The PLACES Academy

Using Storytelling in the Classroom

Welcome to Storytelling in the class room

This part of the PLACES ACADEMY is about using storytelling yourself as a teacher.

Learning the art of storytelling takes place in two steps,

Learning the effective narrative language
Learning how to create your own stories

Explore the 12 short videos below that will give you a solid basis to continue on your own…..

We hope that you will enjoy the journey on the “Highway to Tell”, which is a storytelling method developed by Kasper Sørensen from Fortælletid.

The effective narrative language

Do you know the fable of the lion and the mouse?

Listen to “The lion and the mouse” that Kasper Sørensen tells us several times to show different ways of using language when telling stories, which is the idea behind the “Highway to Tell”. The magic of storytelling is about evoking images in the heads of the listeners and in that way make them co-producers of the story. It is about being transported to another place and/or time as a listener. That is one of the main differences between stories being told or stories being summarized or explained.

Here the story is being told with a combination of the language lanes of “The Highway to Tell”,

You can also work with the fable together with your pupils using the PLACES playful learning activity card STORY BONE – THE LION AND THE MOUSE.

For thousands of years people all over the world have made and told fables. That makes this genre recognizable for most people regardless of cultural background and age. In addition to that, the fables’ shortness and simple structure make them very suitable for learning how to use and to play with the tools of storytelling.

Create your own stories

How do we build stories that connect and captivate the listeners? Well, exactly what is a story? Most people intuitively understand the concept and recognize it easily when told a story. But it can be difficult to identify the most important elements and how to use them, and thus challenging to do it yourself

Use these simple tools and you’ll be on your way.

Here are some more ideas for using storytelling to share facts, strengthen relations and engaging your pupils:

We hope that you have found it worthwhile to ride along on this journey on the “Highway to Tell”.

Some of the points you can also find on the INFO CARDS on storytelling in the PLACES learning materials.

Remember that having a driving license is one thing, only practice makes you an experienced driver on The Highway to Tell.

Find the videos here