Digital Storytelling with ELLs

 

Storytelling has been handed down through the times, such as fairy tales and fables, being told aloud or written down. As Alrubail (2015) discusses, Digital storytelling uses digital media (photos, audio, video) to create a story. Digital stories are an excellent source for younger learners in the technology age that is upon us, but for teachers, it is a way to make lessons easier and better received by their students. Digital Stories are replacing traditional storytelling because it is a modern way of speaking and can easily find its audience through the spread of cell phones. "Digital storytelling has profound benefits for students’ communication, critical thinking, creative and writing skills" (Alrubail, 2015). For English Language students, that is:

    1. Communication~ Digital storytelling allows students to communicate an experience, and the meaning and feelings behind it, in a short timeframe and to express themselves in ways they might not be able to while writing an essay or report. 

    2. Critical Thinking & Creativity~ This process helps the students think about why this experience is essential to them. While analyzing their own story, they can reflect and use critical thinking skills.

    3. Writing~ Since writing can be difficult for most students, especially ELs, digital stories allow ELs to express themselves using fewer words.

 

Alrubail (2015) shares the story of Oleksii, an ELL student from Ukraine who had come to Canada a year before he attended my class. He was very self-conscious about writing and speaking in English and sought out extra help from me whenever he had the chance. When I introduced digital storytelling, he was hesitant because of his accent—he even mentioned this in his video.  However, after experimenting with digital storytelling, he saw it as an opportunity to share a bit about Ukraine and his cultural background with his classmates. After seeing his classmates’ reactions to his story, Oleksii beamed with pride: He made a powerful digital story that he could share with others.

    

While I feel that this could be beneficial in older grades, I'm not sure how I feel about using it in first grade because of my own technical difficulties, I could have my students watch stories than read and write their own, but I like how these digital tools make it easy for these emerging writers to create and publish their own stories with practice. My emerging language learners will have time to practice fluency.

Alrubail, Rusul. (2015). Empowering ELLs with Digital Stories. Learning for Justice. https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/empowering-ells-with-digital-stories