What was

your favourite
Did your teacher
story?
of English tell you
or read you
stories in the
Primary School?
What´s the difference
between storytelling
and reading?
Reading stories

“stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language, that children can enter and enjoy,
learning language as they go.”
Cameron Lynne (p: 159)

- educationalists and psychologists have shown that stories have a vital role play in the child´s development of language.
- children of all ages love to be read to.
- for the older group it is often good to have a continuing story so that you read a bit of the book every time you see them.
Reading a story from a book
- some of the stories which you read aloud will become the stories that your stds read.
- read the book so that all the stds can see it, and point to the words as you say them.
- Read under normal speed the first time, keeping intonation correct.
- let stds point and ask questions if they want to, but not so much that it interrupts the flow of the story.

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- leave the book in the book corner. Tell the group they can read it on their own if they want to.

Reading vs listening a story

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Three important things need to be added:
- First, it takes a lot more preparation to tell a story than to read it aloud. The preparation involves reading the story beforehand, getting to know the
images and the structure and preparing it for telling.

- Second, reading aloud gives an immediate connection to the world of books. You can read the story again, in the same way, in that book. Before or
after telling the story you could show the book it came from.

- And third, storytelling is not better than reading aloud. And reading aloud is not better than storytelling. They are both important and have more
similarities than differences.

https://internationalstoryteller.com/differences-between-storytelling-and-reading-aloud/

Reading a class story

 Chapter 3 “Listening” from Scott and Ytreberg´s book:

Teaching English to Children” page: 28

- you might want to use a class story as your starting point for
Reading
. Each std can have their own their own copy (then can even
color it)
- if you have a mascot (like Teddy), you can use it to build up a
short story about him using story-telling techniques

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Story-telling and drama (Very Young Learners)
When we are teaching pre-literate children, we need to revert to time-honoured story-telling skills and use visual aids, dramatic tone of voice, mimicry,
gesture, and mime to bring the story alive. You do not have to be good at acting to keep a group of children enthralled. Even though modern children are
brought up on a diet of television, they still enjoy the human contact of a real live person telling them a story.
When telling a story, it is important to create a close and intimate atmosphere. The children can sit in semicircles on a carpet or cushions round
your chair. This should ensure that your face, hands, and visual aids are visible to all the children.
It is better to tell a story than to read it from a book, in order to create better interaction with the children and to have eye contact with them. You
can write down a few cues and these, together with any pictures and drawings, should help you remember the story. Later on, when you want to
encourage children to start reading books, it will be a good idea to read some of the stories from books, showing the children the pictures in order
to stimulate interest in the books themselves.
From the beginning encourage the children to join in with the story where there is repetition. By the second or third telling you can start leaving
bits out or altering the story, which will have the double value of checking on listening comprehension and encouraging the children to speak.
There are many children's stories available, both traditional and modern, and you will probably choose your favourites. It might be better to start
off with traditional stories from the children's own cultural background as they may already be familiar to the children and this will aid
comprehension. If English books are not available, you can use a book written in the children's own language for the pictures and tell the story
yourself. There is a danger of oversimplifying the language when telling a story, but story-books written for native speakers are fine with this age-
group and it is essential to expose them to fluent and natural English.
Stories are usually about (imaginary) things which happened in the past, and the stories in this book include past tense forms. Obviously we are not
suggesting that you should teach the children how to form tenses such as the simple past or past continuous, but in the context of a story they will
hear them and understand them naturally, which is a good preparation for active use when the children are older.
A dramatic way to present a story is by using an overhead projector and creating a shadow-play. The darkened room, the focused light, and the
movement of the figures create an atmosphere which has long been appreciated in the theatre tradition. Older children can prepare the cut-outs
which are to be used. Alternatively, you can create a shadow-play theatre by hanging up a sheet to act as a screen and shining a strong light behind
it.

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The children themselves will want to tell stories, often about the drawings they are doing or what has happened to them. You can encourage this by
asking questions. Later on, when they are beginning to read and write, they can write and illustrate their 'news'.
At this age children spend a lot of time in a fantasy world, sometimes conversing and playing games with an imaginary friend, sometimes 'being' a
cowboy, robot, dinosaur, nurse, superman, etc. The older the child, the more elaborate the creation will generally be. While children of three or four
may just play at being a character for a short while, children of six or seven construct an elaborate plot to their game.
This creativity can be harnessed in the classroom by encouraging the children to re-enact stories you have told them. This works particularly well
with some of the old favourites such as 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'The gingerbread man', 'The three billy-goats', etc. The children quickly pick up
the repeated dialogues and can use them appropriately in their dramatizations. (See 'Pretend play', page 26.)
Some teachers like to tell stories using a felt board and figures cut out of felt, which is a useful way of illustrating the meaning. Nowadays, velcro is
a useful material and figures with velcro backing can be stuck to a fuzzy board. If these are unavailable, figures can be stuck on to a whiteboard
with sticky tape, Blu-tack, or plasticine. Alternatively, you can use magnets to stick up pictures on some of the modern whiteboards.
With all of these methods the children can help to prepare the characters and to move the figures when you tell the story.
For more ideas and tips, see Storytelling with Children by Andrew Wright in this series, which also contains helpful guide-lines for simple board
drawings.
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Using story-books and videos
Very young children cannot yet read, but it is a good idea to interest them in books so that they want to learn. As well as telling stories from
memory, read them stories from picture books. Choose a book which is short and has large, clear pictures. Make sure all the
children can see the book and pause to show them the pictures as you are reading.
In Further Reading (page 187) we suggest some books which are suitable for very young children. Some books, for example Where's Spot? by Eric
Hill and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, are available in many languages and in bilingual versions. If you can't find books in English,
use books in the children's language and paraphrase them in English. You can still show the pictures and the children won't know the difference!
Many children's stories are available in both book and video form (and some now on CD-ROM). Some children will be familiar with story
characters from TV but not with the books they originally came from. You can use both versions to help the children to understand the story, and to
stimulate interest in books and reading. The different media help children to use different strategies for understanding the language.
Videos are an excellent resource and have the advantage of combining stories with animation. They give a lot of language input and it does not
even matter if they have subtitles in the pupil's language as very young children cannot read yet.
There is a danger that the children will want to watch passively and although that might be justified when they are very tired, you can do predicting
and pre-watching activities with them. For example, before watching a Postman Pat episode you can ask them if he has a cat or a dog and what
colour it is. You can pre-teach some words so that the children will recognize them in the video.
After viewing, you can ask the children to re-enact a video story, or to draw a picture about it, which can lead to more language practice.
It is not advisable to use long videos or cartoons which simply consist of the characters trying to hurt each other. The best ones are the short
episodes produced for children's television. Characters such as Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, Brum, Spot, The Mr Men, and Rupert Bear are very
popular with children and have good underlying educational principles. There are some specially-produced videos for teaching English such as
Wizadora, the Longman Fairy Stories, and Muzzy in Gondoland, which are also very useful for teaching this age-group.
Here are some guidelines for choosing a video to use in the English class with very young children:
- It should be short (5-10 minutes)
- It must have a good storyline
- It must be suitable for the age-group
- The language should be easy to understand by watching the actions
- Think about what activities you could do to help the children understand it, for example acting it out.

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Some children's videos are available in many countries and languages. Some do not have a soundtrack, but are still useful for teaching English. You can talk
about what happens and get the children to predict what happens next. But don't forget to let the children enjoy the video story as well as using it to practise
their English!
Below are some examples of how to use books and videos in class. You do not have to follow all these steps and they can be divided over several lessons.
Children of this age love hearing the same story over and over again.

 Davies, Alison (2007). Storytelling in the classroom.

Storytelling is the best tonic for the imagination, and as such, children find it exciting and fun. They have permission to go wherever they want, to explore
language and learn about life in a safe environment. They immediately connect with the storyteller; there is no book or paper to act as a barrier. The only
pictures they have are in their heads. The words become their own.

The difference between storytelling and reading might be a clear one, but why is so important in the classroom? Here are some reasons why storytelling is
essential for educational development and can be used to complement the curriculum.

 Storytelling aids in the development of children´s ability to interpret and understand events beyond their immediate experience. Children´s
perception changes as they “make it real” and identify with the story on a personal level. They are able to do this in a positive and safe environment.
Moral tales are particularly good learning tools as they immerse children in situations where they can learn a lesson; they then discover the truth in
their own way.
 Storytelling is a medium of shared experiences. This helps children to empathize with the characters, to feel elated at another´s joy. Sad for their
misfortunes. It is a tool for social and interpersonal development.
 Storytelling aids language development. Children need to be exposed to language to fully understand its implications. This will also have a beneficial
effect on reading skills and being able to associate meanings and emotions with words.
 Storytelling helps with listening and speaking skills. Children will learn the importance of listening, of how to communicate ideas and interact with
others. They will develop their vocabulary and learn when and where to use words and phrases.
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  Storytelling stretches the imagination. It encourages children to escape into a fantasy world, and supports their daydreams, which has positive
benefits on mental health and clarity leaving them better able to cope with day-to- day situations (fairy tales are ideally suited for this purpose).
 Storytelling entertains and excites, which is an important part of learning. If children are having fun they are involved, and motivated to learn more.
There is nothing more rewarding than watching a class light up with enthusiasm as they engage with your story, and everything falls into place. You
can almost see them working through the logical proves, anticipating what comes next and discovering the real meaning of the tale.
 Storytelling can be used across the curriculum to break down subjects that are difficult to learn. It can be used to make problem areas more
accessible, by adopting a creative attitude and coming at the subject from different angle. Think how much more appealing it is to say “Today Im going
to tell you a story about a girl and her mathematical friend”, rather than “Today we´re going to look at data handling and how we can use it as a tool in
mathematics. The first sentence sounds intriguing; immediately questions begin to form in the mind- what girl? Who is her mathematical friend? What
happens to them? The second sentence might be informative but it doesn´t encourage questions. It is a statement of fact and therefore harder for
children to relate to.
 Storytelling helps children appreciate different cultures; in addition to helping them examine and value their own personal heritage.
 Storytelling is the natural way to introduce children to the wonderful world of books and reading. It´s a good idea to have plenty of reading
material available so that the class can do follow up work, and read stories similar to the ones you have been telling. The next stage is for the class to
create their own stories and learn how to communicate their individually and in groups.

Story-telling techniques

From the Book: “Show and Tell 1” Teacher´s Book

Using stories:

Stories are a very effective learning tool in the English language classroom and beyond. Here are few ways in which they promote learning.
- They provide interest and simulation.
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- They mirror social contexts.
- They inform the child´s view of real or imaginary worlds.
- They comfort, challenge and amuse the child.
- They introduce the child to the interest and value of the written and richness that it can contain.
- They form the cornerstones of literacy development in the mother tongue and additional languages.

There are many approaches to using stories in the classroom. The book “Show and Tell” provides short stories with repeated animal characters as well as
three longer, more traditional stories. We would encourage you to extend the reading of stories to many other early readers and story books that children
can choose themselves, or they can bring stories from home into the classroom. It is important to use stories as an individual as well as shared
experience.

Here are a few ideas about using stories in the classroom:

- Create a physical or imaginary story space in which everything is calm and quiet in a relaxed way. Build this into a routine in which you do certain
things, say a story time or put on soft music. Be clear that this is a positive and enjoyable experience.
- Create a physical or imaginary story space in which everything is calm and quiet in a relaxed way. Build this into a routine in which you do certain
things, say a story time chant or put on soft music. Be clear that this is a positive and enjoyable experience. Talk about the story before reading it
by looking at the cover or a particular picture. Introduce some of the characters. Get the children to predict what might happen.
- Read to the children but also get the children to participate by suppling words, actions or even sounds at particular places in the story. You can
also encourage the children to use props such as toys, clothes, and real items to tell the story.
- Don´t belabor the story by worrying too much about understanding on an individual word or sentence basis. Make sure that the children
understand the sequence of the story, the motivation, the ending and the humor.

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 - Focus on repetitive elements that the children can pick up and repeat with you when they come up. These can be very playful and fun such
as using “funny voices” to repeat lines from certain characters.
- Use simple role play/acting out of the whole story or a section of the story. This can be simple miming at a low level.
- Think of ways of extending the story. Create games and activities related to the storylines or characters - this will increase the meaningfulness and
memorability of the stories.
-

PACEY - Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years

https://youtu.be/SsLTvVn-HIk

Telling-stories techniques and tips!

Karrie Korroch:

Professional storyteller, dancer and movement teacher.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dLWG-uQVUM

Story –telling techniques (examples)

Jean Rosenberg Feldman (born March 15, 1947, in Milan, Tennessee), better known
as Dr. Jean, is an American teacher, author, and musical artist. She is well known for
her children's learning songs. Dr. Jean has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction,
an M.A. in Early Childhood from Georgia State University, and a Diploma for
Advanced Study in Teaching from Emory University. Dr. Jean has been educating for
over 40 years and has created many resources for teachers in the classroom with
their students.

https://youtu.be/q10UgcjGAyE

Planning story-based lessons

As with other listening and reading activities it can be helpful to plan story-based the lessons following the three stages:
BEFORE
WHILE
AFTER

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 If you decide to use a story in an extended way over several lessons, use a cyclical process which starts by creating interest, motivation and
attention in the story and predicting what is about, followed by an initial telling of the story, related activities and follow-up. The cycle can then be
extended through a combination of retelling(s) of the story in a variety of ways, interspersed with a series of appropriately selected activities that lead
children from an initial, global understanding of the story to using more and more of the language it contains. In some cases, the storytelling cycle may
lead to children producing their own versions of the story. Or dramatizing some aspects of it in a role play.
With older children, as part of their understanding of storytelling, it is also important to develop their awareness of how stories are constructed and to
give them opportunities to create stories themselves.
As part of activities in the storytelling cycle, and in order to enrich and enhance children´s learning, it is often appropriate to integrate storytelling with
drama. (on page 115 you can continue reading about drama)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zV6DvfbI49uiz3QCwLI2o-YD0wD_sIcb/view?usp=sharing
 From 500 Activities for Primary School (pages: 114- )

Tasks - Part I:

Storytelling at KInder

Here you will watch this video of a kinder class, where the teacher can maintain their attention by making them intervene in the telling of the story through
movements and words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJU5L3ZYODU

a) Please observe the class (use the captions if you don't understand the language, you can read )

b) Take notes of the actions the teacher does. Explain them from the theory.

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 Tasks - Part II:

a) Read the following lesson plan. Analyze it from the theory. Is it a suitable story for that class? Why? Why not?

b) Choose one of the activities and change it for a different one.

c) Choose a story and design a lesson plan for a preschooler class (salita de 5)

Lesson Plan N°2 Submission date (TM): 28/08/2023

Lesson Plan N°3 Submission date (TT): 31/08/2023

d) Add the Interaction section. Complete the material section and imagine possible characteristics for this group.

Inst. Sup. “Josefina Contte” Learning Objectives: By the end of the class students will be able to identify and name the characters of the story and numbers
from 1-5.
Plan N°1

Trainees:

CLASS DESCRIPTION: ………………………………………………………………….

Date: 11/5/23

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Time: 9:30 - 9:50 hrs.
LANGUAGE FOCUS: Farm animals and numbers.
School: Kinder “Pollito
Travieso” Structure: Chant (The cat pulls the dog, the dog pulls the sheep, the sheep pulls the horse, the horse pulls the cow and the
cow pulls the carrot. They pull and pull and pull, but can’t take it out…)
Course: Sala “G” 5 years old.
Lexis: Farm animals (cow, horse, dog, cat, sheep), numbers from 1-5.
Level of instruction: Beginners
Function: Naming and recognizing the different characters from the story and numbers from 1 to 5.

SKILLS: Listening: Hello song, Weather song. Speaking: Repeating words with T, saying the different animals and
numbers.

CONTEXT: Storytelling “The animals and the carrot”

Materials: …………………………………………………………………………………………….

STAGES AND PROCEDURES TASKS Type of

AIMS Interactions / TIME

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Warm Up T enters the class and greets children. “Hello everyone! How are you today?” and plays Sts greet back “Hello!” and then 2’
the song “Hello” by Super Simple Songs. T dances and sings along while gesturing. dance and sing with the teacher
the Hello song. When the
Hello, hello, hello how are you? (x2) I'm good! I'm great! I'm wonderful! (x2) Hello, hello, teacher asks how they are, they
hello how are you? (x2) I'm tired! I'm hungry! I'm not so good… (x2) answer “Good!” or "Great"

Then T stops the music and asks some of them “How are you? Good? Tired?"

“Now, tell me. How’s the weather today?” asks T while she shows different plushies of
the weather. “Is it sunny? Rainy? Cloudy? Yes, it’s sunny, very good!”

Presentation T shows the poster of the farm and asks “What is this? And who lives here? A farmer, "Animals. Hi, cow! Hi, horse!" 5'
two farmers, or animals.” Then she grabs the posters of the animals and presents each Then they start to name and to
one by their names “This is a cow, say hi to cow! This is a horse, hi horse.”. After that, do the animals' sounds "Dog.
she starts to make the animals’ noises and cheer the children to do the same as she WOOF, WOOF! Cat. MEOW,
shows each animal. “Dog. WOOF, WOOF! Cat. “MEOW, MEOW!” MEOW!"

“Now, we are going to listen to a story with these animals.” They listen to the story and
participate of it with T.
T tells the story “The animals and the carrot”

“Once upon a time there was a little farm. They have a garden with lots of carrots. But
one carrot is big. It grows and grows and grows until it is very big.
A cow sees the carrot. One animal pulls the carrot! "Moooo!" The cow pulls and pulls and
pulls the carrot, but can't take it out.
The cow calls the horse.
"Moooo!"
"Nyyeeghh!"
Two animals pull the carrot! The horse pulls the cow, the cow pulls the carrot. They pull

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 and pull and pull, but can't take it out.
The horse calls the sheep.
"Nyyeeghh!"
"Meehhh!"
Three animals pull the carrot! The sheep pulls the horse, the horse pulls the cow and the
cow pulls the carrot. They pull and pull and pull, but can't take it out.
The sheep calls the dog.
"Meehhh!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Four animals pull the carrot! The dog pulls the sheep, the sheep pulls the horse, the
horse pulls the cow and the cow pulls the carrot. They pull and pull and pull, but can't
take it out.
The dog calls the cat.
"Woof! Woof!"
"Meooow!"
Five animals pull the carrot! The cat pulls the dog, the dog pulls the sheep, the sheep
pulls the horse, the horse pulls the cow and the cow pulls the carrot. They pull and pull
and pull, and…
Hooh-hah! The carrot came out!
The animals make a soup and eat the soup happily.
The end

Practice 1 As the story is being told, T encourages sts to repeat certain words with her, showing the Sts clap when they hear carrot 5'
respective images “Carrot! Cow, horse, sheep…” and to count the numbers with her. and say it too. "Carrot! Cow!
“Everytime you hear the word ‘carrot’ clap your hands, like this” and she claps. Horse! One! Two!"

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Practice 2 Children will need to listen to the story again. This time, the teacher remains in silence in "Sheep! Dog! Three!" 4'
some parts, showing the pictures of the animals, so they say the words by themselves.
“The horse calls the… sheep… The sheep calls the… dog… ___ three animals pull the
carrot.”

Practice 3 T does the sounds of the animals and sts have to guess which sounds correspond to the "One, cow! Two, horse! Three, 4'
animal, as well as she gestures numbers 1-5. "Ok, what is the animal that does 'Muuuu!'? sheep!"
Very good, cow…"

Production “Let’s draw the animals of the story in order”

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