V Layering Language Skills
Through Video Storytelling
by
David Lewis Brooks
Published in The Word, Hawaii TESOL Newsletter, Vol 23 (2), February, 2014, pp. 7-8
This article illustrates an
instructional use of video as text and tool in the classroom for building
language mastery. It introduces a teaching activity called video storytelling.
This technique is useful for building students’ mastery of action verbs,
cognitive and emotional vocabulary, sequencing words, voice, and presentation
skills through the oral language technique of narrative layering.
Definition
of Video Storytelling
A video segment, when carefully chosen, is a
holistic, meaning-focused genre of linguistic discourse, which can be used to
great advantage to teach lexical, syntactic and discursive features of the
language. Often its full range of interpersonal communication (style,
non-verbals, mood, register and voice) in an authentic cultural context affords
the teacher and the learner a wealth of additional language learning
opportunities. The purpose of this short article is to introduce video
storytelling, a method for using video as text and tool in the classroom for
building language mastery. This description will focus on the instructional
process for video storytelling called cumulative layering, a method for helping
students develop mastery of narrative discourse at multiple levels of English
proficiency.
Language teachers often rely on and recognize
the importance of storytelling. Yet, how often do we really challenge our
students to master this form of discourse? Video storytelling is an
instructional technique for helping students develop narrative skills and to
polish the telling of their stories. A simple definition follows. Students
watch a brief video segment full of both action and dialogue. They are guided
to fully comprehend both the linguistic, social and visual content. Then they
are coached by the teacher to challenge themselves in five main ways of
retelling this narrative: 1) summarization, 2) description of the action and
setting, 3) description of the speech, thinking, and the emotions of the
characters, 4) description of the events in linear or logical sequence with
discourse markers, and 5) the combination of all of the above. There are many
opportunities for creative expression within a linguistic framework that is
both challenging and attainable for all students at any level.
The Process of Layering the Story
To begin, the students watch a carefully
chosen brief video segment a number of times and are guided to fully comprehend
the linguistic, social and visual content. The students are then coached over
several sessions to pull out or the teacher may provide the main story
elements, which they will deal with in telling their own version of the story.
After the students can smoothly recount the basic events (summary) of the
story, they select another linguistic or content element to add to the
retelling. Then, they practice retelling the story with this new layer. With
continued additions of elements and an increase in sentence length and
complexity, the story becomes more entertaining and complete. Next, the
teachers will have the students listen to each other’s telling and give
specific feedback about mastery of that element. When possible, the students
should record their live re-telling (from memory without notes), so that they
can individually or in pairs listen and assess their progress.
The
teacher can give specific feedback by “listening in” or reviewing the
recordings or conduct a random group storytelling. In this way, the teacher
picks five students and shuffles them. Then the first student begins to tell
the story, at any random point, the next student is called on to continue the
narrative, and then followed by the next students. Further, the storytellers
should be taught to increase the complexity of sentence structure by getting
them to combine sentences in various ways, including the use of coordinating
and subordinating conjunctions. Finally, the students add discourse markers to
the narrative to aid the listener. Once a benchmark is achieved, the students
can be challenged to vary the storytelling by altering the point-of-view,
tense, use of reported speech (actual dialogue), and their spoken acting
voices.
Depending on the level of students, the
amount time allotted for the project, and the goals of the storytelling project,
the teacher can consider any or all of the following criteria in planning a
video storytelling as a classroom activity or major performance project.
Analysis of Story
and Language Elements
|
|
a. summary of the main events
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b. descriptions of action/ setting / situation
|
c. description of the characters’ appearance, attitudes, and
behaviors
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d. use vocabulary to describe their
speech and communication behaviors
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e. description of the emotions
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f. significant time / cause/effect relationships
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g. cultural dimensions (social roles non-verbal behaviors,
values and perceptions)
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h. plan for relating sequence, perspectives
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i. plan for language variations (tense / voice, point-
of-view, etc)
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j. find opportunities for creativity and fun
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What qualities does the teachers consider when
choosing a video for storytelling?
Hollywood movies can be used, but they are often too long and
complicated. Also, the students may already be familiar with a well-known movie
and may have seen it in their native language. Therefore, it is useful to make
use of English language educational videos that provide some conflict
situations, and which may also create the need for interpretation.
In conclusion, the video storytelling project can be integrated it into
ESL courses at various levels. It can be done as individuals or as a group or
team performance.
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