STORY TELLING

GENERAL. Our stories were written to provide fun and useful language practise for beginner students. All themes, vocabulary and grammar patterns are those typically found in beginner, and especially young children beginner ESL/EFL courses.

It is important when you read a story that you understand it. Make sure you are familiar with the story before you read it to your class. Know how it begins and, more importantly, how it ends, so that you can emphasize key features during your reading.

It also helps if you are willing to participate in the silliness of our stories. Children often take their cues from adults. If you read like a stuffed shirt your kids will likely react like wet noodles.

ILLUSTRATIONS. Every illustration in the stories has been designed to represent the action and dialogue on that page. There is usually only one or two lines of dialogue or narration that corresponds to each illustration. For students this means there are visual clues to help them make sense of almost every word in the story. For teachers it means being able to point to pictures to reinforce or explain their words. This structure then is highly beneficial to both teacher and student.

DESIGNATED SPACE. Designate a certain space in the classroom for story-time. You can arrange the children’s chairs in a half-circle in front of you, or lay out a blanket for them to sit on. Make sure everyone has a clear view of you and the pictures. Let the shortest students sit in the front. Make story time special by giving the activity its own location.

ANTICIPATION. If you’ve read our Party Manual you’ll know that creating anticipation is half the work when it comes to the success of an event. But how do you create anticipation for a story?

The simplest way, is to tell your students you are going to, at a later time, read them a story. Mention this the class before or even at the beginning of the present class. Show the class the front page of the story. Point to the illustrations. "Look. Here is a little ant. He is walking. Where is he going? I don’t know. Do you know? (Ask a student). No. Well. I will tell you later (tomorrow)."

Another way to create anticipation is to introduce some topic related to the story. Let’s say you are talking about bears, or animals in general. Ask the children some questions about what kind of food the animals like to eat. Someone will probably say that bears like honey. Tell the children that you have a story about bears and honey. ( Again, you have the choice of telling the students the story then, later that class, or even another day.)

Note, you can also use our stories to create anticipation for a related project you are planning with the kids. In other words, use our bear story to introduce a topic about animals in the forest.

TELLING. Don’t start your story until everyone is quiet ( and stop anytime too much noise is being made). When you feel the children are ready take out the story sheets (you probably have them printed out on 8.5X11 sheets). Let the children make comments about the pictures they see. Point to the pictures yourself and ask simple questions: "What color is ...? What is this? What are they (is he/she) doing?" 

When you are ready to begin the story point to the title and read it. You may do this in a faux-formal voice to indicate that it is the beginning. Next, point to the character in the story that speaks the first line of dialogue. Read the line. Point to the second character (if there is one) and read its line. Make sure the children know which character is speaking what lines. If possible, use different voices for different characters. If there is only narration move your hand around the page. Point to the objects or characters being referred to.

After you have spoken the lines of dialogue or narration point to other parts of the picture and use gestures to reinforce or elaborate what is being said. If you were reading the story, "The Little Green Boy", and the two characters just greeted each other, wave to your own students and say, "Hello." When the green boy asks, "What is that?" point to the object he is referring to. After the (normal) boy says, "That is (chocolate/candy/ice-cream)",  point to the object and repeat the word to the students. You may even ask simple questions at this point. "Do you like…..? Do you have .....?"

Yes/no type questions are useful to see if your students are understanding the story. "Does the green boy like chocolate? Is the boy nice to the green boy?"

Ask the questions quickly so they don’t intrude on the stories flow. Humorous, or ridiculous questions are useful to keep alive the sense of fun. ("Is the green boy blue? Is he your brother?"). Remember, you want the students to feel this is story-time, not Q&A drill-time.

REPEAT. Your students’ English level is beginner. Don’t rush through the stories. Also don’t assume that because the children are smiling and laughing with you that they necessarily understand the story. They may just like the pictures or your performance. Go slowly and repeat the lines of the story once or twice before you turn the page. Point to important objects in the illustrations and repeat them. Use gestures to reinforce what is being said. If you just read, "I am the big frog," repeat the line and spread your arms out wide. Again, yes/no type questions are useful to gauge your students’ understanding.

You should tell the entire story more than once. Studies have shown that vocabulary is learned more rapidly and retained for a longer time when it is learned in the context of a story. Most young children enjoy hearing a story told more than once, especially if they know they are going to it role-play afterwards.