TEACHING ENGLISH TO

VERY YOUNG LEARNERS

THROUGH STORYTELLING
Gamze Gnayd

VERY YOUNG LEARNERS...

are...
are...

need...
need...

have
havegot...
got...

... active

... attention

... lots of toys

... creative

... activities

... great imaginations

... eager to learn

... songs

... imaginary friends

... curious

... games

... short attention

... energetic

... rules

spans

... easily frustrated

... routines

... mood swings

... developing eye-hand ... positive

... a lot of unanswered

coordination

questions

reinforcement
... movement
... attractive class

STORIES ARE...

S
T
O
R
I
E
S

Stimulating
Traditional
Oral, original
Relaxing, rhythmical
Interesting, imaginative
Educational, easy to adapt
Social

We all need stories for our minds as much as we

need food for our bodies: we watch television, go
to the cinema, theatre, read books, and exchange
stories with our friends. Stories are particularly
important in the lives of our children: stories help
children to understand their world and to share it
with others.

(Andrew Wright, 1995)

WHY STORYTELLING?

Stories provide meaningful context.

Stories provide natural repetition.

Stories develop childrens listening skills.

Stories encourage active participation.

Stories serve as models for civic education.

YOU ARE A STORYTELLER!

STORYTELLING ROOM DESIGN

CHOOSING STORIES

Topic

Characters

Plot

HOW TO TELL A STORY?

Memorizing stories
You
It

can improvise adding your own words or phrases.

is easier to respond to the students.

You

can keep eye contact with the students.

You

can move around the classroom, use your body,

and act more.

FINDING VOICES
Mood

Ways of speaking

Excited

Very quickly

Sad

Quietly, slowly

Tired

Slowly, with long yawns

Shy

Very quietly

Frightened

Fast, breathless

Angry

Very loud, words separated

Kind

Softly

Threatening

With a nasty cackling laughter

Amused

Holding back laughter, voice begins to

crack slightly

MIMING
Stop!
Come here!
Stop that behaviour immediately!
Its a secret.
Waiter, Id like to pay the bill.
Get out of here!
Sit down!

MIMING CONVERSATIONS
How to act vainly
Play with your hair
Keep adjusting your clothes

How to act crazily

Laugh wildly and for no reason
Smile vacantly
Look into the far distance

How to act lovingly

Sit very close
Listen with rapt attention
Hold eye contact
Smile dreamily
How to act angrily
Stamp your feet
Grind your teeth
Clench your fists

BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR WHAT

DO YOU SEE?

WHAT CAN WE TEACH?

Animals
Colours
Adjectives
Animal sounds
Phonetics

LETTERS

SHADOW GAME

MEMORY GAME
Turn the cards upside down on the table. Have
the children turn the cards over two at a time to
find matching cards.

BIG BOOK

SEQUENCING
Provide students with picture cards of things in
the book. Have them practice sequencing as to
how they came up in the book.

CATEGORISING:
No legs

2 legs

4 legs

goldfish

bird

dog

WHATS MISSING?

Display the felt board characters from the book.

Then have the students put their head down.
Stand in front of the felt board and remove two or
three of the pictures. Have them look at the
board and guess which ones are missing. You
can make the game increasingly more difficult by
decreasing the number of characters that you
remove.

MATH PROBLEMS
Use the storybook characters to create math
problems.

Brown Bear saw 2 black sheep and 1 goldfish.

How many animals did he see in all?
Brown Bear saw 2 black sheep and 1 dog. How
many legs did he see in all?

BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR...

... what do you see?

... what do you hear?

... what do you smell?

... how do you feel?

LETS DO IT!

There was an old lady

The very hungry caterpillar

THERE WAS AN OLD LADY

TEACHING LEXIS

FEED THE LADY

Print the pieces. Attach the Old Lady piece to an
empty cereal box. Cutthe mouth out. Cover the
lady with a piece of clear contact paper. Cut
the cards out. Have the children "feed" the lady
as you retell the story.

HOW MANY FLIES?

ORDINAL NUMBERS

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

WHAT CAN WE TEACH?

Colours
Numbers
Food
Days of the week
Life cycle

COLOURING PICTURES

NUMBERS & FOOD

DOT TO DOT ACTIVITIES

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Sonsg & chants
Squencing cards

ALPHABET

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Wright, A. 1995. Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.
Wright, A. 1995. Creating Stories with Children. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Spiro, J. 2006. Storybuilding Oxford University Press.

Douelli, T. 2007 Oxford Teachers Academy