Writing and reading stories is an important phase in language learning. Storytelling is a technique that has proven to be very effective in transmitting knowledge throughout centuries. The project Shared (Hi)stories will provide a wide variety of tools to use storytelling in English learning to make lessons more fun and engaging and to teach about culture in Europe.
Stories as a tool to learn and connect with other cultures
Narrations can be very powerful, as they naturally tend to connect people and create a sense of understanding. Listening to or reading a story can help people to look at the world through different lenses. But while stories have the power to strengthen interpersonal bonds, they can also define lead to misunderstandings as a narrative can illustrate a distorted image of other people or cultures, which can be dangerous. That is why we need to be mindful of the moral or message behind our stories. This is the main reason why we have started the project Shared (Hi)stories to create new narrations responding to the needs of modern society. We aim to use stories as a tool to connect people within European Union and promote diversity and cultural exchange among countries.
Our objective is not only to send a wholesome message but also to enhance the language proficiency of students. Cultural exchange in Europe is strongly connected to English, given that it is the lingua franca among people of different nationalities. Adolescents learn the language in school in a formal way which might be less interesting for them. However, they discover stories from all over the world by watching series and movies in English and also through social media. It is a fun and engaging way of practising the language and acquiring new knowledge as it is during their free time. Thanks to this project, we would like to help teachers create interesting and amusing lessons to increase students’ motivation by giving them not only informative but also engaging content.
The objectives of Shared (Hi)stories
The main goal of the project is to enhance the language skills of learners by helping educational institutions to improve their teaching methods. This is why we will create a series of materials of free access:
- An informative booklet on cultural heritage, storytelling and critical thinking.
- A European Map that includes a collection of shared (hi)stories among countries.
- A teacher training program for language teachers that want to learn how to use storytelling and cultural heritage in their classes, which will be accompanied by a set of ready-made lessons.
- A YouTube channel with 24 shared (Hi)stories of people from different countries.
Promoting cultural awareness will also be the core of all the results produced. We would like to create bonds among students from different countries thanks to our materials as they will discover new realities and they will realize that they share many more aspects than they think.
The website will be ready soon. In the meantime, you check the leaflet of the project here. You can also subscribe to our newsletter and visit our blog to keep up with the latest updates about the project!