Learning English is fun

Learning English is fun

Sunday 20 December 2015

The ninth lesson.

Story activities

 As we have said in the above posts, we can practise and improve their oral skills, listening and speaking, using activities where they must listen and do, perform, identify, respond, colour, draw or make. And in the same way we can provide dynamics in order to get better their pronunciation and intonation with songs, vocabulary games, playing speaking games, practising new sounds, starting to speak freely or working in groups.

 And on other hand, we can introduce the writing and reading in nursery education employing pictograms, playing with the alphabet and the letters or inventing short stories.

In the first point Things do after retelling a story, they tell us about the possibility of changing and adapting the plot to increase the children´s attention and interest. We have to keep in mind when we choose a story the pupils´ level and cognitive development and what contents we want to revise or teach with it.

 For example if you use The very hungry caterpillar, after telling the story you can make an activity where students colour images about the colours or food you have seen in it. And at the same time you give them instructions repeating the vocabulary. In this tale the author mention many things so you can work the feelings or the days of the week too.

 In addition we must reinforce them with the aim of increasing their confidence and promoting a positive attitude towards the English.

  The next item is Getting children to add to a story. Here they propose us we can work the stories using the vocabulary previously learnt in class. With very young learners we can tell a story about animals and mention some characteristics like the colours or the sizes (big, small). And later we will encourage carrying on with others things and ideas.

 In the third point, Making up a story, the authors suggest to create our own story related with the children or their close surrounding. We will use vocabulary which we have already worked and many different materials (pictures, puppets, costumes, ...) in order to break with the customary. So we can employ it several times but we will always add or change something else.

 Moreover, Using stories for project work where they make group dynamics and practice their English in a more fun and natural way. Also we can decide the aspects about the project together, for example what they want to put in it and how to do it or what tales they want to include. We must use as much as possible the English but if there was a problem obviously we can use our mother tongue.

 To end, it is very important the last point Correction and project work, because if they are going to perform in front of a public, the teacher must check the organization and what they are going to say. We have to verify if everyone is at ease with they are doing, since the acting has the aim of raising their confidence and their oral skills and especially they have to enjoy it. 


 See you around here in the next post!
 M.R.M.

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