IH Storytelling Series

We are very pleased to present a series of three Live Online Workshops (LOWs) in spring 2019 around the topic of Storytelling.  

The next and last workshop will be delivered by Sarah Mount, Director and co-founder of TransformELT, on Thursday 23rd May at 13.00 BST. She will be talking about brand storytelling and how you can create a compelling, effective story about your business.

The previous two workshops came from Beverly Whittall, a teacher with 25 years' experience and part of the academic management team at IH Braga, and Diana England, a teacher and teacher developer since 1981 and co-owner and Director of Studies of IH Torres Vedras and Lisbon. All sessions will be made available for IH members at the end of May.

The webinars will be hosted on Adobe Connect here >>

Please see here for instructions of how to join and take part in these online workshops. Recordings will be made available afterwards for IH members. 

Thursday 23rd May at 13.00 BST  – Sarah Mount: Who Am I? Building Effective Brand Storytelling

Telling stories is fundamental to human existence – and their emotional impact can be significant. Creating a brand story is not simply about standing out and getting noticed. It’s about building something that people care about and want to buy into.

In this session we will look at how to create a compelling ‘Brand Story’ for your institution. Your brand story is the narrative that surrounds your business and can be a powerful tool. If done effectively, it demonstrates not only how you do business, but why you're there in the first place.

Bio: Sarah has 30 years’ experience in business development and international sales and marketing. Currently Director and Co-founder of TransformELT, she has been in ELT for 18 years, having held the previous role’s of Marketing and Business Development Director. She holds a Diploma in ELT Management. In the field of global education management, her current areas of interest include Project Management, Educational Policy development, organisational culture and change management. As a former school governor and project manager on an Erasmus Plus project, she also has a particular interest in school development planning. Sarah has worked in China and Italy and has managed projects in Algeria, Ethiopia, Sengegal/Cote D’Iviore, Sri Lanka and France. In addition, Sarah has lectured both in the UK and internationally on reader development and is a member of Eaquals and on sits on the IATEFL Conference Committee. Sarah is an avid reader, enjoys international travel and has an unhealthy interesting in curios and curiosities.

Tuesday 26th March at 12.00 GMT – Diana England: That reminds me of the time when… Helping students become better storytellers

In this webinar, we shall look at some discoursal features of effective storytelling, working from short news stories and personal anecdotes. We’ll then see how these texts and the process of analysis can be used to help learners tell their own engaging stories in English.

Bio: Diana has been a teacher and teacher developer since 1981 and is co-owner and Director of Studies of the two teaching and training centres in International House Torres Vedras and Lisbon in Portugal. As well as still loving teaching, she enjoys writing and delivering various methodology courses, both for International House World Organisation and primary and secondary school teachers, and giving webinars, seminars and plenary sessions at various ELT conferences and events.

Wednesday 20th March at 14.00 GMT – Beverly Whittall: Telling Tales in the Language Classroom

‘Whatever your mother tongue, every human being speaks Story as a second language.’

(Dan Yashinsky, Suddenly They Heard Footsteps)

Stories told eye to eye, mind to mind and heart to heart engage us, connect us and fire our imaginations. In this session, on World Storytelling Day, we’ll take a look at how to bring oral storytelling into the classroom , from choosing and learning our stories to getting our students of all ages engaging with them and developing their own storytelling skills. And along the way, a few tales will definitely be told!

Bio: I have been a teacher for over 25 years, and part of the academic management team at IH Braga in Portugal since 2003. As well as teaching, I am passionate about all things story. I had the opportunity to participate in a storyteller training course a few years ago, and since then I have enjoyed bringing more storytelling and story listening into the classroom with students of all ages.