Activities for Very Young Learners 4.9 The Enormous Tur! Outline Children listen roa traditional Russian folktale and join in with the actions and words. Focus seed, man, woman, girl, boy, dog, mouse, water (v), wait, turnip, hungry, (very) big, soup, (The plant) grows ard grows. The (woman) holds onto the (man). (The man) pulls and pulls./ They pull and pull. Can I help? Yes, please./ No! Age 3-7 Time 5 minutes for the story, 20-30 minutes for the craft activity (see Extension ideas). Materials A story book of The Exiormous Turnip with pictures (it doesn’t need to be in English), a real seed or picture of a seed, pictures of a plant (if possible several pictures of the plantas it grows). Ifyou do not havea story book, use the character templates from the website, sticky tack. Optional: Character templates, cr cons, scissors, and glue (see Extension ideas). Preparation Prepare the character cut-outs by photocopying the templates on page 113 or downloading them from the website. Read the story and practise elling it with a storybook or using the pictures. Procedure Get children settled for story time. Introduce the main characters in the story before you start, using the story book, the cut-outs or generic pictures of a man,a woman, a gitl,a boy,a dog and a mouse. Show a real seed (or a picture of one) and ask What's this? ... It’s a seed. It’s tiny seed! Tell the story below, changing your voice for the different characters and using actions and pictures (shown in brackets}: This is a man. This is a woman, (show or draw pictures of the man and the woman) The man plants the seed. (mime making a hole and planting a seed) ‘And the woman waters it. (mime watering the seed with a watering can) The man and the woman wait. They wait and wait. (cross your arms and tap your feet, looking at the spot where you ‘planted’ the seed) What's this? Its @ plant. 'saturnip. (show or draw a picture of a small plant) The plant grows and grows! And it grows and grows! (show or draw a picture of a bigger plant and mime looking: up at the growing plant) it grows and grows!tt’s very big! (look amazed) The man and the woman look at the turnip. “tm hungry,” says the woman. The man says “I'm hungry.” (rub your tummy and put the picture of the man on the board next to the picture of the plant) The man pulls. He pulls and pulls. (mime pulling at a plantin the ground) But the turnip doesn’t move! (shake your head) “Can |help?” says the woman. (show the picture of the woman}Stories and storytelling The woman holds onto the man. (put the picture of the woman behind the picture of the rman on the board) They pull and pull! (mime puling at a plant in the ground) But the turnip doesn't move. (shake your head) Here comes a gir. (show the picture ofa girl “Can |help?” says the girl “Yes, please!” say the man and the woman. The girl holds onto the woman and the woman holds onto the man. (put the picture of the girl on the board behind the woman) They pull and pull! (mime pulling at the plant) But the turnip doesn’t move. (shake your head) Here comes a boy. (show the picture of a boy) “Can | help?” says the boy. “Yes, please!” say the man and the woman and the girl. The boy holds onto the girl and the girl holds onto the woman and the woman holds onto the man. {put the picture of the boy on the board behind the girl) They pull and pull! (mime puling) But the turnip doesn't move (shake your head) Here comes adog. (show the picture of a dog) “Can |help?” says the dog. “Yes, please!’ say the man, the wornan, the girl and the boy. The dog holds onto the boy and the boy holds onto the girl; the girl holds onto the woman and the woman holds onto the man. (put the picture of the dog on the board behind the boy) They pull and pull! (mime pulling) But the turnip doesn't move. (shake your head) Here comes amouse. A small mouse. (show the picture of a mouse) “Can |help?" says the mouse. “No!” say the man, the woman, the girl, the boy and the dog, “You're too small!” “Oh, please, please, can| help?” cries the mouse. “Well, OK,” they say. The mouse holds onto the dog; the dog holds onto the boy and the boy holds onto the girl; the girl holds onto the woman and the woman holds onto the man. (put the picture of the mouse behind the picture of the girl) They pull and pull! They pull and they pull! (mime pulling with a lot of effort) And suddenly... POP! The turnip comes out of the ground! (mime pulling the turnip out) “Hooray!” they say. {jump up and down) The old man and the old woman cut up the turnip and they put itn a pot. (mime cutting the turnip and putting the pieces in a pot)a Activities for Very Young Learners They strand stir... (mime stirring alot of soup) ‘And make a delicious soup! Yum! (mime eating delicious soup from a bowl with a spoon) “Thank you!” say the gir, the boy, the dog and the mouse. (rub your tummy and look very happy) 4, Tell the story again. This time encourage children to do the actions with you. They can also join in with the repeated lines, for example, It grows ared grows. Car I help? Yes, please! and They pull and pullt Pause and point to each character, so that children say the names instead of you, e.g. The (mouse) holds onto the ... (dog) and the dog holds onto the... (boy) and the ... boy holds onto the... (girl). The girl holds onto the... (woman) and the woman holds onto the... (raat). Variation ‘Act out the story with the children instead of using pictures. Choose six children to be the man, the ‘woman, the boy, the girl, the dog and the mouse. The teacher is the turnip plant~the children playing the roles line up in turn behind you as you tell the story and attempt to move you by pulling. The children playing the man and woman then pretend to cut up the turnip and putit ina pot, etc. All the children act out eating the soup at the end, Extension ideas © Photocopy the cut-outs so there is one set for each child (sce website~add ref). Children colour the pictures and cut them out. Tell the story. Children move the cut-out characters, saying as much of the story as they can, With very young children, pre-cut the pieces so that they just need to colour them. + Tell this story in spring and then plant real seeds and watch them grow. * Learn about root vegetables. Show children carrot, turnip and beetroot seeds. They are all very different! Stick the seeds on paper with sellotape and then ask children to draw the vegetable next to each seed. Use real vegetables or find pictures to display on the wall or your computer screen. Note ‘Traditional tales which work well with very young learners often rely on repetition or have few characters, They also have a simple storyline which is easy for children to understand with the help of drawings, some key objects and clear miming. Other traditional stories you could tell in the classroom are The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and The Little Red Hen. You will find templates of the characters and storytelling instructions for these tales on the internet.Activities For Very Young Learners ~4 Stories and storyteling (& 4.9 The Enormous Turnip EGER © Cambridge University Press 2017