The Story Behind the Story — Narrative in Teaching
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The Story Behind the Story — Narrative in Teaching
My daughter was born during a period when I was also fighting an institution. I couldn’t tell anyone. But I could use that experience in class — in a graded story, without the details — to teach narrative tenses. A father waiting. A hospital room. What happened next? The students leaned in. Context they could feel is context that teaches.
Using narrative in the ELT classroom:
Narrative texts are ideal for teaching:
– Past tenses: past simple, past continuous, past perfect
– Discourse markers: then, after that, meanwhile, eventually, suddenly
– Listening/reading skills: predicting, sequencing, inferring
– Speaking: anecdote telling, ‘tell me a time when…’
Background (past continuous): The doctor was checking the monitors…
Main event (past simple): …when suddenly the alarm went off.
Earlier event (past perfect): Nobody had expected this.
Narrative tenses
1. She ___ (read) when the phone ___ (ring). was reading / rang — past continuous for background, past simple for the interruption
2. When I arrived, the others ___ already ___ (leave). had already left — past perfect for the earlier event
3. What discourse marker shows surprise/sudden change? Suddenly — ‘Suddenly, the door opened.’
Independent project; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.
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