Content: Introduction Main part The advantages of «Storyline»

2.Storyline, ELT and the most important story selection criteria
The most important part of a teacher’s job is the appropriate selection of a story. Here is a list of the most important story selection criteria as suggested by Ellis, Brewster, Armstrong, Bell and others: 1. Children’s age 2. The level of language of the target group 3. Interest and motivation 4. Balance of new and familiar language 5. Illustrations 6. Natural repetition 7. Practice of pronunciation 8. Creation of positive attitudes. It is also essential to remember in selecting a story that since children can identify with the characters and through the use of their imagination they become a part of the story, the teacher should try to choose a story that fits the children’s interests. There are many approaches, styles and methods, which can be followed in the teaching process. The storyline approach was specifically designed for the use at primary schools. As I teach English as a foreign language at a primary level, I would like to focus on how it can be adapted to teaching foreign languages. In their 3rd grade, children are only eight years old and at this age playing is still essential to the learning process. During English lessons, they slowly gain familiarity with the English language, increase their vocabulary, learn grammar rules, practise pronunciation and above all try to speak and express themselves. Teachers can choose stories, which are not linguistically complicated, not too long and include repetition and illustrations. The stories should have a limited number of characters and contain an uncomplicated plot (Ellis and Brewster 8-10). All of these criteria help children to understand the English language and enable them to eventually compare it with Uzbek language. Teachers should be able to adapt the story to eliminate any possible confusion. For example, unfamiliar words can be substituted with familiar ones. From a grammatical point of view, children can be introduced to new tenses, sentence structures and word order (Ellis and Brewster 8-10). Children can also be exposed to English in art, music, drama, etc. This is how the storyline approach can be applied to teaching and learning English. In the teaching process, there are some principles that teachers need to keep in mind. It is necessary to demonstrate that pedagogical principles are not fulfilled only by using a course book, but also by using the storyline methodology. Below is an outline of these principles:

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  Principle of purposefulness – the teacher sets a goal to be achieved at end of the activity. Children should know what they are doing and more importantly why they are doing it. Storyline offers different topics to be chosen from.
  
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  Systematic principle – stories allow us to focus on the topic from different points of view and work on them throughout the school year.
  
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  Principle of involvement – this principle is most important for the development of a new School Educational Program. It is essential for all pupils to be involved in the learning process by using enjoyable activities. This process significantly increases the chances of learning.
  
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  Principle of learning through doing – this principle is based on sensual perception, experiences and imagination, which are incorporated into the Storyline teaching process. It has been proved that the percentage of gained information increases rapidly, if children get the opportunity to be involved in this process and are not only observers.
  
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  Affective principle – children are drawn into a story, they start to like the main characters, dislike the negative ones and by dramatizing a story they are able to demonstrate their attitudes towards the characters.
  
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  Principle of suitability – teachers are offered a great variety of stories, which are appropriate for the age group they teach and the level of the language their children have a grasp of. Too complicated and difficult stories may have discouraging affects on children.
  

The benefits of a story for children. It is important to note that children are the most important part in the process of storytelling. They identify with the main characters and they often imagine that they are a part of the story. There are numerous benefits children gain through the use of a story telling in the teaching process. Below is a summary of the benefits that are derived from my own experiences, and Ellis, Brewster, Harkness, and Bell’s, as well as those of other linguists and teachers:

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  each child is involved in the learning process actively
  
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  everybody has a chance to express themselves
  
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  children are not stressed
  
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  they learn about team work
  
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  they learn how to communicate
  
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  they learn how to listen to others
  
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  their emotional and social development grows
  
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  they are able to make sense of the world
  
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  stimulus to the imagination is on a high level
  
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  they try to find the right solution in a group, where everybody does not have to agree
  
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  they learn about real life through fairy tales and the use of fictional creatures
  
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  they learn from their own experience
  
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  they have to use their knowledge from other subjects
  
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  they learn to be responsible for their work
  
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  they learn to present their work and justify their ideas.