Storyweavers: Holistic Education for ESL/EFL Learners

Abstract

In an L2 classroom that is taught from heart to heart, story takes on a different role than in the classroom that is primarily about the conveying of information and the development of linguistic skills. In the latter classroom, stories have been about reading comprehension and the acquisition of new vocabulary. In a classroom where the teacher recognizes education as the drawing forth of the individual and the shaping of a community acting on the world, story assumes a central role. In this article the author explores the realm of story in such a classroom and shares many of her own stories. When story is the medium of learning rather than just the end thereof, we come to see that the learners' real needs are much greater than vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. We also see that in such a classroom, community emerges.