Chirp Chirp! Share a Story with Storybird!

I wrote my first fairy tale, Doolydoo in the Underground Wonderland, for my future adult L2 students on the Storybird. It is a weird but compelling story that Doolydoo goes through in the underground wonderland! It was a fun experience that makes me feel like I am a real writer. However, I did not complete the whole story because I wanted to give my students a chance to finish the story the way they want as a kind of storytelling activity. I am looking forward to a wide range of interesting endings my future students will make.

Storybird is full of resources. Classroom management tools, the ability to issue assignments and a library of creative story for students are all at my fingertips here. I as a teacher can use Storybird for the longitudinal examination of student progress in the classroom via the student portfolio application. Storybird will also offer aspiring writers a communal hub for expressing their creativity and gaining valuable feedback from a cyber audience. In addition, Storybird can be used for homework, book reports, and research projects. It could bridge any distance gap through the use of distance learning tools. It is cool, isn't it?! 

Why not become a Digital Storyteller?

We all make our own stories every moment, and they have as many shapes as our different faces. It is quite exciting to share them with many others out there. Sophisticated 'Digital Storytelling' could lead us to the world of creative communication.

[http://www.socialbrite.org]

What is Digital Storytelling? 

Digital Storytelling is "the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component(quoted from 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling)." 

In the process of creating a digital story,as mentioned in 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling, people/learners can develop a wide array of skills including choosing appropriate topics, reflecting on their experiences and lives, expressing themselves with their own words or in their own voices,and increasing their digital technology and media literacy.

[http://edudemic.com]

In this regard, Digital Storytelling provides people/learners with educational benefits as well as with excitement.

How to use Digital Storytelling for L2 Teaching?

According to The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, today "in the field of education, teachers and their students, from early childhood classrooms through graduate school, are using digital storytelling in many different content areas and across a wide range of grade levels." 

Given its popularity, Digital Storytelling is considered an efficient and effective tool to keep EFL/ESL learners engaged in language learning tasks. At this point, the most important thing is how to teach L2 learners using Digital Storytelling.  

In accordance with the following lesson objectives, I will encourage my future students to create their own stories using digital technology in my future classroom.

Students will be able to 

1. create their own stories anytime anywhere. Without limitation of time and space, they will access the digital storytelling online site. It will help them work on at a more secure and relaxed atmosphere. 
2. write their own scripts freely. They will be free from a writing format and the number of pages required. This will make them more creative and expressive storytellers.
3. increase integrated language skills (i.e. reading, listening, writing, and speaking) simultaneously. They will be asked to read articles, listen to audio materials, or watch video clips related to the topics they choose, and then write their own scripts before telling their stories. Through these activities, they will develop all language skills of their reading, listening, writing, and speaking. 

[http://www.anecdote.com]

In conclusion, I believe that Digital Storytelling will be a great tool or strategy to improve L2 learners in language learning contexts if I encourage students to deploy it appropriately in line with their level of language ability and the topics they choose.