immediately have a license to do so. It’s all in the name of learning after all.

Human beings are fascinated by other human beings. You are infinitely more interesting to your students than a page in the course book. You are a resource and story holds the key. And as my cappuccino incident shows, by using our own stories, we can unlock those in our students.

Most importantly of all, start to collect your stories. Keep a note of them. Have a notebook ready at all times (paper or digital.). If it is meaningful to you, it is worth remembering.

2. Everyone can develop their storytelling skills

Teachers are storytellers. Some teachers say that they aren’t. But I am sure that you have shared an anecdote with     your students, more than once. This is the starting point.

The reason that many teachers say that they are bad storytellers is simple: no one has ever shown them how to improve.

There’s also an image problem. We see storytellers as performers: charismatic types who become their characters and captivate their audiences. We can learn from storytellers like that. But we shouldn’t let them inform us about what we can and should do in the classroom.

In the classroom, teacher-led storytelling can be more like a conversation and less like a  performance. It’s not easy. But teaching is not easy. And with planning and reflection, we can all improve.

That’s it – the secret to improving your storytelling skills. Plan and reflect. Of course there are teacher talk skills such as using repetition, gesture and pause. And these come with practice. But in my experience, failure and success depend more on planning and less on delivery.

3. Language becomes more meaningful when we turn up the narrative

Let me give you an example. I often hear teachers talk about inauthentic language. We react against isolated and invented examples from course books. So, for example, to teach the present continuous passive, we might see:

The windows are being cleaned

This could be a pretty useful example. And I don’t have a problem with inauthenticity (whatever that is.). But I would always prefer an example with a stronger narrative.

Compare it with this one:

“Look, Howard’s being eaten!”

Consider how interactive this sentence is. It is naturally intriguing. Your imagination is immediately switched on. You ask questions. And you provide answers. You are forced to create a story. The sentence is narrative strong. And the stronger the narrative, the more memorable the language.

Using story in the classroom means paying attention to the details – the little things that we can do to turn up the narrative; to allow students to experience the language in more meaningful and memorable ways.

4. There is never just one story

There are always as least two stories. The first story is the one that comes from the book, the computer screen, the TV set, the image, the presenter or your conversation partner. The second is the parallel story that you create in your mind.

What I mean is that the consumption of a story is never a passive process. We interact with it and make our own meaning. We deconstruct and reconstruct plots and storylines. We make predictions and ask questions. We personalize and adopt experiences as if they were our own. We visualize and create mental images. We look for meaning and interpret symbols. We judge protagonists and evaluate their decisions. We identify with characters and form bonds with them. We put ourselves into the story. We find our own stories within the story.

My cappuccino story demonstrates this well. Everyone got the same email. But everyone reacted to it in a different way.

There is never just one story. And an awareness of this is one of the most valuable things that any teacher can have.

5. Teacher-led storytelling is not necessarily teachercentered

As the teacher, your role is to initiate and manage the class. And there are times when we can incorporate storytelling into this.

But be careful of assumptions – I am not advocating lessons in which the teacher talks non-stop for 90 minutes.

Stories can be short and sweet. They can be personal and instantly accessible. They can be packed with issues for consideration and discussion. They can be interactive and designed to unlock conversation and stories from your students.

Through teacher-led storytelling, we can get students listening, reading, thinking, speaking, collaborating, writing, and problem solving. We can also teach them to keep hot drinks away from electrical appliances.

Time for a coffee?