Storyline: Promoting Language Across the Curriculum

Storyline – a way of teaching language across the curriculum – is a teaching method valued in Sweden, Iceland and Holland for its ability to increase pupils’ engagement and attainment. It provides a framework in which teachers and pupils jointly construct a curriculum that addresses children’s interests and concerns while ensuring that core curricular knowledge and skills are taught.

Storyline adopts many of the ideas of ‘storying’ as pupils create settings and characters and explore incidents they create the plot and narrative for their own learning. This way of working recognises the importance of linking to learners’ prior knowledge and models purposeful language and literacy, enterprise, democracy and good citizenship. It fosters imagination and creative thinking and develops a sense of purpose and achievement.

This book explains the Storyline way of working and illustrates how it creates a powerful partnership between teachers and learners.