1001 Stories for Adult Learning

128 Pages·2013·7.68 MB·English

Sheherazade
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for Adult Learning
Editors:
Guy Tilkin and Michèle Paulus,
Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, Bilzen, Belgium
Jennifer Land, Meath Partnership, Kells, County Meath, Ireland

Sheherazade
1001 Stories
for Adult Learning
ISBN 9789081794114
Legal deposit: D/2013/8926/1
Published by: Lies Kerkhofs, Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, Kasteelstraat 6, B-3740 Bilzen
Project Number: 2011-4676-518365-LLP-1-2011-1-BE-GRUNDTVIG-GMP
Design & production: COMMIX Graphic Solutions – www.commix.be
Translations of this manual in Bulgarian, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish are available
on the Sheherazade website: www.sheherazade.eu
Disclaimer: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication]
reflects the views only of the Sheherazade consortium, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information therein.
Sheherazade
1001 Stories
for Adult Learning
Editors:
Guy Tilkin and Michèle Paulus,
Landcommanderij Alden Biesen, Bilzen, Belgium
Jennifer Land, Meath Partnership, Kells, County Meath, Ireland
Co-authors:
Tilman Fromelt, Brunnenpassage, Wien, Austria
Dorinda Dekeyser and Els Borghys, CVO Leuven-Landen, Leuven, Belgium
Eliza Stefanova, Sofia University St. Kl. Ohridski, Sofia, Bulgaria
Stefanie Talley and Cecile Stola, Elan Interculturel, Paris, France
Heidi Dahlsveen and Hilde Madsø Jacobsen, Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway
Ida Junker and Tomas Carlsson, Fabula Storytelling, Stockholm, Sweden
Patsy Lang and Iwan Kushka, Superact CIC, Bristol, United Kingdom
Project co-ordinator
Preface 7
The Sheherazade Project: an Introduction 8

Chapter 1:
State of the Art and Needs Analysis 11
Analysis of the Presence of Storytelling
in Teacher Training Curricula 12

Research on Storytelling Methodology 13
Adult Learning Theory 13
Storytelling for Learning 14
The Use of Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool:
A Methodological Approach 16
Preparation/warm-up 17
Technical Activities 18
Index Workshop 19
Performance 20
Chapter 2 :
Storytelling and
Competence Development 21
Introduction 22
What is a Competence? 22
Competence Oriented Education and Learning 22
Offering Competences for Language
Learning and Inclusion 23

Conclusion 25
4
Chapter 3 : Aiming at the Improvement of Language Skills 85
Educational Guidelines The Dolls of Sorrow – Belgium 85
Storytelling Techniques in a Language
and Approaches 27
Course for Adults – Belgium 87
Let’s Live Together – Bulgaria 90
Introduction 28
Art Integrate - Finland 92
Stories of Life in a Wagon – Ireland 94
Practical Exercises 29
It’s Visible in your Eyes that you Understood! –
Preparatory Phase - Warming up exercises 29
Sweden 96
Technical Activities 32
Workshop 38
Performance 45
Chapter 5:
Pilot projects 99
Good Practices of Storytelling Workshops
Involving Teacher Training 46 Storytelling for Language Learning at
an Early Stage – Austria 100
Tips and Tricks 50 At home with Sheherazade – Belgium 102
What is a story? 50 The Fishmonger Arnout and his Love for Soetkin –
How to Choose a Story? 50 Belgium 104
Advice for the new storyteller 51 A Story with a Happy End – Bulgaria 107
Where can I find stories? 53 Sheherazade Workshop, 1001 Stories for
How to remember stories? 53 Adult Learning – France 109
What are the storytellers’ tools? 53 Life Skills through Stories – Ireland 111
Personal Stories and Inclusion – Norway 113
It’s in their Eyes – Sweden 115
Storytelling with Refugees – United Kingdom 117
Chapter 4:
Good Practice Examples 55
References and Resources 119
Promoting Social Inclusion amongst Adult Learners 58
Annex 1: Interviews of Storytellers 121
Zeit.Geschichten – Austria 58
Learning Community – Belgium 61
Present yourself as an Expert through the Story -
Bulgaria 62
Collecting Workshop – France 64
Ways in the City - Germany 66
The International Project – Ireland 69
ARTikulere – Norway 72
Mother Tongue Day in Stovner bydel – Norway 74
The Prodigal Son Dilemma – Spain 76
Tell for the Future- Narratives from the Holocaust –
Sweden 78
Migrants Crossing Borders in ‘New Town’ –
The Netherlands 80
Openstorytellers – United Kingdom 83
5
Pictures:
Mats Rhenman (SE)
Benjamin A. Ward (NO)
6
H. Timmerman (BE)
Preface
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” (Philip Pullman)
The manual at hand is one of the products of Sheherazade, a Grundtvig Multilateral Project that raises awareness of the potential of
storytelling as an educational tool. As part of this project, we developed methodologies and materials for using stories and storytell-
ing in adult teaching and learning.
Using stories and storytelling techniques, the trainer is introducing a great tool within the training process. By offering subject content
as a narrative, transformed into images, one improves the quality of the transfer of this content. Introducing stories and storytelling
as a tool “performed” by adult learners is a great way to improve creativity, linguistic, social, emotional and artistic skills.
The ultimate beneficiaries of the Sheherazade approach are adult learners in different social and cultural settings, namely low-skilled
adults, disadvantaged citizens, newcomers and migrants, and adult foreign language learners. In order to reach these groups, the
Sheherazade material and methodologies target initial teacher training students, in-service adult educators, social workers and train-
ers. Sheherazade also targets storytellers making them aware of the educational value and potential of their art, and to help them
find their way to adult education and teacher training organisations. This manual offers ideas and material to help teacher trainers
and adult educators apply storytelling in their daily practice.
Chapter 1 and 2 of the manual provide an insight into the advantages of using storytelling in an adult training context and offer a
methodological approach for doing so in terms of competence development. Chapter 3 focuses on educational guidelines and of-
fers a set of practical exercises, tips and tricks for direct use in an adult learning environment. Chapter 4 presents a number of good
practice examples, collected from all over Europe, revealing the true value of stories and storytelling in a variety of adult learning set-
tings. The Sheherazade partners each piloted an adult training experiment involving stories and storytelling and the behind-the-scene
reports on these pilots can be found in Chapter 5 offering extra ideas, motives, settings and approaches.
This manual does not read like a novel from page one to the end but is more a reference that can be consulted according to the needs
of the reader. The project website www.sheherazade.eu also offers extra material including training modules for training trainers and
material on how to integrate Sheherazade into international Grundtvig projects.

We hope that you will enjoy reading and consulting this manual and that Sheherazade will contribute to the introduction of storytell-
ing in teacher training and adult learning.
On behalf of the Sheherazade Partnership
Guy Tilkin, Project Co-ordinator Lies Kerkhofs
Head European Department Director
Landcommanderij Alden Biesen Landcommanderij Alden Biesen
Project co-ordinator
7
The Sheherazade project: an introduction
The title of this project comes from the collection of stories A definition of storytelling
known as One Thousand and One Nights. The frame story of the
collection is the tale of a Persian king who has been deceived Storytelling does not occur in a vacuum. To illustrate this, we
by his first wife. This fills him with hatred against all women; would like to propose a model of the principles of storytelling
and he decides that every night he will take a new virgin as his created by Norwegian storyteller Heidi Dahlsveen.
wife and kill her at sunrise. After this has
been going on for some time, the vizier, a
high ranking advisor in charge of finding
new wives for the King can no longer find
any virgins to send, so it is finally his eldest
daughter who must sacrifice her life. As the
vizier’s daughter goes to the king’s cham-
ber on their wedding night, her little sister
comes and asks to hear a story before she
goes to sleep. The King gives the virgin per-
mission to tell. Through the intricate, mys-
terious, and intriguing stories Scheherazade
tells over one thousand and one nights; the
young woman is able to change the King.
By telling stories, she is able to save many
lives, including her own and transform the
authoritarian structure of her society.
This is Sheherazade. According to Abdes-
salam el Hakouni, Professor of Literature at
the University of Mohamed V in Rabat, the
tale of Scheherazade is a parable about the
power of storytelling:
“The moral is that one should not yield to tyranny. You should As shown in the graphic above, the process of storytelling begins
use your imagination, be calm and think of love rather than with the “incident of a story.” The moment when the storyteller
hate, hope rather than despair. If Scheherazade could save her is first introduced to the story, can take place through oral or
neck for one thousand and one nights, that would be long written communication (“incident of telling” or “incident of a
enough for the King to forget his vengeance. But the key was written text”). Stories can also be received through experienced
not a physical weapon. Scheherazade had nothing; only good incidents, or can consist of fictional plots. Some storytellers use
stories to tell and the ability to tell them well. The lesson is that, “spontaneous action” and improvise their story on the spot.
if you want to survive, you better have a good story to tell.”1
However the storyteller receives a story, there are a host of fac-
We have carried out this project because we have an unyielding tors that influence its delivery. Before a story can be told, it must
belief that telling and listening to stories can make a difference. be structured in narrative sequences. The choice of what story
We have learned that telling and listening to each other works; to tell is individual and may be based on the personal relevance
we hope you will experience the same. a storyteller gives to a particular story. The historical and cultural
background of the storyteller, the audience, and the story itself
1 Hamilton R. The Last Storytellers: Tales from the Heart of Morocco. Lon-
8 are also important to consider.
don: I.B.Tauris, 2011