Children encountering each other through storytelling: Promoting intercultural learning in schools

Abstract

Schools need concrete pedagogical tools to promote intercultural learning. The Storycrafting method is used to promote interactions between children that lead to a dynamic, rather than static, experience of culture. Children 9–11 years old exchanged stories told using the Storycrafting method with another class in Finland, Scotland, or an international school in Europe. To understand how children experience the intercultural encounters, the children’s stories and other ethnographic materials are analyzed and frames are developed. These frames are telling to entertain, telling to challenge, telling from real-life experiences, telling from shared experience, responding sensitively and responding defensively. Approaching intercultural learning through Storycrafting creates a shared narrative culture and avoids stereotyping the Other, which is a common limitation in intercultural exchange projects.