Flagship Program
Storytellers Formation
18-month English + life skills pathway from beginner to community tourism guide.
Flagship Program
18-month English + life skills pathway from beginner to community tourism guide.
Storytellers is Primed’s flagship 18-month formation program that integrates English language education with life skills, real-world practice through cultural tourism, and social capital building. It grew from Stairway to English — free community classes started by Sandra Milena Palacio V. in San Javier, Comuna 13 around 2016.
Participants progress from beginner (A0) through structured CEFR levels, gaining not just language proficiency but the confidence and skills to become community guides, entrepreneurs, and bridge-builders. The best students became the first Stairway Storytellers — community guides who narrated their neighbourhood’s transformation in a new language.
Today, Storytellers Formation operates across 4 comunas in Medellín (Comuna 13, Santo Domingo, Moravia, Constelaciones/Manrique) with pilots extending across Colombia. 113 storyteller participants have gone on to guide tours, run workshops, build enterprises, and mentor new cohorts — most visibly through Zippy Tours, where 90% of guides are Storyteller alumni. English for Service is now running at Constelaciones, Manrique.
Storyteller Tours
Like Medellín’s cable cars connecting hillside communities to the city below, Primed’s chapters form a living network — a subway of social change with pilot lines branching into new territory.
Formation Journey
The Storyteller journey isn’t a straight line — it’s a living cycle. Each dimension strengthens the others, and graduates feed back as mentors for the next cohort.
The purpose that orients all five dimensions — from first word to community leader.
Methodology
Each lesson phase maps to a kingdom dimension — five modes of growth woven into every session.
Your purpose orients all five phases — each lesson is a full cycle.
The Storyteller Arc
Each Storyteller grows across five pentagon dimensions — not a linear path but a living network where strength in one area feeds all the others.
Foundation skills, attendance discipline, and self-regulation. The bedrock that everything else builds on.
Communication practice, pronunciation, cross-cultural exchange with international volunteers. Learning by doing.
Context-based learning through real tasks and community projects. Grammar, structure, and digital literacy woven into every session.
Storytelling, public speaking, leading tours. The confidence to share your narrative with the world in a new language.
Cultural immersion, wellbeing practices, and community grounding. Heritage, rhythm, and the roots that keep storytellers connected to place.
What Graduates Become
The Storyteller course is the trunk. Graduates branch into distinct pathways — each one a line on the metrocable extending into new territory.
Graduates lead cultural tours in English, turning lived experience into livelihood. 90% of Zippy Tours guides are Storyteller alumni.
Community-connected products and services within the alliance network. Artisan goods, cultural experiences, and local business incubation.
Placed in roles with demonstrated resilience — attendance, graduation, and creation as evidence of readiness. Alliance partner placements in a model that supports communities.
Cumulative Impact
Cohort History
| Year | Chapter | Enrolled | Avg Attendance | Duration | Volunteers | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Santo Domingo | — | — | Jun 2017 onward | early era | — |
| 2022 | Moravia | ~40 | ~20 | Sep–Dec (3 months) | ~15 (5 countries) | — |
| 2023 | Moravia | ~30 | ~20 | Jan–Sep (9 months) | 44 (7 countries) | — |
| 2024 | Constelaciones (Manrique) | 48 | 31 (64.6%) | Full cohort | 131 | 64.6% (31/48) |
| 2025 | Manrique (continuing) | 30 | 25 (84%) | A0→A2 | 158 | 84% (25/30) |
2025: 158 volunteers, 3,446 hours, 25 graduated (84%). 2024: 131 volunteers, 3,560 hours. 2023: IVHQ alliance signed. 2017: first formal Storyteller Formation cohort (Santo Domingo). 2016–2021 data being reconstructed.
Voices
Join the next cohort and transform your future through language, culture, and community.
