The Story Road to Literacy

Citation

Ellis‐Barrett, L. (2007), "The Story Road to Literacy", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 7, pp. 642-643. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710776132

Teaching children to be literate is a challenge faced by all teachers. There have been many theses written on methods for achieving this, but Roth's The Story Road to Literacy provides a refreshingly original and adaptable idea. Roth works as an advisor to teachers and her specialism is improving levels of literacy. In The Story Road to Literacy Roth focuses on the need to encourage reading, writing, talking, listening and thinking skills in order to stimulate and promote literacy. Her audience is primarily teachers of immigrant children whose first language is not English.

Her chosen method for working with these teachers and children is through the medium of story – specifically folktales. Roth spent a year working with American immigrant children from countries as diverse as Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Columbia, India, Iran, Korea, Laos, Mexico and Somalia. She asked them to tell her traditional stories and folktales from their cultures. These tales form the basis of the book and are used as a basis for class‐work likely to encourage children to learn the art of telling a story. They also demonstrate the universality of the story and the importance of oral tradition.

There are 20 of the children's stories in the book, presented verbatim and in a corrected format in the appendices. These are personal stories and folktales: each relate to real life and can be used as examples of cultural differences and similarities. The stories are presented alongside a variety of teaching strategies. Roth explains that each of the strategies meets the criteria laid down for being compatible with the function of the brain which leads to better performance on the part of the learner.

Folktales, as Roth explains, are simple stories that follow a set pattern: the examples given are supplemented with tips on how to creating a folktale as well as interesting activities such as mapping the elements of the story, mapping the spread of the story around the world, and comparing differing versions of one story (Cinderella is used as the example and a bibliography of other versions is provided). The stories included in the book are divided into the categories of tests and tricks, revenge and gratitude, magic, good and bad, and reveal the ultimate simplicity (and complexity) of the folktale. The appendices include a number of bibliographies for a variety of folktales and folktale resources as well as references to the studies that are quoted throughout the book. These further enhance the strategies and resources that Roth presents as part of the text.

Teachers and librarians are faced with many challenges on a daily basis. Perhaps one of the least‐expected or prepared‐for is the child or children in the class who are non‐English speakers, or for whom English is not a first language. Literacy sessions offer teachers the opportunity not only to include these children but to ask them, using Roth's examples, for stories from their homelands.

It is important to remember that all children learning English or developing their language skills develop their knowledge through direct and indirect teaching. They learn by speaking, reading, writing and thinking in that language. Children who have moved to an English‐speaking country without English‐language skills need to learn the language. In order to integrate into their new society they must also learn about the culture. Roth's explanation of her experiences and her methods of teaching literacy and language skills as well as cultural understanding to both native and non‐English language speakers are enlightening and useful.

America, the focus of Roth's study, is currently facing its largest influx of immigration from non‐English speakers, and this is impacting directly upon schools and the education services. It could very easily be argued that a similar situation is developing across Europe. Therefore, the advice given by Roth could easily be applied to learning environments outside America, and as such this book is a useful resource as a case study for teachers and educationalists world‐wide.