Once upon a time…

Story telling is a speaking activity that has achieved its effectiveness and appeals much interest. While telling stories we share information and our personal experiences. We can recount someone else’s story, imperience and tell jokes.

Story telling intrigues the listener, because he is interested what is going to happen next. It is better to include a joke or funny anecdote to a lecture for active listening and not to have the listener tired. It is quite possible to tell the same story many times, each time to various person and each time story telling will be more easily and fluently. During this activity, you change partners, each time telling the story again improving your speaking skills.

Another strategy that is effective for listening and memory skills is “assuming identities” activity: I tell my story to Jose, he tells me his story, then we tell each other’s stories to new partners. It is possible to retell it in the first person or in the third person that is more difficult.

While telling a story we use past simple/past continuous, past perfect/past perfect continuous tenses. If you want to apply past perfect, apply the phrase: “By that time, I had already…”