Learning languages through storytelling
How stories can keep your love for a foreign language alive
I’m a big fan of stories — reading them, watching them, writing them, you name it. So it’s not surprising that I’ve wanted to incorporate them into my language learning and teaching. That is, of course, after I realised that it’s not only possible but also practical and highly beneficial. And by “stories” I don’t mean short scenes and dialogues from textbooks but either real-life content (such as books or TV series) or graded reading or listening materials designed in such a way as to draw you into the story that is either compelling or relevant to you (or both!).
Below are some examples of what I mean by learning through storytelling from the work of language teachers I’ve had the pleasure to study or interact with. Because I’m drawing from my personal experience, the examples come from only a handful of languages (Italian, anyone?) but hopefully, you’ll get the gist of what I’m talking about.
Stories for complete beginners? Yes, please!
The ultimate resource of story-based learning from scratch is StoryLearning by Olly Richards and his collaborators. Olly offers complete courses in several languages which until recently covered specifically A1-A2 level but now seem to be expanding into the intermediate realm.
I’ve had the pleasure to take the German Uncovered course created by Kerstin Cable of Fluent Language together with Olly and I must admit it’s extremely well-structured and thorough. It covers all sides of language learning: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading, listening and writing — only the speaking part you have to take care of yourself but there are exercises and topics to follow with your tutor or language partner. And at the same time, it’s based entirely on an entertaining story divided into 20 chapters.
Olly’s company also publishes graded books for beginner and intermediate learners so you have many storytelling bases covered even if you are a complete beginner.
There is another approach which I would also categorise as storytelling-based which works for complete beginners, too. This one I also tried and tested myself (although, admittedly, I wasn’t a complete beginner but a false beginner with a leg-up for being a native Slavic speaker.) What I’m talking about is the Russian course by Vladimir Zhalibo which is based on podcasts, written and recorded by Vladimir in a conversational style. Again, the vocabulary and grammar parts are based on the stories from the podcasts and speaking is at the heart of the program as group and individual conversation sessions are a part and parcel of it.
Both these approaches are based on Stephen Krashen’s comprehensible input and both, as Krashen suggested, make sure that the input is not only comprehensible but also compelling. Where they differ most is the fact that German Uncovered is based on one carefully crafted story with suspense — a typical “written” story with accompanying audio — while Vladimir’s podcasts are separate entities covering various aspects of reality, recorded as a friendly banter with accompanying transcripts.
Both these courses are excellent examples of how you can learn a foreign language from scratch using stories from the very first lesson.
Story-inspired conversations for intermediate students
Now, since we progressed immensely and we can now call ourselves intermediate students, we are onto what I love the most — conversations about books, films and TV series!
My chief example comes from my favourite resource discovered during the first pandemic lockdown: the Language TV Club. I’ve already covered it in detail so I’ll just say this: look no further if you are an intermediate to advanced learner of any language that is currently offered in the Club and you love watching TV series and talking about them with a group of fellow binge-watchers.
Watching a movie or a series (or reading a book) in your target language is an adventure and challenge in itself but if at the end of it you plan to talk about it with a group or with a teacher during a one-to-one class, it adds a completely different dimension to it. You are more present and focused, you prepare what you want to say, you follow the questions or instructions (for example, in the Language TV Club you receive an episode guide with questions, vocab and cultural notes before each session), and you listen to others and formulate your own thoughts — and before you know it, you’ve learned heaps. (I’ve actually used this word for the first time ever. I learned it from an Australian TV series I was translating into Polish. Am I even using it correctly? Is it an Aussie word? Someone please tell me!)
Here are some other teachers who use this approach — and all of them happen to teach Italian! Costanza from Read and Learn Italian, Elfin from All About Italian and Irene from Italian in Love have different clubs, lessons or programs for those who want to get closer to Italy through compelling stories from books and films.
They are a massive inspiration for me as far as my own teaching of Polish is concerned, so if you are a learner of Polish on any level and the whole concept of learning through storytelling resonates with you, subscribe to my newsletter and let’s stay in touch!
Creativity, writing and playing with language for advanced learners
And if on top of the fact you are a story lover, you are also a creative soul, a poet, a painter (even an amateur one!) and you are learning Italian, you just have to get to know Silvia Perrone of Italearn. Silvia is taking the storytelling concept to a completely new level, helping students to unleash their creativity and find their own words in Italian through her membership (that includes reading, making collages, blackout poetry and much more) and her interactive books. I don’t know anyone who does anything similar in any other language so if you happen to know anybody else with a similar approach to teaching a language, let me know in the comments!
And, last but not least, creative writing in a foreign language! In this category, my ultimate queen is Trisha Traughber who runs a community and a publication for advanced non-native English speakers while honouring and nourishing their multilingualism. If you are a non-native poet or writer who uses English as your medium of expression, check out Vagabond Voices.
And that’s all, folks, for today. I hope I inspired you to think about incorporating storytelling into your language learning, regardless of the language(s) you are studying now!
