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Hi and welcome! I'm Story Paul
and this is my first official video. So, I'd like to tell you a little bit about
myself
I'm an English teacher and consultant. I teach
private students and also teach groups
online. And I've had a long experience working with
companies and university students; executives from all over the world
I really enjoy working with language. And today
I would like to tell you about the method that I use
if you study with me.
The Story Method is a contextual
approach to learning the English language.
Now, when we talk about context, you may have heard people say that context is
king. Right? It's got the crown. Not content but
context. So, what is with context?
In a
lot of English programs, people learn to study
endless rules. And they learn those rules
out of context. And of course, the result is not very surprising.
So what
if we could learn language in a way that is based on experience.
Wouldn't that be great?
Kind of the way a young child learns to speak. The way an
immigrant learns a new language. I know a lot about this
because my family is not from the United States. And I've watched how they struggled.
But I've also watched how they learned things in context.
So what if students could learn language
in context. So they would learn to apply the rules,
pronounce correctly, grow vocabulary,
naturally. But most importantly, they would be able to speak English
confidently in real situations. Does that mean
without making mistakes? No, it doesn't mean without making mistakes.
We all make mistakes. As we learn more, we make less mistakes.
But making mistakes is part of being human.
So don't be so afraid to make mistakes.
And don't be so crazy about not knowing all the rules. Your main concern should be
to be fluent and to speak well
in a context. And that's what we do here.
The Story Method: Story
Time. Objective. Recognition
and You. And of course, the nice thing about this
is that it's adapted to each individual student.
Step number one
is called the Story. We need to understand what's going on, what the
story is all about
in a lesson. It doesn't matter if it's business English, travel English;
or maybe you want to have conversational English, where in each different class
we'll focus on a topic.
Whatever it is, each class, each
unit of learning has to have a story behind it. Storytelling is powerful
and I teach the topic in a story
kind of way because when you think you think of situations
in terms of a story, you remember them more. Storytelling
is part of who we are as human beings. Storytelling has been with us for
hundreds, thousands of
years of human history. It's a natural form of human communication.
We naturally tend - when we explain something that happened -
to tell it in the way of a story. The next thing that is very important
is time. When we communicate in a new language,
it's super important to know: Are we talking about the past?
Are we in the present? Or are we talking about the future? Right?
Whatever the context of the day is, whatever the lesson of the day is,
we'll work through the time in that context.
It's very important for students to know the objective of the
lesson. So before we start, we define what the story is about.
We define the different times we're going to be dealing with.
And next, we understand, what the objective is. What are we trying to achieve
learn? So that you can recognize that word,
that expression, that sound, that vocabulary
when somebody else produces it.
Recognition, right? It's like those movies where
the witness of a crime is called by
the police to recognize the criminal.
You know.. the guy that robbed the bank. --"No, it's not that one. He's got a beard"
-"That's the one!"- So that's what you've got to do. You've got to be able to
recognize the language structure
that you know used by somebody else. You are a part of this story.
In fact, you are the protagonist.This is how
you relate to the story, to the context we're learning about.
It's how you relate to the time and if you understand it; and if you can
use it. It's how you relate to the objectives. They have to be
your objectives. You have to embrace them. You have to "own" the language, so that you can
recognize it when you hear it. And you
really have to make this course, this lesson
part of your life, part of your journey.
The most important thing for me as teacher; and honestly,
the most important thing for you should be to be able to use this uses
beyond the classroom in real situations. I'm your coach here too. I'm here to provide
guidance
support and encouragement. If you want to know more about it, send me a message, and we can
talk in a 30-minute hangout. So thanks so much for your time
and I look forward to meeting you.