www.mlpsi.

ie

Using storytelling activities in the primary modern language classroom

There are three phases to be considered when telling stories in the modern language classroom: the pre-reading, while reading and post-reading phases. In the pre-reading phase, the teacher is pre-teaching the vocabulary for the story and allowing the pupils to predict what the story may be about. In the while reading phase, the teacher is telling the story using facial expressions, mimes etc. and the pupils may be given tasks to do during this phase to ensure they understand what is happening. The post-reading phase involves activities which allow pupils to consolidate the vocabulary and phrases from the story. The following is a list of activities for the three different phases of storytelling in the modern language classroom. Pre-reading activities: Predicting: Prepare a series of images that help to tell the story. Ask the pupils to predict what the story is from the series of pictures e.g. boy, wolf, duck, cat etc. Miming key vocabulary: Teach the pupils different mimes for the different words that will be repeated throughout the story e.g. cat = licking paws. When the story is being read, the pupils do the associated mime when they hear the word cat etc. Flashcard games: Play flashcard games with key pictures and words from the story. Bingo: Play bingo games using words from the chosen story.2 Describe & Draw: Project an image from the text (or related to the text) on the screen (using a computer or overhead projector). Partner A is allowed to view the image and describes it in the target language. Partner B has his/her back to the image and tries to draw what is described. Story box: As mentioned in the introduction, it is useful to have a story box or story bag containing objects relating to the story. These can be used in the various ways already mentioned to teach key vocabulary and help the pupils predict what the story will be about. Wordle: Use the Wordle application (www.wordle.net) to create a word cloud of the main words/sentences that are repeated in the story. Display on a powerpoint slide for the whole class and have the pupils write down the words/phrases they recognise from the Wordle display. Sound effects: Use objects to create sound effects for different characters in the story e.g. a pair of gloves being waved up and down to re-create flapping wings of a bird, two shoes being tapped quickly on a table to represent hunters chasing after the wolf. Pupils must guess what sound effect relates to what character.

MLPSI, KEC 2010

www.mlpsi.ie Activities while reading: Choral reading: The whole class chorus the story as you read it or the class can be divided with one half taking one role and the other taking another role. Miming key vocabulary: The pupils mime the actions of some of the characters of the story using the mimes that you have taught in the pre-reading phase (either all together or one child/group of children per character). Hold up cards: Give a card to each child (a picture, a word or a phrase). They have to hold up their card when their word appears in the story and maybe even say that word or phrase. Sequencing pictures: Put copies of the pictures of the story on the floor/desk/board in the wrong order. As you retell the story (without showing the pictures this time), the children either have to point to the corresponding picture on the floor or put the pictures in the correct order.

Post-reading activities: Sequencing sentences: Choose key sentences from the story. Type them up and cut them into single sentence strips. Divide pupils into pairs or groups and ask them to arrange the sentences into the correct sequence. This can also be done on the clothes line with key words and pictures from the story. Removing pictures: Use a series of pictures that tell the story. Use the pictures to retell the story right through again. Then ask pupils to close their eyes and remove a picture. The pupils must guess which picture has been removed by saying the sentence associated with it. Words for characters: With the help of a dictionary in the target language pupils explore words to describe the characters presented in the story. Move like this character: Give examples of adjectives/verbs that you would use to describe the different characters in the story. Ask the pupils to match the correct adjective/verb to the correct character. Then ask the pupils to move around the room like the characters for example, when you call the name of the character the pupils move like this character: Peter skipping happily; duck swimming/flapping etc.; cat creeping etc. Emotions: Read out lines from the story using different emotions e.g. happy, sad, angry and have the pupils tell it back to you using the same pitch and rhythm etc. that you used. They then have to guess the emotion. Guessing game: Describe an animal or something else from the story in the target language and the children have to guess what is being described. True or false?: Make true/false statements about the action in the story. Whistle game: Re-tell the story but instead of saying a word, whistle or use another noise/gesture. The pupils must tell you what the missing word is. MLPSI, KEC 2010

www.mlpsi.ie Retell with mistakes: Retell the story with some mistakes in it - the children have to shout no whenever they detect a mistake and correct it. Restoring the text: Write a short version of the story and put it on the projector/IWB. Erase some of the words and ask the pupils to fill them in as you re-tell the story. Gradually remove all the words so they are retelling the whole text. Fill in the gaps: Prepare two versions of the same text, with gaps in different places. The pupils work in pairs. Each partner has the same text but with different gaps. They help each other to complete the story. Pass the picture: The pupils make a circle with the teacher. The teacher holds up a picture and tells the part of the story that goes with the picture. She passes it to the next pupil in the circle who has to repeat the sentence. This carries on around the circle. When the pupils become more confident you can have several pictures being passed around at the same time. Match the adjective/verb to the character: Prepare adjectives words to describe the different characters in the story. Have the pupils match the appropriate adjective to the appropriate character. Visualise the character: The pupils choose a character from the story and draw a picture of what they think they look like. On one side they write what the character likes and on the other what they dont like e.g. Peter l like the duck. I dont like the wolf. Rebus story: Write out the story replacing key words with an image. The pupils must read/re-write the story replacing the image with the correct word. Personal preferences: Pupils list/talk about their favourite words in the story. This can be used to make a display using an application like Wordle or to rewrite new sentences. Story scrabble: The teacher writes a sentence from the story on the board. Pupils write words from the story vertically using the letters in the existing sentence. Three key moments: Children write words or sentences for what they think are the three key moments in the story. They compare with their peers. Contemporary versions: Make a traditional story more contemporary by changing certain aspects of the story. Identity card: Pupils make identity cards for the characters in the story. Write a new story: Give pupils pictures so they can write a new story. Language awareness: Undertake language awareness activities with words and sentences from the story (refer to the MLPSIs CPD Module 4 Language Awareness and Integrating the Modern Language with Literacy, Oracy and Numeracy for sample language awareness activities).

MLPSI, KEC 2010

www.mlpsi.ie Complete My ELP: Record the learning in the appropriate sections of My ELP, i.e. My Language Biography and My Dossier. In My Language Biography, invite pupils to self-assess in relation to the can-do statements initially identified as goals. In My Dossier, invite pupils to document their experience of the story and the related activities.

N.B.: It is important to use the same story for several different activities in order to consolidate new vocabulary etc. References: Dunning, R. (1997) Cric Crac: Teaching and Learning French Through Storytelling , Multilingual Matters, Pennsylvania. Wright, A. (1995) Storytelling with children, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

MLPSI, KEC 2010