Content: Introduction Main part The advantages of «Storyline»

The benefits of a story for teachers
The teachers can also benefit from stories in teaching English. They can learn by observing children and then:

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  see children’s different abilities
  
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  respect children’s opinion
  
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  train their organizational skill
  
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  be able to direct children in their learning
  
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  communicate with other teachers about the project
  

Storyline and the Uzbek school system
The Uzbek school system is undergoing an enormous reform. Some people are sceptical, while others have been longing for a change for quite some time. Since society has changed and evolved, it is now time for the school system to follow. Nowadays, almost everyone has access to numerous facts and information not only through books, but also through the use of the Internet. The curriculum designers realised that something had to be done and that the fact-based education relying on textbooks had to be changed to skill-based education. The new system is called the School Educational Program (SEP) and it states that the goals should be achieved by respecting children’s needs and abilities. It suggests that the schools should offer as many optional subjects as children require for developing their interests. Last, but not least, this program requires cooperation with parents. These are the most important aims from SEP:

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  let children acquire learning strategies and motivate them for lifelong learning
  
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  encourage children to be creative, to think logically and be able to solve problems lead children to multilateral, efficient and open communication
  
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  develop children’s ability for cooperation, to respect work and success of others.
  

Nowadays, children do not want to go to school and they learn because they have to, without any interest or enthusiasm. Some of the teachers present material in uninspiring ways and simply want their students to memorize it. The current system does not always allow time for children to express their ideas or a chance to show their acquired knowledge. In addition, some of the textbooks currently used are out of date. SEP is a project, which has been designed to address these issues. Teachers will have to adjust their attitude towards the whole teaching process, change their methods and become more flexible. The children will be expected to change their attitudes towards teachers and to take the learning process more seriously. These changes will take time to implement and the changes will not happen immediately. With patience and perseverance, a successful outcome should be forthcoming. The 15 overall aims of SEP appear to be a significant fit with the storyline approach. It is a structured approach, which uses stories in the overall teaching process for all subjects from the 1st to 5th grade. It builds on the key principle that learning, to be meaningful, has to be memorable, and that by using learners’ enthusiasm for story-making, the classroom, the teacher’s role and learning can be transformed. Storyline is a strategy for developing the curriculum as an integrated whole. It provides an opportunity for active learning and reflection as essential parts of effective learning and teaching. At the same time, it develops in learners a powerful sense of ownership of their learning.
Many authors, who deal with using stories in teaching to young learners, find stories to be useful for teaching a new language. Wright, Bell, Ellis and Brewster’s ideas can be summarized as follows:

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  Language in stories is meaningful in context
  
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  Stories give natural context for repetition of language
  
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  They help to build a language system
  
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  They give the opportunity to use all 4 language skills
  
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  Children can be aware of sounds, rhythms and structure.
  

The cross-curricular links depend on the children’s age and the level of understanding of the English language. Stories lead not only to exploration of new facts, but also to the extensions of primary subjects. Here are some examples of subject integration which teachers should be aware of (Ellis and Brewster 2):

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  Music – singing songs, rhymes, chants, playing instruments
  
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  Art – drawing, painting, working with different materials, making posters, books, masks, puppets, maps, illustrating stories
  
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  Math – numbers, measuring, shapes, making graphs or charts, doing surveys
  
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  Science – parts of the body, animals and their life, plants and trees around us, nature-mountains, rivers
  

Geography – countries, life and habits from around the world, working with a map, weather, seasons

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  Drama – role-play, miming
  
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  Crafts – cooking, baking, working with wood
  
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  Information technology – using the internet, working with a computer
  
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  Other topics which may be discussed – colours, food, time, clothes, people’s appearance, a description of a house, hobbies
  
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  Grammar – spelling, different tenses, adjectives and comparatives, extra
  
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  curricular activities, ordinal numbers, prepositions, verbs
  
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  Others – using dictionaries and other additional resources.
  

Multiple intelligences
The Storyline methodology may be used as an additional approach to the development of course books. Assessment of most course books reveals that different approaches may be used in presenting either new grammar or vocabulary. What happens if some of them do not work? According to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences “learners acquire information using a range of 'channels', which are collectively referred to as ‘Intelligences’”(Bundaberg Curriculum Exchange). There are eight different ways how to teach anything. As mentioned above, when the traditional linguistic teaching approach fails, this theory suggests several other ways in which the material might be presented to facilitate effective learning. According to Armstrong theory, it does not matter whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a school instructor or an adult learner, better ways for learning or teaching must be explored. The same basic guidelines apply to all of them. Gardner⁵ says: “All of us have varying degrees of each intelligence. Remember that instructional practices should involve all intelligences, so that everyone has the opportunity to learn” (Gardner, Encyclopedia of Educational Technology). It means that whatever is being taught or learned must connect with:

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  Words
  
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  Numbers or logic
  
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  Pictures
  
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  Music
  
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  Self-reflection
  
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  A physical experience
  
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  A social experience
  
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  An experience in the natural world
  

Each of these areas represents a different knowledge base. Words are part of linguistics, numbers or logic is based on logical-mathematical sense, pictures represent spatial aptitude, music is musical intelligence, self-reflection is intrapersonal intelligence, a physical experience is bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, a social experience is interpersonal intelligence and an experience in the natural world is naturalist intelligence. It is not necessary to teach or learn in all eight ways, but 18 those that are relevant to the students must be appropriately selected (Armstrong, based on Gardner).