ELL+and+Digital+Storytelling

**ELL and ESL - Digital Storytelling**
Digital Storytelling by Kelly (Hum) Evans

Digital Storytelling is storytelling that can contain a mixture of computer based images, text, video clips, music, or recorded audio narration. Through this process, ESL/ELL students are able to improve their English language skills as well as take away and implement important 21st Century skills. When done correctly, Digital Storytelling projects can help increase motivation, creativity, and overall achievement in the language classroom.

To be successful in Digital Storytelling, students must have a solid foundation in the construction of a story. For example, it should have an interesting beginning, problem, solution, and ending. It is important to emphasize that the technology students choose to use should enhance the story they wish to tell. Various examples should be modeled to students so that they can see what the end result will look like. As they begin the writing phase, a teacher can add another layer of language skills through collaborative peer editing on-line and in class through writing groups. If students have limited English language skills, then these types of projects can also be done with a partner or in a small group setting.

The following are tools that students can use for Digital Storytelling: iMovie or Windows Movie Maker – teacher and students can script, record and edit a video [|www.collaborizeclassroom.com/discovery.edu] - students can do peer editing on-line in class or home [|www.blabberize.com] - a fun way for students to have their story narrated [|www.storyjumper.com] - Digital Storytelling sharing and publishing tool

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Students who are learning or improving their English language skill can benefit from graphics, hearing the language, but most of all from finding meaning in the words they hear or see. Digital storytelling can help students to use their skills to become better not only with learning the language, but also with communication and collaboration. There are many ways to use Digital Storytelling as a tool to enhance student learning. As it is stated above students can use this to tell a story that holds all of the story elements in detail. The first thing that needs to be done is for teachers to make digital stories to share with the class. After students listen and watch the story they will need to answer questions and comment on the story.=====

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Once students are understanding the gist of this then the teacher needs to involve the class in the Digital Storytelling, so that everyone can understand the process of making a digital story. It is often hard for students learning a new language to get multi-step directions. Giving students a little responisbility at a time and getting a strong foundation for the best way to tell a story will assist these students.=====

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Photostory- Photostory is a free program that is user friendly. The teacher and students can add pictures, PowerPoint slides, and snapshots of drawings to the story by simply clicking import photos. Once the pictures are added in the teacher/students can record their voice to tell the story on each slide.=====

[|www.voicethread.com] - One great thing about Voicethread is the many things that can be done with it. When creating a Voicethread picutures can be added, then the creator can go back and comment on the photos to tell the story. The best thing about this is that students can answer questions and comment on each story through voicethread. If students are having trouble writing or with comprehension, this is a great way to help them communicate and interact with the story.

[|www.voki.com]- this is a fun way to have characters present a story that the student has written. Students can type in their story or record it.

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Digital Stories and ELL/ESL: beginner level
Added by Leah Rybak - Fall, 2016

Using digital storytelling is a powerful means to tell a story because of the many layers of media in which the story is told. These many layers, however, can be confusing and perhaps even distracting to ELLs. I have seen this firsthand. Students often love to focus on the music they will include with their stories. Perhaps a beginning level entry point should be used. In Larry Ferlazzo’s article on Edutopia, he suggests that using photos with ELLs is an extremely effective tool in helping them learn the English language. Not only is “a picture worth a thousand words,” but that one picture can help English-Language Learners learn those “thousand words” and also “how to use them.” The teacher would have already worked with students in small groups using what Ferlazzo titles the “Picture Word Induction Model” or PWIM. In this process, students are shown a picture and asked to brainstorm a certain amount of words that describe the picture. “Cloze” activities are completed, paragraphs are constructed, and then a title is created. Once students are familiar with this technique, the teacher can then create the first part of the digital story for the students by inserting carefully chosen images (Ferlazzo includes a link to “best online sources for images”) into the timeline and then asking the students to complete a similar process like that of the PWIM. The only difference will be that, after the brainstorming of the descriptive words, the students will then compose a story that goes with the pictures. Brainstorming can be done whole group, and the rest of the task can be done individually or in small groups. Then they can “narrate” the “story” to match it with the pictures and insert their audio into the timeline with the picture. It will be interesting to see the differences and similarities in their stories based on their personal experiences and how the pictures are interpreted.

Resources: @http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ell-engagment-using-photos - Larry Ferlazzo's article @http://search.creativecommons.org/ - A great place to search for some images