Didactica Del Ingles

Unit 7
Advanced Didactics of the English Language
Literature and Music as

Teaching Resources
Table of contents
Scheme 3
Key Ideas 4
7.1. Introduction and objectives 4
7.2. Why using stories in the EFL primary school
classroom? 5
7.3. Types of books in the EFL primary school
classroom 9
© Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)
7.4. The role of music and rhythm in language

learning 18
7.5. Songs and rhymes 19
7.6 References 23
In Depth 25
Test 29
Scheme

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Unit 7. Scheme
Key Ideas
7.1. Introduction and objectives
Narrative and conversational events are part of our lives since we are babies.
Narrative and dialogue are, therefore, good tools when teaching an additional
language and this is something which storytelling integrates. Using storytelling and
critical literacy in the foreign language primary school classroom can help the
students integrating new knowledge in the target language and, at the same time,
creating reading habits also in the FL. At the same level, we must not forget the
importance of music and rhythm in the life of children and its relevance in the
classroom.
In this unit, intends at given a more tangible approach of what we revised in previous
units. For this, we will look at some examples of readings and music especially
addressed to primary school children so you can make up how to work with them in
the classroom. Do no forget to watch the master class, where the teacher shows
some of the books revised in this until for a better approach to its usefulness. The
main aims of this unit are:
 Being aware of importance of stories and music in the primary school classroom.
 Being aware of what we can do with stories and music in the primary school
classroom.
 Offering examples of material to use in the classroom.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
7.2. Why using stories in the EFL primary school
classroom?
Tales, stories or legends are motivating materials for students. However, it is not just
reading a story while students sit down being passive listeners. Teachers need
students to engage in the process by using interactive storytelling or critically literacy.
Sénéchal, LeFevre, Hudson and Lawson (1996) found that children who were actively
engaged in reading a book with an adult learned more than those just listening to it,
increasing their vocabulary. In fact, there are two main ways of vocabulary
acquisition: through direct and explicit reference by adults when they name objects
or define words and through incidental encounters with words in verbal contexts,
such as conversations, television and in stories (Wegner & Kaplan 1950). If we
combine both methods of acquisition, the results improve. Through storytelling,
children will learn vocabulary which they may not necessarily find in daily
conversations and see how those words are part of a syntactic structure (Wasik &
Bond, 2001, p. 243).
Moreover, there are more reasons for using stories in your classroom. According to
Ellis and Brewster (2014, p. 6-7):
 Stories are motivating, challenging and enjoyable: they promote intrinsic

motivation. Remember to include a presentation to give students a reason for
listening.
 Stories exercise the imagination: they can involve in the story, try to identify the
characters feelings and develop creativity.
Stories are a useful tool in linking fantasy and the imagination with the child’s
real world: in the same way symbolic play does, stories help them to understand
daily happenings.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
 Listening to stories in class is a shared social experience: it helps developing
cohesion in the group, as they experiment the same feelings and can share their
experience.
 Children enjoy listening to stories over and over again: repetition also encourages
participation in the narrative, thereby providing a type of pattern practice in a
meaningful context
 Storybooks provide diversity: you can choose the tale or legend according the
needs of your classroom.
 Storybooks promote intercultural understanding: using stories from different
countries will help your student enlarge their cultural awareness.
 Storybooks train their minds: they allow children to play with ideas and feelings
and to think about issues that are important and relevant to them.
Finally, remember that storytelling cannot be improvised: the teacher needs to

know the book, think about how to negotiate meaning, know the characters to
module his/her voice according to the requirements of the text and, in summary,
interpret the story. Ellis and Brewster (2014, p. 26) recommend:
 Starting small, especially with younger children.

 Asking your students to sit down, preferably on the floor, while you sit down on a
chair. Thus, they can see the book while you read it.
 Read slowly and clearly, they are listening to a foreign language. Therefore, they
need time to process what the hear and associate it to the pictures.
 Act and adapt to what the text says by expressing (sometimes exaggerating)
emotions.
 Make eye contact with the children, so you can see their reactions and if they
have doubts about what they are listening to.
Authentic material or not?
In spite of the fact storytelling can be used through all the primary school period,
there is a moment students become independent readers in the FL and can face texts

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
with little guidance from the teacher. When our students are able to read in the FL,
the problem of what text to use arises. Authentic material is a good source of easy
short texts for students who start being independent in terms of reading ability. Let
us analyse the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic reading material in
the classroom:
Advantages
 When using authentic texts, students have a more direct relationship with the
language they are studying, since they work with actual everyday language. They
gradually gain confidence if they realize they can work with real texts and are
directly in contact with the language.
 This relationship between learners and language/culture is not so artificial
because they work with the same texts that a native speaker would use (since,
unlike graded material, authentic texts are created for native speakers).
 This material helps them to become familiar with the kind of readings they would
find outside the classroom. If there are difficult words, they learn how to get the
gist as they would do in the real world (i.e. if they travel to an English-speaking
country).
 They learn new items, lexicon and structures that maybe are not showed in their
textbooks. It can be highly motivating if the text has the appropriate level. At the
same time, these texts can be used for different purposes depending on what we
want to teach and the skills we want to work on.
 We can choose texts according to our students tastes and thus, make the lesson
much more successful and enjoyable. This is very positive for teachers, since it
gives a more creative sense to the lessons. Furthermore, the books frequently
have texts which talk about issues that learners might not find interesting. Then,
by doing so, we can escape from the restrictive topics proposed in some books.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Disadvantages
 It can very difficult and time consuming to find suitable authentic texts, especially
for elementary levels.
 It can be really frustrating if the text has not been correctly chosen and the level
of the text is higher than the level we normally work with in the classroom.
 The text we can find might have an inappropriate extension difficult to exploit
and difficult to change without missing too much useful information.
Furthermore, the vocabulary might not be very useful for students' needs in their
particular stage of learning.
 Authentic texts might have expressions that are typical of one particular country
or region and, although are accepted and correct, can interfere with the variety
we are teaching and give the students an impression of complexity (especially in
lower levels). At the same time, we need to choose them carefully because
sometimes we need some kind of previous knowledge in order to understand
them.
 In any authentic text we will see many different grammatical structures which
are mixed, unlike texts designed for language learning purposes, in which we can
find only the specific tense we are working with (or the ones we are supposed to
know).
Do not forget that authentic material is not only about books, but it is found in daily
live. Examples of authentic material can be found in advertising, everyday products
and many other things around the students, as children learn about reading and
writing through items in their environment that have print on them (Fitzgerald, 1994,
p. 32). Let us see an example (figure 1):
Figure 1. A can of baked beans can be a suitable text for the FL classroom.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
The written word is everywhere around us. A can of baked beans, for example, fulfils
these objectives. This type of texts also highlights the importance of paratexts and
images which appear with the text itself. It the example above (fig. 1), we notice the
capitalisation of the brand, the centred alignment of the text, the capitalisation of
lexical words and, especially relevant for young learners, a picture of the product. The
text needs all these elements to be fully understood in its context.
7.3. Types of books in the EFL primary school

classroom
Among an ever-growing world of possibilities, sometimes is difficult chosen the

correct books for your classroom. Establishing a network among other teachers is a
good solution to keep your list updated. In this section, we will see some book types
which usually suit the needs of your students. However, bear in mind that what works
in a classroom can be a disaster in another, so take these ideas as a starting point to
develop your own preferences.
Another problem you may find is the level of the text. In the case of books especially
addressed to pre-schoolers, the language tends to be simple and the input short.
However, by the time they reach primary, the level of authentic materials rises
according to the age of the native speaker, which is higher than the level you may
find in your classroom. The discussion of the practicality of authentic materials arises
again. Even though the use of pre-modified material in the classroom should not be
a recurrent tactic, employing pre-modified stories in the classroom is not a crime, nor
your students will learn less vocabulary. Just do not adapt stories to such a point that
you do not leave place for negotiation of meaning or to introduce new vocabulary.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Legends and classical tales
Legends and popular tales from any English-speaking country will help your students
to deepen into the background of that culture. This is a good way to promote
intercultural communication. You can also use popular universal tales, such as Jack
and Beanstalk but you should be careful with some classical examples due to
discrimination and sexism. This is the case of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and others
where the female character depends on a male to save her. This helpless image was
enhanced by Disney films and it is complicated to get rid of it. However, this does not
mean you cannot use them in the classroom, but you will need adapt them or
reflecting critically about the message they transmit. Another option is using updates
of this type of tales, such as the already classic Princess Smartypants (Babette Cole,
2006) (figure 2).
Figure 2. Princess Smartypants doesn’t want to get marry. She enjoys being a miss.
Legends and popular tales are also a good source of information, especially culturally
speaking, as they help children to understand some cultural facts about the country
of origin. For example, Manx cats have no tails and a popular tale helps telling why
(figure 3).

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Figure 3. A popular Manx tale to explain why Manx cats have no tails (Morrison, 1911/2013).
Modern classics
There are some tales written during the 20th century which, spite of the fact cannot
be considered as classical, are an undoubtedly part of the life of many English native
speakers. It is now your turn to make the most of them bearing in mind their limited
exposure to the FL outside the classroom and that some of these stories have been
translated into the students’ L1. Revising all of them will take us ages, so just see
some examples and discuss their potential usefulness in the FL classroom.
Harry Potter
Even though the idea of Harry Potter was first rejected when J. K. Rowling presented
it to the editorial, it has proved to be a major literary success worldwide. One of the
key advantages of J.K. Rowling’s best seller is that the characters grow up with your
children. As they are 11 during the first book, you can start working with Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone (figure 4) during 5th year primary and then carry on with

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
a couple of books more (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban) by the time they start secondary school. Even though
these books are addressed to children, the vocabulary can be difficult to handle
sometimes. In addition, they include characteristics of different British English
accents, being the most relevant that of Hagrid (West Country accent). For example:
Figure 4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997).
‘Las’ time I saw you, you was only a baby,’ said the giant. ‘Yeh look a lot like
yer dad, but yeh’ve got yer mum’s eyes’. (Rowling, 1997, p. 51)
The inclusion of different accents in a great advantage to work the variety of

Englishes within British English (see following units).
Harry Potter’s books are also great to work geography and mythology of the British
Isles. The cultural component is present is every book subtlety, but it is strong enough
to conduct a session about ethnographic features from time to time.
Another advantage is the all the teaching material that has been created around
these books, including a wide variety of lesson plans adapted to any age and level

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
you can easily find online. Do not forget Harry Potter’s films, which will give you the
opportunity of working listening skills in the primary school classroom.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The creators of the renowned The Gruffalo can add a lot more titles to the list. The
little ones would feel interested in these stories at the same time they can start
reading independently. Among them, it is worth underlining:
 The Gruffalo (1999). A story about a mouse and his stroll through the deep dark
wood. He finds several animals who want to eat him, but he invents a creature
who eats them all. Finally, the creature does exist, and he also wants to eat the
mouse. However, the mouse is able to make him believe that he is the scariest
creature in the wood. A good book to work vocabulary related to wild animals,
parts of the wood and body parts, but also to discuss about how being clever is
more important than being strong. You can use this book with first year students.
 Monkey Puzzle (2000). A little monkey is lost and a butterfly helps him finding his
parents. The problem is that butterfly is not aware of how an grownup monkey is,
as her babies do not look like her. A good book to work vocabulary about animals
and their body parts, but especially to discuss about differences and how not
everybody can be considered the same. Actually, quite useful to work the move
from etnocentrism to etnorelativism (Unit 8). Specially recommended for the 1st
year students.
 Zog (2010) (figure 5). Zog is learning how to be a dragon, but he meets a princess
who makes everything change and becomes a flying doctor with her. It contains
the right amount of text which, even though it is good for working vocabulary, the
message is far more important. A good book to discuss about preconceived ideas
about helpless princesses. You can use this book with any age group, as the
message is interesting for all primary school period, but it is specially addressed to
the little ones, up to 8 years old.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Figure 5. Zog (2010), a story about dragons’ tasks.
 Superworm (2012). Superworm is a superhero in the insect world, but terrible

Wizard Lizard wants him for his evil plans. It is a funny story that engages children
easily. A good book to work insects names and team spirit. Againg, a good choice
for the little ones, up to 8 years-old.
Maya Angelou
The great Maya Angelou (1928-2014), writter, poet, singer and activist, also devoted
her carreer to children’s books. Among her works, it is worth underlining her books
to work intercultural understanding, which can be used with the little ones, but also
with older children. Just prepare your activities accordingly.
 My Painted House, my Friendly Chicken and Me (1994). Thandi, a girl from South
Africa talks about her daily life. She introduces her chicken pet, her environment,
explains some traditions in her community and her life as a little girl.
 Kofi and His Magic (1996) (figure 6). Kofi, a boy from West Africa talks about his
daily life. He talks about weaving, his home town, traditional hats with cowries and
celebrations.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Figure 6. Kofi and His Magic (1996).
Another well-known book by Maya Angelou is the poem Life doesn’t Frighten Me
(1993), which is also illustrated by the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. This book offers
the opportunity of working with feelings and fears and, therefore, with vocabulary
related to abstract thinking.
Comics
Comics are a really good resource for the FL classroom due to the fact that they
attract children with short vivid narration and because they relate them to
adventures and superheroes. Using classical superhero comics can be too demanding
for the primary school classroom, but you can find equivalents adapted to their
developmental age. Let us see some examples:
 Toon Books (www.toon-books.com) are specially designed comics for first readers
(figure 7). You can find four levels to suit the needs of your students. Great for all
ages, following the levels accordingly.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Figure 7. A sample page from Stinky (2008), level 2 reader from Toon Books.
 Tiny Titans includes many short stories compiled in the same volume. They are all
superheroes’ children who attend primary school and have their common
superhero problems, such as changing forms in the middle of a lesson. Great for
the little ones, up to 8-9 years old.
 Ultimate Spiderman series based on Disney XD’s show. Together with other
characters they find in the TV show, these comics bring an updated Spiderman to
attract young readers. Great from 9 years old onwards.
 Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur, a nine-year old girl who is the most intelligent
person in the world. She also has a T-rex pet, which primary school children usually
find interesting. Together they get involved in surprising adventures which Lunella
Lafayette (Moon girl) solves thanks to her cleverness. Great from 9 years old
onwards.
 Gotham Academy, a creation of DC comics which deals with the adventures of a
group of teenagers in a really strange school. Better for older children, you can
take advantage of this series for the last year of primary school.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Graded readers
Even though authentic material is highly recommended and, as we have just seen not
that difficult to find, sometimes the level of our students needs some extra support
or books specially designed for learning EFL. Graded readers have always been a good
resource in this sense. These are readings specially designed taking into account the
age and level of your students, including fiction and non-fiction books. As an example,
let us talk about Macmillan Children’s Readers, even though you can find similar
material in many other publishers. Macmillan Readers include a special section
devoted to young learners. In this case, readings are supported by many illustrations
and are written in simple, familiar language (fig. 8) according to the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), ranging from absolute
beginners to B1+.
Figure 8. A sample page from Where’s Rex? (2007), level 2 from Macmillan Children’s Readers.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
According to Macmillan (2014, p. 4), by using graded readers, young learners will
discover that they can read, understand and enjoy reading books in English. In the
classroom, these books might not be used only for teaching reading, but they should
be used as a stimulus for listening, speaking, drama activities, drawing and writing.
Graded readers will help to develop the young learners’ imaginations, broaden their
cultural outlook and teach them new information which is at their reach in terms of
understanding the FL. Moreover, each time that they read and understand a
sentence, they will be activating and reinforcing their grammatical knowledge. When
using this material, you can also benefit from already made activities included in the
books, which, if they suit your classroom needs, will save you a lot of time.
7.4. The role of music and rhythm in language

learning
Using rhymes, songs and chants in the EFL classroom is not just a matter of having
fun with your young learners. They provide you with a valuable tool to enhance the
shape of the language at the same time you offer them authentic material. They are
also part of a non-threatening learning environment and can help you with
intercultural understanding. Thus, motivation, interaction and culture work together
in a single item.
When listening to songs or rhymes, the phonological loop enters the scene. The
phonological loop (Baddley and Hitch, 1974) is a part of working memory what deals
with spoken and written material, previously decoded into speech sounds. It is
divided into:
 Phonological store: linked to speech perception. It can hold information from

spoken words for a couple of seconds.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
 Articulatory control process: linked to speech production. It is used to rehearse,
and store verbal information from the phonological store.
The phonological loop is, therefore, the specific site where people encode and
rehearse phonological information before committing the information to long-term
memory. As a consequence, the repetitive nature of songs and rhymes can be
considered as an enhancer for language learning (Chuang, 2016, p. 25). Children see
in these repetitive patterns a tool to remember grammatical elements and sounds.
Think about Humpty Dumpty (table 1):
Grammatical and phonological elements in Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Subject + verb (past) + adjunct
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall Same sounds /wɔ:l/ / fɔːl/
Table 1. Grammatical and phonological elements in Humpty Dumpty.
As they are short and simple, these input chunks provide children with input they are
able to manage. It is not just a matter of spoken language, as these repetitions also
help younger students developing their incipient reading skills, helping them
predicting structures.
Following Chuang (2016, p. 24), in the context of the cognitive dimension of language
learning, songs and chants reinforce the consolidation of ideas in short-term and
long-term memory. According to Krashen and Terrel (1983), it is suggested that a
manifestation of Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is reflected in the
brain’s inclination to repeat what an individual hears from environmental input.
7.5. Songs and rhymes
One of the problems in using popular songs and rhymes in the English classroom is
mainly lack of understanding. Listening to Jingle Bells is a great idea, asking your

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
students to sing it too, but be sure they understand the lyrics. This is done in the pre-
listening stage, by introducing the topic, working critical vocabulary and creating
motivation.
In the following unit, we will deal with the importance of exposing your students to
different accents. Songs and rhymes, especially if you use recordings, can be a way
of doing this. However, if you are going to work some specific phonemes, be sure
they coincide with the English in those listening. For example, if you are trying to put
emphasis in the pronunciation on schwa in combinations such as <-er> (another,
discover, colder) using RP, use an accent which follow the same pattern:
 RP /əˈnʌðə/
 General American /əˈnʌðr̩/
 Irish /əˈnʌðər/
All of them are correct, but your students may get confuse. Always revise the listening
material carefully before playing it.
After checking the material at home, think about how you can start using it with your
students. Forster (2005, p. 64) recommends the following guidelines.
 Start off orally, leave the written element for later if you want to deal with it.
 A little each lesson is better than longer, more concentrated spans of time.
 Review what you did the previous lesson and add a bit more.
 Revisiting learned songs and chants offers opportunity for review and confidence
building.
A second stage of the teaching of songs and chants could be the following:
 Expand on the chant for further grammar and/or vocabulary.

 Use chants to teach speech rhythm and stress.
 Invent your own chant to suit specific needs.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Present-day songs as a source of updated English
There are a lot of possibilities regarding songs which are fashionable at the time of
teaching, but it is important thinking about their potential usefulness because they
are part of the students’ lives and, at the same time, they promote the three values
revised in Unit 1 (intrinsic, integrative and instrumental). Sometimes is difficult
finding a suitable song for the primary classroom due to the complexity of grammar
you can find in the lyrics. If you are using groups which write songs specifically for
children, the vocabulary will be at their reach with a little help. However, if you want
to use songs from popular groups, you must take a closer look. A song can be trendy
but not really suitable for children. Even though most people listen to songs in English
without realizing of the content, if you want to work with them in the classroom you
must pay attention to the contents and not just the grammar. Let us see an example:
in 2018, the film Bohemian Rhapsody brought Queen’s songs to the top of charts
again. However, Bohemian Rhapsody is a complicated song in terms of meaning that
cannot be easily used in the classroom not because of its grammar, but because of
the developmental age of children.
Some notions about poetry
As well as songs, rhymes are useful to work pronunciation. In the case of rhymes and
poems, we are also dealing with a special characteristic of English language: it is a
stressed timed language. This means that in any given stretch of language, some
syllables are of longer duration than others. This is opposed to the syllable timed
languages where each syllable receives approximately the same amount of emphasis
and time (Forster, 2005, p. 64). Even though, the pre-school English teacher does not
need to receive detailed formation about poetry in English, it is worth signalling the
characteristics and the most frequent patterns followed by verses in English. Then,
check the master class to see a practical demonstration with some popular rhymes.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Poems in English are written in feet. A foot is a unit of metre, consisting of a
combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. The basic feet are (Lennard, 2006,
p. 3-4):
 Iamb / iambic: unstressed + stressed, such as “delight”.

 Trochee / trochaic: stressed + unstressed, such as “pencil”.
 Spondee / spondaic: stressed + stressed, such as “I know”.
 Pyrrhic: unstressed + unstressed, such as “such as”.
 Anapest / anapestic: unstressed + unstressed + stressed, such as “unaware”.
 Dactyl / dactylic: stressed + unstressed + unstressed, such as “multiple”.
The most relevant for the rhymes you are going to use in the classroom are the iamb
and the trochee, but combinations are also frequent. For example (table 2):
S+U S+U S+U U+S

Trochaic
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
S+U S+U S+U U+S
Trochaic
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
S+U+U S+U+U S
Dactylic
Hickory, dickory, dock,
U + S U+S U+S
Iambic
The mice ran up the clock.
Table 2. A couple of metric examples.
The stressed words are quite easy to determine, as they usually follow the natural
stress of the words. In the case of monosyllabic words, content words are always
stressed (nouns, adjectives, verbs) while function words are unstressed (auxiliary
verbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions). However, be sure you have read the
poem a couple of times before presenting it to your students, just in case the author
had other intentions and marked different words to emphasise them.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
7.6 References
Baddeley, A. D., and Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G.H. Bower (ed.), The
Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in research and theory Vol. 8 (pp.
47–89). New York: Academic Press.
Chuang, L. (2016). Accessing the Workings of the Mind: from Input to Intake. Oxford:
Chartridge Books.
De la Torre Rubio, M. P. (2007). Las Canciones en el Aula de Inglés. Revista Digital

Práctica Docente, 6, 1-10.
Ellis, G. and Brewster, J. (2014). Tell it Again! The Storytelling handbook for Primary
English Language Teachers. British Council. Retrieved from:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/pub_D467_Storytelling_h
andbook_FINAL_web.pdf
Forster, E. (2006). The Values of Songs and Chants for Young Learners. Encuentro, 16,
63-68.
Lennard, J. (2006). The Poetry Handbook. Oxford: OUP.
Macmillan Publishers (2014). Macmillan Young Readers. Retrieved from:

www.macmillanenglish.com
Morrison, S. (1911/2013). Manx Fairy Tales. Ramsey: Lily Publications.

Wasik, B. A: and Bond, M. A. (2001). Beyond the Pages of a Book: Interactive Books
Reading and Language Development in Preschool Classrooms. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 93, (2), 243-250.

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
Werner, H. and Kaplan, E. (1950). The Acquisition of Word Meanings: A
Developmental Stud. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
15 (1).

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Unit 7. Key Ideas
In Depth
Books for primary
Let us see some books we can use in the FL primary school according to students’ age
and level.
The master class is available at the virtual campus
For a Song: Music Across the ESL Curriculum
Lems, K. (1996). For a Song: Music Across the ESL Curriculum. Paper presented at the 30th
Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Retrieved
from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED396524.pdf
Ideas for selection of songs for the EFL classroom and activities for the four skills.

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Unit 7. In Depth
Manx Fairy Tales
Morrison, S. (1911). Manx Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt. Retrieved from:
http://manxliterature.com/sort-by-genre/other/manx-fairy-tales/
A compilation of Manx popular tales.
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl Official Website. https://www.roalddahl.com/home/teachers
A web devoted to the popular author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Find teaching
resources in the section addressed to teachers.
Doctor Seuss
Seussville Official Website. https://www.seussville.com/
Every 2nd of March is Dr. Seuss day and children all across the USA read their books. Take
advantage of this web page to find resources to work with his popular titles, such as The
Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham.

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Unit 7. In Depth
Farytalez.com
Fairytales website. http://fairytalez.com/
A compilation of fairy tales from all over the world.
The Gruffalo
Gruffalo Website. http://www.gruffalo.com/
A web full of resources you can use in your classroom, plus information about other
books published by the autors.

27
Unit 7. In Depth
MacMillan Young Readers
MacMillan Your Readers Website. https://www.macmillanyounglearners.com/readers
Resources, information and ideas to work with graded readers in your classroom.

28
Unit 7. In Depth
Test
1. Reading stories to children in the FL:
A. Must be a passive activity, as they do not understand the FL.
B. Must be an interactive activity to force them to use the FL.
C. Must be an interactive activity to help them understanding concepts in the
FL.
2. When preparing a storytelling session:

A. Be sure you have revised the text in detail beforehand.
B. Prepare a vocabulary activity to translate all the new words.
C. Bring copies of the text for all your students.
3. Can classical tales be conflictive?

A. No, as they were written expressly for children.
B. Yes, as they use archaic language.
C. Yes, as many present sexist attitudes.
4. Authentic material…
A. Is always better than pre-modified material, as it offers real examples of
English in use.
B. Should be only used when your students have a near native-like command
of the language.
C. Is one of the best options, but it is not always suitable for your teaching needs
or easy to find.
5. What do legends provide?

A. Easy syntactic structures.
B. Standard vocabulary.
C. Cultural information.

29
Unit 7. Test
6. Comics in the EFL primary classroom offer…
A. The possibility of reading about classical superheroes.
B. A more enjoyable approach to reading in the EFL.
C. Carefully constructed grammar.
7. Graded readers are

A. Readings specially designed for EFL learners.
B. Authentic material.
C. Readings for advanced learners.
8. The phonological loop deals with:

A. Spoken and written material.
B. Spoken material.
C. Written material.
9. Do songs need a pre-listening stage?

A. Yes, as children need to know all the new vocabulary.
B. No, you just need to play the song and you can work with the meaning later.
C. Yes, as children need to understand the topic, feel motivated and work with
critical vocabulary.
10. Poems in English are written in:

A. Haikus.
B. Feet.
C. Iambs.

30
Unit 7. Test

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Unit 7

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Literature and Music as

7.4. The role of music and rhythm in language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

7.1. Introduction and objectives

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

 Stories are motivating, challenging and enjoyable: they promote intrinsic

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Finally, remember that storytelling cannot be improvised: the teacher needs to

 Starting small, especially with younger children.

Authentic material or not?

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

7.3. Types of books in the EFL primary school

Among an ever-growing world of possibilities, sometimes is difficult chosen the

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Figure 4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997).

The inclusion of different accents in a great advantage to work the variety of

to conduct a session about ethnographic features from time to time.

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

 Superworm (2012). Superworm is a superhero in the insect world, but terrible

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

ages, following the levels accordingly.

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

7.4. The role of music and rhythm in language

 Phonological store: linked to speech perception. It can hold information from

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Grammatical and phonological elements in Humpty Dumpty

Table 1. Grammatical and phonological elements in Humpty Dumpty.

7.5. Songs and rhymes

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

 Expand on the chant for further grammar and/or vocabulary.

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Some notions about poetry

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

 Iamb / iambic: unstressed + stressed, such as “delight”.

S+U S+U S+U U+S

Table 2. A couple of metric examples.

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

De la Torre Rubio, M. P. (2007). Las Canciones en el Aula de Inglés. Revista Digital

Lennard, J. (2006). The Poetry Handbook. Oxford: OUP.

Macmillan Publishers (2014). Macmillan Young Readers. Retrieved from:

Morrison, S. (1911/2013). Manx Fairy Tales. Ramsey: Lily Publications.

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

The master class is available at the virtual campus

For a Song: Music Across the ESL Curriculum

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

A compilation of Manx popular tales.

Roald Dahl Official Website. https://www.roalddahl.com/home/teachers

Seussville Official Website. https://www.seussville.com/

Advanced Didactics of the English Language

Fairytales website. http://fairytalez.com/

A compilation of fairy tales from all over the world.

Gruffalo Website. http://www.gruffalo.com/