Storytelling Tips

Now that we have a few useful words and phrases for telling stories let’s tell a story we’re gonna talk about.

I’m going to talk about my memory of computers throughout my life.

OK I’m going to talk about not only the functionality of the computers but I’m also going to talk about some of my memories connected with them and hopefully when you hear my story you’ll think oh it’s a really interesting story and it might remind you of some things from when you were younger maybe maybe not.

Maybe we have different different experiences.

There are two very important tips that you need to keep in mind before I do tell this story about the progress of computers in my life through my own experience.

Number one and it seems very simple to say this but do not forget the past tense.

One of the most common problems for non-native English speakers English learners is that they forget the past tense when they should actually use it.

This is a huge one.

It seems so basic and maybe you think it doesn’t matter it’s so small.

It matters because when you’re not careful about this you sound like you’re clearly saying to other people I’m not a native English speaker.

I’m not very fluent in English.

It’s so basic.

And yet often very hard because there are so many times to remember to do it.

So it’s got to become a deep habit.

Now how can you build that deep habit to remember to use the past tense when you know you should.

Well one of the problems that many people have is that they forget because they’re speaking too fast.

So what you can do is slow down when you learn the piano.

Do you start playing the piano.

Not at a limited level.

No you start playing very slowly.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun right.

Very slow Then you master it and increase your speed.

Slow down.

Listen to what you’re saying.

Did you just say.

And then I go to the store.

Did I just say and then I go to the store.

Oh I did.

You need to say and then I went to the store or as I was going to the store.

The point is you need to be able to hear what you just said what is coming out of your mouth.

Because that is the first step to being able to catch mistakes.

And the reason I always ask you to record after each lesson is that you can begin to listen to those and hear where you’re making mistakes and self correct.

The next step is to be able to hear them as you’re speaking.

And if you speak slowly you can do that and then you’re able to actually self correct maybe before it even comes out of your mouth.

And then that sounds natural and that then will become a habit.

And once it becomes a habit then you won’t need to think about it anymore.

I don’t think about grammar when I speak English.

I don’t think about the past tense when I speak English.

It just comes out of my mouth.

It’s such a deep habit.

So I want you to keep this in mind when you’re telling your story that you don’t need to do it quickly.

There’s no pressure to speak quickly.

OK.

That’s the first thing.

The second thing.

The second tip you need to keep in mind is that no story is interesting if it’s all details so make sure you connect emotion and memory to it.

What was your life like at that time.

What other things were going on.

How did you feel about that thing.

It’s very important to connect those things to the details because if you don’t then it’s just a description of a thing which is very boring.

People like to hear about how you felt at the time where people write where humans so keep those two things in mind.

Let’s actually look at my story.