Story-telling can help you develop powerful language skills.

One of the best ways to train your mind to learn anything is to make a story out of it. Thousands of years ago, tribes would gather around fires to share the myths of their gods, natural events, and ancestors. Today we gather to watch stories on large screens.

Story-telling has been a part of every culture throughout human history.

When we converse with friends, we are essentially discussing stories. You can even see what you call your ‘self’ as the story you have been telling since your birth. Stories are everywhere. We see them on the nightly news and in newspapers. We see them on the street as people go about their lives. We even live in them.

The mind is built for narrative. When you speak, your mind is looking for the right words to put in the right order to get your point across. With languages you know well, you can do this easily, almost without thinking.

But when you are learning a language, your mind has a hard time coming up with the right vocabulary and then putting the words in the right place. This is what makes learning a language difficult. The more structure there is in what you have to say, the quicker your mind can find the right words and their proper spots.

When you talk casually, there is often little structure and you have to ‘go with the flow’, so to speak. Giving your mind the ability to develop structure when you are speaking is a skill that has to be developed. And the best way to develop a skill is to practice it.

Keeping a diary can help your story-telling, which can help your English.

Come up with stories, real or otherwise, and tell others. Write down stories. Start keeping a diary in English. The more you practice structuring your thoughts, the better you will become at finding the right words and putting them in the right order (i.e. speaking English). And who knows, you might find out that you are a gifted storyteller.

Want more learning tips? Visit our Language Learning Tip blog.

About the Author

Dagmawi is a man of many hats. He was written web content, as a journalist and creatively. An engineer by training, he also has experience with marketing and business development. But travel and writing are his two passions and he is always on the search for greater opportunities to express himself through the written word. Follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/dgyntiso.