STORYTELLING IN TEACHING UKRAINIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The article is devoted to the storytelling method in the field of linguodidactics. Modern education is developing in complex conditions that require teachers to adapt to the digital environment and take into account the cognitive characteristics of the new generation of students. The storytelling method is one of the most promising tools in teaching foreign languages. Its relevance is due to the need to update traditional approaches, integrate multimedia resources, and stimulate the active participation of students in the learning process. Storytelling allows for a harmonious combination of the development of language skills with the formation of communicative competence and the maintenance of interest in learning, even in a distance format. Studying a language in a multicultural group of students opens up new opportunities for enriching the learning process through the exchange of stories. This becomes particularly important for both groups from different cultural contexts and monocultural collectives. The use of the storytelling method in Ukrainian as a foreign language classes enables teachers to consciously develop not only linguistic, speech, and communicative competencies, but also sociocultural competence, and to develop students’ soft skills (critical thinking, creative thinking, emotional intelligence, principles of cooperation, and empathy). Examples of tasks based on the application of the storytelling method are proposed. The linguodidactic commentary on the exercises includes instructions for both foreign students and teachers. For students, it is important to correctly formulate the task itself, indicate auxiliary material, and specify the form of work (individual, group, in pairs). For teachers, it is important to methodologically correctly determine the level of proficiency in Ukrainian as a foreign language, indicate the different types of competence that this exercise can develop (linguistic, speech, communicative, etc.), and provide guidance on which soft skills can be improved through the proposed task in Ukrainian language classes for a foreign language audience. Key words: storytelling, Ukrainian as a foreign language, linguistic competence, speech competence, communicative competence, soft skills.