Story-Based Approach to Teaching Preschool English

byMargarita Kosior

margaritakosior@gmail.com@margaritakosior

Before electricity there was storytelling

Is it true?

What is storytelling?

Preschool years (ages up to 5)• Time of personal, social and emotional development• Time of acquiring knowledge and beginning to

understand the world• Time when children become keen observers of the

world• Time when children learn to understand

others and express themselves effectively• Time when children build their vocabulary• Time when their environment becomes

larger and richerhttp://encompassnw.org/DownFiles/DL34/CC4_Ch1_exrpt.pdf

Let’s talk about…:• Benefits of storytelling

• Stories in the classroom – action plan

• Examples

Benefits of StorytellingMental

– Storytelling boosts thinking capacity

Benefits of StorytellingMental – cont’d

– Stories help children acquire and develop individual reading tastes, skills, and creativity

Benefits of StorytellingMental – cont’d

– Stories arouse curiosity and encourage children to ask questions

Benefits of Storytelling Social

• Increase children’s willingness to communicate thoughts and feelings

• Teaching about cultures, ways of solving everyday problems, about social interactions

• Teach children about themselves and about others• Can promote a positive attitude to

people from different lands, races

and religions• Develop empathy

Benefits of Storytelling Social

• Conveying values (bravery, respect, tolerance, teamwork, patience, generosity, fair play, forgiveness, peace, etc.)

Benefits of StorytellingSocial – cont’d

• The value of hard work– “The Three Little Pigs”

– “The Cicada and the Ant"

Benefits of StorytellingSocial – cont’d

• The value of determination, constancy/perseverance and modesty– "The Tortoise and the Hare"

Benefits of StorytellingSocial – cont’d

• The value of inner beauty– "Beauty and the Beast“

– "The Frog Prince"

Benefits of StorytellingSocial – cont’d

• The value of courage– "Jack and the Beanstalk"

Benefits of StorytellingEducational

• Active learning through stories

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/from-passive-to-active-learners.html

Benefits of StorytellingEducational – cont’d

• Intrinsic motivation 

• Active participation in the process of teaching/learning

• Effective internalization of language

• Support for thematic concepts and vocabulary of each theme

• Adds variety to your lesson

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: Before

Do your homework

Test – are you ready for a career in storytelling?

Test • IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a princess spend her

formative years locked in a tower growing her hair? • “Rapunzel”

• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a princess prick her finger on a spindle on her 16th birthday and

take a very long nap? • “Sleeping Beauty”

Test – cont’d• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a boy steal a giant’s harp

and a hen that lays golden eggs?• “Jack and the Beanstalk”

• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a princess accidentally drop her golden ball into a well, and accept

the help of an amphibian to retrieve it? • “The Frog Prince”

Test – cont’d• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a Russian witch with iron

teeth live in a house on chicken legs? • “Baba Yaga”

• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a boy outsmart a powerful magician pretending to be his

uncle, and summon a genie who makes

him rich?• “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp”

Test – cont’d• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a miller’s idle boast lead

to his daughter being locked in a room at the local castle to spend the night with a spinning wheel?

• “Rumpelstiltskin”

• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a girl’s stepmother arrange to have her taken into the forest

and killed, just because

a talking mirror said the girl

was the fairest of them all? • “Snow White”

Test – cont’d• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does an enchanted fish give

an ungrateful woman a new house, which only makes her want more?

• “The Fisherman and His Wife”

• IN WHAT FAIRY TALE does a merchant’s youngest daughter agree to move to

the palace of a hideous creature who

wants her to say she’ll marry

him? • “Beauty and the Beast”

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: Before – cont’d

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: Before – cont’d

• Also– Select follow-up activities– Decide whether you want to tell the story at once,

or break it down to create suspense– Before you begin

• Show the cover, present the author and

the title

• Provide a context for the story

• Present the main characters

– Present unknown vocabulary using

flashcards

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: During

• How to become a memorable storyteller– Get the audience involved

– Make eye contact with your audience

– Know your audience

– Don’t be afraid of silence

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: During – cont’d

• Use gesture, intonation, facial expressions

• Vary volume, pitch and tempo

• Use distinct character voices

• Follow your words with actions

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: After

• Follow-up activities – Song– Actions to go along with the songs– Role-play– Sequencing

Stories in the ClassroomAction Plan: After – cont’d

• Follow-up activities – cont’d– Drawing – Relating stories to personal

experiences– Discuss the message / the moral

of the story

“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.”

Hannah Arendt (political theorist)

Examples

The Rainbow Fish – message

The more you share, the happier you become

The Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - message

Time / the story of life itself

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

• Lifecycle (noodle project, life cycle mobile, movement activity)

• Fruit (magic box, fruit salad)

• Days of the week

• Math / counting

• Song

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Idea taken from

http://0809morningprek.blogspot.com/2009/04/life-cycle-of-butterfly_10.html

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

• Magic box

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

• Days of the week and fruit – spin wheel

Idea taken from http://eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=334902#this

The Very Hungry Caterpillar• Domino

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Song: The Butterfly Colors Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAZHVNVJp0

Why tell stories?”Children who are not spoken to by responsive adults will not learn to speak properly. Children

who are not answered will stop asking questions. They will become incurious. And

children who are not told stories and who are not read to will have few reasons for wanting to

learn to read."

Gail E. Haley (American Author and Illustrator)

Reward?

Works CitedCasciani D 2005, Counting on the Caterpillar, BBC news, viewed on 8 March 2012,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4717503.stm

Classic Fairy Tales.com, Viewed on 8 March 2012, http://www.classic-fairytales.com/default.asp

Freemand J 2007, “Once Upon a Time: Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and Reader's Theater with Children in Grades PreK-6”, Libraries Unlimited, Westport, Connecticut

How Children Develop and Learn n.d., The Creative Curriculum

for Preschool, Encompass: Children, Families, Community,

viewed on 8 March 2012, http://encompassnw.org/DownFiles/DL34/CC4_Ch1_exrpt.pdf

When Preschoolers Ask Questions, They Want Explanations 2009,

Science Daily, viewed 8 March 2012, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091113083254.htm