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the canadian journal for the study of adult education
cjsae
rcééa
la revue canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes
Volume 30 Issue 2
e Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education/
La revue canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes
Editor‑in‑Chief: Nancy Taber
Special Edition Editors: Shauna Butterwick and Carole Roy
www.cjsae‑rceea.ca
30,2 August/août 2018, 81–90
ISSN1925‑993X (online)
© Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education/
L’Association canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes
www.casae‑aceea.ca
“I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”: STORYTELLING
AND ITS ROLE IN SENIORS’ LANGUAGE LEARNING
Natalia Balyasnikova and Spring Gillard
Balyasnikova/Gillard, “I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”
e Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education/
La revue canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes
30,2 August/août 2018, 81–90
ISSN1925‑993X (online)
© Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education/
L’Association canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes
“I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”: STORYTELLING AND
ITS ROLE IN SENIORS’ LANGUAGE LEARNING
“I would like to write a story about myself and improve my English. at is very important.
I love to write my story.”
—Storytelling class participant
Natalia Balyasnikova
University of British Columbia
Spring Gillard
University of British Columbia
Abstract
is article examines the role of storytelling as an arts‑based educational approach
in an older‑adult immigrant language‑learning program. As a special group within
the adult language‑learner population, immigrant seniors benet from educational
strategies that emphasize recognition of life experience over knowledge accumulation,
which is a common goal of more traditional educational approaches. We present a
small study of a storytelling class held within the English Conversation Program at
the University of British Columbia Learning Exchange. Based on compelling results,
we argue that storytelling is a powerful strategy that not only facilitates language
learning, but creates a safe, inclusive learning community.
Résumé
Le présent article se penche sur le rôle du conte comme approche pédagogique axée sur
les arts dans le cadre d’un programme d’apprentissage de langue pour les personnes
immigrantes d’âge mûr. Les personnes immigrantes aînées, un segment particulier de
la population de personnes apprenantes adultes, bénécient de stratégies pédagogiques
qui mettent l’accent sur le vécu plutôt que sur l’accumulation des connaissances, cette
dernière étant un des objectifs courants d’approches pédagogiques plus traditionnelles.
Nous présentons une petite étude d’un cours sur le conte oert dans le cadre du
programme de conversation anglaise à la University of British Columbia Learning
Exchange. Selon les résultats convaincants, nous soutenons que le conte constitue une
stratégie puissante qui non seulement facilite l’apprentissage de la langue, mais qui
crée aussi une communauté d’apprentissage sécuritaire et inclusive.
82 Balyasnikova/Gillard, “I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”
e Storytellers
At the time of the project’s birth, we—the authors of this paper—were at dierent stages
of our pedagogical careers. Natalia was completing her dissertation research and Spring
was working as the program coordinator for the English Conversation Program (ECP) at
the Learning Exchange, a community‑engagement initiative of the University of British
Columbia (UBC). Both of us are deeply devoted to adult education as a form of community
development. We are particularly drawn to arts‑based programming, having experienced
and witnessed its power to enhance learning. When we met at the UBC Learning Exchange,
our creative interests merged and we decided to start a Seniors Storytelling Club (SC). SC
is situated within Seniors rive, an arts‑based language‑learning program for seniors who
make up more than half of the learners in the ECP.
e data that we share in this article come from two complementary data sets. e rst
set was generated through Natalia’s doctoral study, approved by the UBC Ethics Board. e
data include the description of the curriculum and development of the classes, as well as
interviews regarding seniors’ language‑learning experiences. e second data set comes
from an ongoing internal evaluation of the Seniors rive program, which was carried out
concurrently with Natalia’s research. At the beginning of the term, each class member within
Seniors rive, including SC learners, completed intake surveys to establish a foundational
understanding of what drew them to the class and what they hoped to learn. Other data
included the registration database, attendance sheets, class observations, and a facilitator
journal. At the end of the term, a focus group was held during which learners collectively
identied the most signicant benets and challenges they had experienced. is internal
program evaluation did not require approval by an ethics board as it adheres to its own
formal ethical standards.1
e strength of combining two s ources of data in this article is that we are able to provide a
more holistic overview of the program. Natalia was using one lens for her dissertation study,
and the evaluation specialist was using another. While there was some overlap, there were
also distinct ndings. For example, the Seniors rive evaluation data included motivations
for participating in the class. By sharing our project from these two perspectives, including
learners’ feedback regarding its impact, we hope to inspire readers to try out new forms of
teaching and working with older‑adult language learners.
Where Our Story Takes Place
is story began in 2014 when we connected through the ECP at the UBC Learning
Exchange. Established in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1999, the unit builds
relationships between the university and the diverse inner‑city community. At the UBC
Learning Exchange, community members, students, faculty, and sta work collaboratively
to exchange knowledge and engage in the critical issues facing communities today (Towle
& Leahy, 2016). rough formal and informal discussions with seniors attending the ECP,
we came to understand that participants were interested in both language learning and
improving their well‑being.
1 In accordance with Article 2.5 of the Tri‑Council Policy Statement, the evaluation adheres to
ethical standards for program evaluation outlined by the Joint Committee on Standards for
Educational Evaluation.
83CJSAE/RCÉÉA 30, August/août 2018
In February 2014, the ECP held a Seniors’ Fair, which brought together seniors and
students to discuss how English language learning could better meet the needs of seniors.
Feedback from this event indicated a strong interest in a wide range of arts‑based learning
activities. With this knowledge and building on the existing curricula, the Seniors rive
program was born. e program, funded by the Carraresi Foundation, aims to increase
social capital among seniors in the inner city, in addition to improving English language
skills, thereby improving their health and well‑being.
Today, Seniors rive comprises a set of informal senior‑focused English language
classes that fall under the headings of the arts, health literacy, and digital literacy. Our
current core arts‑based programming includes a drama club, choir, dance class, storytelling,
and drop‑in karaoke. e number and type of activities oered each term depend on the
interest of seniors, the availability and talents of the facilitators, and the capacity of the
team, which consists of the program coordinator and two student support sta.
What We Know from the Literature
is project was grounded in two bodies of theory and research: principles of educational
gerontology and storytelling as an arts‑based approach to learning. We see storytelling as
a unique pedagogical opportunity and a tool of collaborative language learning within the
older‑adult classroom. For the purposes of this article, we use story as an encompassing term
to describe any “narration of personal experience” (Tyler, 2009, p. 138) that is “conveyed
orally and directly, face‑to‑face by a teller to listeners in a facilitated forum” (p. 138).
First, research in the eld of educational gerontology shows that in addition to the desire
to learn new things, older adults are interested in socializing and developing peer support
networks in community‑based settings (Chené, 1991; Clark, Heller, Rafman, & Walker,
1997; Duay & Bryan, 2008; Kim & Merriam, 2010). Connection with others through
informal learning is highlighted to emphasize that seniors tend to rely on peers to overcome
the sense of being on the periphery due to their age. As Golding (2011) argued, socially
situated informal learning with peers results in “particularly therapeutic” (p. 117) outcomes
for seniors. us, learning in social settings plays an important role in the lives of older
adults, as it encourages them to stay more connected with their peers and communities.
Second, storytelling is one of several arts‑based learning approaches used by educators to
foster embodied learning. Following Freiler (2008), we dene embodied learning as “a way
to construct knowledge through direct engagement in bodily experiences and inhabiting
one’s body through a felt sense of being in‑the‑world” (p. 40). In addition to storytelling,
Butterwick and Lawrence (2009) included theatre, photography, weaving, quilt making,
and “drawing visual metaphors” (p. 35) as embodied arts‑based approaches to learning.
ey dened storytelling as “a kind of shapeshiing or changing the form of ourselves, our
emotions, our thoughts, our worldviews, and our relationship to others, toward a more just
society” (p. 35). Storytelling, as a pedagogical approach, is widespread in its application
across educational contexts. For example, in language learning it is a well‑established tool
of student engagement (Freeman, Freeman, & Mercuri, 2002) and a pedagogical technique
(Ko, Schallert, & Walters, 2003). In socially sensitive contexts, it is a vehicle for addressing
past trauma (Kingston, 2006) and building learners’ resilience (Geres, 2016). Reaching
beyond the classroom walls, storytelling has applications in many domains, such as learning
about sustainability through tours (Gillard, 2016).
84 Balyasnikova/Gillard, “I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”
e act of storytelling engages learners through multiple senses, memories, connections,
and emotions. Indeed, storytelling is a multifaceted learning tool and “a way to make sense
of our own experience and to communicate that experience to others” (Lawrence & Paige,
2016). Andrews (2007) dened the importance of such narrative experience the following
way: “Stories are not only the way in which we come to ascribe signicance to experiences…
but they are one of the primary means through which we constitute our very selves…we
become who we are through telling stories about our lives and living the stories we tell” (pp.
77–78). e sense making happens retrospectively as we synthesize and organize the story
for our audience (Tyler, 2007).
Butterwick and Lawrence (2009) wrote that “the arts are a way to communicate our
stories in ways that connect with others” (p. 35). e listener plays a vital role too, not only
as a respectful, engaged audience member, but as someone who may connect deeply with
the story and come to a new personal understanding through listening (Lawrence & Paige,
2016). Storytelling also “requires attention and slowing down” (Tyler, 2009, p. 137) and so
becomes an eective language‑learning tool for seniors who require a slower pace for their
language learning and ample repetition.
Jensen (2005) added emotion as “an important learning variable” (p. 68) to this
pedagogical approach and argued that this “aective side of learning is the critical interplay
between how we feel, act, and think” (p. 68). Emotions are distributed through many areas
of the brain and “drive attention, create meaning, and have their own memory pathways”
(LeDoux as cited in Jensen, 2005, p. 69). When the emotions are engaged, deeper learning
occurs. Storytelling engages emotions, particularly when a true story is being told (Jensen,
2005). e act of storytelling can be intimidating, especially for those without extensive
experience in storytelling, doubly so when the story is not told in your rst language. Fear,
while considered a negative emotion, may trigger the ght‑or‑ight response and actually
drive the experience and therefore the learning deeper (Jensen, 2005). To alleviate some of
the fear, Kuyvenhoven (2009) suggested taking time to understand the circumstances of the
teller and the listener working together. Storytelling is a shared experience.
How We Told Our Stories
When the rst announcements about the newly formed SC were distributed among the
patrons of the ECP, there was signicant interest in this initiative. Aer the research
purposes were claried and consent forms distributed, both in English and rst languages
of the learners, 10 seniors enrolled. e group was heterogeneous: ve men and ve women,
ranging from 61 to 86 years old, who have lived in Canada for a variety of time periods.
e most recent immigrant arrived in Canada in the early 2000s, and some have lived
here for over 30 years. Five learners originally emigrated from China, two from Vietnam,
two from Taiwan, and one from Iran. e majority of the participants heard about the
class from the facilitator or the program sta, while 25% heard through a friend. e top
reasons for attending the class were to improve English skills (78%); because they liked the
content/teacher (33%); and to improve their quality of life (22%).2 None of the participants
expressed particular interest in storytelling as an art form or expected that their stories
would be interesting for others.
2 Participants were able to select more than one category.
85CJSAE/RCÉÉA 30, August/août 2018
e pedagogical goal of the 10‑week SC was to bring together language practice,
in‑class conversation, and writing activities that would provide scaolding for storytelling.
SC lessons were delivered through small group discussions, pair sharing, and discussions
of stories. We met once a week for a 75‑minute class to write, read, and share stories. In
addition, learners and SC facilitators spent time reecting on the value of storytelling in their
lives (see Table 1 for the class outline). e choice of storytelling activities was grounded
in Formosa’s (2002) arguments to consider topics of interest to older adults. In addition,
we followed age‑specic considerations for curriculum planning for older‑adult language
learners (Ramírez Gómez, 2016), such as using real‑world materials, peer teaching, and
recognition of life experience through life review.
Table 1: Class Activities
Class Discussion Prompts
1 Stories, stories, stories Fairy tale
2 Stories we tell Childhood memory
3 Story outline My learning journey
4 One or many stories? Coming to Canada
5 Life story Experiences with English
6 Power of a story Community
7 Passing stories on Family
8 Living stories Ways of belonging
9 A picture tells a story Places of the world
10 Sharing stories Plans
As an English language class, SC was intended to enhance language learning, develop
seniors’ language uency, and increase their speaking condence. Because of this,
storytelling activities took centre stage in the classroom. At the same time and following the
principles of lifelong learning for older adults (Boulton‑Lewis, 2010; Cusack, 1995; Duay &
Bryan, 2008), the learners were encouraged to draw on their life experiences, allowing them
to shape the lesson content. We focused on shared life experiences such as immigration
and language learning, as well as on unique life experiences such as belonging to a cultural
community, childhood memories, and so on.
e class, led by two facilitators, began with an activity about storytelling and outlined
the structure and purpose of dierent types of stories. At the initial stages, we felt that it
was important to spend considerable time discussing the importance of storytelling and
the forms this practice can take, including short stories, anecdotes, fairy tales, and visual
storytelling. Aer the storytelling activity, participants wrote and shared their own stories
based on a prompt. Aer each session, participants were given a new prompt to ponder at
home. For example, prompts included “tell me a story about your immigration experience”
or “tell me about your rst day in Canada.”
86 Balyasnikova/Gillard, “I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”
e learners responded favourably to the lesson structure and enjoyed having prompts
for discussion and storytelling. Some of the learners used these prompts to prepare for the
next week’s class, while others came up with their own topics and themes for storytelling.
Some learners especially beneted from being able to practise speaking skills in class
and writing skills at home while preparing for the next class. Another positive aspect of
the structure was the smaller class size, as it gave everyone an opportunity to talk and
share their stories in the comfort of a small, supportive group setting. By allocating time
to process information and compose narratives, the SC facilitated self‑directed learning
(Cusack, 1995; Roberson & Merriam, 2005), which recognizes seniors’ ownership of their
own learning process.
While the learners were enthusiastic to begin the class, the storytelling practice started
o slowly. At rst, participants were reluctant to share their stories, unsure that they were
worth telling. Moreover, many of them were used to traditional classroom practices where
the teacher leads the activity, occasionally breaking into pair or small group work. Gradually,
the learners began to gain condence. As they got more comfortable with storytelling,
stories took shape, transforming the classroom into a nourishing community space. Two
learners were inspired to write their own memoirs and share them in class.
One of the surprising turns in the class was that learners started bringing up stories
seemingly unrelated to the pre‑planned curriculum. For example, one learner shared a
story about medicinal herbs in class. is story sparked discussions about the importance of
urban gardening in the lives of seniors, who have limited access to land. On many occasions,
as each person shared their story, the facilitators could see how it resonated with the rest
of the group. is collective energy permeated the class, at times moving the listeners to
tears when we shared stories of loss or setting o heated exchanges when we reected on
ethnicity and nation building. As Lawrence and Paige (2016) pointed out, “Sharing our
stories in dialogue with others helps us to understand the concepts at a deeper level” (p.
67). Stories also beget stories, with one person’s story setting o another person’s in a kind
of snowball storying eect. e experience of sharing stories publicly challenged us all “to
reconsider the meaning of our experiences” (Butterwick & Lawrence, 2009, p. 36).
As the class was coming to an end, the stories written by the seniors were published in
an illustrated booklet (Figure 1). Gaining permission was an important part of the process,
given that learners were the ones who needed to formally consent to have their story
printed and shared beyond the classroom. Having their work “published” helped to build
their condence as storytellers. Each participant received a copy of the book as a keepsake
of the time spent together. is small book served as an important artifact for the SC pilot
project, a memento for the learners, and acknowledgement of the value of their stories.
What We Learned from is Storytelling Experience
Learners’ evaluations of the storytelling language class speak to the potential of arts‑based
approaches when working with seniors who might feel uncomfortable in traditional
language‑learning settings. To date, we have found that the learners in the SC class as well as
the other arts‑based seniors’ classes in Seniors rive increase their social connections, gain
condence, and become more involved in other educational oerings of the UBC Learning
Exchange.
87CJSAE/RCÉÉA 30, August/août 2018
Figure 1. is image is an illustration created by one of the learners for the collection of
stories produced in the Seniors Storytelling Club.
Connecting through Dierence
Most of our learners did not have wide established social networks. Over 10 weeks, the
members of SC grew closer as learners. e class became a space for making new friends
across nationalities and age groups and building new social connections beyond the
classroom. e SC fullled one of the desired outcomes of the Seniors rive program,
as illustrated by this quote: “We should communicate with people. Other people all over
the world. Chinese, Taiwanese, every people are here. We should know their culture, their
habit. But if we don’t that’s not good. at’s not good.”
While unorthodox conversation classes such as personal storytelling, singing, and drama
clubs require a certain level of vulnerability, “such vulnerability and shared experience
deepens relational connections and builds trust” (UBC Learning Exchange, 2016a, 2016b).
In our classroom, the cultural diversity at times presented challenges—for example, when
navigating sensitive social topics (e.g. China–Taiwan relations). However, storytelling,
particularly stories of “dierence” (Lawrence & Paige, 2016; Tyler, 2007), was eective in
promoting empathy and understanding across cultures. Social connections, so desired
by our participants, work to combat loneliness among seniors while also increasing their
general well‑being (Scheer et al., 2010). Many of the SC participants have maintained the
friendships started in the classroom.
Increase in Language Condence
As mentioned previously, SC was appreciative of seniors’ own life experiences. is explicit
stance encouraged seniors to speak more and disregard minor language issues in favour
of communicating their message, as illustrated by one learner: “Because I have many
experience, I have many story, I like speaking, I enjoy speaking. So, I can feel very oh—
speak more, oh more happy, more comfortable.”
As the quote suggests, storytelling as a pedagogical practice not only facilitates language
learning itself, but also adds an element of well‑being to the lessons. When asked about
88 Balyasnikova/Gillard, “I LOVE TO WRITE MY STORY”
the impact of lower language prociency on their lives, one of the participants answered,
“When we can’t speak English we become upset, we become depressed.” is response
reects the general sentiment of the group at the beginning of the project. While we did not
formally test for language development, learners did self‑report improved condence in
their language abilities. Several participants shared that SC empowered them to tell their life
stories to others. In addition, many learners noted recalling words and phrases more easily,
so found speaking to other English language speakers less intimidating. Overall, there was
a lot of appreciation for the SC in terms of being a place where people felt comfortable and
more condent speaking English.
For some learners, SC was one of the few places where they could practise speaking
English, as they live in isolated or monolingual communities. For example, one learner
explained their experience as a “lucky” opportunity to meet peers from diverse language
communities: “I am very happy and lucky to join this class, I learned a lot from my
instructor. I met many people from dierent countries and dierent language.” us, for
senior learners, storytelling practice created a safe space where they could take time to
overcome perceived barriers in communication. In contrast to the everyday struggles with
speaking English to strangers, by practising English in the company of peers—through pair
work and small group sharing of stories—learners’ condence in their English language
ability grew.
Increase in Active Participation
Many senior‑oriented programs aim to foster active mindsets and encourage learners
to reinvent themselves or become leaders in their communities (Boulton‑Lewis, 2010;
Cruikshank, 2003; Cusack, 1995). We observed a similar eect aer SC came to its
conclusion.
One of the learners noted, “I want to try here one or two more years, aer that my
English is very good I want to be a facilitator to help people, my people. I teach you English!”
Aer participating in the SC, some of the participants expanded their participation at the
UBC Learning Exchange. Some enrolled in other program activities, attended social events,
volunteered within their communities and within the unit, and invited others to join their
activities.
In summary, storytelling allowed for multifaceted outcomes of language learning within
this group of seniors. Our participants acknowledged the dierence in the way they and
their experiences were valued in SC. Some learners went as far as suggesting that the class
model should be replicated in other adult learning centres in Vancouver. As the seniors’
program keeps growing and developing, we nd that older‑adult language education
framed as a creative practice based on storytelling has the potential to increase learners’
language prociency and contribute to community building.
Story Endings Are Beginnings
e story of the SC started with a fortuitous coming together of ideas and grew into an
inspiration for new projects and a belief that storytelling is a powerful tool to address
complex issues. Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of creating and spreading knowledge.
Immigrant seniors harbour myriad experiences, memories, and testimonies. Unfortunately,
traditional language classes do not always ma ke use of these rich narratives. By foregrounding
89CJSAE/RCÉÉA 30, August/août 2018
individual life story and allowing storytellers to create social connections in the classroom,
SC became a truly unique learning experience for both the seniors and us.
Storytelling creates a unique space within the classroom. As language educators, we
came to see storytelling as a way not only for seniors to practise language at their preferred
pace, but also to celebrate the experiences that these learners bring to the class. As the
facilitator, Natalia practised gratitude and humbleness with the seniors who shared their
life stories with her, and she felt free to express her own feelings and emotions in a group of
people who knew how it feels to lose a friend, to say goodbye to your loved ones, or to leave
home. As the program coordinator, Spring became committed to creating more spaces for
storytelling at the UBC Learning Exchange.
Seniors need educational practices that allow them to draw on their own life experiences
during the learning process. Storytelling ts this requirement perfectly. It is an emotional
process in which the storyteller must be focused and fully present to engage others. We
hope that the theoretical framings and practices described in this article will inspire our
colleagues to recognize seniors as storytellers and to create opportunities for them to
take charge and grow as agents of their own learning. As for us, we have begun another
storytelling class, much to our learners’ delight!
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