Once upon a time:

"Stories can provide a highly motivating, engaging and realistic source of genuine language interaction in the classroom. They are 'living language' in which the teacher (or student storyteller) becomes the source of language, and the listeners are actively involved in understanding. The authors argue from experience that almost everyone can tell stories convincingly, especially given an outline to work from. A very wide range of these outlines, from many cultures and sources, are provided in the book..."