A Narrative Approach
Language is magic isn’t it?!
You make noises with your mouth and then the thoughts that you’re thinking appear in another person’s mind!
When you use language to express yourself… from your most trivial wants to your deepest needs and desires… there’s great power at the tip of your tongue… You can use language creatively, in art, romance and enterprise. And you can use it destructively too, when lying or expressing toxic emotions.
It even transcends the boundaries of time… when you pick up an old book or letter, you make a direct connection to the mind of writer.
Language is the interface between who you are, and the world.
How did you learn to perform these feats of magic? From your parents… while immersed in the bonds of family emotion… Language is inseparable from emotion and intention.
But with traditional English language learning the beauty and magic of language is largely ignored or forgotten. The endless, creative possibilities of linguistic expression are instead replaced with mind-numbing exercises about unimaginative scenarios.
By themselves, these functional approaches to English teaching and learning lose out on the single, greatest aspect of language, the place where all the magic comes from – Narrative.
Language and life, are all about stories and when stories are being told, the brain lights up, engagement sky-rockets and memory is activated.
Taking a Narrative Approach to English learning helps you rediscover the magic of language.
It transforms the classroom dynamic, differentiating the experience from traditional learning, creating more positive feedback and taking students’ communication skills to the next level.
This approach encourages students to express themselves because it acknowledges them as creative individuals. It helps to increase confidence and shows students how to embrace their strengths.
For teachers, it massively uplifts the experience of being an educator because of the impact you can have. Through enabling a student to express themselves you’re causing transferrable life skills to flourish.
It allows you to express yourself creatively, to use your imagination and escape the rut of relying on text books.
It opens the door to the creation of unlimited sources of material, using your existing knowledge and methods.
With increased engagement, you’ll see your results increase and students will progress even more quickly.
This Narrative Approach has been developed and tested over the past 9 years, with over a 1000 students and produced countless conversations, presentations, pieces of writing and feedback, examples of which can be found here.
Every moment in the classroom can be energising, inspiring and rewarding when you tap into the magic of language.
To find out more about how you can use a Narrative Approach to Curriculum and Materials Design to increase engagement, raise student and teacher satisfaction and gain better results, contact Khalil@EnglishLearningAccelerated.com
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