Quoc Dan, Vietnam
For the ementary students, using interesting stories is a good idea. So, I think you can choose picture stories to teach them. It is the best way. Because using the picture story you can make your students feel interested when they learn. Beside, you can teach 4 skills for them. But in my opinion, you should use colourful pictures because these pictures will attract them for more.

Fitch, Portugal
Tjang Kian Liong makes some very good points, especially about dramatising the story and making it memorable in the telling. It doesn't have to be a personal story. A piece of short, (adapted?) literature would also be brilliant given the right treatment. Also, it might not always be appropriate for the student contribution to be in the written form. Why not just an oral contribution? Why not worked out in pairs, groups? A little play?

Asif Mushtaq, Pakistan
Being an English language teacher I give different tasks to my students and reading stories is one of them. I make them read stories, then I make them comprehend those stories. This method improves the writing style and they learn new expressions.

Ketan, India
Yes, I do use stories while teaching. Its a good exercise as students learn to comprehend, it also takes care of reading. I ask students to read a story silently, then I ask them to read the first paragraph and ask questions on it. Students learn to comprehend, learn to listen and understand what is expected of them, then I also urge them to answer questions in their own words, and tell them a lot of synonyms. In this exercise one comes across lots of phrases ,idioms, so it's good exercise.

Mostafa, Iran
Well, stories can be effective if they are sort of interesting and ofcourse related or near to the students' culture.

Manuel Ramia Spain
Using well known fairy tales adapted to the level of your students is always very helpful for oral practice. I do that sort of thing with my 12-15 year olds. I do something like starting to tell a story like Red Riding Hood. After I have told a few sentences I start asking questions about what I have just said like: Where did Little Red Riding Hood go? What did she have in her basket? Who did sher meet in the forest? etc.
All as oral practice, you will be surprised how students take to this activity I strongly recommend it.

Tjang Kian Liong, Indonesia
Using interesting stories to teach English is very effective indeed, especially for students of lower intermediate level and above, where they can already communicate in simple English but still need a lot of practice to build up their communicative confidence. Interesting stories may come from the teacher and the students in his class. First, the teacher may prepare and tell the students an unforgettable event in their own life, for example. The story can contain only about 300 words, but the teacher can use his vocal abilities (stress, loudness, intonation, etc.) and also body movements to make the story-telling more thrilling. Then the teacher may show the script of the story on a transparency later and discuss a few words to make sure that students understand the story quite well. This also functions as a sample for students to write down their stories later on. Next, assign the students to write down their own stories. Each story may be about 200 to 300 words. The title can be, for example, "An Unforgettable Experience in My Life" or "The Most Valuable Lesson I Received in My Life". Then, the students are given some time to prepare themselves, because they will have to come to the front of the class and tell their stories one by one. The teacher and the class should encourage each presenter (Error corrections may be skipped by the teacher), and at the end of the lesson the class can decide the best story-teller, who may get a simple award: a chocolate, a diary, or something else.