By May Overmyer
Like many people, I was required to learn a foreign language growing up. I was taught Spanish. It often felt tedious, leaning against a locker between classes, memorizing categorized vocabulary lists (things you find at the airport, rooms in a house, types of vegetables, etc.) and charts of irregular verbs and their conjugations (watch out for “hacer”).
But during my sophomore year of high school, a 4’11” nun named Hermana Catalina assigned our Honors Spanish 4 class to read Cajas de cartón by Francisco Jiménez. It was about a teenager roughly my age whose family had immigrated from Mexico to California and eked out a living by picking cotton, strawberries, and carrots. He and his brother had after school jobs, comical misadventures, and glowing ambitions.
Unlike textbooks, flashcards, and workbooks, this story fully immersed me in the Spanish language. As I read it, concepts that had previously remained out of reach were solidified for me. The book presented hundreds of new vocabulary words and provided thousands of reminders about proper subject-verb agreement. Beyond that, I got to spend hours in the mind of someone who thought in Spanish, and that was (ironically) helpful beyond words. Jiménez’s tale wrapped me up and quietly taught me.
In my current role as an ESL teacher, I use a similar technique to build connections with my own students. I’ve found that nothing draws them in, holds their attention, and helps them remember quite like a story.
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The Science of Storytelling
“Subject-verb agreement is more nuanced than you might expect…”
“When I was two years old, I discovered something I truly, madly, deeply hated…”
Those are two different ways to begin the same ESL lesson. Which one caught your attention? Which class would you be interested in sitting in for the next 29 minutes?
Jennifer Aaker, a behavioral scientist, once gave a lecture at Stanford University where she shared that stories are twenty-two times more memorable than facts alone. If you can remember why Teacher May’s family used to laugh when she pointed to things and said “me gets this” and “me gets that,” you might just remember when to use a plural or singular verb.
Another good nugget comes from “What Makes Storytelling So Effective for Learning?” by Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. The authors share that stories are the perfect way to build “familiarity and trust” within a group.
Anyone who’s tried to learn a language knows that it’s a vulnerable exercise. With so many things to get wrong—word selection, sentence structure, pronunciation—it can be intimidating to even ask for a pencil sharpener or trip to the restroom. The bigger the group, the sweatier the palms!
But by hearing and telling stories, students are able to improve their language skills, confidence, friendships, and vocabulary retention. Storytelling is a welcome mat we can set in front of the tall, daunting door of learning English.
An Environment of Friends
Over the years, I’ve had hundreds of students in my ESL classroom and have taught countless lessons on letters, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Of course, kids enjoy singing the alphabet song and playing matching games to remember vocab. But what they like most is understanding someone else’s life and perspective through a story… and then sharing their own unique experiences in turn.
My students begin by consuming others’ stories (picture books, chapter books, online articles, YouTube videos, etc.). But as the their language learning strengthens, I encourage them to talk about their own lives too, using various conversation and writing prompts. It’s an indescribably powerful experience.
When I was teaching a Low-Intermediate ESL class of Haitian and Cuban refugee students, I once asked them: “What is something funny that happened when you were younger?”
It was the beginning of a three-hour lesson, so let’s be honest, we had time to do some laughing. After fifteen minutes of thinking and writing in our notebooks, we began to share. (I always go first and share something simple. Then, as my students take their turns, I make sure to nod, smile, and laugh graciously when appropriate.)
Wilbert’s story was a class favorite. At age five, he took an entire plate of chicken and hid under his parents’ bed to eat it. Deep in a food coma, he fell asleep, and woke hours later to his entire family desperately searching for him. They were happy to find him, but not so thrilled to see that their dinner was reduced to a measly pile of chicken bones. To this day, it sounds like they’re still giving him a hard time about that.
A different time, with a class of the same level, I asked my students: “How is the U.S.A. different than you expected?” I like this question because students can choose their level of vulnerability. If you ask it, you might hear everything from a goofy “way more cheeseburgers” to a quiet “no friends, no family.” Both are valid. Both are part of their experience, their story.
Resources for Reading Stories
Storytelling in an ESL classroom can be as simple as finding a brief online biography of an individual your students admire (perhaps a famous athlete, actor, or musician) and reading it as a group. My students have loved biographies about Abraham Lincoln, Ana de Armas, Coco Chanel, Colonel Sanders, Lionel Messi, and Susan B. Anthony. (Random list, I know, but there’s intentionality in choosing a diverse cast.)
The best biographies are relatable, short, easy to read, and emphasize resilience. The website Britannica Kids is a great place to find them. I typically print a copy for each student and encourage them to underline words they don’t know.
When looking for ESL story resources for preteen students, I couldn’t find many, so decided to make one myself. That’s how FriendsWorld began. Geared towards kids ages 10–14, this resource offers a collection of interactive short stories that center around a middle school student and her neighborhood adventures. The built-in vocabulary words, audio accompaniment, illustration prompts, and discussion questions are useful for lesson planning. I would especially recommend it for remote learners.
Resources for Writing Stories
My class always begins with a writing prompt. Well, technically it begins with a handshake outside the door and some chit-chat. But here are some favorites:
- Tell us about a time you were proud of yourself.
- Tell us about a time when you were completely surprised by something.
- Tell us about a time when someone “stood up” for you.
- Tell us about the best gift you’ve ever given someone.
- Tell us about a time when you couldn’t stop laughing.
- Tell us about something you own that you “cherish.” Why is it so important to you?
There will be some shy students who are hesitant to share. Depending on their resistance and your teaching style, you can allow or disallow “skips.” I personally have found “modifications” to be more useful than skips. Examples include allowing students to use a translator at first or just sharing a couple of words. Or one translated word.
Of course, every classroom will have fabulous storytellers too. I love creating an outlet for them to run fast in their lane. This can even take the form of encouraging students to submit their work to a local short story competition. And for those students who are less inclined to share their stories, sometimes just the challenge of meeting the word count can be a mark of great success. It’s a powerful feeling to express yourself in a different tongue. Be sure to celebrate that with all your students.
Tell a story. Read a story. Ask a question and see where it leads. See if stories don’t make your ESL or ELL class more enjoyable for your students…and for you!
May Overmyer is an active and passionate ESL teacher and the founder of www.FriendsWorld.org, an ESL resource for preteen students.
