I once worked with a group of World Language teachers who were each planning a project where kids would get a chance to practice their language through telling a story. As a teacher of writing, I shared the American linear structure for a story–beginning, middle, end. Problem, challenge, resolution.
I stopped myself and looked at who I was talking to, “That’s not how you do it in your culture. Is it? How are your stories structured?”
The Chinese and Japanese teachers said they just start in a moment where the story lies. The Spanish teacher said it is like a spiral. The French teacher leaned back with his little smile, “In France, there is a problem. And then it gets worse.”
So our students would learn not only the words to tell a story but a way of seeing and relating our lives. They would learn another way of making a story out of life. Sometimes you jump into the middle or wind your way around and around, sometimes things get harder and still sometimes there is a line you can see that leads to a closure in the way we like it here.