Strength in storytelling: Peacebuilding via wordless books

Abstract

Peace and restoration (henceforth, peacebuilding) have become buzzwords as we continue to wrestle with global problems. In this article, the authors focus on storytelling as a form of peacebuilding using wordless books (or picture books without words), with a focus on how peacebuilding may be conceptualized and woven into the fabric of the English language teaching field. Wordless books have been used for decades to help people develop meaning from pictures, comprehend story structures, improve engagement and motivation, support language learning, and develop storytelling skills (Cruzado‐Guerrero & Martínez‐Alba, 2022). As such, wordless books become part of an open invitation to engage in storytelling. Through this article, peacebuilding via storytelling using wordless books is explained as a social–emotional learning (SEL) classroom practice. Supported by the available literature focusing on storytelling and peacebuilding, the authors share a lesson design providing a clear way to develop capacity for peacebuilding skills using wordless books.