Read more about Storytelling and Narratives
| Site: | Isotis |
| Course: | Promoting multilingualism in the classroom |
| Book: | Read more about Storytelling and Narratives |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Sunday, 23 February 2025, 12:16 AM |
Table of contents
- 1. Storytelling and the development of narrative thinking
- 2. The educational and inclusive potential of doggerel and lullabies
- 3. Narrative and technology: digital storytelling
- 4. The educational value of digital multilingual narrative
- 5. The inclusive value of digital multilingual storytelling
- 6. Further information
1. Storytelling and the development of narrative thinking
Storytelling and the development of narrative thinking have an important existential and pedagogical value in relation to many aspects of children's growth and development (and also in adult education).
2. The educational and inclusive potential of doggerel and lullabies
Poems, counting rhymes, lullabies and short songs in different languages
Some storytelling tools (poems, nursery rhymes, stories, ...) have strong educational and intercultural characterization, as they open to the symbolic dimension. In particular, nursery rhymes, characterized by rhythm and repetitiveness, mark the times of childhood and accompany the highlights of a child’s day. Words, onomatopoeias, assonances, rhymes, repetitions and rhythm, often accompanied by facial gestures and expressions, contribute not only to creating the relationship between the adult who recites and the child who listens, but also to promoting the development of language.
In all societies and in all the countries, one of the ways to learn how to speak and use language well has always been exposure to stories, nursery rhymes and traditional songs.
3. Narrative and technology: digital storytelling
Oral narration and writing on paper are nowadays supported by different means through which we tell stories, share experiences, knowledge and reflections. The use of new technologies and the linguistic mediators that allow for the simultaneous use of different communication channels are more and more wide-spread: videos, photos and digital images, voices and sounds, merged into a single message, can contribute to making communication and storytelling emotionally powerful and stimulating.
Digital storytelling is a narrative method that uses a variety of digital tools, such as applications, software or webware. The outcome of this type of storytelling is a video, usually very short, fruit of the syntonic union of different media: images, videos, sounds, a soundtrack / music and, in particular, one or more narrative voices that tell a story. In the case of multilingual storytelling, the story is in multiple languages.
Digital storytelling has spread since the early 1990s, when Joe Lambert and Dana Atcheley founded the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), a non-profit community based in Berkley, California.
Although digital storytelling was born in the field of marketing, its enormous educational potential has spread to other fields, including education and pedagogy.
4. The educational value of digital multilingual narrative
Digital storytelling has great educational potential. Through educational use, with the active participation of students, it is possible to support the development of fundamental skills for individuals in today's society and important key competences for the 21st century, such as:
- cultural awareness and expression, meaning the "ability to appreciate the creative importance of ideas, experiences and emotions expressed through a variety of means such as music, literature and the visual arts and entertainment";
- digital competence;
- the spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship: understood as the ability to transform ideas into action through creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects;
- the ability to learn to learn, or the ability to effectively manage learning, both individually and in groups.
Language and communication skills can also benefit from the use of digital multi- and mono- lingual narratives, promoting the ability to search for information, writing, organizing and presenting content in the mother tongue or in a foreign language, using problem-solving methods.
Furthermlore, new technologies foster interest and motivation, encouraging students and teachers to create their own paths of meaning and signification through a personal and meaningful writing,5. The inclusive value of digital multilingual storytelling
Multilingual DS has ideal characteristics for enhancing an intercultural perspective. It is above all a story and therefore, in a socio-constructivist and Brunerian perspective, possesses reconstructive, formative and transformative potentials: the possibility of storytelling allows one to organize one's own experience and share it with others, feeling recognized and welcomed by the current context of belonging. From an intercultural perspective, using this storytelling method in teaching encourages:
- the sense of integration of the self and of personal and cultural identity
- the coherence between past, present and future and reconsideration of the current context, in the light of new awareness
- the creation of empathic processes and new points of view about the world in listeners
- social contact and cooperation among children, as well as mutual knowledge and understanding.
- the development of communication skills specific to the behavioral and cognitive dimension of intercultural competence
Through the use of different linguistic repertoires it is also possible to have access to a different way of referring to the world. As is well known, language is not a mere set of signs, but provides insight in how to approach and signify the world. Linguistic diversity opens the doors to different paths of meaning and cultural histories. Thanks to giving value to the different languages in the class, it is possible to:
- stimulate student and teacher curiosity about cultures and languages
- give equal dignity to linguistic and cultural backgrounds, regardless of the socio-economic importance they have in the world
- include family cultures
- promote the linguistic and cultural awareness of pupils and teachers.
At the same time, the use of new technologies makes it possible to share the videos created with a greater number of people, and to be used as documentation for families and for teacher PD.6. Further information
You can find more information on these international websites:
- https://www.storycenter.org/
- http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/
Some popular software for the educational use of digital storytelling are:
- Scratch
- Sparkol
- Toontastic
- Powtoone
- Paint
- PowerPoint
On Youtube there are both examples of digital storytelling in the educational field, and many videos / tutorials for building Digital Storytelling through the use of the aforementioned software.