Is it easy to tell a story?

My students who are native speakers of Russian find it difficult to express themselves in English. Therefore, I ask them to tell me about things that are the most familiar to them, like how the pupil spent the recent weekend or what he/she is planning to do at the upcoming weekend.

The student is supposed to talk for a few minutes focusing on the following:

-         Making minimum seven phrases of 5 – 10 words in each phrase;

-         Keeping all the verbs in Past Simple or Past Continuous when related to the recent events; Future Simple and Present Continuous when referring to the future activities;

-         Trying to use various verbs.

If the pupil is very young, like 8 – 11 years old, I may offer him/her a list of verbs to use. For older, more experienced students I may suggest the usage of a few introductory phrases.

I always listen until the end of the story, asking questions and correcting possible errors at the end of the task.

The focus here lies in a systematic approach: the young English speaker should know that he/she will have to create a new story every week, attempting to tell it a little differently each time. Such a timetable might make the mission easier while continuity should ensure step by step progress.