Implementation of ‘World Café Stories’ (SOI-RS-178)
The learning scenario implemented
‘World Café Stories’ is an interdisciplinary learning scenario created by Nataša Tram. The LS combines Art and English subjects, and, in this lesson, students write stories based on Europeana photographies.
The implementation context
Although Nataša Tram did this lesson with her 15 years old students, I decided to do it with slightly younger children. I implemented the LS with students aged 13 who attend the 7th grade at school and have been learning English as a foreign language for 7 years. I decided to use different photos from the ones used in the original LS. I found the photos in different Europeana collections, and they all represent people in them. I thought my students could relate to them better, keeping in mind that we include a lot of dialogues and role-play activities in our lessons. When implementing the LS, I used these photos:
The narrative
During the implementation, I followed the procedure indicated in the LS – explained the world café method to students, divided the students into groups, we chose a host of the group, each group got a photo and they had to write a story behind it; then the students rotated, changed the hosts and wrote stories based on different photos. In the end, each group returned to their starting place and they could see what their original story turned out to be. I changed the ending of the lesson – instead of reading the stories by group hosts, we placed the stories on all four classroom walls using blue tack. Students had a walk around the classroom in their groups, read stories and discussed them. They assessed the stories by giving them from one to four stars for creativity, grammar accuracy and overall impression, with one star being the lowest and four stars being the highest mark.
Learning and teaching outcomes
The LS worked really well, it was easy to prepare, and I could adapt it to suit my class. The lesson was dynamic and all of the students were engaged and performed well. The students’ feedback was positive. They loved the method and enjoyed the activity. They said it was fun and engaging.
This learning scenario is easily implemented with different age groups and language levels. It helps develop students’ creativity, imagination, initiative, written and oral English skills. Students also improve their collaboration and communication skills. In addition, it helps students to develop an aesthetic sense, they learn to recognize the value of art and photography and to see different perspectives. Finally, with this LS students get acquainted with Europeana resources and European cultural heritage.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?
World Café Stories by Nataša Tram
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CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.