ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#16 | May 13, 2013 | ISSN 0975-3036
David Heathfield has posted an article titled “Rhythm, rhyme, repetition, reasoning and response in oral storytelling” on the TeachingEnglish website.
David says, “Live storytelling is a spontaneous creative process which fires the imagination. The listener experiences and participates in the story creatively. If the storyteller allows, the listener can have a direct influence on the story as it unfolds. When being told a folk tale orally, a group of listeners can also be offered the added opportunity to be physically and verbally active. In many cultures, overtly active participation in oral storytelling is often associated with young children. However, adults are just as willing to participate, as long as the storyteller makes it possible for them. I work as a storyteller with adults and children in the UK and abroad and storytelling is also very much part of my work as an English-language teacher to mixed-nationality classes of adult learners in the UK at all levels. Of course there is significant cultural variation: in my experience adult listeners from Arabic-speaking cultures will respond and participate and interject without any prompting from their teacher, whereas those of, for example, Japanese and White British heritage may need to be given signals that their involvement is welcome”.