Storytelling: How to Start (lesson plan)

You know me: I love storytelling, I believe stories are life, and life is made of stories. Storytelling in the classroom is the most natural thing for me – and I would love to share this passion with you!

I know some of you speak full storylingo, but there are still those who haven’t started storytelling yet and are quite anxious to try. Allow me then to show you the ropes and guide you through one of the easiest and most intuitive activities introducing storytelling in the classroom.

Activity: speaking, communication
Age: 6+
Level: A2 and above
Time: 45 min
Type of work: groupwork, pairwork

Introduction: 10 min

Tell your students that you are going to become the new brothers Grimm or the new Andersens – you are going to create a new story.

Brainstorm for popular fairy tales (Cinderella, Snow White etc.) and write them on the board. Then ask your students about the films that use these well known stories and twist them to make something new – hopefully everyone knows Shrek, but there are more films drawing from the same idea, like Once Upon a Time, Puss in Boots, Enchanted etc.

Storytime: 15 min

Tell your students you’re going to make a story together, and then go for mixing Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and Cinderella and creating the story in the contemporary world. Let me give you an example:

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a very loving grandmother. Once the grandmother gave her a coat with a red hood, and because it was very comfortable (and had great pockets!) she did not want to wear anything else. From then on she was called Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said “Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here’s some good dinner in the basket. Take it to your grandma, please, because she is weak and ill. Grandma will be very happy. But you must be very careful on the road, because you could be approached by Puss in Boots! And he’s really clever and cunning, and will try to coax you into sharing the food with him! And if you do, grandma will be hungry!”

Little Red Riding Hood promised that she would not be fooled by Puss in Boots and briskly headed to her grandmother. She was passing familiar streets until suddenly her attention was caught by a soft, begging meow coming from a nearby alley. Little Red Riding Hood had a very good heart, so she went out of the way to see who was meowing and if they needed help.

She saw a sad kitten that purred softly and miserably. When he saw Little Red Riding Hood, he stretched and bowed – and the girl saw that the kitten was wearing adorable shoes! – and approached to her purring amiably. “Ah, little girl,” purred the cat, “I’m so hungry that you can see all my ribs, can you please give me something to eat?” Little Red Riding Hood was already reaching for the basket when she suddenly remembered the promise she had made to her mother. “No, Puss in Boots,” she said firmly, “my mom warned me about you! I’m carrying the basket with food, but it’s for my own poor, sick grandmother who can’t do without me. I can’t share the food because Grandma will be hungry. Don’t you have friends to feed you? “

Puss in Boots made a sad face and began to explain in a quiet voice that he was living with his best friend – Cinderella, who was very poor and did not always have enough food for herself, let alone for the cat.
Little Red Riding Hood was very sad because she wanted to help her grandma, Puss in Boots, and even the unknown Cinderella, and finally she had a great idea…

At this point, encourage your students to come up with a continuation of the fairy tale. What would happen next?

• Little Red Riding Hood took Puss in Boots to her grandmother who took care of him, and Little Red Riding Hood’s mother helped Cinderella find a better job
• Cinderella and Puss in Boots went to live with the grandmother – Cinderella took care of grandma helping her recover
• Little Red Riding Hood gave the dinner to Puss in Boots, which he promptly shared with Cinderella. With the money saved, Cinderella bought a lottery ticket and won a ton of money which he shared with Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma, and she also set up a home for homeless and hungry cats

Our own stories: 15 min

Divide your students into pairs or groups and ask them to come up with their own stories – use the fairy tales you wrote on the board during the brainstorm session. Monitor their work and help if needed – but let your students use dictionaries, mobiles any other tools they will find helpful.

Summing up: 5 min

At the end of the lesson, sum it up by highlighting all the grammar (past tenses, reported speech and whatever your students worked on) and vocabulary (you can write down new expressions on the board) your students revised and learned during the lesson. Show them that the funny and creative activity like creating a story, is a great way of reviewing the language they know and learning new vocabulary.

If you want to assign homework, you may ask your students to write a new story or prepare a short storytelling session – they may even make a project out of this task by preparing short dramas!

I hope you’ll have a lot of fun with this lesson, and that you will get more comfortable with storytelling. But if you need more help – let me know!