What are the benefits of storytelling in primary education?

What are the benefits of storytelling in primary education?

Storytelling is regarded as one of the oldest forms of education. It is an effective method of education that is used all over the world by all cultures since the human language evolved. It is important to distinguish that storytelling is entirely different to story reading. Both telling and reading are great ways to communicate stories to children but the differences between the two are significant for both the parent/teacher and the children listening. When reading a story, the reader must be focused on the words printed while occasionally looking at the audience, unlike in storytelling where the teller freely speaks directly to the children, maintaining eye contact and are able to see the children’s reaction to the story.

According to an article in teach.com, research shows that children appear to retain more knowledge when they can relate with a classroom activity. One of the most common classroom activities to enhance a child’s memory is storytelling. Children appear to love listening to stories told by their teachers. Whilst they sit and listen, they begin to focus and attentively follow the story through until its end. Storytelling can help increase a child’s memory. By reading out a story initially, and then cleverly asking the child to repeat the same story a few days later is a fun way to help increase memory and encourage concentration. This method encourages cooperation between teachers and children. Storytelling improves listening skills that are essential in learning and in relationships and increases the child’s willingness to communicate their thoughts and feelings.

The use of storytelling for children is a way of making academic learning easier and is a stepping stone for academic learning. The majority of primary age children learn by routine repetition without really understanding the subject. By using regular storytelling in the classroom, this can help children to enjoy and gain a better understanding of what they are reading. This assists them in learning about their subjects further. By turning a boring history lesson into an interesting historical story, can help children gain a better understanding and show an incentive to enhance their curiosity. Reading stories aloud to children helps familiarise them with the language as well as in learning new words and phrases. This is also a great way to teach children new vocabulary and pronunciation skills, all of which will help enhance their verbal proficiency.

According to teach.comthe power of stortellingintheclassroom, as young people progress through their early years, listening skills become increasingly important, and an effective way to improve attention span and listening skills is to tell children stories to keep them attentive. Most children have little attention span and find it difficult to concentrate on something for a long period of time, and tend to end up talking, rather than listening. Storytelling promotes a feeling of relaxation in the classroom. By encouraging active participation through storytelling in the classroom this can ensure that the the children are more attentive, and keen to listen and understand and offer an insight into universal life experiences.

Storytelling also encourages better communication between teachers and children. Some children can be shy and timid and are hesitant to ask questions despite being very curious. Storytelling helps children in learning the art of asking the right questions. It also helps with children’s confidence allowing them the ability to engage in conversation. Regular reading and listening can make children more skilful when having to speak publicly.

Children’s imagination and creativity can be used to its full potential whilst listening to a story. In a story a listener can personally experience heroism and fear, love and hate, sadness and happiness in a controlled and safe environment. Igniting children’s imaginations gives them them the skill to become who they want and to take them to places they have only ever dreamt of. Albert Einstein once said:-

“imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”

It is fair to say that storytelling has many benefits for children, as most young learners enjoying listening to the stories. It is an effective way to guide children through the learning process in a fun environment. Their thoughts and feelings are established by the language they learn in the classroom. Stories can form a link not only between the classroom and home but also between the classroom and further afield. Stories teach us about ourselves and others and about life. Storytelling is a unique way for children to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive attitude to people from different countries, races and religions. Stories make known universal truths about the world and we are able to see how very different people share the same life experiences.

Reference list

Rcowen.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.rcowen.com/PDFs/CTS%20Ch%201%20for%20website.pdf [Accessed 27 Apr. 2019].

Unicheck Blog. (2019). The Power of Storytelling in the Classroom. [online] Available at: https://unicheck.com/blog/storytelling-in-the-classroom [Accessed 27 Apr. 2019].

Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.momjunction.com/articles/benefits-story-telling-yor-kids_0036903/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2019].

Teach.com. (2019). The Power of Storytelling in the Classroom: 5 Ways It Can Be a Great Help - Blog. [online] Available at: https://teach.com/great-educational-resources-the-power-of-storytelling/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2019].

GOV.UK. (2019). The importance of storytelling. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-importance-of-storytelling [Accessed 27 Apr. 2019].