DU Participates in the 9th International English Language Teaching Conference at Sultan Qaboos University

“Using Storytelling in Teaching Four Language Skills: Learning Opportunities” was the paper that Mr. Faisal Al Shamali, instructor at DU, presented at the conference. The annual event was organized by the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University. The theme of the conference this year was "Responding to Challenges in Curriculum Assessment and Independent Learning". The conference was marked by heavy turnout of participants from various parts of the Sultanate in addition to the presence of eminent invited speakers from various countries. Mr. Al Shamali’s paper discussed how the use of storytelling can benefit the process of learning and teaching English language. “Storytelling is a skill that can be effectively directed to improve other skills, such as writing, grammar, listening and speaking”, Mr. Al Shamali said. In his paper, Faisal Al Shamali defined what storytelling is and explained why we use storytelling in the ELT classroom and in what ways we can exploit using storytelling. He concluded his paper: “Storytelling serves many functions; it will always be a cornerstone of teaching. It is the task of a teacher to find out how to use it effectively and skillfully, and develop student’s competence.  A teacher can excel and train his/her students to be good story-tellers using good breath control, careful enunciation, appropriate gestures effective pauses and other speech techniques that make a good speaker.”