Professor:Professor: Diego Diego Fernando MaciasFernando Macias

Presenters: Presenters: Marcela Marcela Escobar RoaEscobar Roa Angela Viviana Angela Viviana RodriguezRodriguez

Language Learning Language Learning ResourcesResources

• Story books in the classroom.• Why stories?• Disadvantages or limitations.• Criteria for selecting story books.• Specific activities.• Ways to access this resource• Implications and considerations• References.

“Children enjoy listening to stories in their mother tongue and understand the conventions of narrative. As soon as they hear the formula “Once upon a time…” they know what to expect next. Storybooks can provide an ideal introduction to the foreign language presented in a context that is familiar to the child.”

Ellis and Browster 1991,1

“Once Upon a Time…” magic words which open the door into new worlds where anything is possible because the normal rules of logic do not apply; worlds of children of all ages can let their imaginations loose in a framework of safe familiarity. And, once those words have been spoken , there must be few people who can resist the fascination as they are drawn deeper into the web of the story.”

Alan Maley

• They are motivating and fun.• They help develop positive attitudes

towards the foreign language and language learning.

• They exercise imagination.• They can link fantasy and creativity

with the child’s real world.• Listening to stories is a shared social

experience.

• Stories allow students to express feelings in a natural relaxed atmosphere.

• They build up self-confidence and self-esteem.

• Vocabulary in stories is used in context.• They expose the learners to several

tenses and grammatical structures and functions at the same time as in real life (authenticity).

• They are a good resource to integrate different communicative skills.•Market designed books have divided the real language into levels.•They allow cross curricular activities. Arts, history, science, music, drama, geography, math etc.•Can be used as extra practice-supplementary or complementary activities.

• Some story books can be expensive.• Some stories encourage too much repetition.• Students can fall into the fantastic or imaginary

worlds only.• Some of them can be complex or difficult to

understand depending on the students’ level.

• Preparation of activities for the different stages can be time consuming.

• Selecting stories takes time and also it is important to have in mind some criteria to do so.

Aspects to be considered (Ellis and Brewster, 1991) :

• Linguistic• Psychological• Cultural

Linguistic:• Level: Vocabulary, structures and

functions.• Pronunciation: rhyme, onomatopoeia,

rhythm and intonation• Content/subject matter: relevant,

interesting, amusing and memorable (Psychological).

• Visuals: use of illustrations, attractive/colorful, size. (Psychological, cultural)

• Participation: repetition, prediction, develop memory, build confidence. (Psychological, cultural).

Psychological:• Motivation• Arouse curiosity• Create positive attitudes: target language,

target culture and language learning.

Cultural:• Language/content: authentic and appropriate.

Vocabulary:• Using objects.• Drawing.• Using illustrations in the story

books.• Mime, expressions and gestures.• Using opposites.• Guessing from context.

• What’s missing?• Matching words to pictures.• Giving instructions / picture

dictation.• Sequencing.• Labeling.• Bingo.• Memory games.

Listening:• Listen and repeat.• Listen and discriminate

(Pronunciation features: words which rhyme).

• Listen and perform actions/follow instructions.

• Listen and draw/color.• Listen and sequence.• Listen and label.

Speaking:• Listen and participate.• Reading aloud.• Memory games.• Dramatization.• Rhymes, action rhymes, songs,

chants.• Retelling a story.• Information gap.• Role-play.

Writing

• Label for pictures/diagrams.• Captions for pictures.• Speech bubbles for cartoons.• Giving information in response to

questions.

• Storybooks• Websites: http://www.magickeys.com/books/ http://www.starfall.com/ http://childtopia.com• Textbooks• Magazines• Software programs

• Storybooks• Websites: http://www.magickeys.com/books/ http://www.starfall.com/ http://childtopia.com• Textbooks• Magazines• Software programs

• Working with stories in the classroom is not an easy task for most teachers because of lack of experience in the field.

• Using story books demands the teacher to be very creative, resourceful and dynamic.

• Teachers need to integrate different skills. “If the teacher uses stories merely to introduce

and practice grammar or particular lexical areas or functions, children may lose interest”.

Andrew Wright

• Teachers can use some of the strategies or activities available to use this tool and make the necessary adjustments according to his/her learners and context.

• Stories provide teachers with powerful tools and key aspects to involve children in an enjoyable way in the learning process. That is why, they need to be implemented more frequently by teachers in the English classroom.

• Teachers can take advantage of children’s characteristics such as imagination, curiosity and fantasy in order to improve the teaching learning language process.

“For young children is not easy to know what is fact and what is fiction, the dividing line between the real world and the imaginary world is not clear, they believe fantastic things” (Scott and Ytreberg, 2).

• Using stories in the classroom are a high-quality source for teachers to help children develop not merely the language itself but also holistic human beings.

• stories are an excellent means to help children develop their personality and values as well as to increase their language skills.

• Stories benefit both teachers and learners in many ways.

• Stories help learners to increase their concentration span.

• Being exposed to listening to stories is a vehicle for promoting the language acquisition in a natural way.

• A story provides the starting point and rich environment for developing a wide variety of related language and learning activities involving learners personally and actively in the educational context.

References

• Wright, Andrew. Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

• Ellis, G. and Brewster, J, The Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teacher. Penguin, 1991

• Brumfit C.J. and Carter R.A. Literature and language teaching. Oxford University Press, 2000.

• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/resources/stories.shtml

• http://www.magickeys.com/books/• http://www.starfall.com/• http://childtopia.com