2。2 Typical example of story-based approach

    Story-based approach has been very popular oversea, whose representative, Andrew Wright, British educationalist, has pointed out that, story-based approach is an excellent teaching method, which has been put into practice in Hungary in English teaching, and achieved a great success, benefiting a lot of children。 The long-term teaching practice has proved story-based approach to be a highly effective teaching method。 By comparison of related literatures at home and abroad, it is obvious that the researches related to story-based approach in the past are mainly centered on several aspects as follows: the first one is supplement and development of the theory of story-based approach; the second one is discussion on the teaching mode of story-based approach; the third one is argument of the educational value of story-based approach。

    Upon the researches on story-based approach theory, the most influential story-based approach in China is the Sandwich Story Methodology founded by Ji Yuhua, a teacher of Xiamen University。 In 1998, Professor Ji Yuhua has first proposed the Sandwich Story Methodology in his thesis To Teach Chinese Children English by Sandwich Story Methodology, from which the four-year teaching practice got started。 Story-based approach possesses its unique characteristics in the selection of materials and vocabulary, in arousing children’s learning interest and imagination as well as in promoting students’ participation in classroom activities, which, therefore, have brought it a strong competitiveness。

    In January, 2002, Roger C。 Schank, a famous scholar in American Carnegie Institution, together with his colleagues, has established the “Socrates Art Company”, dedicating to designing schemes of learning and training for enterprises, government, schools and other institutions, in which Story-Centered Curriculum is exactly a core feature。 This teaching method aims at creating a simulative real situation, in which students are able to finish their stories by self-study。 Moreover, this mode has laid emphasis on the significance of the situation in teaching, which is a new mode for situation language teaching。

    Upon discussion of the teaching mode of story-based English teaching, domestic English teachers have remarkably merged it into practice, as well as greatly promoted the development of story-based approach。 In 2005, Xu Huayan, a teacher of Zhuji Experimental Primary School in Zhejiang province, created a “singing” story-based English approach and achieved a good effect。 With “Singing Story”, he uses a complete and interesting story to connect the song, chant and simple sentences, which is not only as vivacious and catchy as songs and children’s folk rhymes, but also as vivid, content-abundant and beneficial to memory retention and language accumulation as story plots。