Lga3103 Stories Module

Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Dato Razali Ismail
Stories for Young

Learners
LGA3103
Ruth Wickham, Brighton Education Training Fellow, IPGKDRI

2013
LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Materials ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Timetable ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Topic 1: Importance of Stories for Young Learners ............................................................................. 9
Who is this book for? ..................................................................................................................... 9
Storytelling .................................................................................................................................... 9
Courses in Storytelling ................................................................................................................. 10
Top 10 Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children .............................................................................. 11
Features of childrens stories ....................................................................................................... 11
Getting Started - A Storyteller's Vocabulary List ....................................................................... 11
Basic Creative Tools ................................................................................................................. 12
Raw Material ........................................................................................................................... 12
First Steps to Retelling a Plot.................................................................................................... 12
Story Elements ............................................................................................................................ 13
Character ................................................................................................................................. 13
Storyline .................................................................................................................................. 13
Time sequence ........................................................................................................................ 13
Setting ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Diction ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Length ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Illustration ............................................................................................................................... 14
Works Cited in this Topic ............................................................................................................. 15
Topic 2: Exploration of Types of Stories ........................................................................................... 16
Types of Story .............................................................................................................................. 16
Genres of Childrens Literature .................................................................................................... 17
Classic Story Types ....................................................................................................................... 18
Story Genres for Young Learners.................................................................................................. 19
Exploring Story Types .................................................................................................................. 20
Exercise 1. Categorise ........................................................................................................... 20
Exercise 2. Explore and Select ............................................................................................... 21
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References for this Topic ............................................................................................................. 22

Topic 3: Stories and the teaching contexts in the primary English curriculum ................................... 23
World of Self............................................................................................................................ 24
World of Stories ....................................................................................................................... 24
World of Knowledge ................................................................................................................ 24
Topics in the KSSR texts (year 1, 2, 3) ........................................................................................... 25
Stories and development of personalities .................................................................................... 26
Children need stories ............................................................................................................... 26
Questions for Children need stories ......................................................................................... 27
Examine a story ........................................................................................................................... 28
Example of Examining a Story .................................................................................................. 29
Social Development Theory (Vygotsky) ........................................................................................ 33
Theories of Learning .................................................................................................................... 34
Questions about Vygotskys Social Constructivist Theory. ........................................................ 36
Applying to Storytelling............................................................................................................ 37
Works cited in this Topic .............................................................................................................. 38
Topic 4: Selection of stories for young learners................................................................................ 39
Appropriate language level .......................................................................................................... 39
What you can do...................................................................................................................... 39
Content ....................................................................................................................................... 39
How can you find content-related stories? ............................................................................... 40
Visuals ......................................................................................................................................... 40
What do you do if there are no visual aids in the book? ........................................................... 40
Language learning potential......................................................................................................... 40
Looking for Language Learning Potential .................................................................................. 41
Using Children's Literature with Young Learners .......................................................................... 42
Questions for Using Childrens Literature ................................................................................. 47
Dos and Donts of Reading Aloud ................................................................................................ 49
Encouraging Young Learners to Learn English through Stories ..................................................... 50
Questions about Encouraging Young Learners to learn English through stories ........................ 58
Exercise 1: Create an instrument ............................................................................................. 61
Exercise 2: Apply your Instrument and Examine Language Learning Potential .......................... 61
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Works cited in this Topic .............................................................................................................. 61

Topic 5: Stories in the ESL classroom ............................................................................................... 62
Exploring Aesthetic Values ........................................................................................................... 62
Childrens Stance toward Literature ......................................................................................... 62
Questions about Childrens Stance toward Literature .............................................................. 64
Strategies to Explore Aesthetic Values ..................................................................................... 65
Performance ............................................................................................................................ 65
Questioning ............................................................................................................................. 66
Questioning Exercise:............................................................................................................... 67
Exploring Linguistic Features........................................................................................................ 68
Reading Aloud ......................................................................................................................... 69
Questions for Reading Aloud.................................................................................................... 70
Hook, Book, Look, Took ............................................................................................................... 71
Questions for Hook Book Took Look ........................................................................................ 75
Applying Developmental Theories Piaget and Kohlberg............................................................. 78
Piaget Stages of Development ................................................................................................. 78
Kohlberg .................................................................................................................................. 79
Discussion questions ................................................................................................................ 82
Creating Activities and Materials ................................................................................................. 83
Assessment / Exercises ................................................................................................................ 83
1. Turn a story into a drama activity ......................................................................................... 83
2. Create language focussed activities ...................................................................................... 83
3. Explore development ........................................................................................................... 84
Works cited in this topic .............................................................................................................. 84
Topic 6: The Craft of Storytelling...................................................................................................... 85
The art of storytelling .................................................................................................................. 85
The storytelling persona .......................................................................................................... 85
The confident storyteller.......................................................................................................... 86
Finding stories ......................................................................................................................... 86
Prepare and practise ................................................................................................................ 86
Preparation ............................................................................................................................. 86
Delivery techniques ................................................................................................................. 87
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Presentation ............................................................................................................................ 87
Story setting ............................................................................................................................ 87
How to choose, tell, and read stories aloud ................................................................................. 88
Telling or reading aloud? ......................................................................................................... 88
Your English and the telling of stories ...................................................................................... 89
Choose a story: ........................................................................................................................ 89
Remembering a story............................................................................................................... 89
Different ways of beginning ..................................................................................................... 91
Your manner ............................................................................................................................ 91
Important Practical Considerations .............................................................................................. 95
Voice projection ...................................................................................................................... 95
Diction ..................................................................................................................................... 95
Poise........................................................................................................................................ 95
Gesture.................................................................................................................................... 95
Facial expression...................................................................................................................... 96
Body movement ...................................................................................................................... 96
Time ........................................................................................................................................ 96
Intonation................................................................................................................................ 96
Props ....................................................................................................................................... 96
An example of a Reading Aloud lesson......................................................................................... 97
Works Cited in this Topic ............................................................................................................. 98
Topic 7: Exploring Language through Stories .................................................................................... 99
Developing Fluency and Cohesion................................................................................................ 99
What is fluency? ...................................................................................................................... 99
What teachers should know about cohesion ............................................................................ 99
Why Stories? ............................................................................................................................. 101
Motivation ............................................................................................................................. 101
Meaning ................................................................................................................................ 101
Fluency .................................................................................................................................. 101
Questions for Why Stories? .................................................................................................. 102
Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method ........................................................... 104
Background of the Repeated Reading method ....................................................................... 104
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Technique 1: Classic Oral Repeated Reading .......................................................................... 105

Oral Repeated Reading classroom suggestion: Chunk it ......................................................... 106
Technique 2: Paired Repeated Reading .................................................................................. 106
Paired Repeated Reading classroom suggestion: Free yourself............................................... 107
Technique 3: Readers Theatre............................................................................................... 108
Readers Theatre classroom suggestion: All the worlds a stage ............................................. 109
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 110
References............................................................................................................................. 111
Questions about Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method ............................ 112
Fluency: Instructional Guidelines and Student Activities ............................................................ 114
Guidelines for instruction....................................................................................................... 114
What students should read .................................................................................................... 114
Model fluent reading ............................................................................................................. 114
Repeated reading .................................................................................................................. 115
Activities for students to increase fluency .............................................................................. 115
Student-adult reading ............................................................................................................ 115
Choral reading ....................................................................................................................... 115
Tape-assisted reading ............................................................................................................ 115
Partner reading...................................................................................................................... 116
Readers' theatre .................................................................................................................... 116
Questions for Fluency: Instructional guidelines .................................................................... 116
Shared Reading and Round Robin Reading ................................................................................. 117
Exercise: Reading aloud and shared reading........................................................................... 117
Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners ................................................... 118
The 'attention-grabbing' approach to teaching ...................................................................... 118
Learning as a 'self-directed activity'........................................................................................ 118
Why teach thinking skills? ...................................................................................................... 119
Questions about Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners ................... 122
Identifying the Conflict in a Story ............................................................................................... 124
Four Types of Story Conflicts .................................................................................................. 124
Discussion Questions for Four Types of Story Conflicts ......................................................... 126
Exercises ................................................................................................................................ 126
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Works cited in this topic ............................................................................................................ 127

Topic 8: Types of Assessments ....................................................................................................... 128
Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessment for ESL Students ....................................................... 129
Nonverbal Assessment Strategies .......................................................................................... 129
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 132
Questions for Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessments ...................................................... 133
Assessment of Primary School Students in Performing Arts ....................................................... 135
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 135
Performances for Assessment................................................................................................ 135
Assessment Rubric ................................................................................................................. 137
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 138
Portfolios: Assessment in Language Arts. ERIC Digest................................................................. 138
Portfolios Serve Multiple Purposes ........................................................................................ 138
Portfolios Address Language Arts Goals ................................................................................. 139
Portfolios as Authentic Assessments ...................................................................................... 139
References............................................................................................................................. 141
Questions about Portfolios: assessment in Language Arts .................................................... 141
Assessment through storytelling (or writing) ............................................................................. 143
Exercise 1: ............................................................................................................................. 147
Exercise 2: ............................................................................................................................. 148
How and where to create portfolios .......................................................................................... 149
OpenSchool ePortfolio ........................................................................................................... 149
Internet Exercise: ................................................................................................................... 149
Portfolio assessments ................................................................................................................ 150
Tasks ..................................................................................................................................... 150
Works cited in this topic ............................................................................................................ 151
Topic 9: Storytelling Performance .................................................................................................. 152
1. Preparing to Present a Story .................................................................................................. 152
a) Getting Started Visualisation ........................................................................................... 152
b) Mime ................................................................................................................................. 152
c) Sound Effects ..................................................................................................................... 153
d) Words................................................................................................................................ 153
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2. Telling the Story ..................................................................................................................... 154

a) Character Voices, Faces, and Placement............................................................................. 154
Reflection .............................................................................................................................. 155
Works Cited ............................................................................................................................... 156
Appendix Stories and Samples .................................................................................................... 157
Appendix 1: The School Lunch Room ............................................................................................. 158
Appendix: 2. The Gruffalo .............................................................................................................. 162
Appendix: 3. Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf .......................................................................... 165
Appendix: 4. Beach Day ................................................................................................................. 167
Appendix: 5. Goosebumps Horrorland ........................................................................................... 173
Appendix: 6. Things are Gonna Get Ugly ........................................................................................ 175
Appendix: 7. The Dark of Knight .................................................................................................... 177
Appendix: 8. Kalulus Pumpkins ..................................................................................................... 179
Appendix: 9. Dangerous Work ....................................................................................................... 181
Appendix 10: Goodnight Bobbie .................................................................................................... 182
Appendix 11: Mrs Mogs Cats ........................................................................................................ 184
Appendix 12: Vroom ...................................................................................................................... 187
Appendix 13: FALLING BOY by Paul Jennings.................................................................................. 190
Works Cited in this Module ........................................................................................................... 199
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Stories for Young Learners

Introduction
This course focuses on an introduction to stories for young learners, an exploration of types of
stories, stories and the teaching context in the primary English curriculum, selection of stories for
young learners, stories in the ESL classroom, craft of storytelling, exploring language through stories,
types of assessment and storytelling performance.
This module has been prepared by Ruth Wickham who is an English Language Training Fellow with
Brighton Education LS in 2011-2013, part of Malaysias Native Speaker Programme.
Objectives
Students will:
1. Classify types of stories [1.5]
2. Determine unique features of the different types of stories [6.1]
3. Apply innovative teaching strategies, devices and relevant activities to elicit students
responses to stories [6.5]
4. Stage a storytelling performance incorporating appropriate elements/techniques of
storytelling [5.6, 8.5]
5. Reflect on ones own strength and weaknesses as a storyteller [7.3]
Materials
Lecturer and students need this module, a computer with access to the Internet, and access to a
variety of childrens books and stories.
Timetable
The IPG course involves 3 hours of classes per week.
This module has not been designed to fit the course hour by hour, only to cover all topics in the
Course Proforma. Lecturers are free to present materials in any way they choose.
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Topic 1: Importance of Stories for Young Learners

The importance of storytelling in education especially for young learners - can hardly be
overstated. A teacher who can tell stories well will surely capture the imaginations of the children
and take them to wonderful places of learning.
Here is a brief excerpt from Storytelling with Children by Andrew Wright. (Note that much of his
writing is about using stories in an ESL context.)
Who is this book for?

Children
In this book, the activities described here have been used with children aged seven to fourteen with
between six months and three years of English. This is a very wide range of experience and potential
learning development. Furthermore, in my experience the difference between one class and
another, even of the same age and in the same school, can be enormous. So much depends on
whether English is part of the childrens lives in their society, how enthusiastic and informed their
parents are about English, how naturally English is used by the teacher in the normal life of the class,
and last but not least, how free the children feel to have a go in English.
Children can be helped to understand quite complex stories in language well above their own active
command. It is what we expect the children to do which determines the proficiency level required,
not the story itself.
Teachers
This book is for teachers who believe in the enormous importance of stories in the daily lives of their
children and in the English lesson, and who would like a few pointers and examples in order to make
stories central to their teaching. Dont worry if you are not very experienced in using stories or if you
feel that your English is not very good I have tried to make the explanations easy to follow.
(Wright, 1995, p. 3)
In the Language Arts text book Carole Cox writes this about storytelling:
Storytelling
Even with the large number of books available for children today and the variety of stories they are
exposed to on television and videos, children never seem to lose their fascination with storytelling.
As one first-grade child put it, as I was about to read a picture book of a favourite folktale, Tell it
with your face!
The tools of the storyteller are so deceptively simple and so basically human that storytelling is often
neglected as a way of teaching listening and talking. It is, however, a powerful way for children to
listen to and use spoken language. Its also a wonderful way to share traditional literature and
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stories of the past, whether historical event or even personal life stories perhaps yours or your
students.
Here are some suggestions for storytelling by teachers and students:
1. Finding Stories: In addition to stories about personal experiences and those heard told by others,
traditional folk literature is an excellent source for storytelling. Young children enjoy timeless tales,
such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Pigs, and other tales of three. Tales like Jack and
the Beanstalk and The Gingerbread Man are sure winners, too.
2. Telling Stories: Storyteller Ramon Royal Ross advises that above all, the storyteller should know
the story very well. In addition, he suggests the following approach for actually telling the story,
which works well for him:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Read the story aloud several times. Get a feel for its rhythm and style.
Outline the major actions in the story, identifying where one ends and another starts.
Picture the characters and setting in the story carefully. Describe them to yourself.
Search for phrases in the story that youd like to work into telling it.
Practise gestures that add to the story.
Prepare an introduction and conclusion before and after the actual telling.
Practise telling the entire story complete with intonation, colourful phrases, gestures, and
sequence in a smooth and natural fashion.
h. Make an audio- or video-tape of yourself telling the story, and listen and look for areas in
which you might improve Also time yourself.
3. Props: Even though props arent necessary, some teachers like to use them for storytelling,
especially with younger children. Props might be picture cards, flannel boards, puppets, or objects
like a handful of beans for telling Jack and the Beanstalk. Mood makers like candles and incense
and background music and noisemakers (e.g., rattles and tambourines) effectively enhance the
telling, too.
4. Costumes: When used with props, costumes can create a dramatic impact. For instance, wearing a
black cape and witchs hat adds drama to telling scary stories in autumn. Even simple costumes, like
hats and shawls, can be used in many creative ways.
(Cox, 2008, pp. 158-9)
In her book on Storytelling in Teaching, Green writes the following:
Courses in Storytelling
Courses in storytelling to children are generally a minor elective subject in Teacher Training, and yet
for those who master this craft it quickly becomes their most valuable and well-used skill.
As an old Indian proverb says:
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Tell me a fact and Ill learn. Tell me the truth and Ill believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my
heart forever.
Some of the advantages of using stories in any part of the curriculum are that
stories create interest and fuel curiosity,

stories provide a structure for remembering course material more so than isolated concepts,
stories are a familiar and accessible form of sharing information than abstract concepts,
telling a story from experience can create a more personal student-teacher connection.
(Green, 2003)
On the Great Books to Read Aloud website we find this list of the benefits of reading aloud to
children. It is recommended that parents read books to their children from a very early age, and that
this practice continues with regular and frequent stories from the teacher.
Top 10 Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children
1 Reading aloud creates the perfect bond between parent and baby its cosy, comforting and its fun.
2 Listening to stories provides children with new friends characters whom they learn to love.
3 Hearing new words gives children a richer vocabulary.
4 Children can understand stories that are beyond their own reading ability.
5 Hearing books read aloud improves a childs ability to listen for periods of time and increases attention spans.
6 Reading aloud allows children to interact by interrupting and asking questions about meaning.
7 Hearing a story read aloud enables children to make connections with others personal experiences.
8 Listening to more complex stories can help children to extend their knowledge and understanding.
9 Listening to a story being read aloud shows beginner readers how fluent readers read.
10 The words children hear in books give them a rich language when they begin their own writing.
(Wilson, 2006)
Features of childrens stories

Everybody loves a story, and children will listen to any story if it is told well. However, obviously
some stories are more suitable and beneficial to young children than others. Students need to learn
to recognise the features of stories so that they can select and if necessary adapt them.
Here are some pointers from the Story Arts website:
Getting Started - A Storyteller's Vocabulary List
Plot: The sequence of events from which a story, play, song, puppet show, song, etc. can be
made
Retell: To restate in one's own words
Version: One of many possible presentations of the same plot
Character: People, animals, or other communicating entities in the tale
Narrator: The presenter of the tale
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Basic Creative Tools

Words: Spoken text created by memorizing or improvising language of the tale
Nonverbal Communication: Body language, gestures and facial expressions that contribute
to the meaning of the communication
Imagination: An interior creativity that generates language and physical expression in the
storyteller
Raw Material
Learn a plot to tell as a story: Find a folktale plot to retell in the folktale collections (Look in the
398.2 section in the library)
Other possibilities:
-
Tell a personal or family story

Create an original plot
Present a literary tale by memorizing the words of an author
First Steps to Retelling a Plot

Beginning: Picture the plot as a movie in your imagination. Start off retelling it by "chatting"
it in your own words to make sure you remember what happens in the plot. Create your
own version by retelling it over and over to different listeners until it starts to feel like a
story. (Story is the art form; plot is the raw material from which it is made.)
Middle: Have a strong beginning and end by creating an enticing first and last sentence.
Improvise the middle.
Using descriptive language, add detail to your basic "chatting" of the plot. Try to help your
listeners see what is in your mind. Pretend to be all the characters by letting some of the
characters speak dialogue. When you are the narrator, make sincere eye contact with the
audience.
End: Stand up and tell the plot as a story. Let your imagination make your body and face
respond to the tale as you imagine it. Tell the tale to a partner or a few people. Ask a friend
to offer you some coaching (Ask them to listen to you and then give you some practical
comments). Practice helps to reduce stage fright. As you gain confidence, try telling the story
in front of a larger group.
Have Fun!
(Story Arts, 2000)
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Story Elements
Students need to be familiar with all of the terms listed here.
Character
Definition: A character is a person depicted in a narrative or drama. Characters may be flat, minor
characters; or round, and major. The main character in a story is generally known as the protagonist;
the character who opposes him or her is the antagonist. Character is revealed by how a character
responds to conflict, by his or her dialogue, and through descriptions. (Wiehart, 2013)
Give an example of 3 well-known story characters:
..................................................................................................................................................................
Storyline
Well, the storyline is basically the plot.
The story create considers what event (problem) propels their main characters life from ordinary to
extraordinary and shakes up their everyday existence. It could be:
a goal he/she will work to achieve

a problem or conflict he/she has to resolve
an obstacle to his/her goal
Give an example of a storyline or plot in a traditional story:

...............................................................................................................................................................
Time sequence
The time sequence is built into the plot, as the main character / protagonist moves through the
problems and obstacles to the final resolution.
Give an example of a time sequence in a fairytale:
.............................................................................................................................................................
Setting
The setting is obviously where the story takes place, and it can include not only the geographical
location, but environmental factors, climate, and social factors. It can also include a time factor (such
as historical era) and fantasy or science fiction elements. A traditional story is sometimes re-told in a
changed setting for interest and fun.
What is the setting for the story Little Red Riding Hood?
..........................................................................................................................................................
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Diction
Diction is about speaking clearly. Even though children may not fully understand every word they
hear in a story, the storyteller needs to speak clearly and possibly more slowly than they usually
would. There are also other aspects of voice use that can improve storytelling such as change in
the volume (loudness) and pitch of the voice to indicate different characters and their emotions.
Describe good diction by a storyteller in an ESL setting?
.............................................................................................................................................................
Length
No matter how well the storyteller is, young children only have a limited attention span. Also, a
longer story is likely to contain a great many more twists and turns and complications. However, by
interspersing movement and activities, even young children can remain interested for longer.
How long should your storytelling session go for with young children?
...............................................................................................................................................................
Illustration
When children look at a book (and likewise for many adults!) the first thing they look for is pictures.
Story illustrations can be line drawings, colourful paintings, photographs, or even diagrams or maps.
When telling a story aloud, the children look to the storytellers face for illustration of emotions
about the story. Sometimes the storyteller will also have pictures or photos to show, and/or realia,
costumes, or puppets. Even the storytellers movements, gestures and actions serve as an
illustration to the listeners.
Give examples of 3 different kinds of illustrations for a story:
.........................................................................................................................................................
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Works Cited in this Topic

Cox, C. (2008). Teaching Language Arts: A student-Centred Classroom (6th Ed.). Boston: Pearson
Education.
Green, M. C. (2003). Storytelling in Teaching. Retrieved July 2, 2012, from Psychological Science:
http://psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cf?id=1562
Story Arts. (2000). Getting Started. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from Story Arts:
http://www.storyarts.org/classroom/retelling/getstarted.html
Wilson, J. (2006). Great Books to Read Aloud. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from Random House:
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens/GreatBookstoReadAloud/
Wright, A. (1995). Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Topic 2: Exploration of Types of Stories

With some stories, classification by type is clear and simple. However in many cases different writers
have varied ideas about what the categories are. Below are several articles on classifying stories.
From the Australian Storytelling website, here is a very traditional classification of stories:
Types of Story
- by Helen McKay and Berice Dudley
There are many different types of stories. The most important consideration when choosing a tale
to tell is whether you like it enough to tell it with enthusiasm. Stories should communicate to you a
need to be told. Some of the different categories of stories available to storytellers are: -Fable - a short moral story not based on fact, using animals as characters, such as, Aesop's Fables The Fox and the Grapes, Lion and the mouse and others.
Fairytale - The best-known would be Grimm's fairytales about imaginary folk, such as elves, giants,
witches, gnomes, and fairies. Closer to home is Mary and the Leprechaun, by Irish-Australian writer
John Kelly.
Folk tale - a traditional story, in which ordinary people gain special insight, transforming them and
enabling them to overcome extraordinary obstacles. See The Magic Orange Tree & other Haitian
Folktales by Diane Wolkstein.
Legend - a story based on the life of a real person in which events are depicted larger than life, for
example, The Stories of Robin Hood, or King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Myth - a story about gods and heroes, explaining the workings of nature and human nature. See
Psyche and Eros or Inanna by Diane Wolkstein.
Parable - a fictitious story told to point to a moral, for example, The Sower and the Seed from the
New Testament of the Bible.
Personal story - a life story from your own or your family's experience, such as, Streets and Alleys by
Syd Lieberman.
Religious story - an historical and philosophical story based on a particular culture and religious
persuasion, for example, The Story of Lazarus from the Bible.
Tall tale - an exaggerated story, often humorous. Fishing stories, Australian Bush stories, see The
Loaded Dog by Henry Lawson.
Traditional tale - a story handed down orally from generation to generation, such as the Polynesian
stories - Maui, and The Coming of the Maori.
(McKay & Dudley, 1996)
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Genres of Childrens Literature

From Carole Coxs Teaching Language Arts (Cox, 2008, pp. 72-3)
Teachers should be familiar with various types or categories of childrens literature, which are
genres. The following list identifies genres of childrens literature along with examples of picture
books for younger children and chapter books for older children (presented in that order):
Poetry: Works of carefully chosen, condensed, and artfully arranged language that looks
selectively at the world in unique and unusual ways.
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young (Prelutsky, 1986)
A light in the Attic (Silverstein, 1981)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (Silverstein, 1986)
Picture Books: Works in which illustrations and text combine equally to tell a story:
Tar Beach (Ringgold, 1992)
Grandfathers Journey (1994)
Traditional Literature: Stories that have been told for many years, across many cultures, first
orally and then written down:
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China (Young, 1990)
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales (Hamilton, 1993)
Fantasy: Stories told in the real or an unreal world, with characters or events that probably dont
really exist and events that may depend on magic or the supernatural:
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Scieszka, 1993)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (Rowling, 1997)
Science Fiction: Stories that explore the possibilities of science in our lives through invention or
extension of the laws of nature:
Tuesday (Weisner, 1992)
The Giver (Lowry, 1990)
Contemporary Realistic Fiction: Stories of real people, living here and now:
Smoky Night (Bunting, 1995)
Maniac Magee (Spinelli, 1991)
Historical Fiction: Stories set in real time and place in history but with some or all fictional
characters:
Encounter (Yolen 1992)
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery (Freedman, 1994)
Nonfiction: Books of information about a variety of topics in the real world:

Harem (Myers, 1998)
The Way Things Work (Macaulay, 1988)
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Classic Story Types

Here is another story classification list from ChangingMinds.Org (NOTE: This is not especially for
childrens stories.)
There are a number of classic types of story. Here are some of these.
Action: Non-stop chasing, fighting, etc.

Adventure: Heroes and incredible action in escapist fun.
Biographic drama: A story of a real life.
Body swap: Being someone else.
Caper: Loveable rogues pull off big heist without hurting people.
Chase: Pursuit, crashes, stunts and capture (perhaps).
Chick Flick: Fun for women.
Classroom drama: Emotional students and brilliant teachers.
Comedy: Funny things happen to funny people.
Courtroom drama: Lawyers save the day.
Crime: Good guys catch bad guys.
Disaster: Terrible things happen. People survive.
Docu-drama: Documentary made interesting.
Drama: Just everyday excitement.
Escape: Good people captured by bad people. Escape themselves.
Espionage: Spies, counterspies and political secrets.
Fantasy: Wizards and heroes battle with monsters. Good guys win.
Horror: Scary things trigger fear.
Kitchen-sink drama: Mundane stuff at home.
Mystery: Solving puzzles.
Period drama: Rich people in costumes have petty problems.
Pioneer: People go to strange places. Discover themselves.
Psychological thriller: Scary and subtle excitement.
Rescue: Saving people from harm.
Romance: The path of true love is not smooth, but it is inevitable.
Science fiction: One of the above, set in the future.
Slapstick: Comedy with custard.
Survival: Man vs. nature. Man wins. Just.
Swashbuckler: Pirates and daring on the Spanish Main.
Teen drama: Adolescence and high emotion.
Thriller: Exciting things happen.
Tragedy: Sad things happen. People die.
War: Big battles. Good guys win in the end.
Western: Cowboys, Indians and the wild west.
Whodunnit: Detective detects who done it.
(Straker, 2008)
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Story Genres for Young Learners

When children are very young (maybe 3-5 years old) small, simple things are exciting, and they can
be easily frightened. They really dont need a complicated plot and drawn-out suspense.
By the time our young learners are at school, they are more easily bored, and they enjoy a story that
extends them a little bit. All the same, it is not acceptable to include violence and horror and adult
themes.
Consider each of the Classic Story Types (from above) listed in the table (below) and score each one
on their suitability for stories for Young Learners (i.e. stage 1 especially).
Scores:
1 = This type of story is very suitable for young learners.
2 = This type of story could be suitable if it was specially written or adapted for young learners.
3 = There is no way this story would be suitable for young learners.
Action:
Classroom
drama:
Escape:
Pioneer:
Swashbuckler:
Adventure:
Comedy:
Espionage:
Psychological
thriller:
Teen drama:
Biographic
drama:
Courtroom
drama:
Fantasy:
Rescue:
Thriller:
Body swap:
Crime:
Horror:
Romance:
Tragedy:
Caper:
Disaster:
Kitchen-sink
drama:
Science
fiction:
War:
Chase:
Docu-drama:
Mystery:
Slapstick:
Western:
Chick Flick:
Drama
Period
drama:
Survival:
Whodunnit:
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Exploring Story Types

Some of the Classic story types listed above are unlikely to be included in stories for children,
especially for our young learners.
Carole Coxs classification includes Picture Books which are specifically for young learners. She is
specifically writing about genres of Childrens Literature books.
The first group of story types by Australian Storytelling is referring specifically to stories that are told
orally.
Exercise 1. Categorise
1. Look at the books in the appendix of this module.
* Use: Would you read it aloud, let the children read it, tell the story, ...?
Fill in the table below with reference to these stories. Add some that you find yourself.
Story
Genre / Type
Age / Level
Use *
The School Lunch Room

The Gruffalo
Little Red Riding Hood and
the Wolf
Beach Day
Goosebumps Horrorland
Things are Gonna Get Ugly
The Dark of Knight
Kalulus Pumpkins
Dangerous Work
Mrs Mogs Cats
Vroom
Falling Boy
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Exercise 2. Explore and Select

Search the Internet / Library / Bookshop
Find stories of any 3 genres for a particular level.
Answer the questions below
1. Title of Book / Story
Author
Genre (why do you think so?)
Level (why do you think so?)
Where did you find it?
Why did you choose it?
How would you use it?
Author
Author
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References for this Topic

Education.
McKay, H., & Dudley, B. (1996). Types of Story. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from Australian Storytelling:
http://www.australianstorytelling.org.au/txt/m-types.php
Straker, D. (2008, March 2). Classic Story Types. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from ChangingMinds.Org:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/classic/classic.htm
Wiehart, G. (2013). Fiction Writing. Retrieved June 20, 2013, from About.com:
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/Character.htm
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Topic 3: Stories and the teaching contexts in the primary English

curriculum
As we saw in Topic 2, there are many types of stories, written, read and told. If you look up
Storytelling on the Internet, you will find that the Art of storytelling has many uses beyond
keeping children (or adults) entertained. Storytelling can also be used, for example, in business
management, and psychological training and healing.
Modules, Topics, and Themes
The KSSR is arranged in modules Listening and Speaking, Reading, Writing, Grammar (from yr 3),
and Language Arts and it is expected that the teacher will move through them in sequence. Each
series of modules is related under one particular topic. And each topic fits into one of the three
themes.
The KSSR curriculum states:
In order to make learning more meaningful and purposeful, language input is presented under
themes and topics which are appropriate for pupils. Three broad themes have been identified in
the curriculum.
World of Self, Family and Friends;

World of Stories; and
World of Knowledge.
(Kementarian Pelajaran Malaysia, 2010)
This can be confusing for some teachers. It is important to notice that stories are not only part of the
World of Stories, and they can (and should) appear in any and all topics. For example:
In the Year 2 Text Book, Unit 5:
Theme: World of Knowledge

Topic: I am special
This unit includes a read aloud story Burt and his Horse. It also includes a read together story
Little Red Riding Hood, and a Language Arts activity for the same story.
The knowledge in this unit is about the five senses which the children explore in relation to fruits
during the Listening and Speaking module.
While we are teaching English language to the pupils, we are also imparting knowledge, and helping
them to grow and develop as they discover more about themselves and their surroundings.
It says in the Year One KSSR guidebook:
When planning lessons, topics for teaching are initially based on the immediate learning
environment of the child. Later on, these are expanded to town, country and more distant
foreign locations.
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Lets consider the three themes, especially in relation to the stories we tell.
World of Self
As children grow they become more aware of the world further away from themselves and their
mother, then father, and brothers and sisters. The home is the centre of their world, and then they
discover the yard, and the car. When they start school they discover a whole new realm with school,
and friends, and so on.
Stories for young children centre on the family and home.
In the story examples in the Appendix, can you think of any that would fit into this category?
..........................................................................................................................................................
What genre / type would this story fit? .............................................................................................
What genre(s) of stories would you expect to find in this theme? .......................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
World of Stories
In a way, all stories could fit into the World of Stories theme, but there are a great many that can
only fit here.
Which genres / types of stories would you expect to find in this theme? ..............................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
Name some stories (from your memory or from the Appendix) which would fit this theme. ................
..........................................................................................................................................................
World of Knowledge
Sometimes we tell stories to share knowledge. This would be a factual story, like a biography, or it
could be a fictional story where someone discovers knowledge in the process of their journey.
Or it could simply be a nonfiction book such as the one in the Appendix, called:
..........................................................................................................................................................
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Topics in the KSSR texts (year 1, 2, 3)

Here are the topics in the text books (Sekolah Kebangsaan) for the first 3 years.
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Unit 1: Sounds around us
Unit 1: Hooray! We are back
Unit 1: Things I do
Unit 2: All about me
Unit 2: Do the right thing
Unit 3: Lets be friends
Unit 3: Where am I?
Unit 4: Listen to me
Unit 4: Read me a story
Unit 2: Being healthy

Unit 3: My cousins, my
neighbour
Unit 4: People around me
Unit 5: May I?
Unit 5: I am special
Unit 5: Having fun
Unit 6: Dilly Ducks Doughnut
Unit 6: Delicious food
Unit 6: Pets world
Unit 7: Look at me
Unit 7: Hobbies
Unit 7: From the sea
Unit 8: Stay clean, be happy
Unit 8: Growing plants
Unit 8: Its story time!
Unit 9: Meet my family
Unit 9: When I grow up
Unit 9: The holidays
Unit 10: How many?
Unit 10: Caring and Sharing
Unit 10: A ride in the safari park
Unit 11: My happy days
Unit 11: Looking good
Unit 11: In school ...
Unit 12: When is your birthday?
Unit 12: On the farm
Unit 12: Fresh fruits
Unit 13: I see colours
Unit 13: Good deeds
Unit 13: I see numbers!
Unit 14: Say it nicely
Unit 14: Precious drops
Unit 14: Technology at home
Unit 15: My favourite toys

Unit 16: What is in my
classroom?
Unit 17: Show me the way
Unit 15: Save the sea creatures
Unit 15: Four friends
Unit 16: Reuse, recycle
Unit 16: Its concert day!
Unit 18: Lets eat
Unit 17: Myths

Unit 18: Feeling happy, feeling
sad
Unit 19: I wear ...

Unit 20: My pet
Unit 21: Fun with shapes
Unit 22: In the garden
Unit 23: Chad the milkman
Unit 24: Lets go shopping
Unit 25: How do you get
around?
Unit 26: the tiny thimble
Unit 27: So hairy and scary
Unit 28: Earth Detective
Unit 29: Happy Holidays
Unit 30: Goodbye, goodbye
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Stories and development of personalities

Why do we tell children stories, and why do they love them so much? Why do we like to hear
stories, read books and watch plays or movies?
Why Children Need Stories
Its worth watching this video on the Michael the Storyteller website at
http://michaelthestoryteller.com/home/why-children-need-stories/
Read this excellent short article by Janet Freemantle and answer the questions below.
Children need stories
Once upon a time and so the magic begins. Children need to hear stories, and love to hear stories.
Stories that are read to them, or that they read themselves; sometimes, and best of all, stories told
from direct experience or made up on the spot. Tell us about the time when is often preferred to
a story read from a book.
But why are stories so important for children? I asked Georgie, 10 years old and an avid reader.
Children need stories so that they can learn about the world and what life can be like. I like reading
because its like you are entering another world and you just want to read more and more and see
what happens. It makes me feel nice.
You can experience all the emotions that characters go through. Stories invite you into a world
beyond your personal experience where you can vicariously try out different experiences without
having to deal with the actual consequences in real life. I was asked once by a mother to meet with
her daughter who she felt was being bullied. When I met with the girl I asked her what strategies she
could think of to deal with some of the difficult situations she was facing. She came up with a variety
of clever and appropriate ideas. I was impressed, and asked where she got such bright ideas. From
reading she said. She noted how characters in stories dealt with situations and could apply this in
her own life.
I asked my friend Sally, the only school principal I know who is often to be found reading to groups
of spellbound children, why she considers reading so important. Stories are about situations, real or
imagined, featuring characters, calling out emotional responses from our minds. The richest thing in
the world is LISTENING to stories, which is why children love to be told stories (and be read to), and
have favourites which they can hear again and again. The story goes into the listeners very mind and
heart complete with all its details, and with such emotional connection, often becomes beloved, like
a personal treasure, shared with the storyteller/author.
Through stories a child is also helped to build a rich vocabulary which enables them to articulate
their thoughts and feelings more clearly. As a school counsellor I am struck by how limited childrens
vocabularies often are. I can be told of any number of varied problem situations, and when I ask how
the child is feeling about it all, the answer is invariably one word, sad.
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Reading allows a child to enter a safe private world. It is very nice not to be told what to do by adults
all the time and instead, for an interlude, be free to learn from imaginary characters. So what is
wrong with stories we hear via the electronic media - TV and the Internet? I can best answer this
question with an example. I met once with a boy whose life was very difficult. His mother had died
when he was very young, and he and his father and sister moved a lot between countries so that it
was hard for him to settle and make friends. I often feel lonely, sad, tired, grumpy, he said. I asked
him what he did when he felt that way. I play computer to stop feeling lonely, or watch TV, but the
feeling comes back when the TV is turned off. I wonder what is worse - sad or lonely - l think lonely.
I asked him if he ever read, and how that made him feel. I feel normal when I read he said. Stories
nourish and feed the imagination. And if you can dream it you can do it. We can begin to see our
own lives as a story or a play, where we are the lead character, and find ways to write the kind of
script we would enjoy reading from.
Even Einstein said When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion
that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.
(Freemantle, 2010)
Questions for Children need stories

1. What stories are best of all? .............................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
2. In the opinion of 10-year-old Georgie, why do children need stories? ..............................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
3. What can you do in the world where stories invite you? ....................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
4. Where can children get bright ideas? ................................................................................................
5. What is the richest thing in the world? .........................................................................................
6. How can children build a rich vocabulary? ......................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
7. How can we teach children to articulate their feelings? .................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
8. What is nice about the safe, private world a child can enter when they read? ................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
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9. What do stories do to the imagination? ...........................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................
10. And if you ....................................................... it you can do it.
11. What can we begin to see our lives as? ............................................................................................
12. What gift meant more to Einstein than any talent? ........................................................................
Now consider what happens to children who are not told or read stories.
Examine a story
1. Choose a story (from the samples in the Appendix, or one of your own).
........................................................................................................................................................
2. What topics could you use it in? (There is never just one possibility.) Consider the topics listed in
the KSSR text books, but also your own ideas.
.........................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
3. What theme could you use it for? (Again, there is more than one possibility.)
.......................................................................................................................................................
4. Think about how this story could affect the children in terms of:
Their hopes and dreams, what they could become. ...................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
Forming moral judgements....................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
Stimulating mental processes...............................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
Affecting their personality..........................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
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If this seems a little overwhelming, have a look at the example below. (Scans of the book are
included below.)
Example of Examining a Story
1. Choose a story (from the samples in the Appendix, or one of your own).
Rascal, by Linda Strahan. [Scans included in following pages]
2. What topics could you use it in? (There is never just one possibility.) Consider the topics listed in
the KSSR text books, but also your own ideas.
The most obvious topic is (y3) Pets World (although it is not only about pets).
The list of topics is less than the number of weeks / lessons, so we can add others such as
Monsters or Not being afraid, or even Going to the Doctor.
3. What theme could you use it for? (Again, there is more than one possibility.)
World of self, (or World of Knowledge).
4. Think about how this story could affect the children in terms of:
Their hopes and dreams, what they could become. Children could think about
becoming a pet owner, or a vet as a career. Or they could just decide to be less
afraid.
Forming moral judgements Children should realise that they should consider the
feelings of others who are smaller / larger than themselves.
Stimulating mental processes. Young children are generally self-centred and

naturally selfish. This story can help them to see things from someone elses point
of view.
Affecting their personality Help them to become more considerate, maybe also more
obedient.
Initially this appears to be a book about keeping pets, with the child (who the listener
relates to in hearing the story) as the pet owner. But very quickly the child falls into the
role of carer or parent and the pet dog has become the child. The emotions in the story
are those of the dog as it relates to other animals, some of whom it wants to terrorise (or
play with) and some it is terrified of. And in the end it realises that the vet (who it
originally was not keen to see) is its best friend.
So much to talk about ...
Discuss your books and your answers with your partner / group.
Together create a presentation for the class about your chosen book / story.
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(Strachan, 1999)
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Social Development Theory (Vygotsky)

You should already be familiar with various learning theories. Read these two articles and answer
the questions below in relation to our specific topic.
Summary: Social Development Theory argues that social interaction precedes development;
consciousness and cognition are the end products of socialization and social behaviour.
Originator: Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934).
Key terms: Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)
Vygotskys Social Development Theory
Vygotskys Social Development Theory is the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934),
who lived during Russian Revolution. Vygotskys work was largely unknown to the West until it was
published in 1962.
Vygotskys theory is one of the foundations of constructivism. It asserts three major themes:
Major themes:
Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. In contrast to
Jean Piagets understanding of child development (in which development necessarily precedes
learning), Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development. He states: Every function in the
childs cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual
level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).
(Vygotsky, 1978).
The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO). The MKO refers to anyone who has a better understanding
or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. The
MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be
peers, a younger person, or even computers.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the distance between a students ability to
perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboration and the students ability solving
the problem independently. According to Vygotsky, learning occurred in this zone.
Vygotsky focused on the connections between people and the sociocultural context in which they
act and interact in shared experiences (Crawford, 1996). According to Vygotsky, humans use tools
that develop from a culture, such as speech and writing, to mediate their social environments.
Initially children develop these tools to serve solely as social functions, ways to communicate needs.
Vygotsky believed that the internalization of these tools led to higher thinking skills.
Applications of the Vygotskys Social Development Theory
Many schools have traditionally held a transmissionist or instructionist model in which a teacher or
lecturer transmits information to students. In contrast, Vygotskys theory promotes learning
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contexts in which students play an active role in learning. Roles of the teacher and student are
therefore shifted, as a teacher should collaborate with his or her students in order to help facilitate
meaning construction in students. Learning therefore becomes a reciprocal experience for the
students and teacher.
For more information, see:
Driscoll, M. P. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Crawford, K. (1996) Vygotskian approaches to human development in the information era.
Educational Studies in Mathematics. (31) 43-62.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Wertsch, James V. Sohmer, Richard. (1995). Vygotsky on learning and development. Human
Development. (38 ) 332-37.
Theories of Learning
Social Constructivism
Social constructivism is a variety of cognitive constructivism that
emphasizes the collaborative nature of much learning. Social
constructivism was developed by post-revolutionary Soviet psychologist,
Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky was a cognitivist, but rejected the assumption
made by cognitivists such as Piaget and Perry that it was possible to
separate learning from its social context. He argued that all cognitive
functions originate in, and must therefore be explained as products of
social interactions and that learning was not simply the assimilation and
accommodation of new knowledge by learners; it was the process by
which learners were integrated into a knowledge community. According
to Vygotsky (1978, 57),
Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later
on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child
(intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the
formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.
Vygotskys theory of social learning has been expanded upon by contemporary psychologists such as
Miller and Dollard, and A. Bandura.
Knowledge
Cognitivists such as Piaget and Perry see knowledge as actively constructed by learners in response
to interactions with environmental stimuli. Vygotsky emphasized the role of language and culture in
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cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, language and culture play essential roles both in
human intellectual development and in how humans perceive the worlds. Humans linguistic abilities
enable them to overcome the natural limitations of their perceptual field by imposing culturally
defined sense and meaning on the world. Language and culture are the frameworks through which
humans experience, communicate, and understand reality. Vygotsky states (39),
A special feature of human perceptionis the perception of real objects I do not see the world
simply in colour and shape but also as a world with sense and meaning. I do not merely see
something round and black with two hands; I see a clock
Language and the conceptual schemes that are transmitted by means of language are essentially
social phenomena. As a result, human cognitive structures are, Vygotsky believed, essentially socially
constructed. Knowledge is not simply constructed, it is co-constructed.
Learning
Vygotsky accepted Piagets claim that learners respond not to external stimuli but to their
interpretation of those stimuli. However, he argued that cognitivists such as Piaget had overlooked
the essentially social nature of language. As a result, he claimed they had failed to understand that
learning is a collaborative process. Vygotsky distinguished between two developmental levels (85):
The level of actual development is the level of development that the learner has already reached,
and is the level at which the learner is capable of solving problems independently. The level of
potential development (the zone of proximal development) is the level of development that the
learner is capable of reaching under the guidance of teachers or in collaboration with peers. The
learner is capable of solving problems and understanding material at this level that they are not
capable of solving or understanding at their level of actual development. The level of potential
development is the level at which learning takes place. It comprises cognitive structures that are still
in the process of maturing, but which can only mature under the guidance of or in collaboration with
others.
Motivation
Behavioural motivation is essentially extrinsic--a reaction to positive and negative reinforcements.
Cognitive motivation is essentially intrinsic--based on the learner's internal drive. Social
constructivists see motivation as both extrinsic and intrinsic. Because learning is essentially a social
phenomenon, learners are partially motivated by rewards provided by the knowledge community.
However, because knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, learning also depends to a
significant extent on the learner's internal drive to understand and promote the learning process.
Instruction
Collaborative learning methods require learners to develop teamwork skills and to see individual
learning as essentially related to the success of group learning. The optimal size for group learning is
four or five people. Since the average section size is ten to fifteen people, collaborative learning
methods often require GSIs to break students into smaller groups, although discussion sections are
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essentially collaborative learning environments. For instance, in group investigations, students may
be split into groups that are then required to choose and research a topic from a limited area. They
are then held responsible for researching the topic and presenting their findings to the class. More
generally, collaborative learning should be seen as a process of peer interaction that is mediated and
structured by the teacher. Discussion can be promoted by the presentation of specific concepts,
problems or scenarios, and is guided by means of effectively directed questions, the introduction
and clarification of concepts and information, and references to previously learned material. Some
more specific techniques are suggested in the Teaching Guide pages on Discussion Sections.
Reference
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society. London: Harvard University Press.
Questions about Vygotskys Social Constructivist Theory.
From the first article:
1. Every function in the childs cultural development appears twice:
first, .........................................................................................................................................
and later, ...................................................................................................................................;
first, between .............................................................................................................................
and then inside ...........................................................................................................................
2. What or who is the MKO? ...................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
3. What is the ZPD? ..................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
4. What do humans use tools such as speech and writing for? ...............................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
5. What do children use these tools for initially? ....................................................................................
6. How do the teacher and students roles shift in the learning environment promoted by Vygotskys
theory? .....................................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
7. In this environment, what kind of experience is learning? .................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
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From the second article:

1. Social constructivism ... emphasizes the .................................................. nature of much learning.
2. What assumption by Piaget and Perry did Vygotsky reject? ...............................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
3. According to Vygotsky, what two things play essential roles both in human intellectual
development and in how humans perceive the worlds? .....................................................................
4. What had other theorist failed to understand about learning by overlooking the essential social
nature of language?
.....................................................................................................................................................
5. If learning is a social phenomenon, what is the intrinsic motivation of learners?
.......................................................................................................................................................
Applying to Storytelling
If you apply Vygotskys theory, how could this affect your teaching style? ...........................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
Thinking particularly of the use of stories storytelling, reading aloud, dramatizing a story etc. how
do these activities fit with Vygotskys constructivist theory?
.........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
Discuss with your partner / group.
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Works cited in this Topic

Berkeley. (2011). Social Constructivism. Retrieved July 2013, from Berkeley University - Teaching
guide for Graduate Student Instructors :
http://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/theories/social.html
Freemantle, J. (2010, June 11). What do children need? Retrieved July 1, 2013, from Janet
Freemantle's Column: http://janetfreemantle.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/children-needstories/
Kementarian Pelajaran Malaysia. (2010). Dokumen Standard Kurikulum Sekolah Rendah . Modul
Teras Asas - Bahasa Inggeris SJK, Tahun Satu, Dua & Tiga. Malaysia: Kementarian Pelajaran
Malaysia.
Learning-Theories.com. (2013). Social Development Theory. Retrieved July 2013, from LearningTheories.com: http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
Strachan, L. (1999). Rascal. Melbourne: Rigby.
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Topic 4: Selection of stories for young learners

Teachers need to be able to decide what stories to tell / read to their students. There are several
obvious factors to consider:
Appropriate language level

The language in the story needs to be mostly known or understood by the children. Its quite alright
for there to be some new words these can be introduced during the pre-reading or pre-telling part
of the lesson.
It is also important to remember that children can (hear and) understand much more than they can
say. So, for example, while they may only be able to say sentences in the present simple tense, they
should be able to handle a story told in the past tense.
Some (educational) story books or readers come with information about the vocabulary count and
the ability level the story was written for.
What you can do
Lets presume that you are looking at a story book with a view to reading it aloud, or maybe retelling
the story.
Flip through the book and notice the commas and full stops pay attention to the types of
sentences. Are the sentences mostly simple and/or compound, or are there a lot of complex
sentences which can be hard to follow (and even hard to read aloud).
Look for the verbs what tense are they? Are they mostly simple present and simple past?
Present perfect is not too hard, but past perfect can start being difficult. Passive verbs could
be a problem if there are a lot of them. Generally these more complex types of verbs tend to
go along with complex sentences.
Look at the nouns are there a lot of different nouns that you are going to have to explain
the meanings of? Are there some words that you have been teaching them? This could be a
good way to reinforce their learning.
If the story has slightly difficult language but its a really good story you can tell it in slightly
simplified language rather than reading it.
Content
You probably need to select a story to fit a particular content theme (World of Self, World of Stories,
World of Knowledge), or a particular topic, rather than simply a language concept. It is not vital to
make a perfect match between the content and the story; it can help reinforce learning - such as
vocabulary - if you can make a strong link.
As well as reinforcing vocabulary acquisition, a story can be used to reinforce learning about a
natural or scientific phenomenon, to teach about culture or history, or to teach about morals and
consequences.
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How can you find content-related stories?

On the Internet:
Firstly, you could do an Internet search, such as Google. Make sure that you use words like story
and young learners in your search string.
Generally a story website will have more than one good story, and links to others, and you can
follow the lead to other stories and websites. (One example is http://www.regandlellow.com/
which has stories about a series of characters, and PowerPoint presentations.)
In the library:
Searching library shelves is not as simple as searching on the Internet. However libraries generally
have a referencing system on cards or on the computer and books should be categorised in
useful ways.
In the bookshop:
Sometimes bookshops categorise the books in more useful ways other than just by the authors
name although not always with childrens books.
Visuals
For young learners, this may be the most important issue when selecting a story! There must be
something for them to look at and focus on or they will not be able to concentrate.
If you are reading the story aloud from a book, there need to be enough pictures, and big enough,
for you to hold up and let everyone see them.
If you are telling the story, then you need to be the visual with lots of facial expression, gestures,
and movement. You could also use pictures (big enough), puppet(s), and/or realia.
What do you do if there are no visual aids in the book?
So what can you do if you find a book with a great story in it but there are just not enough, or not big
enough pictures? Some ideas are:
Scan/photograph the (too small) pictures and create a PowerPoint from the pictures.
Collect suitable clip-art or pictures (from Google Images, for example) and make a
PowerPoint presentation.
Use some of the children as the characters in the story, and get them to act out a little as
you tell/read the story.
Language learning potential

Any well-told story has language learning potential. How successful this is depends on how the
teacher uses it. This includes the pre-reading/telling activity, while reading/telling visual aids for
difficult vocabulary or concepts, pauses and questions (asked and answered by teacher and/or
students), post-reading activities to clarify and reinforce learning.
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However, when selecting a story the teacher will be thinking ahead to what could be learnt from it.
Looking for Language Learning Potential
Read/think through the story and notice the language. For example:
Notice the prepositions are there lots of different prepositions, maybe some repeated
ones too, that could be paid special attention to, along with actions or gestures, to help
reinforce this difficult learning.
Notice the adverbs of time and verb tenses could the sequence of the plot be used to
teach progress of time and how to express it?
Look at the characters names, and the use of pronouns could careful use of intonation and
gestures along with the story telling/reading help to make this concept clear?
Look at the nouns are there a lot of related vocabulary items, such as animals, fruits,
colours, family members, or transport?
Look for numbers does this story have times, dates, money or other numbers?
Look for predictable patterns. Children love stories with predictable patterns, and they are
great for language learning practice. These could be for example: Familiar sequences,
repeated phrases, rhyming patterns, recurring patterns, or cumulative patterns (Cox, 2008).
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Read the following article and answer the questions below:
Using Children's Literature with Young Learners

by Eowyn Brown
The biggest practical challenges in using English language children's literature rather than readers
created specifically for EFL/ESL students are:
choosing an appropriate book

preparing to teach, from writing lesson plans to developing supporting teaching
materials
brainstorming creative teaching ideas
This paper will serve as a guide for those who would like to use literature in the classroom with their
young students, but aren't sure how to begin.
Introduction
For some readers, the very word literature brings to mind dusty, difficult books stacked in a rarely
frequented corner of the library. Typically, in an EFL/ESL context, literature is associated with
advanced university students or other high level adults. However, children's literature is an
important part of English language literature as a body of work, and using it for EFL/ESL teaching has
many benefits for students.
Given a creative teaching approach and suitable supplemental activities, children's literature can be
used successfully as the content base for an integrated-skills EFL/ESL classroom. Appropriate
selections give students exposure to new, illustrated vocabulary in context, provide repetition of key
words and phrases that students can master and learn to manipulate, and provide a sense of
accomplishment at the completion of study that finishing a single unit in a textbook cannot provide.
Turning to the last page of a well-read book is a pleasure, and students feel a sense of
accomplishment when they have mastered a piece of literature written in English, regardless of
whether it is The Cat in the Hat or Ulysses.
The suggestions here are based on my teaching experience with first, second, and third grade EFL
learners from fairly low to intermediate levels of proficiency. Most of these students were still
developing a vocabulary base with which to navigate their new language, and so were in the preproduction to early production stages of language acquisition (Haynes 2001). As such, every phase of
this approach aims to increase students' exposure to English and to help them build their English
vocabulary.
Choosing a Book
Choosing the right book may be the most difficult, and most important, part of teaching literature. In
a study of the increasing popularity of using literature in the second language classroom, Radhika
O'Sullivan (1991, Selecting Literature section, para. 1) observed that, "It is all very well to point out
the advantages of teaching literature but the key to success in using literature in the ESL classroom
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depends primarily on the works selected." If the selection is too easy, students will feel bored and
you will have difficulty designing enough activities. If the selection is too difficult, students will feel
frustrated and you will be overwhelmed. The following guidelines may help you narrow down the
field of choices.
When evaluating potential books, look at:
The length and complexity of the story. Simple, short stories with repetitive language work best
for young EFL learners.
Does the book look overwhelming? Type that is too small, or too many words on a page, can
intimidate young students.
The level of vocabulary. How much of it will be review for your students? If students know less
than 75% - 80% of the vocabulary, they may lose confidence in their ability to understand the
story.
Illustrations should be interesting and should help students understand both the vocabulary and
the story.
Finally, select a book that you think you will enjoy. It will be difficult to convince students to be
enthusiastic about a story you don't like.
A selection of recommended titles is provided in the Appendix.
Preparing to Teach
Lesson Planning
Before you start designing worksheets and wordlists, make sure that you know where you're going.
Think about your teaching objective, consider how much time you have to spend with the book, and
then create a plan so that you have a systematic approach in mind as you design materials.
Allow Enough Time
Spending enough time with the book is very important. In order for young students to fully absorb
an English language book, they must interact with it extensively. Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book contains
131 words, 47 of which are the word feet or foot, yet spending five or six hours on a simple book like
this is appropriate with young, beginning learners. Even more advanced young learners need plenty
of time. We're Going on a Bear Hunt, a book based on a popular children's summer camp song, is
very short and simple by adult standards, but my second grade EFL students spent over ten hours
and sixteen class periods studying it. They were never bored, and, in fact, their enthusiasm for the
book seemed to increase in proportion to the time they spent studying it. This observation is
supported by Sabrina Peck (2003, p. 141), who advises teachers of young learners that, "Many
children do not tire of practicing a repetitive and rhythmic text several times a day, many days a
week."
Use What You Find
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Look for features of the book that you can highlight in the classroom. For example, The Foot Book
uses opposites and counting. You can work these two concepts into your supplemental activities.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a great springboard for teaching vocabulary about nature (forest,
river, cave, mud, snowstorm) and prepositions (over, under, through). Inside a Barn in the Country
provides an obvious focus on animal names and sounds.
Developing Materials
Developing materials yourself, while challenging and time-consuming, can be very rewarding. Not
only is it a good learning experience which may help give you insight into your teaching, it also
allows you to target the types of activities that will be most valuable to your students, and to tailor
them exactly to fit their needs. To go a step further, Brian Tomlinson (1999, Introduction section,
para. 2), asserts that the most meaningful learning takes place when students are "involved
intellectually, aesthetically, and emotionally" in their own education. When teachers choose to use
student-created materials, instead of pre-fabricated, one-size fits all published ones, they can begin
to accomplish goals like these.
Workbook
Young students need hands-on activities. A teacher-created workbook can act as a basis for one of
those types of activities.
Keep things simple. The workbook need be nothing more than a collection of papers stapled
together. On the first day of teaching a new book, allow students to illustrate the covers of their own
workbooks. This can provide a personal connection to the story at the outset of their study. You can
use the pages as a place for students to draw artistic responses to the story. For example, if they've
learned "house/mouse/train/rain" in class, then the lesson wrap-up may include time for them to
draw a picture featuring the vocabulary words and labelled in English.
Flashcards
Again, materials do not need to be professionally produced to be effective. Assign different key
vocabulary words to different students and have them help make flashcards. You can collect and
laminate the drawings and use them for various activities in follow up lessons. It is amazing to see
the rapt attention students are willing to give materials they created themselves.
Cassette Tape
Many books are available with a companion cassette tape, which often includes versions of the story
set to music or with sound effects. These tapes are well worth the investment and, if possible,
students will benefit from purchasing their own copy as well so they can listen at home. The story
set to music is more entertaining for your students, who might express it by borrowing from Emma
Goldman, and saying, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your EFL classroom."
If no tape is available, don't despair! If you are a virtuoso, you could set the story to music yourself
and record it. If not, you could coerce your older, higher proficiency students to read the story and
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record it as a class project. You could enlist precocious young ones to make drumming sounds at predetermined intervals or, if you have truly musical students, you could find some way to use their
talents. My sixth grade students particularly enjoyed noticing how "easy" the literature for first
graders was as it gave them a real sense of their own progress.
Teaching Ideas
Sequencing Activities
Young learners in particular need a very active classroom and variety throughout the lesson. Ten
minutes is probably the maximum length of time you can expect students of this age to focus their
attention before you need to change gears. One guideline that works well with young learners is to
assure that, in any given lesson, there is always a little enthusiastic singing, a little quiet listening, a
little enthusiastic dancing, and a little quiet artwork.
The following approach is one that works very well:
Sing. Students sing, recite, or read a passage from the story in teams.
Listen. Students listen to the story from beginning to end.
Dance. Students get out of their chairs for some physical activity. Often, this can be
acting out the actions from the story, but there are unlimited possibilities.
Draw. Students sit back down and illustrate new vocabulary.
While considering how you will allocate class time, don't underestimate the students' enthusiasm for
listening to a story again and again. In fact, according to Anne Burns (2003, p. 22), a surprising result
from her study of second-language learner attitudes toward literacy learning included the insight
that "students were almost unanimous in their desire for teachers to read aloud to them." She
credited the value of hearing fluent reading in English, listening to the written words, hearing correct
stress and intonation patterns, as well as providing a model for imitation as possible reasons.
Types of Activities
Listen to the story on tape/as read by the teacher without looking at the text.
Listen to the story and read along.
Listen to the story and put illustrations depicting parts of the story in order.
Read the book silently.
Read the book to a partner, then switch.
Write your favourite words/new words/words starting with A from the story in your
notebook.
Write a portion of the story in the workbook.
Answer (or practice asking) simple who, what, when, where, and why questions about
the story.
Play Pictionary. Divide students into teams. One member of the team draws a picture
on the board while team members try to guess what it is within a limited time period.
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Speed reading game. Call out a word from the text, then let students race to find it. The
first one to find it reads the sentence aloud. A word of caution: this game is rather hard
on books.
Have students display the flashcards they made, let them be the teacher and ask the
class, "What is this?"
Make up a dance or do actions to the words of the story. A good example of this kind of
story is The Foot Book. The text repeats, "Left Foot/Left Foot/Right Foot/Right." Students
can get out of their chairs and jump from left to right as suggested by the text.
Do the opposite of dancing. Have students "freeze" a moment of the text by acting out
exactly what is described in the text at some specific moment, and holding perfectly still.
You could photograph these moments if you have a digital camera.
Do a verbal fill-in-the-blank exercise. As you read, stop at random and have students
shout out what word comes next.
Check comprehension of key concepts by asking students to draw pictures. For example,
students could demonstrate understanding of the difference between "I like kimchi."/"I
don't like kimchi." by drawing two different pictures.
A note about memorization. A lot of students really do enjoy memorizing the books.
Allow them to recite what they've memorized in teams. Many students love to show off
their English, and feel very proud of being able to produce a minute or so of non-stop
English.
Conclusion
Using children's literature can be an effective and enjoyable way to teach language. Students who
are enthralled by a story forget their worries and anxieties about the new language. In an interview
with Tova Ackerman (1994, para. 2), storyteller Dvora Shurman says that, "The best way to teach is
not to impose teaching, but to allow the listener to become so involved in hearing a story that his
'defences' are no longer active." It is our sense of enjoyment, excitement, and emotional
involvement that is a necessary condition for learning, and using literature in the classroom can
provide the content base for the magic.
References
Ackerman, T. (1994) Storytelling: A Way of Freeing the Imagination. An Interview with Dvora
Shurman. The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching, 2. Retrieved December
31, 2003, from http://www.njcu.edu/cill/journal-index.html.
Burns, A. (2003). Reading Practices: From Outside to Inside the Classroom. TESOL Journal, Volume
12, 18-23.
Haynes, J. (2001). Four Stages of Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved December 31, 2003 from
http://everythingesl.net/inservices/language_stages.php.
O'Sullivan, R. (1991). Literature in the Language Classroom. The English Teacher. Retrieved
December 31, 2003 from http://www.melta.org.my/ET/1991/main6.html.
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Peck, S. (2001). Developing Children's Listening and Speaking Skills in ESL. In Celce-Murcia, Marianne,
(Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. (pp. 139-149). Boston, USA: Heinle &
Heinle.
Tomlinson, B. (1999). Humanising the Coursebook. Humanising Language Teaching, Year 3, Issue 4.
Retrieved December 31, 2003 from http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sep01.
Appendix
Suggested Titles
For Absolute Beginners:
These are very short stories with a few simple words that repeat over and over again. They will not
overwhelm beginning students.
I Like Books by Anthony Browne
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle (Illustrator)
For Beginners:
These stories have more text, but still use simple vocabulary and a repetitive narrative structure.
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
Inside a Barn in the Country by Tedd Arnold (Illustrator) and Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood and Don Wood (Illustrator)
For Intermediate Students:
These books are well-suited for young learners with a full year of English study experience.
Vocabulary is generally simple, but the stories are much longer. They do retain the features of
repetitive passages and the first three on the list are set to music, which will help students absorb
them.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Illustrated by Iza Trapani
The Itsy-Bitsy Spider Illustrated by Iza Trapani
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Resources on the Internet for Finding More Titles:
The Children's Literature Web Guide (David K. Brown) http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown
(Brown, 2004)
Questions for Using Childrens Literature

1. Appropriate selections (choosing the right books):
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give students exposure to ...........................................................................................................
provide ...............................................................................................................................
and provide a sense of ...........................................................................................................
2. What pleasure do students feel when they turn the last page of a book?
.......................................................................................................................................................
3. The key to success in using literature in the ESL classroom depends primarily on.............................
............................................................................................................................................................
4. What five things should you look at when evaluating potential books?
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
5. What would be an appropriate length of time to spend on a book like Dr Seusss The Foot Book?
..................................................................................................................................................................
6. What do young children never tire of doing several times a day, many days a week?
................................................................................................................................................................
7. What Language Learning Potential does the writer find in:
The Foot Book ........................................................................................................................................
Were going on a bear hunt ..................................................................................................................
Inside a barn in the country ...................................................................................................................
8. What goals can be accomplished when teachers choose to use student-created materials, instead
of pre-fabricated, one-size fits all published ones?
........................................................................................................................................................
9. Give some examples of what could be included in a teacher-created workbook about a story.
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
10 What four possibilities are recommended for sequencing activities?
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.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
The article above is talking mostly about story reading rather than telling. The following excerpt from
Carole Coxs text book Teaching Language Arts: A student-centred classroom incudes a list of Dos
and Donts for reading aloud, as well as some pointers for selecting books to read aloud.
Some of these points may be useful when you create your checklist at the end of this topic.
Dos and Donts of Reading Aloud

Jim Treleases (2006) book The Read-Aloud Handbook suggests the following dos and donts:
Read Aloud Dos
Stop at a suspenseful spot each day.

If reading a picture book, make sure the children can see the pictures easily.
After reading, allow time for discussion and verbal, written or artistic expression. Dont turn
discussions into quizzes or pry interpretations from children.
Use plenty of expression in reading, and read slowly.
Bring the author to life by adding a third dimension when possible for example, eat blueberries
while reading Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey (1948).
Read Aloud Donts
Dont read stories that you dont like yourself.
If it becomes obvious that a book was a poor choice, stop reading it.
Dont feel that every book must be tied to something in the curriculum.
Dont be unnerved by students questions during the reading. Answer and discuss them.
Dont use reading aloud as a threat or turn it into a weapon.
Trelease (2006) has also suggested selection criteria for a good read-aloud book. In sum, such a book
should have these qualities:
a fast-paced plot, which quickly hooks the childrens interest

clear, well-rounded characters
crisp, easy-to-read dialogue
minimal long, descriptive passages
(Cox, 2008, p. 272)
The article below by Mart makes some excellent points about both choosing books and using stories
in order to encourage young learners of English.
As always, the questions below are designed to help you focus on the important points in the article.
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Encouraging Young Learners to Learn English through Stories

Cagri Tugrul Mart
Abstract
Reading is an important part of successful language acquisition. Motivating young learners to learn
English through stories at an early age provides them the opportunity to widen their horizons and
stimulate their early enthusiasm and enhance their awareness of the rich use of English. Stories are
unquestionably a significant part of childrens literacy development. When we read to our children,
we do not confine them to academic excellence but extend into their emotional and behavioural
learning (Ai Lian Kim, 2008). Reading at an early age is essential. Therefore, this article focuses on
how to spark students interest towards English through stories and how stories develop their
language learning.
Keywords: Young learners, Reading, Learning English, Stories
1. Introduction
Storytelling is an accepted and widely used approach in the teaching of English language classroom.
It represents a holistic approach to language teaching and learning founded on the understanding
that learners need to interact with rich, authentic examples of the foreign language (Mourao, 2009).
In using stories in language teaching we are using something much bigger and more important than
language teaching itself (Wright, 2003: 7).
Story in its widest sense is also the carrier of lifes messages and has, I believe, a vital part to play in
the education of the young child, particularly in the development of language. I suggest that the
teacher, working form a story bank rich in all manner of literary genres and crossings a variety of
cultures, can produce the kind of learning environment which not only stimulates and carries the
children along on the crest of their interest and enjoyment, but offers meaning potential without
which the learning of language is rigid (Garvie, 1991: 56).
2. Why Story Books?
It is widely believed that literature-based instruction can positively influence the language
development of primary school students (Morrow, 1992). Weinreich & Bartlett claim that in
childrens literature the child must be regarded as a necessary condition which the author
consciously or unconsciously relates to in the creative process (2000:127). For McDowell (1973),
the term childrens literature is applicable to books written for, and read by, that group referred to
as children by any particular society. For Oberstein (1996: 17) childrens literature is a category of
books the existence of which absolutely depends on supposed relationships with a particular reading
audience: children. Hollindale (1997:30) defines childrens literature as a body of texts with
certain common features of imaginative interest, which is activated as childrens literature by a
reading event: that of being read by a child. According to Ghosn (2002: 172) childrens literature is
fiction written for children to read for pleasure, rather than for didactic purposes. Huck et al. (1997:
5) childrens literature is the imaginative shaping of life and thought into the forms and structures
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of language. Galda and Cullinan (2002: 7) claim that literature entertains and informs and it
enables young people to explore and understand their world and enriches their lives and widens
their horizons and through literature children learn about people and places on the other side of
the world as well as ones down the street. They can travel back and forth in time to visit familiar
places and people, to meet new friends, and to see new worlds. They can explore their own feelings,
shape their own values, and imagine lives beyond the one they live. Tomlinson and Lynch-Brown
(2002:2) define children literature as good quality trade books written especially for children from
birth to adolescence, covering topics of relevance and interest to children. Lewis (2001) states that
there are good reasons for children reading picture-books:
Consider the fact that children born into the first years of the twenty-first century are likely to possess
a richer and more deft understanding of visual imagery and its modes of deployment than any other
generation in the history of humankind. Their world is saturated with imagines, moving and still,
alone and in all manner of hybrid combinations with texts and sounds. This is the world in which they
must function (p.59).
Ghosn (2002: 173) summarizes the reasons why authentic literature is valuable for children:
Authentic literature provides a motivating, meaningful context for language learning, since
children are naturally drawn to stories.
Literature can contribute to language learning. It presents natural language, language at its
finest, and can foster vocabulary development in context.
Literature can promote academic literacy and thinking skills, and prepare children for the
English-medium instruction.
Literature can function as a change agent: good literature deals with some aspects of the
human condition, can thus contribute to the emotional development of the child, and foster
positive interpersonal and intercultural attitudes.
3. How to Select Story Books?
Brown (2004) claims that appropriate selections of childrens literature give students exposure to
new, illustrated vocabulary in context, provide repetition of key words and phrases that students can
master and learn to manipulate and provide a sense of accomplishment.
Smallwood (1988:66) recommends that criteria for the selection of childrens literature for
language learners should include age-appropriate theme; simple language; limited use of metaphor
and unfamiliar experiences; use of rhyme; unambiguous plot; realistic but simple dialogue; potential
for reading aloud; brevity; and good illustrations.
Smallwood adds these criteria some more:
Does the book help meet curriculum objectives or enhance the thematic units being
studied?
Is the books content appropriate to the childrens age and intellectual level?
Does the book use language that is at or slightly above the level of the learners?
Does the book contain repeated, predictable language patterns?
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Are there clear illustrations that help the story?

In addition to these criteria Steinbeck (2008) lists the characteristics of using stories with young
learners as:
Stories should be action oriented

Stories should be personal (the use of familiar characters, the pre- and post- activities should
make use of the personalization technique.
Stories should not be too detailed, both in terms of the story and the visuals used.
Stories should allow for context extension.
Stories should use comprehensible input (the language that is at the right cognitive and
linguistic level) so that the output is more structured.
Heide Niemann (2002), when selecting a story book for young learners, states that the following
questions will support parents to direct their ways.
Are different types of storybooks (animal stories, fantasy stories ) represented in the
classroom?
Are there differences in the style of the illustrations between the books?
Are the main characters boys as well as girls?
Is the book (psychologically) suitable for the age group?
Can children identify with the main character or with any other character?
Will there be links to their personal experiences?
Is the book fun, has it got humour in it?
How does the language match the childrens language skills?
Does the book match cross-curricular topics?
Is it a book the children can read themselves?
Is it a book they can read words or passages from?
Is it a book they can understand without reading the text?
According to Vardel, Hadaway, and Young (2006: 735) the most important criteria in selecting books
for learners of English as a second language is that they are appropriate in relation to age, interests,
and maturity.
4. Teaching Young Learners through Story Books
Stories contribute to childrens language development. According to Winch et al. (2004: 402),
childrens literature provides a wonderful opportunity for children to see language in action, a
great resource for more formal learning about the structures of language, and a locus for learning
about these structures in meaningful contexts.
Children love stories. They ---
are always eager to listen to stories

know how stories work
want to understand what is happening
can enjoy hearing stories in English when they start English lessons.
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enjoy looking at storybooks by themselves

can reread the stories they like when they read in English themselves.
(Slatterly & Willis, 2001)
Heide Niemann (2002) lists the importance of storybooks as:
Storybooks are part of a countrys culture and thus they combine language learning and
cultural awareness.
Storybooks are challenging the imagination.
Storybooks help children expand their own world, sometimes they may even help them cope
with their reality.
Storybooks provide language in a meaningful context.
Storybooks provide grammatical structures in an authentic context.
Storybooks provide children with the possibility to browse, choose their own pace, look
carefully at details.
Storybooks introduce topics and language in a child oriented way.
Storybooks help children develop creative powers.
In picture books the combination of a text and illustration is supportive for the
understanding and the interpretation of a story.
Stories are useful in language learning for young learners. Young learners acquire language
unconsciously. The activities you do in class should help this kind of acquisition. Stories are the most
valuable resource you have. They offer children a world of supported meaning that they can relate
to. Later on you can use stories to help children practise listening, speaking, reading, and writing
(Slatterly & Willis, 2001). Story telling can be effective for teaching English to young learners for the
following reasons.
The purpose of telling a story is genuinely communicative.

Storytelling is linguistically honest (It is oral language, meant to be heard).
Storytelling is real (people do it all the time).
Storytelling appeals to the affective domain.
Storytelling caters to the individual while forging a community in the classroom.
Storytelling provides listening experiences with reduced anxiety.
(Curtain & Dahlberg, 2004)
Xu (2003) states that literature in English can provide language learners with opportunities to master
structure through exposure to repeated and predictable linguistic patterns. Huck et al. (1997:12)
claim that literature plays an important role in all aspects of oral language development. When
young children are read to their own phonological production- the number and range of sounds that
they produce-increases significantly, and reading aloud has significant effects on the complexity of
childrens sentence structure and expository text. Gambrell et al. (2000:2) lists the characteristics of
their approach to literature-based instruction as:
Literature is used as an important vehicle for language arts instruction
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High quality narrative and informational literature provides the basis for a consistent readaloud program in which children read daily www.ccsenet.org/elt English Language Teaching
Vol. 5, No. 5; May 2012 104 ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750
Literature is the sole or primary basis for initial reading instruction, or it is a significant
supplement to a basal program.
Opportunities are provided for students to listen to and read books of their own choosing.
Students are provided with sustained time for both independent and collaborative book
sharing, reading and writing activities.
Discussions of literature among students and teachers are commonplace.
Children delight in imagination and fantasy. It is more than simply a matter of enjoyment, however,
in the language classroom this capacity for fantasy and imagination has a very constructive part to
play (Halliwell, 1993: 7).
Stories may bridge the gap between language study and language use and also to link classroom
learning with the world outside. Some of the activities do not always have a very large language
element but are nevertheless important in creating a feeling among the pupils that learning English
means fun, activity, creativity and enjoyment.
(Ellis &Brewster 2002: 17)
Repetition of stories enables young learners master the language better. Children enjoy listening to
stories over and over again. This frequent repetition allows certain language items to be acquired
while others are being overtly reinforced. Many stories contain natural repetition of key vocabulary
and structures. This helps children to remember every detail, so they can gradually learn to
anticipate what is about to happen next in the story. Repetition also encourages participation in the
narrative (Ellis &Brewster, 2002: 2).
Stories are motivating, challenging and great fun for young learners. They can help develop positive
attitudes towards the foreign language, culture and language learning(Ellis and Brewster, 2002:1).
Winch et al. (2004:401) states that through literature-based activities guided discussion promotes
many literate oracy behaviours: it improves vocabulary, offers opportunities for more sophisticated
sentence constructions and syntax, and lets the children hear the sounds of words as their peers say
them. Fox (1993:185), about literature based instruction, writes storytelling and hearing stories
read aloud, expose children to linguistic and narrative conventions in the course of the power and
pleasure they experience in the play. Using stories allows the teacher to introduce or revise new
vocabulary and sentence structures by exposing the children to language in varied, memorable and
familiar contexts, which will enrich their thinking and gradually enter their own speech (Ellis
&Brewster, 2002:2). Listening to stories helps children become aware of the rhythm, intonation and
pronunciation of language (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2). About literature for children Ferguson and
Young (1996:598) claim that (literature) provide language-rich illustrations of the uses of dialogue
and often elicits a chime in response from students, thus providing a natural link to the give and
take of conversation, vocabulary usage, and appropriate syntactical structure.
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Young learners exercise their imagination through stories. They can become personally involved in
a story as they identify with the characters and try to interpret the narrative and illustrations. This
imaginative experience helps (Ellis & Brewster, 2002:1) students develop their own creative
potential.
Stories also develop the different types of intelligences that contribute to language learning,
including emotional intelligence (Ellis &Brewster, 2002:2). Stories develop childrens learning
strategies such as listening for general meaning, predicting, guessing meaning and hypothesizing
(Ellis &Brewster, 2002:2). Learning English through stories can lay the foundations for secondary
school in terms of learning basic language functions and structures, vocabulary and language
learning skills (Ellis &Brewster, 2002:2).
It seems a pity to deprive learners of opportunities to hear authentic uses of past tense forms and
contrast with the other tenses, in the meaningful contexts of stories, and I can see no intrinsic
reason for supposing that use of past tense would prevent children understand a story. In fact, if
they are familiar with stories in their first language, they will probably expect to hear past tense
forms and may misconstrue the verbs (Cameron, 2001: 166). According to Hsieh (2006), storytelling
combined with total physical response can motivate young learners and is beneficial to their learning
of English vocabulary, sentence patterns, and comprehension.
For teachers stories allow to use an acquisition-based methodology by providing optimal input
(Ellis & Brewster, 2002:2). It is great to use real storybooks because they add variety and provide a
springboard for creating complete units of work that constitute mini-syllabuses and involve pupils
personally, creatively and actively in an all-round whole curriculum approach. They thereby provide
a novel alternative to the course book (Ellis & Brewster, 2002:2).
A Canadian critic, Michele Landsberg (1987) writes:
Good books can do so much for children. At their best, they expand horizons and instil in children a
sense of the wonderful complexity of life. No other pastime available to children is so conductive to
empathy and the enlargement of the human sympathies. No other pleasure can so richly furnish a
childs mind with the symbols, patterns, depths, and possibilities of civilisation (p.34).
The following are some recommended storytelling techniques from Brewster, Ellis & Girard (2004).
If students are unfamiliar are with storytelling, begin with short sessions which do not
demand too much from them and over-extend their concentration span.
Read slowly and clearly. Give your pupils time to relate what they hear to what they see in
the pictures, to think, ask questions, make comment. However, do vary the pace when the
story speeds up.
Make comments about the illustrations and point to them to focus the pupils attention
Encourage your pupils to take part in the storytelling by repeating key vocabulary items and
phrases. You can invite them to do this by pausing and looking at them with a questioning
expression and by putting your hand to your ear to indicate that you are waiting for them to
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join in. Then repeat what they have said to confirm that they have predicted correctly, and if
appropriate, expand by putting the word into a full phrase or sentence.
Use gestures, mime, facial gestures to help convey the meaning.
Vary the pace, tone, and volume of your voice. Are you going to whisper to build up
suspense? Are you going to introduce an element of surprise by raising your voice?
Pause where appropriate to add dramatic effect or to give children time to relate what they
hear to what they see, and to assimilate details in the illustrations.
Disguise your voice for the different characters as much as you can to signal when different
characters are speaking and help convey meaning.
Ask questions to involve children. What do you think is going to happen next? What would
you do?
Do not be afraid to repeat, expand and reformulate. This increases opportunities of
exposure to the language and gives children a second chance to work out the meaning and
have it confirmed.
(Shin)
5. Conclusion
Stories are motivating for young learners, and stories can create a happy and enjoyable learning
environment.
Stories are the most ideal sources for young learners in effective language learning. Children like
stories, and they find stories easy to access and understand. Stories provide an outstanding
opportunity for young learners to master the foreign language.
References
Ai Lian Kim. (2008). Teaching children through stories. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from
http://www.cut-theknot.org/Education/teaching_children_throughstories.html
Brewster, J., Ellis, G., & Girard, D. (2004). The primary English teachers guide. London: Penguin.
Brown, E. Using childrens literature with young learners. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Brown=ChildrensLit.html
Cameron, Lynne. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge Language
Teaching Library.
Curtain, H., & Dahlberg, C. A. (2004). Languages and children: making the match. Boston: Pearson.
ELLIS, Gail, & BREWSTER, Jean. (2002). Tell it Again! Penguin, ISBN: 0-582-44777-1.
Ferguson, P. M., & Young, T. A. (1996). Literature talk: Dialogue improvisation and patterned
conversations with second language learners. Language arts, 73(8), 597-600.
Fox, C. (1993). At the very edge of the forest: the influence of literature on storytelling by children.
London: Cassell.
Galda, L., & Cullinan, B. E. (2002). Cullinan and Galdas literature and the child. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Gambrell, J. B., Morrow, L. M., & Pennington, C. (2000). Early childhood and elementary literatureBased instruction: Current perspectives and special issue. Reading Online, 5(6).
Garvie, Edie. (1991). Teaching English through story in: Kennedy, Chris, and Jarvis, Jennifer: Ideas
and issues in primary ELT. Walton-on-Thames: The centre for British teachers. pp. 56-65.
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Ghosn, I. K. (2002). Four good reasons to use literature in primary school. ELT journal, 56(2), 172179. www.ccsenet.org/elt English Language Teaching Vol. 5, No. 5; May 2012 106 ISSN 1916-4742 EISSN 1916-4750 http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1093/elt/56.2.172
Halliwell, Susan. (1993). Teaching English in the primary classroom. London: Longman.
Hollindale, P. (1997). Signs of childness in childrens books. Stroud: Thimble.
Hsieh, L. (2006). The application of TPR storytelling to childrens English instruction. Paper presented
at the 23rd international conference on English teaching and learning in the Republic of China,
Wenzao Ursiline College of languages.
Huck, C. S., Hepler, S., Hickman, J., & Kiefer, B. Z. (1997). Childrens literature in the elementary
school. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Landsberg, M. (1987). Reading for the love of it: Best books for young readers. New York: Prentice
Hall.
Lewis, D. (2001). Reading contemporary, picture books. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
McDowell, M. (1973). Fiction for children and adults: some essential differences. Childrens literature
in education, 10, 50-53. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/BF01135994
Morrow, L. M. (1992). The impact of a literature-based program on literacy achievement, use of
literature, and attitudes of children from minority backgrounds. Reading Research Quarterly, 27(3),
250-275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.32.1.4
Mourao, Sandie. (2009). Using stories in the primary classroom. BritLit: Using literature in EFL
classrooms, London.
Niemann, Heide. (2002). Mit bilderbuchern English lernen. Seelze Velber: Kallmeyer.
Shin, Joan Kang. Teaching English to Young learners. University of Maryland.
Slatterly, M., & Willis, J. (2001). English for primary teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smallwood, B. A. (1988). Using multicultural childrens literature in adult ESL classes. Digest, National
Center for ESL literacy Education.
Steinbeck, Piotr. (2008). Using stories with young learners 2. Pearson Education.
Tomlinson, C. M., & Lynch-Brown, C. (2002). Essentials of childrens literature. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
Vardell, S. M., Hadaway, N. L., & Young, T. A. (2006). Matching books and readers: Selecting
literature for English learners. Reading Teacher, 59(8), 734-741. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RT.59.8.1
Weinreich, T., & Bartlett, D. (2000). Childrens literature: art or pedagogy? Roskilde University Press.
Winch, G., Johnston. R. R., March P., Ljungdahl L., & Holliday, M. (2004). Literacy Reading, writing,
and childrens literature. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Wright, A. Introduction in Paran, A. & Watts, E. (Eds.). (2003). Storytelling in ELT. (Whitstable,
IATEFL).
Xu, S. H. (2003). The learner, the teacher, the text and the context: Sociocultural approaches to early
literacy instruction for English language learners. In D.M. Barone & L.M. Morrow (Eds), Literacy and
young children (61-80). New York; London: The Guilford Press.
(Mart, 2012)
Answer the questions below. Work with a partner (or group).
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Questions about Encouraging Young Learners to learn English through stories
1. In .......................................................................................................................................................
we are using something much bigger and more important than language teaching itself.
2.Through literature children:
learn ................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
They can travel .......................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
They can explore ...................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
3. What criteria should be included when selecting books, according to Smallwood?
........................................................................ theme
.......................................................................language
limited use of ...............................................................
and ..............................................................................
use of ...........................................................................
unambiguous ................................................................
........................................................................dialogue
potential for .................................................................
...........................................................................(short)
good ..........................................................................
4. Smallwood gives 5 more criteria. Summarise them:
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
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5. List Steinbecks 5 characteristics of stories to use with young learners.
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
6. Summarise each of Niemanns 12 suggestions for parents selecting books for their children.
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
Now look at the criteria in 3, 4, 5 and 6 (above) and classify them into four groups:
Age/ability/language level
Suitable Content
Appropriate Visuals
Language Learning Potential
Place them in the table below. [Note: You may find that some items could potentially fit into more
than one column.]
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Level
Content
Visuals
Language Learning
Potential
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Exercise 1: Create an instrument

1. Design a checklist for deciding the suitability of any given book or story.
Include questions within all four areas listed in the chart.

Include a statement about how to score a particular story how many positive marks does a
book need to have for you to use it?
2. Create a presentation for your checklist to share it with the rest of your class. (It could be a
PowerPoint presentation, or some other format.)
Exercise 2: Apply your Instrument and Examine Language Learning Potential

Choose a story either from the Appendix, or one of your own.
1. Apply your checklist to the book or story. You may find you need to adjust or change or checklist
(or its format) to make it more user-friendly.
2. Look specifically at the Language Learning Potential of your book or story.
What target language and/or language learning outcomes could you use it for?
What activities could you do with the children before, during, or after reading/telling the
story to teach or reinforce these language learning aspects?
3. Present your assessment of the book/story and your activity ideas to your partner/group/class.
Works cited in this Topic

Brown, E. (2004, Fe). Using Children's Literature with YoungLearners. The Internet TESL Journal, X(2).
Education.
Malaysia.
Mart, C. T. (2012, May). Encouraging Young Learners to Learn English through Stories. English
Language Teaching, 5(5), 101-106.
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Topic 5: Stories in the ESL classroom

Aesthetic and Efferent Responses
When we use stories in the ESL classroom, we are teaching more than just language. Besides the
sense of fun and enjoyment of activities that provide the vital motivation that children need to keep
them focussed, a growing appreciation of beauty and art is important for their personal
development.
In the past, teachers sometimes thought that if students were having too much fun, then their
teaching methods were not serious enough and true learning was not happening. Even enjoyable
topics from literature were weighed down with questions demanding an efferent response.
Educators are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of childrens valid aesthetic response
to literature and art.
Exploring Aesthetic Values

In her textbook Teaching Language Arts: A student-centred classroom, in the chapter on the readers
response to literature, Carole Cox talks about some research she did about the two types of
questioning a teacher can use and the childrens responses.
Read the passage and answer the questions below:
Childrens Stance toward Literature
A key to teaching literature is knowing about how children respond. This knowledge should provide
the basis for asking questions and planning further teaching with literature. I have done research in
this area: a nine-year longitudinal study of childrens responses and the stances they take from a
reader-response perspective (Cox C. , 1997, 2002). I have read to the same group of children as they
moved from kindergarten through fifth grade. Heres what I have found:
1. Children took a predominantly aesthetic (71.6 per cent), rather than efferent (28.4 per cent),
stance in their responses. Table 3.1 shows types of responses when they took a more aesthetic or
more efferent stance and examples of what they said. Here is a list of the types in order from most
to least with percentages (A = aesthetic and E = efferent):
Stance
Type of Response
Percentage of Responses
A
A
A
A
E
E
E
A
E
Questioning
Text part
Associating
Hypothesizing
Explanations
Print and language
Content
Performance
Analysis
19.0
17.4
15.0
13.6
10.2
8.0
7.0
6.8
4.1
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2. There was a dynamic interplay between the two types of stances, but more efferent responses,
such as understanding print and expanding a story, were always part of a broader aesthetic
response.
3. Children most often asked questions about the text when they were puzzled or wondered about
something they wanted to know about.
In their student-centred classrooms, teachers focus on students responses, rather than their own
predetermined ideas or those found in a teachers guide to using literature. Children are encouraged
to respond openly, drawing on their own experiences and funds of knowledge. In transactional
teaching with literature, teachers begin by asking open questions So what did you think of it?
and directing children to take an aesthetic stance toward literature.
(Cox, 2008, pp. 65-7)
Here are examples of both aesthetic and efferent questions and prompts:
Aesthetic (more open)
Efferent (more closed)
What do you think about the story?
What was the main idea of the story?
Tell anything you want about the story.
What did the author mean by -- ?
What was your favourite part? Tell about it
Retell your favourite part.

Tell the order of the story events.
Has anything like this every happened to you?

Tell about it.
Describe the main characters.

Explain the characters actions.
Does the story remind you of anything? Tell

about it.
What other stories are like this one?

Compare and contrast the stories.
What did you wonder about? Tell about it.
What was the problem in the story?

How did the author solve the problem?
What would you change in the story?
How did the author make the story believable?
What else do you think might happen in the

story?
Is it fact or fiction?
What would you say or do if you were a

character in the story?
How do you think the characters felt?
(Cox C. , 2008, p. 151)
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Questions about Childrens Stance toward Literature
1. What provides the basis for asking questions and planning further teaching with literature?
..................................................................................................................................................
2. Look at this statement:
There was a dynamic interplay between the two types of stances, but more efferent responses,
such as understanding print and expanding a story, were always part of a broader aesthetic
response.
This is stating that even when children gave an efferent response (to do with facts and
information), it was still part of.........................................................................................................
3. When did children ask questions about the text? ..........................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
4. In student-centred classrooms, what do teachers focus on? ..........................................................
rather than .......................................................................................................................................
5. What are children encouraged to do? ............................................................................................
6. In transactional teaching with literature, how do teachers ask questions?
.......................................................................................................................................................
Look carefully at the chart of efferent and aesthetic questions. Mark you favourites with a
highlighter pen you may need to refer back to this page when you do your assignment.
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Strategies to Explore Aesthetic Values

From the articles that we read in Topic 4 (Selecting Stories) we can find many useful strategies to
explore Aesthetic Values through the stories we teach. Refer back to:
Responding to visuals
The pictures in the book or your gestures/puppet/realia when you tell a story, evoke the first
aesthetic responses from the children, even at the pre-reading/pre-telling stage. Right away they will
be interested/fascinated/curious/puzzled ... Attraction to whatever visual aid is offered becomes the
hook as discussed in the Hook, Book, Look, Took article below to draw the children into the
story.
During the reading/telling the children can simply enjoy the pictures or other visual offering - at the
same time as benefitting by understanding the story vocabulary or concepts better. This is what Cox
was talking about with the dynamic interplay: while the children may be responding to the factual
information oh, so thats what a Gruffalo is! and they may be learning vocabulary or other
information, they are also responding aesthetically.
As a post-telling/post-reading activity, children always enjoy creating their own visual representation
of the story or something they liked about it using media such as pencils, crayons, paint or even playdough.
Performance
In topic 4, in the article by Brown (2004), we read about Sequencing Activities to keep an active
classroom and allow for variety in your lessons. As a reminder:
Sequencing Activities
Young learners in particular need a very active classroom and variety throughout the lesson. Ten
minutes is probably the maximum length of time you can expect students of this age to focus their
attention before you need to change gears. One guideline that works well with young learners is to
assure that, in any given lesson, there is always a little enthusiastic singing, a little quiet listening, a
little enthusiastic dancing, and a little quiet artwork.
The following approach is one that works very well:
Sing. Students sing, recite, or read a passage from the story in teams.
Listen. Students listen to the story from beginning to end.
Dance. Students get out of their chairs for some physical activity. Often, this can be
acting out the actions from the story, but there are unlimited possibilities.
Draw. Students sit back down and illustrate new vocabulary.
(Brown, 2004)
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Questioning
As mentioned earlier, we tend to think of questions as seeking information, and teachers ask
questions to receive a correct answer. With an aesthetic response there is no one right answer and
children are encouraged to express their own responses to a poem, story, song, play or other piece
of literature. Cox (2008, pp. 74-5) has this to say about Questioning:
Questions: Aesthetic and Efferent
The types of questions teachers ask direct children to take aesthetic or efferent stances toward any
text. Ideally, teachers should first direct students to take aesthetic stances toward literature. Think
about the analysis of childrens response types described earlier. Their preferred types were
aesthetic. They questioned, talked about favourite parts, hypothesized, and made associations. Out
of these broad, rich, aesthetic responses (which were focussed on the development of personal
meaning), more efferent concerns will emerge, such as developing explanations or attending to print
and language, content, and analysis.
Focus first on aesthetic questions and prompts. Begin with an open question or prompt that has
many possible responses:
1. Questioning
What did you think of the story?
Tell me anything you want about the story.
Many times, children will state a preference, such as I liked it, I didnt like it, or It was okay.
Follow up on this response by asking the children to tell why they did or didnt like the story. Next,
ask questions or prompts that are based on the childrens comments or that invite them to respond
first aesthetically and then more efferently. The following questions and prompts are based on
characteristic responses of children described in the earlier section on aesthetic and efferent
stances.
2. Focussing on a part
What was your favourite part of the story? Tell about it.
3. Making associations
Has anything like this happened to you? Tell about it.
Have you ever had feelings like a character in the story? Tell about them.
Does this story remind you of other stories? Tell about them.
4. Hypothesizing
Was there anything in the story you wondered about? Tell about it.
Did something puzzle you? Tell about it.
What else do you think might happen?
Is there anything you would change in the story? What? How?
5. Explaining
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Explain a characters actions

What did the author mean by _______?
6. Considering print and language
What does this word or letter say? What does it mean? How is it used in the story?
Tell about how the author used language: words, sentences, rhyming patterns, and so on.
7. Considering content
What happened in the story? Tell the order of the storys events.
What happened in the beginning, the middle, and the end?
What was the main idea of the story?
8. Performing
If you were a character in the story, what would you say? Show how you would act.
If you could talk to a character in the story, what would you say?
What sounds would you like to hear in the story?
9. Analysing
Is the story true (factual) or made up (fictional)?

Compare and contrast this story to other stories.
What did you think of how the story was written or illustrated?
(Cox, 2008)
Questioning Exercise:
Did you notice how the questions (above) moved from aesthetic to efferent? The Considering Print
and Language and Considering Content ones in the middle are clearly efferent. But the final
question is once again aesthetic.
Take two different highlighter pens and try to mark which is which. Compare with your
partner/group.
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Exploring Linguistic Features

The article above contains some aesthetic and some efferent questions. Obviously, in this case,
efferent refers generally to linguistic questions.
In the article by Brown (2004) in Topic 4 there is a list of possible activities to use in connection with
a story telling/reading.
Types of Activities
Listen to the story on tape/as read by the teacher without looking at the text.
Listen to the story and read along.
Listen to the story and put illustrations depicting parts of the story in order.
Read the book silently.
Read the book to a partner, then switch.
Write your favourite words/new words/words starting with A from the story in your
notebook.
Write a portion of the story in the workbook.
Answer (or practice asking) simple who, what, when, where, and why questions about
the story.
Play Pictionary. Divide students into teams. One member of the team draws a picture
on the board while team members try to guess what it is within a limited time period.
Speed reading game. Call out a word from the text, then let students race to find it. The
first one to find it reads the sentence aloud. A word of caution: this game is rather hard
on books.
Have students display the flashcards they made, let them be the teacher and ask the
class, "What is this?"
Make up a dance or do actions to the words of the story. A good example of this kind of
story is The Foot Book. The text repeats, "Left Foot/Left Foot/Right Foot/Right." Students
can get out of their chairs and jump from left to right as suggested by the text.
Do the opposite of dancing. Have students "freeze" a moment of the text by acting out
exactly what is described in the text at some specific moment, and holding perfectly still.
You could photograph these moments if you have a digital camera.
Do a verbal fill-in-the-blank exercise. As you read, stop at random and have students
shout out what word comes next.
Check comprehension of key concepts by asking students to draw pictures. For example,
students could demonstrate understanding of the difference between "I like kimchi."/"I
don't like kimchi." by drawing two different pictures.
A note about memorization. A lot of students really do enjoy memorizing the books.
Allow them to recite what they've memorized in teams. Many students love to show off
their English, and feel very proud of being able to produce a minute or so of non-stop
English.
(Brown, 2004)
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Using your highlighter pens, identify which activities reinforce linguistic learning.
Carole Cox (Literature-based teaching: A student response-centred classroom, 1997, pp. 207-8)
offers these suggestions for activities in a reading aloud session. Take note of which are aesthetic
and which are linguistic strategies:
Reading Aloud
Here are some suggestions for reading aloud:
1. When to Read Aloud: Teachers should read aloud to students several times every day, such as at
the close of sharing time in the morning, before or after recess, to initiate a writing or drama
activity, before or after lunch, or at the end of the day. In addition to serving a modelling purpose,
reading aloud is one of the best ways to create a quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the classroom.
Teachers who feel they need more control in the classroom should get out a good book and read it
aloud to students.
2. How to Read Aloud: Teachers should share books they love. By doing so, they will be more likely
to read dramatically and with enthusiasm. Others should be invited to read, too: principals,
counsellors, parents, and community members. Likewise, children should be encouraged to read
aloud to each other (i.e. buddy reading), perhaps favourite books they have brought to share and
even their own stories read from the Authors Chair. Children learn to read by hearing stories read
aloud and by reading aloud themselves. Time should be provided to do both often.
3. Predictable Pattern Books: Most predictable pattern books are based on familiar cultural
sequences, like the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, and seasons. Other such books use
repeated phrases that invite children to chime in. Remember Sam I am, that Sam I am from Dr
Seusss Green Eggs and Ham? (Seuss 1988). Some pattern books are cumulative tales, in which new
parts of the story are continually added, as in the nursery rhyme The House that Jack Built. Many
pattern books are based on traditional rhymes, songs, or folktales; others are new and original.
Predictable pattern books encourage children to participate in the reading experience by guessing
what will happen next, by joining in a repeated phrase, or by repeating everything thats been said
before. Books such as these should be read often with young children.
4. Big Books and Shared Reading: New Zealand educator Don Holdaway (1979) introduced the
idea of using big books (i.e. books with oversized pages and print) and shared reading in emergent
literacy classrooms. The purpose for doing so is to replicate the bedtime story experience and the
good feeling children have when a parent or caretaker sits close to them and reads aloud. Today,
many publishers have enlarged popular childrens books to the big book size. Teachers can also
create big books by copying stories on paper large enough so that the children can see the words
from up to 20 feet away. (7 metres)
(Cox C. , 1997, pp. 207-8)
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Questions for Reading Aloud

1. How often should teachers read aloud to their students? ..................................................................
2. Why? ...........................................................................................................................................
3. Who should/could read aloud to the students? ................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
4. What are most predictable pattern books based on? ....................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
5. What do books with repeated phrases invite children to do? .........................................................
6. How can children participate in the reading experience in a predictable pattern story?
............................................................................................................................
or ........................................................................................................................
or ........................................................................................................................
7. What was the original purpose of the shared reading experience?
...........................................................................................................................................
8. How big should a big book be? .......................................................................................
9. When you were at school, did your teacher(s) read aloud to you (in any language)? And, if so, how
did you feel about it? ..........................................................................................................................
10. What kind of question is number 9 (above)? ...............................................................................
Discuss with your partner / group.
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This article by Tedjaatmadja and Renandya suggests a lesson framework that they have tried and
found useful. Whether or not you would consider following their example, pay particular attention
to the right-hand column of their table which lists the principles behind what they are doing.
Read, answer the questions below, and discuss with your partner / group.
Hook, Book, Look, Took

by Herwindy M Tedjaatmadja and Willy A Renandya
Introduction
Are you teaching English to young children and looking for a simple lesson framework that you can
use and reuse productively?
The Hook Book Look Took (HBLT) lesson structure might be the answer. Originally developed by
Lawrence O Richards and Gary J Bredfeldt (1998), HBLT is a four-step strategy that is particularly
popular with Sunday school teachers. The four-step lesson structure enables the teacher to
introduce and prepare the children for the lesson through various fun activities (the Hook), to focus
the childrens attention on the contents of a section of the Bible (the Book), to guide the children to
think about how to apply the message in life (the Look), and to summarize the lesson in such a way
so that the children finish the lesson with a concrete takeaway (the Took).
We stumbled on this lesson structure quite accidently when someone mentioned it casually to us
and said that she fell in love with it the moment she learned about it and had since then tried it out
with her Sunday-school children. It dawned on us almost immediately that this could be adapted for
teaching English to young children. The structure is simple, which goes down well with teachers
working with young learners, and is versatile enough to allow for creative interpretations and
variations within each of the steps. The name is also quite catchy and easy to remember, which we
think is another plus point.
The Hook Book Look Took lesson structure
We describe in Table 1 below our version of the HBLT lesson framework. We have kept the terms
the same but given different meanings to the four steps, in particular the Book and Look steps, so
that they are more reflective of current theories of and principles for teaching English to young
learners. We describe the four steps along with the language learning principles that underpin the
steps in the table below.
Step
Hook
Description
All good teachers understand the importance of this
step, especially when working with young learners. This
is where we introduce and prepare the students
affectively, cognitively and also linguistically for the
main part of the lesson. With young children, the hook
should be fun and enjoyable. Fun activities include, but
Principles
a. Learning is best facilitated
when children are cognitively
and affectively ready, when
they can devote their full
attention to what they are
about to learn.
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are not limited to, singing, playing games, dancing,

drawing, or other activities that involve bodily
movement. The use of a multi-sensory approach by
appealing to the childrens sense of sight, sound, touch,
smell and taste is highly recommended to get their
attention.
Given that young learners have a short attention span,
they will need to be hooked and rehooked as the main
lesson progresses. In a 30-minute lesson, two or three
hooking activities may need to be planned in order to
keep the children engaged throughout the lesson.
Book
The best kind of hook should be related to the main

objective of the lesson and also guide learners to the
main activities of the lesson. This way, the hook
provides a bridge between the aim of the lesson and
the main activities of the lesson.
This is the main part of the lesson. The book here refers
to any textual materials that appeal to young learners.
Story books of various genres such as folklores, legends,
fairy tales, fables and modern-day stories can be used
to engage the learners. The key consideration when
selecting stories is that they should be interesting,
enjoyable and comprehensible to the learners.
Materials of this type are likely to get the learners full
attention; while those that are uninteresting,
unenjoyable and incomprehensible will just be noise to
the children and will be filtered out.
There are many book-based instructional procedures
that teachers can use to explore the contents of the
story. These procedures usually require the teacher to
do some form of reading aloud; either reading to or
with the children. The latter, reading with the children,
is preferred because research has shown that this type
of reading keeps the learners mentally engaged, which
tends to result in deeper and durable learning (Blok,
1999).
Teacher read-aloud techniques include the following:
Read and predict. The teacher stops at interesting
points in the story and encourages the children to
predict what will happen next. This technique supports
learner thinking and helps learners to think ahead and
predict the contents of the next portion of the story.
This is an important skill that good readers use to
enhance their comprehension.
b. Learning is also best

facilitated when children are
in a happy state of mind. This
state of mind can best be
achieved through play or
game-like activities.
c. Schema theory is also at
play here as the teacher tries
to activate learners prior
knowledge and interest with
the content of the lesson
through fun activities.
a. Books in general and

stories in particular can
provide a lot of
comprehensible input to the
children (Krashen, 2009),
which is a necessary
condition for language
acquisition.
b. Teacher read-aloud makes
the language input more
comprehensible, thus further
enhancing language
acquisition.
c. This Book step reflects Paul
Nations (1996) first learning
strand, i.e., learning through
meaning focused input,
where the learners attention
is primarily on the contents
(meaning) of the stories, not
on the form, thus promoting
incidental learning.
d. The teaching methods
suggested for this step are
geared towards developing
learners implicit knowledge
of the English language,
which is consistent with
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Tell and check. The students are paired up and assigned

as either a teller or a checker. The teacher reads a
section of the story and asks the teller to retell that
portion of the story to the checker. The checker checks
if the teller has included all the relevant details. This
technique keeps the students on task when listening to
the story as they have to do the telling and checking
afterward. The telling and checking can be done in
either English or in the pupils first language.
SLA theories (Ellis, 2005).
Listen and draw. The teacher can ask the students to

draw pictures in response to what they are listening to
to represent their understanding of the story. Listening
and drawing keep them productively occupied
throughout the lesson.
A great book that contains a lot of practical tips and
hundreds of recommended read-aloud titles is Jim
Trealeas now classic The Read-aloud Handbook (2006).
Expressive reading. Read with expression so that the
story comes alive and the words become more vivid
and meaningful. Use different voices when reading a
dialogue. Bring a lot of excitement to your voice so that
the children know that you are excited about the story.
Slow down the speed to create suspense and read
faster when the story gets exciting.
Some teachers value student read-aloud and often ask
pupils to do choral reading. While this activity can be
useful (e.g., for fluency development), this can be a
chore after a while and students may get bored.
Look
The benefits of reading aloud are many. Reading aloud,

according to Kathleen Odean (2003), an expert on
childrens books, is most beneficial when it is done in a
way that is enjoyable to both the teacher and the
students. Her advice: Just enjoy the books together;
the increased vocabulary, understanding of story
structure, exposure to correct grammar, and other
benefits will follow naturally.
The third step is to get the students to look more
closely at the language features of the story. After
receiving a lot of meaningful language input at the Book
step, students should be made aware of which
particular aspects of the input need to be attended to.
These can be the meanings, spellings or pronunciation
of words used to describe the characters in the story,
the structure of the storyline (e.g. how the author
builds up the climax of the story), certain grammatical
a. Noticing language features

increases the chance of these
features being incorporated
into the learners developing
language system.
b. The Look step reflects Paul
Nations (1996) second
strand: language focused
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structures, etc.
Took
This step can be integrated with the second step in

which the teacher can explain briefly certain language
features that are worth highlighting. It can also be done
as a separate activity after the second step. What is
important for the teachers to remember is that they
should not spend too much classroom time on it or turn
this step into traditional discrete grammar exercises
(e.g., turning statements into questions, which is not a
meaningful activity for young children).
The Took is the conclusion of the whole lesson. It is
the takeaway of the lesson. The questions to ask are:
what is it that we want our students to remember most
from the lesson? Is it the meanings of some new
words? Is it the pronunciation of certain vowel sounds?
Some grammar points? Is it some newly introduced
comprehension skills?
learning. Research has shown

that deliberate attention to
language features enhances
learning. Noticing language
features (e.g. certain
grammatical features or
vocabulary) from a
meaningful text is more
productive than learning
these features out of context.
a. Ending the lesson in this
way increases the retention
of the key points of the
lesson.
b. This step also enables the
students to apply or transfer
learning to a new situation.
With young children, the take-away activities should be

fun and enjoyable. For example, if the focus of the
lesson is on the pronunciation of /ei/, the
teacher can end the lesson by showing a YouTube video
clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3v0rJqyCTM)
entitled Rain, Rain, Go Away!, which contains a lot of
words with the /ei/ sound and get the children to sing
along.
If the objective of the lesson is on adjectives, the
children can be shown the following poem
(http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/davidc/6c_files/Poem%20
pics/cinquaindescrip.htm), and asked to replace the
three adjectives (messy, spicy and delicious) with their
own adjectives. This is a meaningful activity as the
pupils get to practice using some adjectives and at the
same time be involved in a creative text reconstruction
activity.
Spaghetti
Messy, spicy
Slurping, sliding, falling
Between my plate and mouth
Delicious
Table 1: HBLT Lesson Structure
Conclusion
As is clear from the foregoing discussion, the HBLT lesson structure is simple but flexible. The four
steps are easy to remember but flexible enough for teachers to carry out the steps according to their
preferences, teaching styles and creativity. The language learning principles that underpin this lesson
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structure are sound too and reflect what second language experts believe to be important for
teaching young learners. The key steps of the HBLT lesson structure, the Book and the Look, reflect a
balanced view of instructed language learning principles that promote both meaning-focused and
language-focused learning (Ellis, 2005; Nation, 2007) through the use of high interest story books
(Elley, 2001).
The teacher read-aloud methodology is also well-suited for young children before they can read
independently and later benefit even more from engaging in extensive or pleasure reading
(Renandya, 2007).
REFERENCES
Blok, H. (1999) Reading to young children in educational settings: A meta-analysis of recent research.
Language Learning, 49, pp.343-371
Elley, W.B. (2001) Book-based approaches to raising literacy in developing countries. International
Journal of Educational Research, 35 (2), pp.127-135
Ellis, R. (2005) Principles of instructed language learning. System 33, pp.209-224
Jacobs, J., & Hannan, D. (2004) Combining cooperative learning with reading aloud by teachers.
International Journal of English Studies, 4(1), pp.97-118
Krashen, S.D. (2009) Language Education: Past, present and future. RELC Journal, 39(2), pp.178-187
Nation, P. (1996) The four strands of a language course. Tesol in Context, 6(2), pp.7-12.
Nation, P. (2007) The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), pp.2-13
Odean, K. (2003) Reading aloud to children: Tips for parents. Retrieved on 12 April 2012 http://www.
kathleenodean.com/tips_reading.htm .
Renandya, W.A. (2007) The power of extensive reading. RELC Journal, 38(2), pp.133-149
Richards, L.O., & Bredfeldt, G. J. (1998) Creative Bible Teaching. Chicago: Moody Publishers
Trelease, J. (2006) The read-aloud handbook (6th edition). New York: Penguin Books
(Tedjaatmadja & Renandya, 2012)
Questions for Hook Book Took Look
1. When is learning best facilitated? ................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................
2. How can we make sure children are cognitively and affectively ready to learn? ..............................
......................................................................................................................................................
3. How can we achieve the happy state of mind that children need to be in to facilitate learning?
......................................................................................................................................................
4. How is the schema theory relevant in the Hook part of the lesson? ...............................................
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........................................................................................................................................................
5. Give some examples of activities to use in the Hook stage of the lesson.
.........................................................................................................................................................
6. What is the multi-sensory approach and why is it useful?
.........................................................................................................................................................
7. How many hooking activities might be needed to keep children engaged in a 30-minute lesson?
..................................................................................................................................................................
8. What is the best kind of hook and why? ............................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
9. What is a good way for teachers to provide comprehensible input? .................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
10. How does teacher read-aloud affect language input? .......................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
11. What promotes incidental learning? ..............................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
12. What kind of materials are likely to get the young learners full attention? .....................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
13. What has research has shown about reading with children? ...........................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
14. How does the Read and Predict technique help learners? ................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
15. How does the Tell and Check technique assist students learning? ...................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
16. How does the Listen and Draw technique help during a lesson? ......................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
17. What can be a problem with student read-aloud lessons? ...............................................................
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..................................................................................................................................................................
18. How can teachers increase the chance of language features being incorporated into the learners
developing language system? ..................................................................................................................
19. What is a less productive way of learning language features? ..........................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
20. Give two reasons why the Took method is a good way to end the lesson.
..................................................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
Discuss with your partner / group which of the activities involve aesthetic values, and which are
more concerned with linguistic features.
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Applying Developmental Theories Piaget and Kohlberg

Some people have said that children are just little adults. Teachers know that this is just not true,
and there are many more differences between adults and children than just size! Theorists have
examined how children grow and develop, and the fact that they all go through the same stages, in
the same order. (You have hopefully already studied the theories in other courses.)
To help you understand (or remind you about) the theories and answer questions relating to the
stages of development and moral development put forward by these two famous theorists, here are
two short articles.
This article is from the Web MD website (Benarock, 2012):
Piaget Stages of Development
The Piaget Stages of Development is a blueprint that describes the stages of normal intellectual
development, from infancy through adulthood. This includes thought, judgment, and knowledge.
The stages were named after psychologist and developmental biologist Jean Piaget, who recorded
the intellectual development and abilities of infants, children, and teens.
Piaget's four stages of intellectual (or cognitive) development are:
Sensorimotor. Birth through ages 18-24 months.
Preoperational. Toddlerhood (18-24 months) through early childhood (age 7).
Concrete operational. Ages 7 to 12.
Formal operational. Adolescence through adulthood.
Piaget acknowledged that some children may pass through the stages at different ages than the
averages noted above and that some children may show characteristics of more than one stage at a
given time. But he insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, that stages
cannot be skipped, and that each stage is marked by new intellectual abilities and a more complex
understanding of the world.
Sensorimotor Stage
During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of them. They focus
on what they see, what they are doing, and physical interactions with their immediate environment.
Because they don't yet know how things react, they're constantly experimenting with activities such
as shaking or throwing things, putting things in their mouths, and learning about the world through
trial and error. The later stages include goal-oriented behaviour which brings about a desired result.
At about age 7 to 9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if it can no longer be
seen. This important milestone -- known as object permanence -- is a sign that memory is
developing.
After infants start crawling, standing, and walking, their increased physical mobility leads to
increased cognitive development. Near the end of the sensorimotor stage, infants reach another
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important milestone -- early language development, a sign that they are developing some symbolic
abilities.
Preoperational Stage
During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. Their language use
becomes more mature. They also develop memory and imagination, which allows them to
understand the difference between past and future, and engage in make-believe.
But their thinking is based on intuition and still not completely logical. They cannot yet grasp more
complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison.
Concrete Operational Stage
At this time, elementary-age and preadolescent children demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning.
Children's thinking becomes less egocentric and they are increasingly aware of external events. They
begin to realize that one's own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be shared by others or
may not even be part of reality. Children also develop operational thinking -- the ability to perform
reversible mental actions.
During this stage, however, most children still can't tackle a problem with several variables in a
systematic way.
Formal Operational Stage
Adolescents who reach this fourth stage of intellectual development are able to logically use
symbols related to abstract concepts, such as algebra and science. They can think about multiple
variables in systematic ways, formulate hypotheses, and consider possibilities. They also can ponder
abstract relationships and concepts such as justice.
Although Piaget believed in lifelong intellectual development, he insisted that the formal operational
stage is the final stage of cognitive development, and that continued intellectual development in
adults depends on the accumulation of knowledge.
(Benarock, 2012)
The second article, about Kohlberg, is from the Simply Psychology website (McLeod, 2011):
Kohlberg
by Saul McLeod, published 2011
Lawrence Kohlberg (1958) agreed with Piaget's (1932) theory of moral development in principle but
wanted to develop his ideas further.
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He used Piagets story-telling technique to tell people stories involving moral dilemmas. In each case
he presented a choice to be considered for example between the rights of some authority and the
needs of some deserving individual who is being unfairly treated.
One of the best known of Kohlbergs (1958) stories concerns a man called Heinz who lived
somewhere in Europe.
Heinzs wife was dying from a particular type of cancer. Doctors said a new drug might save her.
The drug had been discovered by a local chemist and Heinz tried desperately to buy some, but the
chemist was charging ten times the money it cost to make the drug and this was much more than
the Heinz could afford.
Heinz could only raise half the money, even after help from family and friends. He explained to the
chemist that his wife was dying and asked if he could have the drug cheaper or pay the rest of the
money later. The chemist refused saying that he had discovered the drug and was going to make
money from it. The husband was desperate to save his wife, so later that night he broke into the
chemists and stole the drug.
Kohlberg asked a series of questions such as:
1. Should Heinz have stolen the drug?
2. Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?
3. What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?
4. Should the police arrest the chemist for murder if the woman died?
By studying the answers from children of different ages to these questions Kohlberg hoped to
discover the ways in which moral reasoning changed as people grew.
Kohlberg told several dilemma stories and asked many such questions to discover how people
reasoned about moral issues. He identified three distinct levels of moral reasoning each with two
sub stages. People can only pass through these levels in the order listed. Each new stage replaces
the reasoning typical of the earlier stage. Not everyone achieves all the stages.
Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development
Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality
Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is based on the physical consequences of actions.
Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. The child/individual is good in order to

avoid being punished. If a person is punished they must have done wrong.
Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange. At this stage children recognize that there is not just
one right view that is handed down by the authorities. Different individuals have different
viewpoints.
Level 2 - Conventional morality
Authority is internalized but not questioned and reasoning is based on the norms of the group to
which the person belongs.
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Stage 3. Good Interpersonal Relationships. The child/individual is good in order to be seen as

being a good person by others. Therefore, answers are related to the approval of others.
Stage 4. Maintaining the Social Order. The child/individual becomes aware of the wider rules of
society so judgments concern obeying rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt.
Level 3 - Post-conventional morality
Individual judgment is based on self-chosen principles, and moral reasoning is based on individual
rights and justice.
Stage 5. Social Contract and Individual Rights. The child/individual becomes aware that while
rules/laws might exist for the good of the greatest number, there are times when they will work
against the interest of particular individuals. The issues are not always clear cut. For example, in
Heinzs dilemma the protection of life is more important than breaking the law against stealing.
Stage 6: Universal Principles. People at this stage have developed their own set of moral
guidelines which may or may not fit the law. The principles apply to everyone. E.g. human
rights, justice and equality. The person will be prepared to act to defend these principles even if
it means going against the rest of society in the process and having to pay the consequences of
disapproval and or imprisonment. Kohlberg doubted few people reached this stage.
Critical Evaluation
Criticism of Kohlbergs theory comes from Gilligan, who argues that the theory is androcentric (male
bias) after Kohlberg reporting that most men were at stage 4 while most women were at stage 3.
Gilligan (1982) claims that the female participants of Kohlbergs study were being judged using a
male standard due to the gender bias of Kohlbergs original research, which was based solely on
studying men. Gilligan reached the conclusion that Kohlbergs theory did not account for the fact
that women approach moral problems from an ethics of care, rather than an ethics of justice
perspective, which challenges some of the fundamental assumptions of Kohlbergs theory.
The fact that Kohlbergs theory is heavily dependent on an individuals response to an artificial
dilemma brings question to the validity of the results obtained through this research. People may
respond very differently to real life situations that they find themselves in than they do to an
artificial dilemma presented to them in the comfort of a research environment. Further, the gender
bias issue raised by Gilligan is a reminded of the significant gender debate still present in psychology,
which when ignored, can have a large impact on results obtained through psychological research.
The way in which Kohlberg carried out his research when constructing this theory may not have
been the best way to test whether all children follow the same sequence of stage progression. His
research was cross-sectional, meaning that he interviewed children of different ages to see what
level of moral development they were at.
A better way to see if all children follow the same order through the stages would have been to carry
out longitudinal research on the same children. However, longitudinal research on Kohlbergs theory
has since been carried out by Colby et al. (1983) who tested 58 male participants of Kohlbergs
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original study. He tested them 6 times in the span of 27 years and found support for Kohlbergs
original conclusion, that we all pass through the stages of moral development in the same order.
References (for Kohlberg article)
Colby, A., Kohlberg, L., Gibbs, J., & Lieberman, M. (1983). A longitudinal study of moral judgment.
Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 48 (1-2, Serial No. 200). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice: Women's Conceptions of Self and Morality. Harvard
Educational Review, 47 (4).
Kohlberg, L. (1958). The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16. Ph. D.
Dissertation, University of Chicago.
Piaget, J. (1932). The Moral Judgment of the Child. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.
(McLeod, 2011)
Discussion questions
Consider these questions with your group (or partner).
According to Piagets stages of development:
What stage(s) do you expect the children you teach to be at?

How will this affect your teaching particularly considering story reading/telling and related
activities?
Look at Kohlbergs theory and the story about Heinz. Discuss the questions.
What level/stage are you at?

What level/stage (s) do you expect the children you are teaching to be at?
How will this affect your teaching particularly considering story reading/telling and related
activities?
Write a summary statement about each to present back to the class.
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Creating Activities and Materials

One of the first tasks a teacher - especially a new inexperienced teacher - faces when entering a
classroom is gaining control of the class. It may be a large, unruly class, and unfamiliar to the
teacher. The most comfortable time in the classroom (for the teacher) is when the children are all
sitting quietly at their desks, reading and/or writing, under control!
However, if you look back at the articles we have been reading in topic 4 and topic 5, you will notice
that most of the activities surrounding story telling/reading are not reading and writing activities.
After all, we are talking about young learners for whom reading/writing may be a chore which
detracts from the enjoyment of the story.
A lot of the activities talked about use words such as:
listening, speaking, voice variations, intonation, whispering, moving, dancing, gestures, mime,
freeze games, rhyming words, predictive patterns repeated, artistic response, setting stories to
music, drama, singing, actions, reciting, drawing, enjoying illustrations, creating illustrations,
Pictionary, flashcard games, photographing, verbal fill-in-the-banks, memorising, puppets, realia ...
These activities are mostly oral/aural active, and can be quite noisy and hard to control at first. That
doesnt mean you cant use worksheets and other quiet reading/writing/drawing activities.
Remember the sequencing activities from Brown (2004), where he talks about alternating activities:
One guideline that works well with young learners is to assure that, in any given lesson, there is
always a little enthusiastic singing, a little quiet listening, a little enthusiastic dancing, and a little
quiet artwork.
Keep this in mind as you attempt the exercises below:
Assessment / Exercises
These exercises are designed to help you apply what you have been reading. Your lecturers may
choose to use one or more of them as assessment tasks.
1. Turn a story into a drama activity
Identify a story or story book you could use to develop a drama performance.
Why is the book suitable?
What are the benefits of such activities?
Which of the activities / questions require an aesthetic response from the children, and
which are strategies to teach linguistic features?
Prepare a presentation (PowerPoint OR other) to tell the class about your ideas.
2. Create language focussed activities
Using the same book or a different one:
Create 3 (different!) language focused activities or worksheets. (Refer to the notes above!)
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3. Explore development
Choose a story / book that you could tell to children.
Choose some questions and/or activities.

Consider how the story / questions / activities could help to explore and develop
o the childrens intellectual development (Piagets developmental stages)
o the childrens moral/personality development (Kohlbergs model)
Prepare a presentation (PowerPoint or other) to share your ideas.
Works cited in this topic

Benarock, R. (2012, November 6). Piaget stages of development. Retrieved July 4, 2013, from Web
MD: http://children.webmd.com/piaget-stages-of-development
Brown, E. (2004, Fe). Using Children's Literature with YoungLearners. The Internet TESL Journal, X(2).
Cox, C. (1997). Literature-based teaching: A student response-centred classroom. In N. Karolides
(Ed.), Reader response in elementary classrooms: Quest and Discovery (pp. 29-49). Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Education.
McLeod, S. A. (2011). Kohlberg - Moral Judgement. Retrieved July 4, 2013, from Simply Psychology:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
Tedjaatmadja, H. M., & Renandya, W. A. (2012, October). Teaching English to Young Learners - Hook,
Book, Look, Took. Modern English Teacher, 21(4), 58-61.
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Topic 6: The Craft of Storytelling

From Scholastic Education The Art of Storytelling (Barbour, 2008)
The art of storytelling

7 April 2008
By Rona Barbour professional storyteller
Rona Barbour shares a few tricks of the trade to help you bring stories to life.
People have been telling stories to pass on values and information, and to make sense of life, as long
as we have had language. Storytelling is effective in relaying information because it engages our
imagination, hearts and minds. There is something in a storytelling experience for everyone.
Dry data is boring, and delivering a set of facts and figures using this method means it is likely to be
forgotten as quickly as it is absorbed. Because story engages us on so many levels, we easily retain it
in our memory to use it as needed. The natural form of story makes sense to human beings. It
contains all that we care about: people, problems and solutions. A story is really just a mass of
information organised in the form of a situation with characters who we can relate to; settings we
can envisage; problems we want to know the answer to; and resolutions that give us hope. Stories
are food for thought. They help us to discern right from wrong, and give us the heroes and heroines
we wish to model ourselves on.
A well-developed and presented story can hold the interest of an entire audience, and it will reach
out and touch them at any age. Knowing and applying the few simple basics of storytelling will help
strengthen your stories.
The storytelling persona
The most successful storytellers will tell you that they have a totally separate persona which they
adopt when working. Many will also tell you that it was something they only realised later, and
developed over time. In other words, they were not initially aware they needed this separate
identity, but that it came with experience. So, with this valuable experience now shared, remember
before you begin to tell a story to take on your storytelling persona.
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Choose your persona and act it out right from the start. For example, you could be the
storytelling fairy or the old woman of the woods.
Whatever you choose as your persona, think of yourself as that person, and act and dress
accordingly your storytelling performance will be better for it.
If you wish, you can have more than one storytelling persona.
The confident storyteller

Confidence is something that grows with experience, so do not expect to be perfect first time. Keep
in the forefront of your mind that the audience do not know what to expect, and you are in control.
Do not worry about mistakes they are part of storytelling. Even the most experienced storytellers
make mistakes or omissions, but the audience do not realise because they do not know what you
were going to say so dont tell them!
Confidence comes with experience, so practise whenever you can.

Be well organised. Know which story you are going to tell and rehearse it.
Prepare well in advance, until you are completely confident that you can tell the story on
demand.
Do not worry about telling the story word for word. Tell the story how you remember it and
this will make it different every time.
Finding stories
There are many kinds of stories you can work with. Try starting with simple fairy tales or folk tales
that you know, for example, choose your favourite Grimms fairy tale, and then, as your experience
grows, you can explore various different types and branch out.
With time, you will probably find many kinds of tales that will interest you personally. There are all
sorts to choose from, including folk tales from other countries and cultures; humorous tales;
traditional fairy tales in numerous versions; wish tales; trickster tales; scary tales; tall tales; myths
and legends; and Bible stories. The list is endless, but do not let that put you off.
It is far best to work with traditional folklore or tales in public domain, than to plagiarise a living
author or storyteller without their permission. With experience, you may want to try a variety of
stories, and perhaps even go on to tell your own personal stories.
Prepare and practise
Once you decide on a story, spend plenty of time with it. For some people it may take some time
and a number of tellings before a new story becomes their own. Others are naturals and can pick
up a story and run with it almost immediately. However, this does not necessarily make them any
better in the long run.
Preparation
Read the story several times, first for pleasure, then with concentration.
Analyse the storys appeal the word pictures you want your listeners to see, and the mood
you wish to create.
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Live with your story until the characters and setting become as real to you as the people and
places you know in real life.
Visualise the story. Imagine the sounds, tastes, smells and colours. Only when you see the
story vividly yourself, will you be able to paint the word pictures to enable your audience to
see it.
Delivery techniques
Use your voice to good effect when you are telling the story in a calm and relaxed way.
If you are telling the story to very young children, maintain their attention by keeping it
quite short (approximately ten minutes).
Show enthusiasm and use hand and eye gestures to convey meaning younger children love
this.
Demonstrate sincerity and whole heartedness be earnest.
Express animation and variety in your storytelling to make the story seem more interesting.
Presentation
Practise in front of a mirror, or a friend, and ask for their honest feedback.
Remember that the words are only part of the package that includes body language,
clothing, tone and other components.
Unless you are an accomplished musician who is used to talking while you play, do not use
music as it will take away from the storytelling performance. Instead, use props, such as
small hand bells or pipes, to indicate certain noises.
Use various puppets if you feel confident about doing this and talking at the same time.
Story setting
Storytelling is best carried out in a relaxed atmosphere that is free from distractions. The audience
should be comfortable and sitting close together. Make sure that the room is quiet, and empty
except for your audience.
Ensure that all toilet trips are carried out beforehand and, in the case of adults, all mobile phones
are switched off or put on silent. Give careful attention to the setting beforehand, and be prepared
to rearrange the room to bring the listeners closer, or use a backdrop or hanging to create the
correct atmosphere, especially in early years settings.
Remember to give credit to sources, but above all, enjoy telling stories!
(Wright, 1995)
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How to choose, tell, and read stories aloud

Telling and reading stories to children is a central part of classroom life. This section of the book is
about how to choose, tell, and read aloud as well as possible. Of course, some people are born
storytellers, but that applies to every ability that we have. The fact is that we can all improve our
storytelling and story reading, and that is what matters.
Telling or reading aloud?
We need both salt and pepper in our cooking. Why should we want to say that one is better than the
other?
Telling and reading aloud both have their strong points.
Reading aloud
Good Points
1. You dont have to learn the story.
2. You dont have to worry about making mistakes in English.
3. If you read the story then the children will always hear exactly the same text and this will
help them to predict what is to come.
4. It demonstrates that books are a source if interesting ideas and so encourages reading.
5. The children can, perhaps, borrow the book afterwards.
6. Pictures in the book can help the childrens understanding.
Not so good points
1. You must be careful not to read too quickly.
2. It is easy to bury yourself in a book and forget the listeners!
Telling
Good points
1. The children feel that you are giving them something very personal. The story is yours; it is
not coming out of a book.
2. Children, these days, are rarely used to the experience of hearing someone tell a story and it
can have a powerful effect on them.
3. It is often easier to understand a story being told than one which is read aloud:
- it is natural to repeat oneself when speaking;
- you can see the childrens faces and bodies and respond to their lack of
comprehension, their joy, and their immediate concerns more readily;
- you can make use of your body more effectively to heighten meaning;
- you can use the language you know the children know.
Not so good points
1. You must learn the story well enough to tell it without the book (see the tips on page 12).
2. You might make some mistakes in English.
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Your English and the telling of stories

One of the best ways of improving your English is to learn stories to internalise a ten-minute flow of
English. Traditional teaching did not develop fluency. Oral fluency needs time, opportunity, and
encouragement to develop, and that applies to you as well as to the children. If you learn a story you
have a real purpose to communicate it to the children. And how lucky you are because children are
an appreciative and kindly audience!
So, if your English is not very fluent and accurate then that is an excellent reason for telling stories to
children!
Choose a story:
- which will engage the children within the first few lines (note that children often accept and
like a story in the foreign language they might feel was childish in their own language)
- which you like
- which you feel is appropriate for the children
- which the children will understand well enough to enjoy
- which offers the children a rich experience of language
- which does not have long descriptive passages
- which is right for the occasion and in its relation with other things you are doing with the
children
- which you feel you can tell well
Remembering a story
There are various ways of remembering stories, you must find the way most appropriate to you.
It is difficult to remember a written story word for word, like an actor and in any case, it seems
rather artificial when it is done like this. Why try to do it? Concentrate on learning the gist of the
story rather than every detail of it.
Here are some techniques:
-
read the story or listen to it a few times and then try to retell it on a tape or to a friend.
explicitly select the key points, write them down, perhaps in bubbles as in the example here
for 3.8, Ma Liang.
Chinese
First part of my
Ma Liang
bubbled Ma Liang
Likes
drawing
stick
ground
very poor
This brush is for you

etc.
beard
old man
brush
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This is a technique that I use. Note how I have added extra details to the bubbles but if I forget them
I know that I can still tell the story. It is important to make each bubbled story look different because
it will then be easier to remember visually. It is the actual making of the bubbled story which helps
me to get it into the memory. Later the bubbled story acts as a useful and rapid mnemonic.
-
Instead of putting the key points in bubbles, you might prefer simply to write out the key
points. This is called a story skeleton.
- See the story as a film in your imagination and let your telling of the story be guided by that
inner vision.
- You could remember a dramatic or verbal rhythm in the story. (I think I am right in saying
that the great West Indian storyteller, Grace Hallworth, learns he stories this way.)
- Remember the personalities of the characters and this will remind you of the story. (Duncan
Williamson, one of whose many stories is 3.6, The little white cat, told me this is what he
does.)
Whatever technique you use, it is probably best not to tell it dramatically the first tie. Find a friend
who will listen to you and try it on them. Warn them that you will just concentrate on getting the
gist of the story right. Once you are confident that you can remember the basic story, you can
concentrate on expressing what you feel about the story in future tellings. The more often you tell
the story, the more you will feel at home with it. Do not expect to tell it brilliantly the first time.
Furthermore, the more stories you learn, the easier it is to learn new ones.
Just before you tell or read the story
I am referring here to the craft of storytelling and story reading rather than to the pedagogical
preparation, which is discussed in a later section (see pages 23-33 and 64). Half the success of a story
depends on what you do before you begin! The children must be in the right frame of mind for a
story. It they think it is all part of the normal lesson they will be in their normal frame of mind and
not in their story frame of mind, and you will probably not have much success.
So they must be in a story frame of mind!
-
Try to get the children much nearer to you than is normally the case. This is partly because it
is important for them to see you (and your book if you are using one), but it is also because
it changes the relationship between you and them and each other. They know they are going
to share something. Younger children can be asked to sit on the floor around your feet.
If at all possible change the seating before the story is told. I always try to do this before the
children come into the class. My preferred arrangement is a U-shape of chairs with a Ushape of table immediately behind. Some children sit on the chairs and some children sit on
the edges of the tables.
If you cannot change the arrangement of tables and chairs, then try to find some other way
of helping the children to feel that something special is going to happen (rather than merely
saying so). Children are so used to hearing you talk; they just assume it is going to be what
they have had before. Some teachers always sit on their table or stand in a particular part of
the room when they are going to tell a story and never do this at any other time.
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Some teachers have a story bag (which might just be an ordinary plastic bag) which they
have only to hold up for the children to get into their story frame of mind. Other teachers
often make use of a friendly puppet. Others might want to wear a particular hat or coat.
You can put some music on always use the same music and then the children will know
and get themselves ready.
Once, in a noisy class, I wrote on the board Id like to tell you a story. Then I sat down on a
chair in an open space in front of the children and waited. I didnt have to ask them to be
quiet. You might write A story for you or just Story time.
Perhaps have a regular time for your storytelling or story reading and the time will put them
into the right frame of mind.
For particular stories you might display a picture before you begin, or an object like an old
umbrella, or a basket with food in it for 3.7, Little Red Riding Hood. An antique doll can be
used to tell the story of her times. A Cinderella puppet can tell the Cinderella story.
Different ways of beginning

- Talk with the children about their experience of what you know will be a central topic of the
story. For example, Hairy Tree Man, a story in my Spellbinders series from Oxford
University Press, is about brother and sister relationships. One way of beginning the story
would be to ask the children about their relationships with brothers and sisters.
- Begin with an explicit introduction to the story: for example, Im going to tell you a story
about a little while cat. Then you can tell them the Little white cat story (3.6).
- Begin without any preparation at all, directly with the first line of the story, or with Once
upon a time ...
- Dont begin until you have everyones attention and total silence unless you are confident
that the sheer power of your own telling is going to quieten them down.
Your manner
You must tell stories in your own way and that way must be a normal part of you. Grace Hallworth,
the West Indian storyteller, is quiet and dignified as a person and as a storyteller she is just the
same. Duncan Williamson, the Scottish storyteller, is full of fun in normal conversation and is just the
same in his storytelling. I would say, heighten slightly what you are and see everything about
yourself positively. If you are a quiet sort of person, then choose the stories you like and tell them
quietly!
But I do think that, whatever kind of personality you have, you must give yourself totally to your
story and to your listeners if you want to get back a strong quality of listening and appreciation from
them. Many people who are not confident as storytellers dont want to risk failure, so they dont
really give themselves and then they get a feeble response because of it.
Your voice
The potential variety of the human voice includes: pitch, volume, rhythm, softness/harshness, pace
and pause. Making use of this variety depends on the story, the personality of the teller, and the
listeners. Of course, a dramatic use of the full variety of all these qualities would often be
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inappropriate. On the other hand, many people do not make sufficient use of this potential richness,
and produce a monotone.
You have probably not got the time to go on a course in voice training! On the other hand, there are
some basic things that we can all do.
-
Sit or stand to that you can breathe easily dont be all hunched up.
Keep breathing while talking so you dont become breathless.
Speak loudly enough for the children at the back to hear easily, but not by using a harsh
teachers voice designed to cut through school corridors and across school playgrounds.
Adopt a different voice for the narrator and for each of the characters. Make these voices
different: high/low, soft/harsh. A simple experiment try saying an ordinary sentence so
that it sounds like the start of an amazing story. For example, I got up this morning and
opened the curtain.
A second experiment try saying the same sentence in several moods: happily, unhappily,
wickedly, innocently, in a thoughtful way, in a casual way, in a frightened way.
Pace and pause: the pause is one of the most powerful of all qualities in storytelling and
reading. The listeners have to become active in order to fill it in they try to predict what
you will say next. It is one of the most vital elements in dramatic storytelling. Use it at key
moments.
Remember that in English we tend to stress the important words in a sentence. This helps to
convey meaning.
The language
Be prepared to pre-teach important words and phrases which are an intrinsic part of the story. They
might be important for the meaning of the story (for example, chimney sweep is an important pair of
words in 3.6, The Little White Cat), or they might be important for their play on words and sounds
(for example, the repetition of dark, dark, in 3.2, In a dark, dark town).
Even simpler word can be spoken as if they are important. Speak slowly and enjoy the sound of the
words you say. Of course, this is easier to do in ones mother tongue than in a foreign language. A
feeling of rhythm and rhyme almost certainly helps people to learn and remember. Stories in verse
are loved and effective.
Make sure you are confident of how to begin and finish the story. Many storytellers say that you
should learn the first and the last lines by heart. Personally, I do this with some stories, but with
others I like to slide the listeners into the story before they know they are in it.
Make the story yours and theirs. You might pause in the story to say to a child, if it is true, Youve
been to China, havent you, Hans? Omit, add, change, and emphasise if you have a good reason. But
be careful the great traditional stories have stood the test of time.
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Your body and face

It is probably true that we communicate as much or more through our bodily and facial movement
than we do by the words we use. We can move quickly or slowly, jerkily or smoothly, with grand
gestures, or with minor movements of our eyebrows. We can remain seated or we can move and act
out not only the players within our story but even inanimate objects! The way we make use of this
potential depends on our nature and on the nature of the story and the listeners.
Just as, in general, less experienced storytellers employ a monotonous voice, so they also fail to use
the full potential of their body for communication. Indeed, they may use their body and face to
communicate their primary concern, their own anxiety, rather than the quality of the story! Here are
some tips.
-
If you are telling a story rather than reading aloud from a book, you can easily move like
Little Red Riding Hood as she picks the flowers (see 3.7), or you can hold up one of your
hands in front of your face and slowly look around it with a wicked smile to represent the
wolf. As you creep into the dark cave with the Little Indian Boy (3.4) you can hold out your
hands and pretend to be putting them down on the ground very, very slowly and you can
switch your eyes from side to side as if searching the darkness.
Involve the children, for example, as you lift the axe off the paper in the Ma Liang story
(3.8), walk across to a child and pretend to give it to him or her.
-Very often I find that I begin to make the action with my body a split second before I refer
to it. So, for example, I might hold up my hand to my ear and switch my eyes to and fro just
a moment before I say, He listened.
Make your movements simple, slow, and never apologetic! I think body movements in
storytelling should be just a little slower and bigger than you would do them in normal
conversation. Give the children time to appreciate your movements and time to feel how
they contribute to the meaning of the story. We are gripped by stories and storytellers
because we feel they really know what they are doing and saying; your storytelling must be
clear and simple and not fleeting and confusing like normal life. But I say, think, because we
must all find out own way of telling.
-Look at people as you tell the story. Dont just scan their faces so that you can claim you
were looking, but really look. (p18) It doesnt do any harm to look at one particular child for
several moments as you tell the story. Other children feel that you are concentrating on
them and not just the story.
Interruptions
One child might chatter to a neighbour. The school caretaker might knock at the door. Someone
might drop a book. What do you do?
Children not paying attention
-
If it is several children, it may be that you are not being dramatic enough. Liven things up.
Move around as you tell the story.
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Involve the children, for example, by asking them what they would do in the situation in the
story.
If one child is chattering then go and stand very near to him or her as you tell the story or
even tell the story directly to him or her.
School caretaker knocking at the door

Dont try to compete! Quietly ask someone to see who it is and deal with it in the normal way.
Dropping of a book
-
Pause, show no expression of annoyance, perhaps pick up the book yourself, and then carry
on.
- Make a joke out of it, perhaps related to the story.
The important thing is not to break the magic spell. You have lifted the children off the ground and
you are holding them there. Avoid returning, however momentarily, to your normal teaching voice
and manner. That would jolt them off the magic carpet and out of their story frame of mind.
Dont use the cancellation of a storytelling as a punishment.
Extra tips on reading from a book
- Read the story beforehand and get to know it and how to read it with some sense of drama.
Also make sure you can pronounce all the words and know what they mean.
- Dont speak into the book. As general guidance, read the story to the children at the back of
the group.
- Read slowly and with a more dramatic quality than in normal speech.
- Stop to comment, or to invite comments, quite often.
- Look up and try to make eye contact. Check that the whole group is with you.
- Stop to show the pictures and make sure all the children can see them.
- Have your finger ready to open the next page.
- Dont read for longer than about 10 minutes (less for younger children).
(Wright, 1995, pp. 10-19)
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Important Practical Considerations

No matter how good your story is and how well you have learnt to tell it, the following practical
points also need your attention:
Voice projection
The children need to be able to hear your voice no matter where they are in the room. This doesnt
necessarily mean that you need to speak (more) loudly, and it certainly doesnt mean you should
shout! You need to project your voice its a bit like throwing it. Just like the LCD projector puts
pictures up there on the screen.
Talk to the child who is furthest away from you. Look at them, and talk to the as if no one else is
there and then, of course, everyone else in between will be able to hear as well.
The key is often in your breathing more air coming out generally creates more volume to your
voice. Your poise (see below) will affect your ability to project your voice.
Diction
No matter how loud your voice is, or how well you project your voice, if your diction is unclear then
no one will understand your story.
The children may not understand every word in the story, but they will have a better idea of what
you are saying if your speech is a little slower than usual, and if you enunciate your words clearly.
Imagine they are trying to lip-read, and work your lips to show them the words.
Your face should be turned towards them you should, of course, be endeavouring to establish eyecontact throughout the story and you should keep your chin up, not looking down at your notes or
the book this is also part of your poise.
Poise
You can sit or stand to tell your story, but you should never slump. Some storytellers have a special
chair that they sit in so that the children know when it is story time.
Your back should be straight, and your head should be held high. This is so that you can breathe well,
project your voice, and demonstrate clear diction.
If you are using pictures, puppets, or realia, these need to be held up and out where the children can
all see them. You may need to pause in your story to move around or move the picture/objects
around for children to appreciate without being distracted from the actual story.
Gesture
You can use gestures to help with understanding of vocabulary. Your gestures can also be used to
build awareness of the different characters in the story.
You can gesture with your hands, better still make big gestures with your whole arm moving from
the shoulder make sure the children down the back can see your movements clearly, and maybe
encourage them to follow or copy.
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You can also make gestures by the movements of your head, hips, legs and feet. (Always be aware of
safety, and especially if the children are moving around too.)
Facial expression
Tell the story with your face! Your facial expression should depict the various characters, and their
feelings, and your feelings in response to the events in the story. The children should be looking at
your face and eyes and reading your lips. Dont be in a hurry. Allow the children to take in the
expressions on your face, and even try copying them. Ask them to show with their faces how they
feel, or how they think that a character feels. (And then, of course, they can try drawing this as a
follow-up to the story.)
Body movement
While you are being careful of your poise, and using gestures and facial expressions, your body can
still do a lot of storytelling as well. For example, each of your important characters has a different
way of standing, and walking. As you mention a character you can get into their special body shape,
take a few steps the way they walk, use their particular gestures and facial expressions, and speak
with their voice. (It is a lot to think about while you are nervously telling, but concentrate on one
aspect the first time until it becomes natural.)
You can also use your body position in front of the children to make it obvious who is talking in the
story, a bit like you are taking the place of two (or more!) different actors in a play. Stand on the left
when the old man talks and on the right when the cat replies.
Time
Young children, especially, cannot concentrate for more than 10 minutes at the most. Your story
needs to be carefully planned so that you dont get too carried away on one particular point and
then lose them before you get to the exciting ending. Write yourself a bubble plan, or a series of
pictures, or whatever works for you, and add the timing in minutes and/or seconds and then
practice. All of your brilliant work and preparation will go down the drain if you dont pay careful
attention to your timing. (The opposite is bad, too, when the audience are ready and the story is all
over in 30 seconds because you forgot parts of it!)
While you are keeping to a tight schedule, it is very important not to hurry speaking too fast will
simply mean no one gets what you are saying, and you will get into a muddle trying to do all your
movements and gestures.
Intonation
The English language has a very different tune to Bahasa Malaysia. One of the (many) reasons for
telling stories is to get the children used to this. So you need to make sure you are getting it right. Do
not speak in a monotone. Make sure you emphasise the important words. Make sure you know
when your voice should rise at the end of a sentence, and when it should fall. Practice.
Props
Props are not essential, but can be very useful. This could include puppets to indicate the different
characters, or even a puppet who pretends to be the storyteller, chatting with the teacher (you). You
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can also use simple costumes a hat, umbrella, shoes, jacket to give clues as to the setting and
characters and keep the children interested. And the children may also like to try using/wearing the
costumes, become the characters ... leading on to a play or drama related to the story.
Other types of realia can be useful props equipment, food, a toy, anything that relates to the story,
gets the children interested, and even helps their understanding.
An example of a Reading Aloud lesson

(Cox, 2008, p. 216)
1:15-2:30 Reading Aloud and Story Dramatization
Mauretta reads aloud Marcia Browns (1957) picture book The Three Billy Goats Gruff. She reads
dramatically, with a lot of facial expressions and gestures. When shes finished the children applaud
and ask her to read it again. She does, using as much expression as she did the first time. During the
second reading she encourages the children to fill in whatever words they remember from the first
reading. Since this is a predictable pattern book, with a repeated phrase, many students join in,
chanting with the troll, Whos that tramping over my bridge? The children begin to imitate
Maurettas gestures, such as making a long nose with her hand for the troll and patting the floor to
make the trip-trap sound as the billy goats cross the bridge, one by one. The children make this
noise softly for the first and smallest billy goat and loudly for the last and biggest one.
After reading, the class talks about what happened in the story. Mauretta asks open-ended,
aesthetic questions:
What did you think about the story?
What was your favourite part?
Who was your favourite character?
Next, the class dramatizes the story. First, the children spread out around the room, and pretend to
be the different character, imitating one at a time. Mauretta says she will take one volunteer to act
out each character. The rest of the students have rhythm sticks and will make the Trip-trap sound
effects. The scene is set with green carpet squares for grass and a bridge made of wooden blocks. A
narrator is chosen to tell the story. The students dramatize the story this way several times.
Mauretta promises she will read it again the next day, giving more children chances to play the
characters.
(Cox, 2008, p. 216)
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Works Cited in this Topic

Barbour, R. (2008). The Art of Storytelling. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from Scholastic Education:
http://education.scholastic.co.uk/content/2554
Education.
Story Arts. (2000). Retelling Folktakes. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from Story Arts:
http://www.storyarts.org/classroom/retelling/index.html
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Topic 7: Exploring Language through Stories

As we have talked about in previous topics, as well as sheer enjoyment (for motivation) and allowing
an aesthetic response from the children, the purpose of storytelling is for them to explore language
and improve their proficiency in English.
Developing Fluency and Cohesion

What are fluency and cohesion? And why are they important?
What is fluency?
Here is a short definition of fluency:
Fluency refers to the ability to produce rapid, flowing, natural speech, but not necessarily
grammatically correct speech. This is often contrasted with accuracy.
(Bogglesworld ESL, 2013)
Discuss with your partner/group: Why is fluency often contrasted with accuracy?
Summarise: .......................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
Here is a short article explaining cohesion, which is slightly more complex. Read it and summarise
below discuss with your partner/group.
What teachers should know about cohesion
Introduction
Cohesion is the term for the quality of a text such that it appears as a single unit, not as a random
sequence of thoughts or sentences. Cohesion is achieved by a number of devices or ties as explained
below.
ESL students may have trouble understanding a text that seems to have easy words and concepts
because they fail to identify the cohesive ties. Conversely, the teacher may fail to understand the
ideas or arguments that the ESL student is trying to express because the student has not yet learned
how to tie English sentences together clearly and naturally with the appropriate cohesive devices.
Mainstream teachers who have explicit knowledge of the following cohesive techniques will be in a
better position a) to help their ESL students understand the difficult texts in their coursebooks or
found on the internet, and b) to avoid problematic cohesion in their own worksheets and tests.
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Backward reference
The most common cohesive device in texts is the backward reference to something that has been
mentioned before. The technical term for this type of reference is anaphora. Three examples of
anaphoric reference are:
1. Use of a pronoun to refer back to an already-mentioned noun.
2. Use of the definite article to qualify a noun that has been already been introduced with
the indefinite article.
3. Substitution of an already mentioned noun by a synonym or hyponym.
Here are examples of each:
My sister's on the phone. She says she needs the drill that she lent us.
When I looked out of the window yesterday I saw a man and a woman standing by the
gate. The man was wearing a hooded jacket and the woman was carrying a baseball bat.
There was so much delicious food on display, but I'm on a diet so I had to stick to the
salad.
Forward reference
Another common cohesive device is forward reference or cataphora. Here are two examples of
cataphoric reference:
Perhaps I shouldn't tell you this, but when I was young I had hair down to my waist!
Please send your reply to the following address.
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a third cohesive device. This is the omission of words on the assumption that the listener or
reader will be able to supply them mentally. Examples:
The horse (that was) injured in the road accident had to be put down.
I would love to visit New Zealand but I can't afford to. ( .. visit New Zealand.)
I'd rather talk to someone on the phone than send them an email. Wouldn't you? (..
rather talk to someone on the phone than send them an email?)
Conjunctives
A final and very important device that makes texts cohesive is the use of conjunctives or adjuncts.
These are the words that show how ideas are connected. For example: firstly, secondly, so, however,
nevertheless, in conclusion, by contrast, on the other hand, etc.
(Shoebottom, 2013)
Summary What is Cohesion?
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
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In his book Storytelling with Children, Wright explains some of the language benefits of
storytelling, including various types of fluency. Read the section and answer the questions below.
Why Stories?
Stories, which rely so much on words, offer a major and constant source of language experience for
children Stories are motivating, rich in language experience, and inexpensive! Surely, stories should
be a central part of the work of all primary teachers whether they are teaching the mother tongue or
a foreign language.
Here are some of the most important reasons why stories should play a central role in teaching a
foreign language to teaching.
Motivation
Children have a constant need for stories and they will always be willing to listen or to read, if the
right moment is chosen.
Meaning
Children want to find meaning in stories, so they listen with a purpose. If they find meaning they are
rewarded through their ability to understand, and are motivated to try to improve their ability to
understand even more. This is in contrast to so many activities in foreign language learning, which
have little or no intrinsic interest or value for the children.
Fluency
Listening and reading fluency
In conversations with native speakers the most important ability is to be able to understand a
sustained flow of the foreign language in which there are words which are new to the listener. The
ability to do this can only be built on practice.
Listening and reading fluency is based on:
a positive attitude to not understanding everything
the skills of searching for meaning, predicting and guessing.
Children are expert at doing this in their own language but it takes time and encouragement for
them to build up these skills and attitudes in the foreign language. If you feel that you are not fluent
in English that is partly because your teachers did not give you enough time and encouragement!
Speaking and writing fluency
Fluency in speaking is not only essential in conversation but is, for many people, the spearhead of
how they learn. Fluency is based on a positive attitude to having a go with the language one knows
and not being afraid of making mistakes. It is also based on the skill of constructing meaning with
limited language. Some people learn best by having a go when they have nothing to fear or be
anxious about; all their intelligence and creativity is employed to the full. I am sure that for many
children this is the natural way to learn. This means that the teacher must give more importance to
what the child achieves than to the mistakes he or she might make. It also means that the teacher
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must encourage situations in which the child can be fluent and can have a go. Stories offer a
perfect diet for the build-up of fluency in all four skills.
Language Awareness
Stories help children become aware of the general feel and sound of the foreign language. Stories
also introduce children to language items and sentence construction without their necessarily having
to use them productively. They can build up a reservoir of language in this way. When the time
comes to move the language items into their productive control, it is no great problem because the
language is not new to them.
An obvious example of a language point introduced and made familiar through stories before the
children are expected to use it fluently themselves is the simple past tense.
Stimulus for speaking and writing
The experience of the story encourages responses through speaking and writing. It is natural to
express our likes and dislikes and to exchange ideas and associations related to stories we hear or
read.
Communication
Listening to and reading stories and responding to them through speaking and writing, drama,
music, and art develop a sense of being and having an audience and sharing and collaborating.
Learning a language is useless if we do not know how to communicate how to listen to others and
how to speak and write so that listeners and reader will want to listen and read and be able to
understand. Story sharing builds up this crucial sense of awareness of others.
General Curriculum
Most stories can be used to develop the childrens powers of awareness, analysis, and expression, as
well as relating to other aspects of the curriculum, such as cultural and social studies, geography,
history, mathematics, and science. (See chapter 4).
Danger! Story health warning!
If the teacher uses stories merely to introduce and practise grammar or particular lexical areas or
functions, the children may lose their faith in the teacher and what she or he means by the word
story. When focusing on features of the language be careful not to lose the magic of the story
altogether!
(Wright, 1995, pp. 3-10)
Questions for Why Stories?

1. Why should stories be a central part of the work or all primary teachers?
Stories are ................................................................................................................................................
rich in .......................................................................................................................................................
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and ...........................................................................................................................................................
2. Why will children always be willing to listen or read to stories?
..................................................................................................................................................................
3. Why are children motivated to try to improve their ability to understand?
..................................................................................................................................................................
4. What are listening and reading fluency based on?
...........................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
5. What is, for many people, the spearhead of how they learn?
..................................................................................................................................................................
6. Fluency is based on a positive attitude to what?
................................................................................................................................................................
and not being afraid of .........................................................................................................................
Also the skill of .......................................................................................................................................
7. What must the teacher do to encourage this positive attitude and lack of fear?
................................................................................................................................................................
8. What do stories help children to become aware of?
................................................................................................................................................................
9. What happens when children finally need to use language items heard in stories?
..................................................................................................................................................................
10 How does listening to stories help in speaking and story writing?
..................................................................................................................................................................
11. What do listening to and reading stories and responding to them through speaking and writing,
drama, music, and art develop a sense of?
..................................................................................................................................................................
12. What warning is given about focussing on features of the language?
..................................................................................................................................................................
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This much longer article talks about three strategies all related to what is called Repeated
Reading - which are designed to improve fluency.
The author is talking about use of stories, but not only in the original read/tell by the teacher, more
in the ongoing activities. Also note that the author is not talking about young learners as such, and
so not all of the strategies will necessarily be applicable in the Malaysian Primary School situation.
Read the article quickly (skim) and answer the questions below:
Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method

If you have sympathized with students who stumble through reading passages or pore over every
word in an expressionless manner while barely comprehending, this article is for you. For the last
two years I have used Repeated Reading (RR) to teach reading fluency in English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) classrooms in colleges and universities in Japan. RR is a method where the student
reads and rereads a text silently or aloud from two to four times to reach a predetermined level of
speed, accuracy, and comprehension. All my students made progress, many in relatively short
periods of time. By practicing RR and the skills associated with it, students learn to read faster and
more accurately and to apply gains made to more challenging texts.
Although using RR to develop fluency appears best suited for beginning readers who have difficulty
with pacing, expression, or word recognition, I also have used the method successfully with mature
readers. Providing opportunities to read age appropriate, authentic content such as prose, poetry,
novels, and newspapers is excellent practice for learners with some ability to read because it gives
them a chance to integrate skills they have already begun to acquire, such as flow, fluidity, and
comprehension (Koskinen and Blum 1986; Dowhower 1989).
Providing second and foreign language (L2) learners with sufficient exposure to and experience with
reading can be a challenging task. In particular, students who are not yet fluent readers seldom read
when it is not required and tend not to enjoy the process when they do engage in it. The opposite,
however, can be said of good readersthe more they read, the more they improve their reading
abilities. It is probably safe to say that reading ability and reading confidence are very closely related.
RR supports the learning of English by creating confident readers who enjoy reading, and the three
techniques described in this article will illustrate how the method can be used to develop fluency,
comprehension skills, and greater reading self-esteem.
Background of the Repeated Reading method
First popularized by Samuels (1979), RR was initially designed for special needs students in firstlanguage (L1) settings. The method was so successful that it is now used widely with developing L1
readers (Kuhn and Stahl 2000). For over 30 years it has been used extensively in L1 environments to
help build fluency and is supported by research (LaBerge and Samuels 1974; Samuels 1979;
Dowhower 1989).
RR works as a scaffold for struggling readers by providing them with short-term, achievable minigoals such as completing a passage in faster time (speed), increasing words read correctly (accuracy),
and reading for a better understanding of the text (comprehension). The resulting success learners
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experience through RR builds their confidence and encourages them to invest more time and effort
into achieving the skill of reading fluently (Dowhower 1994; Nuttall 1996).
However, RR has not received the same recognition in L2 classrooms, where the method has been
slow to catch on. Its benefits have seemingly gone unnoticed, and very little research has been
published in support of the method as a fluency-building tool for L2 learners (but see Taguchi 1997;
Taguchi and Gorsuch 2002; and Taguchi, Takayasu-Maass, and Gorsuch 2004 for excellent coverage
of RRs great potential in developing reading fluency among L2 learners).
One explanation for RRs relative absence from L2 classrooms may be that some educators feel
fluency develops naturally over time. As other reading skills progress and gradually improve, so too
does the ability to read fluently. Another possibility is that teachers faced with big class sizes, limited
contact hours, and strenuous curriculum demands may not have the time to focus on fluency as an
essential reading skill.
Fortunately, the RR method is firmly rooted in sound linguistic theory, and good theory often leads
to practical outcomes. There are a variety of simple-to-implement techniques for using RR in the L2
context that require little preparation on the teachers part, including:
(1) Oral Repeated Reading,
(2) Paired Repeated Reading, and
(3) Readers Theatre.
Technique 1: Classic Oral Repeated Reading
Oral Repeated Reading (ORR) is a technique that is fun and easy to carry out and that provides a
window into readers ability to integrate the skills associated with reading fluently (National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development 2000). Oral reading helps students associate printed
language with spoken language, improves their reading rate and rhythm, and provides opportunities
to experience the pleasure of reading with a real purpose (Rasinski 2003). It can also build
confidence and strengthen learners perceptions of themselves as readers (Greenberg, Buggey, and
Bond 2002). Oral reading has also been shown to correlate with reading comprehension (August and
Shanahan 2006) and to help learners acquire a greater understanding of how to comprehend
material that is read silently (Opitz and Guccione 2009).
In the classic version of ORR, students read and reread short, meaningful passages of text aloud,
typically four times. I find setting short-term goals, such as reading faster or reading with more
appropriate phrasing, helps learners stay focused. Alternatively, you can set criteria for speed,
accuracy, and comprehension.
After four readings or when the criteria are met, learners may proceed to the next section of the
text. Other versions of ORR include using pre-recorded audio to provide a model and the use of
computers to record, time, track, and chart learners progress.
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Oral Repeated Reading classroom suggestion: Chunk it

Oral reading fluency is best developed when learners focus on reading sentences seamlessly, as
opposed to word by word. A chunk (or sense group) is a meaningful part of a sentence, such as a
phrase or a clause, and often corresponds to the places where an individual will naturally pause or
use appropriate intonation when reading a text out loud. The following four steps will help your
students begin to visualize sense groups.
Step 1: Begin with a compelling poem or story
Most genres of writing work well as ORR activities, including prose, poetry, speeches, fables, short or
serialized stories, recipes, radio/TV commercials, and public service announcements. For learners
who can sight-read easily, but have not yet mastered reading with expression or good rhythm, find a
poem or a short story with dialogue. I like Shel Silversteins poetry, because it is often accompanied
by pictures that serve as visual support for learners (e.g., Silverstein 1996). Graded readers (books
divided into levels and written with controlled vocabulary), limericks, and simple speeches also work
well.
Step 2: Break the text into chunks
Write the poem or storys lines (on the blackboard or on an overhead transparency) in a narrow
column with one sense group per line. Three- to four-word phrases work best; however, you can
also break phrases into longer or shorter chunks depending on the skill level of your learners.
Alternatively, you can write each sense group on cue cards. You can easily change the length of the
chunk that readers work with.
By breaking the text into chunks you help introduce your learners to the notion of taking in
increasingly longer chunks as they read.
Step 3: Model the reading of chunks
Show students how good readers cluster portions of text together rather than saying words
individually. If you have arranged the text into a column (as above), use a card guide or cardboard
mask about the same width as the column to expose the text line by line. You can also create and
display sentence strips and model reading the sense groups one at a time.
Step 4: Practice reading the text to build proficiency
To build confidence with the text, have students read the lines together out loud as a group. Hold
the cardboard mask just above the first line and then, as they read, move it down the column at the
desired speed. Time and resources allowing, you can provide students with an individual copy of the
text and their own cardboard mask. Once they gain proficiency and confidence reading the piece
together, you can call on individual students to read for the class. Assigning the piece as homework
the night before is one way of guaranteeing success for this type of task. Finally, you can reinforce
the reading of sense groups in guided reading activities by using the same poem or story and
pointing to the lines that were previously read as an ORR activity.
Technique 2: Paired Repeated Reading
The objectives of Paired Repeated Reading (PRR) are similar to those of ORR. Both focus on
pronunciation and prosody (the variation in loudness, pitch, and rhythm); however, PRR includes a
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measure for self and peer-assessment. Research reports from L1 teaching environments indicate
significant improvement in support of oral fluency and comprehension when teachers incorporate
PRR regularly into their classrooms (Fuchs and Fuchs 2005; Koskinen and Blum 1986).
To use PRR, simply select an interesting reading passage and have your students work in pairs. I use
novels serialized into instalments to maintain learner interest and enthusiasm; however, short
stories, poetry, and fables work nicely too. If it is not possible to give each student a copy, make an
overhead transparency or write the text where all students can see it. You can also pass out one
handout per student pair to cut down on copy costs and encourage more teamwork and
cooperation between learners.
Alternatively, you can ask students to self-select materials. Be sure the content is on their
independent reading level and does not contain too many unknown words or difficult grammatical
structures (e.g., relative clauses, passive phrasing, or ambiguous time references).
Paired Repeated Reading classroom suggestion: Free yourself
The real beauty of PRR lies in its capacity to free up teachers, allowing them to monitor their
students progress with minimal management. Following is a three-step technique, adapted from
Koskinen and Blum (1986), that I use to kick off PRR and help students collaborate in developing
fluency.
Step 1: Teach the role of the reader
Learners need opportunities to practice reading. Explain to students they will be reading and
rereading a passage several times to improve their skills. An analogy such as soccer players taking
corner kicks to improve their accuracy may help students realize the value of practicing repeatedly.
You can also remind them that good readers keep their listeners engaged by reading with
appropriate speed, rhythm, and intonation.
Step 2: Teach the role of the listener
It is worthwhile for teachers to explain that listeners can help their partners improve their reading
fluency in two big ways with PRR: first, by giving help where possible with unknown words or
mispronounced phrases, and second, and perhaps more importantly, by providing feedback about
how the reader has improved between readings. Do not worry about your students inability to
catch every word; listeners do not need to be high-level learners to appreciate and comment on
good delivery and effort.
Teachers can encourage active listening and collaboration by calling on students to report how their
partner read or by making a handout and collecting it after the activity. Something as simple as one
or two sentences jotted on the board can provide students with positive things to say to one
another. For example, in response to the question How did your partner improve? suggest
answers such as (name) read more smoothly, (name) knew more words, or (name) read with
more expression. Another option is to develop a Likert scale for learners to give and receive
feedback to each other while working together. The scale can be passed out (or written on the
board). A single question such as How well did your partner read today? written two or three
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times should suffice. Label the accompanying Likert scale ranges from Nice job to Needs work as
in the example below and show learners how to respond to it.
First Reading: How did your partner read today?
----Nice Job
Nearly perfect
----OK
Nearly there
Needs work
Step 3: Combine reading, listening, and assessment

The final step offers learners an opportunity to combine the reading, listening, and assessment
elements of the technique. It helps to begin PRR by reading to the class, and you may find it useful to
model a poor, choppy reading of a few sentences and then model a fluent reading of the same
sentences. Teachers should supervise the student pairs as they take turns reading and listening, and
especially during the evaluation process. You can ask listeners to fill out the evaluations after the
first and last readings, after the final two readings, or in any combination you like. In situations
where both partners are lower proficiency readers, have them start with the easiest material you
can find. As an alternative to providing feedback to each other, learners can complete a set of
listening questions or tasks (e.g., a very easy worksheet) for which they need information from the
text their partner is reading.
Technique 3: Readers Theatre
Readers Theatre (RT) is the reading aloud of a written text to communicate a story. Although
commonly confused with drama or acting, RT is actually quite different; there are no costumes, no
props, and most importantly, no memorization. Instead, student groups are assigned to read
different parts of a script. Adaptations of books, movies, fables, historical events, or even popular TV
shows can all be scripted to create an RT presentation.
The goal of RT is simple: to increase reading self-confidence by practicing multiple readings of a text,
thereby improving comprehension, fluency, and accuracy. Second language learners are thought to
gain accuracy and improved fluency by the repetition of tasks (Bygate 2001), and the rereading
required in RT presentations gives them valuable practice in moving from decoding printed words
into sounds to fluid and automatic word recognition (Samuels, Schermer, and Reinking 1992).
Scripts can vary in length depending on the proficiency of your learners, but a good script will
provide every student with at least two or three lines to read. Roles can include several characters,
as well as a narrator who guides the story. More advanced, outgoing, or daring readers may choose
bigger parts, whereas less-skilled or shy readers may choose fewer lines. Regardless of classroom
size or dynamics, RT can be customized to fit a variety of learning environments.
If your RT groups are small, a script may have more roles than readers. In that case, assign individual
readers more than one role. (But be sure they are not in the same scene reading two different
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parts!) You can also cut characters out completely or combine two roles together. If your groups are
large, use more than one narrator and split character roles into two or more parts. Very often a
character can be divided to create two or more speaking parts. You can also assign silent characters
to help with the storytelling or assign non-speaking roles. Crowd scenes can also incorporate groups
of extra readers. Figure 1 contains an excerpt of a script I wrote to introduce my learners to a series
of tasks revolving around life at sea.
NARRATOR 1: Bunglie was hungry. He quietly left his pen and looked down out of the window onto
the deck below. Sparky was there, along with the sheep.
SPARKY: Got any food?
LOXY: No. Not a thing.
TRIXIE: My heavens, no. We havent had anything for almost two days. Whatever are we to do?
SPARKY: Birds!!! How bout you? Have you got any food?
BUB AND CHUB: [together] Sorry no.
SPARKY: Cows You have any food?
COWS 1, 2, 3, and 4: [singing] No, no, no. We havent got any food.
ZOOTIE: [looking at husband] Were going to get some food. I know a safe place.
HUSBAND: [scared, in a whisper] Are we going without asking a human? Wont it be dangerous?
SPARKY: Well be careful. [creeping away] Dont worry!
NARRATOR 2: Then Sparky left with Zootie and her husband in search of something to eat.
NARRATOR 1: But Bunglie could not stay in his pen. He had to eat something
[in a louder voice] now!!
Figure 1: Excerpt of Readers Theatre Script
Scripts can be simple or detailed and complex. I prefer to keep the writing simple because I feel it
leads to more authentic dialogue. For busy teachers who do not have time to write original material,
the Internet can be a valuable resource, as there are dozens of adaptable RT scripts online. If your
Internet access is limited, you can always have your students write their own RT scripts. This is a
popular alternative to teacher-selected content because student-generated material provides
teachers with a chance to observe what learning objectives have been internalized by their students.
Teachers can encourage the inclusion of important dates, vocabulary, or grammar points to raise the
complexity of the dialogue or the assignment. Regardless of where the script comes from, doing RT
almost always leads to laughter and language learning. Following is a five-session plan for a Readers
Theatre presentation.
Readers Theatre classroom suggestion: All the worlds a stage
Session 1:
Model fluent and expressive reading by reading aloud from the script or the story on which your
script is based. Time and interest allowing, consider focusing on some aspect of problematic
pronunciation for students to keep in mind as they practice (e.g., reduced schwa sounds, consonant
clusters, suprasegmentals). Pass out copies of the script and encourage students to read silently all
the parts by themselves. If you lack the resources to give each student a script, you can create pairs
or small groups and have students share. Once they have read over the dialogue fully, allow time to
discuss the meaning and content.
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Session 2:
Divide students into groups and hand out scripts. Students read through the scripts entirely, each
time concentrating on a different role. For example, if there are four students and four roles, the
script should be read four times with each student reading aloud a different role every time. In
situations where there are more roles than readers, ask students to take on more than one
character. Circulate among the groups, coaching and offering advice and support.
Session 3:
This is the same as the Session 2; however, toward the end of this session, have students divide up
the parts. Alternatively, you can assign the roles for the final session. Students read their parts as
homework and begin preparing for their performance.
Session 4:
Students read and rehearse their parts together with their group members. Toward the end of the
session, students can make character nametags and plan any necessary movement or decide where
groups will stand during their turn.
Session 5:
Each group performs the reading for the class or possibly in front of an audience. To set the stage for
future endeavours, you may wish to have learners assess themselves and their group members
effort leading up to the reading. Ask learners to respond to statements like these: Next time, to
improve my reading fluency, I plan to , or To achieve my goal, I will Another simple and effective
way to encourage self- or peer-reflection is to provide students with a checklist of statements
grouped into the following categories:
Put a check mark () next to the areas you feel you/your partner did well:
1. Phrasing/Fluency
(I/My partner) paid attention to the authors language.
(I/My partner) read longer phrases.
(I/My partner) had good expression.
2. Pace
(I/My partner) used good speed when reading.
(I/My partner) did not pause too much.
3. Accuracy
(I/My partner) could read the words easily.
(I/My partner) read quickly, but
(my/my partners) words sounded meaningful.
Conclusion
Readers who lack fluency often read in a plodding, word-by-word manner and are slower and less
accurate than fluent readers. Moreover, because their reading is so laborious, their understanding of
the text is often limited. With such ineffective reading patterns, non-fluent readers typically fall
behind their peers and do not learn to enjoy the act of reading. In the past, fluency-building
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techniques like oral reading have been neglected in the L2 reading classroom for a variety of
reasons. Time constraints, teacher philosophy, and misuse of techniques like Round Robin Reading
(taking turns reading aloud around the classroom) have eclipsed the benefits of fluency
development and have cast a negative light on oral reading.
The method of RR was developed to help struggling readers improve their fluency, accuracy, and
comprehension. In the L1 classroom, reading aloud to a teacher or to a peer is an important first
step toward developing fluent decoding and comprehending skills; both are a necessary preparation
for silent reading. The three techniques presented in this article are designed to help learners
achieve reading fluency and have just as much value in the L2 classroom as in the L1 classroom. As
L2 learners read aloud and convey the message of the text to sympathetic and interested listeners,
they strengthen their skills and self-confidence. Most importantly, RR activities encourage L2
learners to enjoy reading and to practice the skill more frequently, which is critical to the
development of advanced proficiency.
References
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reading strategies that cross proficiency levels. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rasinski, T. 2003. The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency,
and comprehension. New York: Scholastic Professional Books.
Samuels, S. J. 1979. The method of repeated readings. The Reading Teacher 32 (4): 4038.
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Samuels, S. J., N. Schermer, and D. Reinking. 1992. Reading fluency: Techniques for making decoding
automatic. In What research has to say about reading instruction, ed. S. J. Samuels and A. Farstrup.
2nd ed., 12444. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Silverstein, S. 1996. Falling up. New York: HarperCollins.
Taguchi, E. 1997. The effects of repeated readings on the development of lower identification skills
of FL readers. Reading in a Foreign Language 11 (1): 97119.
Taguchi, E., and G. J. Gorsuch. 2002. Transfer effects of repeated EFL reading on reading new
passages: A preliminary investigation. Reading in a Foreign Language 14 (1): 4365.
Taguchi, E., M. Takayasu-Maass, and G. J. Gorsuch. 2004. Developing reading fluency in EFL: How
assisted repeated reading and extensive reading affect fluency development. Reading in a Foreign
Language 16 (2): 7096.
JOSHUA COHEN is an instructor of English as a Foreign Language in the Business Department at Kinki
University in Japan. This article is dedicated to his late mother, Diane, who introduced him to the
value of repeated reading by reading (and rereading!) tirelessly to him when he was young.
(Cohen, 2011)
Questions about Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method
1. What is RR? ..........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................................................
2. What is RR best suited for? ..................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
3. What is ORR? .......................................................................................................................................
4. What happens in the classic version of ORR? ......................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
5. What do other versions of ORR include? .............................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
6. What is a chunk? ..................................................................................................................................
7. Where can you find a compelling poem or story for chunking? ..........................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
8. Where can you write the chunks? .......................................................................................................
9. How can you practise until the students gain proficiency? .................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
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10. What is PRR? ......................................................................................................................................

11. What kind of assessment can PRR include? .......................................................................................
12. How can you use PRR? .......................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
13. How can teachers encourage active listening and cooperation? ......................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
14. What is RT? ........................................................................................................................................
15. What is the goal of RT? ......................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
16. How can you raise the complexity of your RT script? ........................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
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The article below discusses several strategies and techniques for improving fluency. Read the
article and make notes in the questions below.
Fluency: Instructional Guidelines and Student Activities

By: Texas Education Agency (2002)
The best strategy for developing reading fluency is to provide your students with many opportunities
to read the same passage orally several times. To do this, you should first know what to have your
students read. Second, you should know how to have your students read aloud repeatedly.
Guidelines for instruction
Provide children with opportunities to read and reread a range of stories and
informational texts by reading on their own, partner reading, or choral reading.
Introduce new or difficult words to children, and provide practice reading these words
before they read on their own.
Include opportunities for children to hear a range of texts read fluently and with
expression.
Suggest ideas for building home-school connections that encourage families to become
involved actively in children's reading development.
Encourage periodic timing of children's oral reading and recording of information about
individual children's reading rate and accuracy.
Model fluent reading, and then have students reread the text on their own.
What students should read
Fluency develops as a result of many opportunities to practice reading with a high degree of success.
Therefore, your students should practice rereading aloud texts that are reasonably easy for them
that is, texts containing mostly words that they know or can decode easily. In other words, the texts
should be at the students' independent reading level.
A text is at students' independent reading level if they can read it with about 95% accuracy. If the
text is more difficult, students will focus on word recognition and will not have an opportunity to
develop fluency.
The text your students practice rereading orally should also be relatively short probably 50-200
words, depending on the age of the students. You should also use a variety of reading materials,
including stories, nonfiction, and poetry. Poetry is especially well suited to fluency practice because
poems for children are often short and they contain rhythm, rhyme, and meaning, making practice
easy, fun, and rewarding.
Model fluent reading
By listening to good models of fluent reading, students learn how a reader's voice can help written
text make sense. Read aloud daily to your students. By reading effortlessly and with expression, you
are modelling for your students how a fluent reader sounds during reading.
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Repeated reading
After you model how to read the text, you must have the students reread it. By doing this, the
students are engaging in repeated reading. Usually, having students read a text four times is
sufficient to improve fluency. Remember, however, that instructional time is limited, and it is the
actual time that students are actively engaged in reading that produces reading gains.
Have other adults read aloud to students. Encourage parents or other family members to read aloud
to their children at home. The more models of fluent reading the children hear, the better. Of
course, hearing a model of fluent reading is not the only benefit of reading aloud to children.
Reading to children also increases their knowledge of the world, their vocabulary, their familiarity
with written language ("book language"), and their interest in reading.
Activities for students to increase fluency
There are several ways that your students can practice orally rereading text, including student-adult
reading, choral (or unison) reading, tape-assisted reading, partner reading, and readers' theatre.
Student-adult reading
In student-adult reading, the student reads one-on-one with an adult. The adult can be you, a
parent, a classroom aide, or a tutor. The adult reads the text first, providing the students with a
model of fluent reading. Then the student reads the same passage to the adult with the adult
providing assistance and encouragement. The student rereads the passage until the reading is quite
fluent. This should take approximately three to four re-readings.
Choral reading
In choral, or unison, reading, students read along as a group with you (or another fluent adult
reader). Of course, to do so, students must be able to see the same text that you are reading. They
might follow along as you read from a big book, or they might read from their own copy of the book
you are reading. For choral reading, choose a book that is not too long and that you think is at the
independent reading level of most students. Patterned or predictable books are particularly useful
for choral reading, because their repetitious style invites students to join in. Begin by reading the
book aloud as you model fluent reading.
Then reread the book and invite students to join in as they recognize the words you are reading.
Continue rereading the book, encouraging students to read along as they are able. Students should
read the book with you three to five times total (though not necessarily on the same day). At this
time, students should be able to read the text independently.
Tape-assisted reading
In tape-assisted reading, students read along in their books as they hear a fluent reader read the
book on an audiotape. For tape-assisted reading, you need a book at a student's independent
reading level and a tape recording of the book read by a fluent reader at about 80-100 words per
minute. The tape should not have sound effects or music. For the first reading, the student should
follow along with the tape, pointing to each word in her or his book as the reader reads it. Next, the
student should try to read aloud along with the tape. Reading along with the tape should continue
until the student is able to read the book independently, without the support of the tape.
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Partner reading
In partner reading, paired students take turns reading aloud to each other. For partner reading,
more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers. The stronger reader reads a paragraph or
page first, providing a model of fluent reading. Then the less fluent reader reads the same text
aloud. The stronger student gives help with word recognition and provides feedback and
encouragement to the less fluent partner. The less fluent partner rereads the passage until he or she
can read it independently. Partner reading need not be done with a more and less fluent reader. In
another form of partner reading, children who read at the same level are paired to reread a story
that they have received instruction on during a teacher-guided part of the lesson. Two readers of
equal ability can practice rereading after hearing the teacher read the passage.
Readers' theatre
In readers' theatre, students rehearse and perform a play for peers or others. They read from scripts
that have been derived from books that are rich in dialogue. Students play characters who speak
lines or a narrator who shares necessary background information. Readers' theatre provides readers
with a legitimate reason to reread text and to practice fluency. Readers' theatre also promotes
cooperative interaction with peers and makes the reading task appealing.
Excerpted from: Guidelines for Examining Phonics and Word Recognition Programs, Texas Reading
Initiative, Texas Education Agency (2002)
Questions for Fluency: Instructional guidelines
1. What is the best strategy for developing reading fluency? .................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................
2. Your students should practice rereading aloud texts that are.........................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
3. How often should you read aloud to your students? .....................................................................
4. How many times should students repeat the reading? ....................................................................
5. Do you think you could arrange student-adult reading? .................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
6. For choral reading, what must the students all be able to do? ........................................................
7. What sort of books should Readers Theatre scripts be derived from? ...............................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
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Shared Reading and Round Robin Reading

If you Google Round Robin Reading (RRR) you will get a long list of articles about why you should
NOT use RRR, and alternatives to using RRR.
What we want is a form of reading aloud where the children are all participating. The children need
to be able to all see the words as in a Big Book, or each having their own copy as in RRR.
If a Big Book is not available for a (picture) book that you want to read aloud to, and do shared
reading with, the children then you can always scan the book and create a set of PowerPoint slides.
Exercise: Reading aloud and shared reading
Work with a partner / group.
Choose a (picture) book.

Plan 2 lessons:
1. A shared reading lesson using a Big Book / projected version of the book. Describe
activities page by page, questions you would ask.
2. A lesson where the children read aloud if it is Round Robin then make sure you avoid
the problems that can be there with this type of lesson (Google round Robin Reading
first!). There are many other types such as Repeated Reading (in the articles you have
read).
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One of the things that children can learn through stories whether reading them or listening to
them is critical thinking skills. Children do not necessarily just develop skills without guidance from
the teacher. Read the article and answer/discuss the questions below:
Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners

This is a summary of a webinar hosted by Cambridge English Teacher and presented by Herbert
Puchta on October 10th, 2012.
The 'attention-grabbing' approach to teaching
Even very young children are able to think, attend and remember, but their thinking, attending and
memory are very reactive. Children growing up today are subjected to sensory overload
constantly. Television, for example, is fast-paced, loud, full of movement, and has colourful,
constantly changing scenes. As a result, today's youngsters have very short attention spans.
'Reactive learners' need fast-paced, sensory bombardment to learn even very simple
information. This leads to the teacher being an entertainer which is totally exhausting.
Learning as a 'self-directed activity'

Children increasingly learn to direct their attention, memory and problem-solving skills on their
own.
Children gradually take more and more responsibility for their own learning.
Children acquire the mental tools to help them think better.
So,
Tools of the mind (mental/cognitive tools) help to extend a child's cognitive capabilities.
Tools of the mind reduce the workload for the teacher.
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Why teach thinking skills?

Children need to face the challenges of a changing and unpredictable world.
They need problem-solving and decision-making skills to meet unexpected problems and tackle
them.
School curricula tend to promote systematic, error-free learning - correct answers, assimilation
of facts, teacher's assessment.
The importance of divergent thinking
Divergent thinking (as opposed to convergent thinking) is extremely important - students need to
learn that there is not necessarily one right answer. You can teach this by asking questions like:
Write down as many different uses as you can think of for:
a button
a brick
a blanket
Here, you are encouraging children to think outside the box.
What does critical thinking involve?

Working out whether or not we believe what we see or hear.
Finding out whether something is true.
Arguing one's case.
Identifying when we need more information.
Selecting information for a specific purpose.
There is always a connection between critical thinking and creative thinking. Both are higher order
thinking skills.
Problem solving cycle
1. Gather and organise information
2. Define the problem
3. Generate approaches to solve the problem
4. Make an action plan
5. Monitor, check, evaluate
6. Communicate solutions
7. Transfer the problem solving skills learned to other problems
What thinking skills can we teach at the same time as we are teaching language?
A typology of thinking skills areas to be taught with EFL for young learners
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Making comparisons
Categorising
Sequencing
Focusing attention
Memorising
Exploring space
Exploring time
Exploring numbers
Creating associations
Cause and effect
Making decisions
Solving problems
Creative thinking
Practical examples
1. Where's Tom?
This is an example from Herbert Puchta and Marion William's book 'Teaching Young Learners to
Think'.
It focuses on the 'exploring space' skill. To develop this skill, students need:
a reference system to understand and control the space they live in.
a sense of position, distance, direction, proximity and dimensions.
the ability to imagine a change in position. This is necessary for hypothetical thinking - the
ability to imagine another viewpoint.
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2. Cars and bicycles
Draw a Venn diagram and ask the question:

What is the same and what is different between this
pair of objects?
Examples: car and bicycle
tree and flower
chair and table
banana and pineapple
The focus here is obviously on the skill of making comparisons, the basic building block of decision
making. This kind of activity can be introduced at beginner level. Simply asking the question, 'What
colour's my jacket?', for example, activates language, but it doesn't require any thinking on the part
of the respondent. As teachers, we need to encourage thinking.
3. Missing information
Give three texts - three party invitations, for example, - each one with a missing piece of information
(time, place, date, etc.). Students have to work out what is missing rather than the more usual task
of answering questions on what is there.
4. Listen and imagine
Tell students to close their eyes and then play them a piece of music. Then ask them to draw a
picture inspired by the music or write down a list of words they would associate with it. They then
have to explain their picture or choice of words to a partner or small group.
Here, we are encouraging creative thinking, which, as we have already heard, is an integral part of
critical thinking.
5. Cause and effect
Give students a statement and ask them if there is a cause and effect relationship in it. For example,
Jane doesn't play any musical instruments. Therefore, she isn't a musician.
This kind of task is suitable for intermediate level students. They have to question whether or not
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there is enough information to establish a cause and effect relationship. If not, what other
information is needed? The attention to detail required here is a great exercise for students.
To conclude:
Quoting Vygotsky's model:
Learning moves away from the goal of getting the answer correct to getting the answer correct
because a specific process was used to get the answer.
(Puchta, 2012)
Discuss and answer these questions with your partner / group:

Questions about Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners
1. According to Punta, why do todays youngsters have a very short attention span? ...........................
..........................................................................................................................................................
2. Is it true?
Do your younger siblings have a shorter attention span than you did at their age?
Or are you one of todays youngsters?
Or has it always been this way?
Discuss.
3. What reduces the workload of the teacher? .......................................................................................
4. What are the three reasons given for teaching reading skills?
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
Do you agree with them? (Dont just say yes!)
Discuss.
5. What is a divergent thinker? ............................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
Are you a divergent thinker? Have you ever met anyone who is?
Discuss
6. With your partner/group do the button activity. How many ideas can you come up with? Try
harder to think of some really crazy ideas.
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Discuss
7. Look at the list of 5 points under What does critical thinking involve?
Choose of a particular story you might be telling/reading.
Think of questions for at least three of the critical thinking points.
Discuss
8. Look at this typology of thinking skills.
Making comparisons
Categorising
Sequencing
Focusing attention
Memorising
Exploring space
Exploring time
Exploring numbers
Creating associations
Cause and effect
Making decisions
Solving problems
Creative thinking
Exploring numbers
Mark the ones which you could apply to a story telling/reading session. Discuss and share ideas.
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Identifying the Conflict in a Story

Conflict is the basis of story, and the following article talks about four types of story conflicts. You
need to be able to identify the conflict in a story, and also guide the children into recognising it too.
The article below briefly describes (with examples) four different types of story conflict. Even if you
are not familiar with the specific examples, you should be able to think of your own examples.
Read the article and discuss the questions below.
Four Types of Story Conflicts
January 6, 2012 by Pat Johnson
One of the standards listed in our district for fifth graders is to learn about the four types of story
conflicts. Remember them? Person vs. person; person vs. nature; person vs. self; and person vs.
society. I didnt learn about them until junior year in High School when we discussed Huck Finn,
Moby Dick, and The Scarlet Letter. That difference, in when we teach certain literary elements,
makes me wonder if we arent pushing curriculum down too much too fast, but Ill save that
argument for another day. Because kids may someday get tested on these conflicts, then teach
them we must.
I like to start out just chatting with the students about some books that several kids in the class have
read or ones that have been read aloud to the whole group in previous years. They easily realize
that Harry Potter vs. Voldermort and the Narnia kids vs. the Ice Queen fall into the first
category. Many students have heard about Number the Stars and realize that it falls into the last
category because of the people who fought against the Nazi society. Any story of survival against
the forces of nature, like Hatchet or My Side of the Mountain, is identified as a person vs. nature
conflict. Then we discuss several picture books that have been read in the last few weeks and the
kids decide that Ish is about the boy gaining confidence with his own artistic abilities, thus a personvs-self text.
Over the next few weeks we read and discuss picture books in relation to these conflicts. Below are
some ideas you may wish to use.
Person vs. Person:
Dogzilla (Dogzilla vs. the mice army of Mousopolis)
My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother (a Polacco favorite)
The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (a spoof on the 3 Pigs)
The Mysterious Giant of Barletta (giant vs. advancing army)
Suddenly (Preston the pig vs the menacing wolf)
Person vs. Self:
Koala Lou (realizes his mom loves him no matter what)
Owl Babies (conquer their fear of being left without Mom)
Edward the Emu (any story like this works where the character is not comfortable being
who he is and wants to be something else.)
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Person vs. Nature:

Brave Irene (fights the blizzard in order to deliver the dress)
Ghost Eye Tree (the little boy fears the spooky tree)
Person vs. Society:
Holocaust books work well here (Let the Celebrations Begin, the picture book version of the
Diary of Anne Frank, The Lily Cupboard.)
Books about racism towards African Americans: Teammates; Freedom Summer; Freedom
School, Yes!
Books about the Japanese Internment camps during WWII: The Bracelet, Baseball Saved Us,
The Lucky Baseball, Journey Home
I suppose even the issue of homelessness would be considered a societal issue: Fly Away
Home, Lady in the Box.
Sometimes students get confused when the person is actually many people. A few students
thought that the army in The Mysterious Giant of Barletta represented society. They eventually
came to realize that person can mean one, two, or a whole group of people, or even animal
characters. Later when we discussed person vs. society they realized that that type of conflict had
more to do with societal issues. Many students had read The Giver and we talked about how that
future society was set up in a different way than what we are used to today. At first the main
character was excited to receive his job on the day the assignments were given out. But as the story
continued, we get a real sense of a person vs. society type of conflict. In the end, Jonas is ready to
separate himself totally from the society.
Oftentimes its not really clear which category the book falls in. But those discussions with the
students just take their thinking to a deeper level. In Amazing Grace the class is going to put on a
Peter Pan play. When Grace wants to play the part of Peter, some class members point out that she
cant be Peter because she is black or because she is a girl. Some students thought the text was a
person vs self text because Grace gains more confidence in her dancing ability and convinces her
classmates that she is indeed the best person to play the role. But others felt it was Grace against
those other classmates and therefore it was person vs. person.
And what about The Big Orange Splot? Is that a conflict of one man against society because the
community in which he lives believes that all houses should look exactly the same? Or is it a person
vs person conflict of the main character against all his neighbours?
We found the person vs self type of conflict to be the hardest to find examples of. We first saw
Owl Babies as this type of conflict. The baby owls try to get over their fear by telling each other
reasons why the mom has disappeared; then they gather together all on one branch to protect each
other. Some argued that it was more of a person vs nature story because the owls are feeling scared
because of many of the things in the dark woods.
In the book Suddenly, Preston is constantly almost being attacked by the Wolf. It seems obvious that
its the pig vs the wolf. But is it really a person vs. person conflict if Preston, the pig, never actually
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realizes that the Wolf is about to attack him? He doesnt escape his conflict by his own strength or
cleverness; its always just a coincidence.
There were many books that the students examined during independent reading time Jumanji,
Stega Nona, Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Caleb and Kate to
name a few. Students will notice that the main character in each of these books has a problem; he is
in conflict with something. But most of these books made us wonder if there shouldnt be a fifth
story conflict of person vs magic. And to that I say, Why not?
(Johnson, 2012)
Discussion Questions for Four Types of Story Conflicts

1. What are the four types of story conflict?
............................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
2. What kind of books are being used as examples of different conflicts? ..............................................
3. What age are the children in the writers class who are learning about story conflicts? ...................
4. How was the person confusion sorted? .......................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
5. Which is the hardest type to find examples of? ................................................................................
6. What could the fifth type of conflict be? .......................................................................................
7. Do you agree there should be a fifth type, or would you fit it into one of the others?
........................................................................................................................................................
Discuss your answers with your partner / group.
Exercises
1. Work with a partner / group.
Choose 3 books / stories either your own or from the APPENDIX.
Identify the conflict in each.
Try to choose books / stories with different conflict types.
Present your findings to the class.
2. Choose one story, and alter the point of conflict and/or the ending. Present your story to the class.
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Bogglesworld ESL. (2013). ESL GLossary. Retrieved July 7, 2013, from Bogglesworld ESL:
http://bogglesworldesl.com/glossary/fluency.htm
Cohen, J. (2011). Building Fluency Through the Repeated Reading Method. English teaching
Forum(3), pp. 20-27.
Johnson, P. (2012, Jan 6). Four Types of Story Conflicts. Retrieved July 7, 2013, from Catching Readers
before they fall: http://catchingreaders.com/2012/01/06/four-types-of-story-conflicts/
Puchta, H. (2012, Oct 10). Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners. Retrieved
July 7, 2013, from World Teacher : http://worldteacherandrea.blogspot.com/2012/10/towards-developing-critical-thinking.html
Shoebottom, P. (2013). What teachers should know about cohesion. Retrieved July 7, 2013, from ESL
- Frankfurt International School: http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/cohesion.htm
Strachan, L. (1999). Rascal. Melbourne: Rigby.
Texas Education Agency. (2002). Fluency: Instructional Guidelines and Student Activities. Retrieved
July 7, 2013, from Reading Rockets:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3416/?theme=print
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Topic 8: Types of Assessments

Before we decide how to go about assessing Stories, we need to be sure what it is that we are
trying to assess. First of all, what are the learning outcomes? Language Arts:
4.2 By the end of the six year primary schooling, pupils will be able to demonstrate understanding of
and express personal response to literary texts.
Yr 1
4.2.1 Able to demonstrate skills in handling books appropriately.
Yr 2
4.2.2 Able to talk about book covers, pictures in books with guidance.
4.2.1 Able to respond to book covers, pictures in books, characters, with guidance.
Yr 3
4.2.1 Able to respond to characters, place, in stories with guidance.
4.3 By the end of the six year primary programme, pupils will be able to plan, organise and produce
creative works for enjoyment.
Yr 1
Yr 2
Yr 3
4.3.1 Able to produce simple creative works with guidance based on nursery rhymes,
action songs.
4.3.2 Able to take part with guidance in a performance based on nursery rhymes, action
songs, fables.
4.3.1 Able to produce simple creative works with guidance based on action songs, jazz
chants, stories.
4.3.2 Able to take part with guidance in a performance based on action songs, jazz
chants, stories.
4.3.1 Able to produce simple creative works with guidance based on jazz chants, poems,
action songs, stories.
4.3.2 Able to perform with guidance based on jazz chants, poems, action songs, stories.
Take note of the verbs in the statements because this is what it is we are trying to asses. There are
also stories-related standards in the other subjects too.
Listening and speaking
1.1 By the end of the 6-year primary schooling, pupils will be able to pronounce words and speak
confidently with the correct stress, rhythm and intonation.
Yr 1, 2, and 3
1.1.2 Able to listen to and enjoy simple stories
Reading
2.3 By the end of the 6-year primary schooling, pupils will be able to read independently for
information and enjoyment.
Yr 1 and 2
2.3.1 Able to read simple texts with guidance: fiction, non-fiction
Yr 3
2.3.1 Able to read for information and enjoyment with guidance:

fiction, non-fiction
Writing
3.3 By the end of the 6-year primary schooling, pupils will be able to write and present ideas
through a variety of media using appropriate language, form and style.
Yr 3
3.3.1 Able to create simple texts using a variety of media with guidance.
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We are all familiar with the idea of a written exam to test knowledge, understanding (as long as the
skill of writing has been mastered) and even some skills. But how can we assess childrens aesthetic
response, whether children are listening, and whether they can read?
The following article lists some types of alternative assessments. Read the article and answer the
questions:
Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessment for ESL Students

Jo-Ellen Tannenbaum, Montgomery County Public Schools (MD)
Many educators have come to recognize that alternative assessments are an important means of
gaining a dynamic picture of students' academic and linguistic development. "Alternative
assessment refers to procedures and techniques which can be used within the context of instruction
and can be easily incorporated into the daily activities of the school or classroom" (Hamayan, 1995,
p. 213). It is particularly useful with English as a Second Language students because it employs
strategies that ask students to show what they can do. In contrast to traditional testing, "students
are evaluated on what they integrate and produce rather than on what they are able to recall and
reproduce" (Huerta- Macias, 1995, p. 9). Although there is no single definition of alternative
assessment, the main goal is to "gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing,
and completing real-life tasks in a particular domain" (Huerta-Macias, 1995, p. 9). Alternative
assessments generally meet the following criteria:
Focus is on documenting individual student growth over time, rather than comparing
students with one another.
Emphasis is on students' strengths (what they know), rather than weaknesses (what they
don't know).
Consideration is given to the learning styles, language proficiencies, cultural and educational
backgrounds, and grade levels of students.
Alternative assessment includes a variety of measures that can be adapted for different situations.
This Digest provides examples of measures that are well suited for assessing ESL students.
Nonverbal Assessment Strategies
Physical Demonstration.
To express academic concepts without speech, students can point or use other gestures. They can
also be asked to perform hands-on tasks or to act out vocabulary, concepts, or events. As a
comprehension check in a unit on Native Americans, for example, teachers can ask students to
respond with thumbs up, thumbs down, or other nonverbal signs to true or false statements or to
indicate whether the teacher has grouped illustrations (of homes, food, environment, clothing, etc.)
under the correct tribe name. The teacher can use a checklist to record student responses over time.
Pictorial Products.
To elicit content knowledge without requiring students to speak or write, teachers can ask students
to produce and manipulate drawings, dioramas, models, graphs, and charts. When studying Colonial
America, for example, teachers can give students a map of the colonies and labels with the names of
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the colonies. Students can then attempt to place the labels in the appropriate locations. This
labelling activity can be used across the curriculum with diagrams, webs, and illustrations.
To culminate a unit on butterflies, teachers can ask beginning ESL students to illustrate, rather than
explain, the life cycle of butterflies. Students can point to different parts of a butterfly on their own
drawing or on a diagram as an assessment of vocabulary retention. Pictorial journals can be kept
during the unit to record observations of the butterflies in the classroom or to illustrate
comprehension of classroom material about types of butterflies, their habitats, and their
characteristics.
K-W-L Charts
Many teachers have success using K-W-L charts (what I know/what I want to know/what I've
learned) to begin and end a unit of study, particularly in social studies and science. Before the unit,
this strategy enables teachers to gain an awareness of students' background knowledge and
interests. Afterward, it helps teachers assess the content material learned. K-W-L charts can be
developed as a class activity or on an individual basis. For students with limited English proficiency,
the chart can be completed in the first language or with illustrations.
Sample K-W-L Chart
K
Lincoln was important.
His face is on a penny.
He's dead now.
I think Lincoln was a President.
He was a tall person.
W
Why is Lincoln famous?
Was he a good President?
Why is he on a penny?
Did he have a family?
How did he die?
L
Lincoln was President of the U.S.
He was the 16th President.
There was a war in America when
Lincoln was President.
He let the slaves go free.
Two of his sons died while he was
still alive.
Before a unit of study, teachers can have students fill in the K and W columns by asking them what
they know about the topic and what they would like to know by the end of the unit. This helps to
keep students focused and interested during the unit and gives them a sense of accomplishment
when they fill in the L column following the unit and realize that they have learned something.
Oral Performances or Presentations
Performance-based assessments include interviews, oral reports, role plays, describing, explaining,
summarizing, retelling, paraphrasing stories or text material, and so on. Oral assessments should be
conducted on an ongoing basis to monitor comprehension and thinking skills.
When conducting interviews in English with students in the early stages of language development to
determine English proficiency and content knowledge, teachers are advised to use visual cues as
much as possible and allow for a minimal amount of English in the responses. Pierce and O'Malley
(1992) suggest having students choose one or two pictures they would like to talk about and leading
the students by asking questions, especially ones that elicit the use of academic language
(comparing, explaining, describing, analysing, hypothesizing, etc.) and vocabulary pertinent to the
topic.
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Role plays can be used across the curriculum with all grade levels and with any number of people.
For example, a teacher can take on the role of a character who knows less than the students about a
particular subject area. Students are motivated to convey facts or information prompted by
questions from the character. This is a fun-filled way for a teacher to conduct informal assessments
of students' knowledge in any subject (Kelner, 1993).
Teachers can also ask students to use role play to express mathematical concepts. For example, a
group of students can become a numerator, a denominator, a fraction line, a proper fraction, an
improper fraction, and an equivalent fraction. Speaking in the first person, students can introduce
themselves and their functions in relationship to one another (Kelner, 1993). Role plays can also be
used in science to demonstrate concepts such as the life cycle.
In addition, role plays can serve as an alternative to traditional book reports. Students can transform
themselves into a character or object from the book (Kelner, 1993). For example, a student might
become Christopher Columbus, one of his sailors, or a mouse on the ship, and tell the story from
that character's point of view. The other students can write interview questions to pose to the
various characters.
Oral and Written Products
Some of the oral and written products useful for assessing ESL students' progress are content area
thinking and learning logs, reading response logs, writing assignments (both structured and
creative), dialogue journals, and audio or video cassettes.
Content area logs are designed to encourage the use of metacognitive strategies when students
read expository text. Entries can be made on a form with these two headings: What I
Understood/What I Didn't Understand (ideas or vocabulary).
Reading response logs are used for students' written responses or reactions to a piece of literature.
Students may respond to questions--some generic, some specific to the literature--that encourage
critical thinking, or they may copy a brief text on one side of the page and write their reflections on
the text on the other side.
Beginning ESL students often experience success when an expository writing assignment is
controlled or structured. The teacher can guide students through a pre-writing stage, which includes
discussion, brainstorming, webbing, outlining, and so on. The results of pre-writing, as well as the
independently written product, can be assessed.
Student writing is often motivated by content themes. Narrative stories from characters'
perspectives (e.g., a sailor accompanying Christopher Columbus, an Indian who met the Pilgrims, a
drop of water in the water cycle, etc.) would be valuable inclusions in a student's writing portfolio.
Dialogue journals provide a means of interactive, ongoing correspondence between students and
teachers. Students determine the choice of topics and participate at their level of English language
proficiency. Beginners can draw pictures that can be labelled by the teacher.
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Audio and video cassettes can be made of student oral readings, presentations, dramatics,
interviews, or conferences (with teacher or peers).
Portfolios
Portfolios are used to collect samples of student work over time to track student development.
Tierney, Carter, and Desai (1991) suggest that, among other things, teachers do the following:
maintain anecdotal records from their reviews of portfolios and from regularly scheduled
conferences with students about the work in their portfolios; keep checklists that link portfolio work
with criteria that they consider integral to the type of work being collected; and devise continua of
descriptors to plot student achievement. Whatever methods teachers choose, they should reflect
with students on their work, to develop students' ability to critique their own progress.
The following types of materials can be included in a portfolio:
Audio- and videotaped recordings of readings or oral presentations.

Writing samples such as dialogue journal entries, book reports, writing assignments (drafts
or final copies), reading log entries, or other writing projects.
Art work such as pictures or drawings, and graphs and charts.
Conference or interview notes and anecdotal records.
Checklists (by teacher, peers, or student).
Tests and quizzes.
To gain multiple perspectives on students' academic development, it is important for teachers to
include more than one type of material in the portfolio.
Conclusion
Alternative assessment holds great promise for ESL students. Although the challenge to modify
existing methods of assessment and to develop new approaches is not an easy one, the benefits for
both teachers and students are great. The ideas and models presented here are intended to be
adaptable, practical, and realistic for teachers who are dedicated to creating meaningful and
effective assessment experiences for ESL students.
References
Hamayan, E.V. (1995). Approaches to alternative assessment. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,
15, 212-226.
Huerta-Macias, A. (1995). Alternative assessment: Responses to commonly asked questions. TESOL
Journal, 5, 8-10.
Kelner, L.B. (1993). The creative classroom: A guide for using creative drama in the classroom, preK6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Pierce, L.V., & O'Malley, J.M. (1992). Performance and portfolio assessment for language minority
students. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
Tierney, R.J., Carter, M.A., & Desai, L.E. (1991). Portfolio assessment in the reading-writing
classroom. Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon.
(Tannenbaum, 1996)
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Questions for Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessments

1. When and how can alternative assessments be used? ................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
2. Why is it particularly useful with ESL students? ............................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
3. How is it different from traditional testing? .....................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
4. What is the main goal of alternative assessment? ..........................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
5. Summarise the three criteria for alternative assessment.
.............................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
6. What kind of physical demonstrations can students give for academic concepts?
...........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
7. How is a record kept of student responses? ..................................................................................
8. How can a teacher elicit content knowledge without asking students to write or speak?
......................................................................................................................................................
9. Give some examples of performance-based assessments. .............................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
10. What five oral and written products are described in the article?
..............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
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11. What are portfolios used for? .......................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................
12. What do teachers do? ...............................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
13. What should teachers do? .........................................................................................................
14. What might a portfolio contain?
.............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................
15. Why is it important to include more than one type of material?

..........................................................................................................................................................
The following anecdotal paper gives an example of using Oral Performances or Presentations as
well as Portfolios with primary school students as an assessment.
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Assessment of Primary School Students in Performing Arts

by Ruth Wickham, Brighton Education Training Fellow, IPGKDRI
Introduction
Over a period of fifteen years I taught in several state primary schools in Western Australia as an
Arts Specialist. The Arts is one of eight learning areas in the Australian Curriculum Framework,
which lists student learning outcomes without specifying content. The teacher is required to
demonstrate progress of each child through the various levels of the framework.
While regular classroom teachers in West Australian schools have their own class in front of them
every moment of the week except for three hours, as a specialist I saw every class in the school, K-7,
once or twice a week and the size of the schools varied from 300 1000 pupils. My problem was to
get to know the names and abilities of every single child.
Especially at the beginning, I needed to have each individual child present themselves before me, tell
me their name, and then show me what they could do while I recorded marks and comments.
Performances for Assessment
Clearly what was needed was an opportunity to watch a performance or presentation by each child.
However, a great many of the children suffered from varying degrees of shyness, and although a few
of the children could sing, dance or play a musical instrument, many of them had little or nothing to
offer by way of entertainment for the rest of the class whom I needed to sit quietly while I
observed and assessed.
Therefore I created a system of teaching and assessment that not only worked for me but was
eagerly accepted by my students over the years and through several different schools.
1. Dealing with the shyness
Firstly I had to deal with the shyness. I purchased a microphone and small speaker system, and every
child (from K 7) was required to first speak, and eventually sing, on the microphone. The first time
with the little children I would sit with them in a circle and hand the microphone around, and each
child said Hello, Im ..... This was my first chance to learn their names, and for many of the children
the first time they heard their own voice clearly. (Normally we only hear our own voice through the
thickness of the bones and muscles in our head, and it has a different sound.) Most children giggle
when they do this, and an enjoyable time is had by all.
When it came time for the performance, this was the minimum requirement for all, especially shy
children. If nothing else, they would stand up and say a greeting and their name. But they could only
do this once the next time they would have to add something.
Another way that I dealt with the shyness was with drums. The children lined up and took it in turns
to play a rhythm on the drums. I had a full drum kit in the classroom, and they could try any of the
drum sounds, so it was quite loud and for the shy children to find themselves making that much
noise was at first shocking and then therapeutic as they seemed to start feeling less powerless.
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The third solution for shyness was using puppets. Some children respond well to a hand puppet and
are happy to let the audience focus on the puppet speaking or singing rather than looking right at
them. For the genuinely severely shy children I used marionette-type puppets, and the child would
stand over them and make them dance to music. (They would be in full view of the audience, not
behind a puppet theatre, and again, they had to improve on this performance the next time.)
2. Group Support
Partly to be able to allow all of the children to be assessed in a reasonable time, and partly again to
help with shyness and other limitations, I allowed the children to perform in pairs or groups.
Obviously every child in the group had to play a specific part in the performance, however small, and
every child had to show an improved level of involvement at the next performance.
I had to be quick at evaluating and assessing individuals within the group as they performed, and it
helped if each child had a moment when they were front and centre.
3. Zero Tolerance
Naturally in the build-up to the twice-yearly performances some children would become quite
stressed, and parents would even come to the school to complain that they werent sleeping or
eating well.
I insisted that all children must perform, there were no exceptions. As mentioned earlier, there were
some very easy ways for them to do so. If we reached a crisis and they were still refusing then I
would allow them to give a private performance to me, or their friends, alone during a break time
and then tell them it was great and I still want them to perform in front of the class.
The fact is that I saw so many success stories. Sometimes in class time when it came to a particular
childs turn they would cry. I would send them to wash room to wash their face and return, and then
insist that they go ahead and perform. Every single child that cried and then performed said
afterwards: Can I do it again? Why? It gave them such a sense of being powerful, instead of weak
and shy and powerless.
4. Types of Performances
Over the years as the children progressed through primary school, especially the children that I had
taught from the first year onward, the children came up with better and better performances of
songs, dances, drama, and instrumental pieces. Children would spend extra time in my classroom
during breaks practising hard so that they could then give a performance at a school assembly or a
local competition. But the requirements for assessment performance were simple:
Stand up in front of the class alone or with a partner or group

Introduce yourself on the microphone
Sing, or lip-sync (pretend to sing to a background song), or dance, or tell a story/joke, or do a
skit/play, or use a puppet ... anything really.
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5. Audience Participation
Generally there was no problem with student behaviour in my classes. However, if the students
were getting restless because there were a lot of performances and they were going slowly, I would
give them an evaluation task, with a rubric they could fill in about each group or performer. It was
very important to make sure this was an opportunity for them to make positive and constructive
evaluation and nothing derogatory.
Assessment Rubric
I would consider it unfair to try to assess students in something that has not been taught and/or
practiced. This was not like the X Factor where I was looking for perfectly in-tune singing. After all,
the students were all at different levels, and all I really wanted was for them to show improvement
since last time (which is called ipsative assessment).
What I was trying to find out:
Whether my teaching has been effective (if everyone fails I should teach it again)
Which of the children may be having difficulties and need help
Which of the children have made good progress
If we had been having lessons about training your voice to sing in tune, then tunefulness would be
a factor in the assessment but again only in terms of whether they were improving.
Here is an example of a possible rubric:
Name
Class
Amazing!
Good
Date
disappointing
Needs help
Preparation evidence of planning

Group cooperation
Voice acceptable volume and pitch
Movement expressive, in time
Rhythm/Beat awareness
Aware of Audience
Attitude
Comment
There could be more, or less, or more specific points. With younger students there would also be
fewer points. With one sheet per child and the names filled in ahead of time it was simply a matter
of ticking boxes in the 5-10 minutes as the children perform. Once the marks were entered into my
database, then the forms were included in the childs portfolio, along with photos, or childrens
drawings of the performance as their own response to the performance. With two assessments per
year it was obvious in the portfolio how the child was progressing.
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Conclusion
By watching each and every student give some kind of performance twice a year, I was able to be
fully aware of their abilities and progress throughout their primary school education. A record of
their progress could be clearly seen in their Arts portfolio.
The following article talks about the educational background and purpose of Portfolios.
Read it and discuss the questions below.
Portfolios: Assessment in Language Arts. ERIC Digest.

Portfolios are used in various professions to gather typical or exemplary samples of performance.
Stockbrokers talk about a client's portfolio; art students assemble a portfolio for an art class or a job
interview; people in advertising, publishing, or sales carry portfolios to business meetings. The
general purpose is to collect and display an array of materials that has been gathered or produced
(Farr, 1990; Olson, 1991).
The portfolios, if defined as collections of work stored in folders over a period of time, will have little
value either to students or teachers. To be of use, careful consideration needs to be given to what
goes into a portfolio, the process of selection, and how the information is to be used (Krest, 1990;
Valencia, 1990). If this is not done, then the portfolio may become little more than a resource file.
Portfolios Serve Multiple Purposes
Many approaches have been suggested for developing language arts portfolios. The one common
element in all of the approaches is that portfolios are places to collect samples of a student's work.
Whether these samples include typical or best work, whether they include reading and writing, and
whether traditional assessments are added to the portfolios are all issues that need to be carefully
considered. Other concerns have to do with the assessment of the materials that are collected, the
ownership of the portfolios, and whether portfolios are used for both product and product
assessment (Farr, 1990; Johns, 1990; Olson, 1991).
To serve the function of assessment, the language arts portfolio should be a record of a student's
literacy development - a kind of window on the skills and strategies the student uses in reading and
writing. A student's portfolio should be the basis for the teacher's constructive feedback. When
portfolios are developed over an extended time period as an integral part of classroom instruction,
they become valuable assets for planning both within the classroom and on a school-wide basis.
When information is gathered consistently, the teacher is able to construct an organized, ongoing,
and descriptive picture of the learning that is taking place. The portfolio draws on the everyday
experiences of the students and reflects the reading and writing that a student has done in a variety
of literacy contexts (Valencia, et al, 1990).
The best guides for selecting work to include in a language arts portfolio are these: What does this
literacy activity tell me about this student as a reader and a writer? Will this information add to what
is already known? How does this information demonstrate change?
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Portfolio collections can form the foundation for teacher-student conferences, a vital component of
portfolio assessment. A conference is an interaction between the teacher and the student, and it is
through conferences that the students gain insights into how they operate as readers and writers.
Conferences support learners in taking risks with, and responsibility for, their learning. Through
conferencing, students are encouraged to share what they know and understand about the
processes of reading and writing. It is also a time for them to reflect on their participation in literacy
tasks. Portfolio assessment is an appropriate means of recognizing the connection between reading
and writing.
Portfolios Address Language Arts Goals
The use of portfolios for assessment is not a new concept. However, the idea has gained momentum
as curriculum experts have called for assessments that include a variety of work samples and have
asked that teachers confer with each student about his/her literacy development.
In the last few years, both the goals and instructional approaches to language arts have changed.
New curriculum designs advocate instructional approaches that place an emphasis on:
an integration of all aspects of language arts including reading, writing, listening, and
speaking;
a focus on the processes of constructing meaning;
the use of literature that inspires and motivates readers;
an emphasis on problem solving and higher-order thinking skills; and
the use of collaboration and group work as an essential component of learning.
For example, integrated language arts instruction is now the accepted model in many schools in the
country (Cal. Dept. of Education, 1987). Integrated language arts instruction for most of these
schools means that there are no longer separate reading and language arts instructional periods-and often that language skills are also taught when students are learning science and social studies.
Integration also means that reading and writing are not broken into separate objectives to be
taught, practiced, and mastered one at a time. Rather, it means that skills are taught as they are
needed as part of a total behaviour. Discussion preceding the reading of a selection helps to bring a
reader's knowledge to bear on what he/she is about to read. At the same time the verbal exchange
of ideas fosters speaking and listening skills. Despite the discussions of the importance of integrating
all aspects of language arts instruction, it is the teaching of reading and writing that has produced
the most obvious integration. Thus, a portfolio containing integrated reading and writing work
samples provides a valuable assessment tool.
Portfolios as Authentic Assessments
One of the key issues in the development of portfolios concerns the kinds of structured assessment
activities that should be included in them. Many curriculum and assessment specialists have been
calling for the development of performance or authentic assessments (Stiggins, 1987; Wiggins,
1989). Performance assessments have been developed and used in the business world and in various
professions for some time. Performance assessment is nothing more than the development of an
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activity that actually represents the task to be performed on the job--or the total behaviour that is
the goal of instruction.
Language arts portfolio assessments should:
Have value to both teachers and students beyond the assessment information provided by
the test.
The tests should be so much like good instruction that a teacher would want to administer the test
for its instructional value even if there was no assessment information provided. Value beyond
assessment means tests will take no instructional time since the test is good instruction.
Require students to construct responses rather than merely recognizing correct answers.
Perhaps the greatest concern with multiple-choice tests is that students are not required to develop
responses. Rather, they merely have to select an answer choice from several that have already been
constructed for them. Educators have long recognized that it is a far different matter to write a
complete sentence with correct punctuation than it is to answer a question that asks which of four
punctuation marks should be placed at the end of a sentence.
Require students to apply their knowledge.
Many tests provide students with a structure for the expected answers. Performance assessment is
open-ended and allows students to apply their knowledge. Student responses to performance
assessment should reveal ability to understand a problem and apply his/her knowledge and skills.
This means, of course, that a variety of responses will be acceptable.
Pose problems for students for which they have to use multiple resources.
The solution to real problems necessitates the use of multiple resources. The writing of a report, for
example, is based on the use of various source materials, reference aids, and the writer's
background knowledge. Assessments which attempt to replicate those situations will provide
information about students' abilities to use multiple sources. Such assessments should also
determine if students are able to select pertinent information from the available resources and put
the selected information together in a way that solves the problem posed by the assessment.
Present students with tasks that have a realistic focus.
Tests should look like the tasks that students have to perform in every-day life and should focus on
developing responses to realistic situations. Tests often ask only for right answers. Even when tests
ask for written responses, the questions posed are "teacher-type questions" that have as their goal
an assessment as to whether students have a basic understanding of a story (e.g., main events,
compare and contrast). A question with a more realistic focus might ask students to write a letter to
a story character suggesting how that character might deal with a problem. This presents a realistic
focus to which a student can respond, and the responses will reveal how the student has understood
the materials on which the response is based.
Taken together, the general attributes of performance assessment and the specific goals of
portfolios represent an integrated approach for language arts assessment. Since the contents of the
portfolio are generated by the student, may be typical or exemplary examples, and require
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continuous evaluation of reading and writing, students are actively engaged in their own growth and
development as language users.
References
California State Department of Education. (1987) English-Language Arts Framework. Sacramento,
CA: California State Department of Education.
Farr, Roger (1990). "Setting directions for language arts portfolios." Educational Leadership, 48 (3),
103.
Johns, Jerry L. (1990). Literacy Portfolios. 11 pp. [ED 319 020]
Krest, Margie (1990). "Adapting the portfolio to meet student needs." English Journal, 79 (2), 29-34.
[EJ 406 654]
Olson, Mary W. (1991). "Portfolios: Education Tools." Reading Psychology, 12 (1), 73-80. [EJ number
forthcoming]
Stiggins, Richard (1987). "Design and development of performance assessments." Education
Measurement: Issues and Practice, 6 (3), 33-42. [EJ 393 067]
Valencia, Sheila (1990). "A portfolio approach to classroom assessment: The whys, whats, and
hows." The Reading Teacher, 43 (4), 338-40. [EJ 403 672]
Valencia, Sheila, et al. (1990). "Assessing reading and writing." In Gerald G. Duffy (Ed.), Reading in
the Middle School (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 124-53. [ED 320 132]
Wiggins, Grant (1989). "A true test: Toward more authentic and equitable assessment." Phi Delta
Kappan, 70 (9), 703-13. [EJ 388 723]
(Farr, 1991)
Questions about Portfolios: assessment in Language Arts
1. What needs to happen to make portfolios useful? ...........................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
2. What is the one common element in approaches to Language Arts portfolios? ...............................
.......................................................................................................................................................
3. What three issues need to be carefully considered? Whether the sample include:
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
4. What is the teacher able to do when information is gathered consistently?

.........................................................................................................................................................
5. What are the best guides for selecting work to include in a language arts portfolio?
..........................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
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6. What is a vital component of portfolio assessment? .....................................................................

7. What emphases in instructional approaches are advocated by new curriculum designs?
............................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
8. Complete this statement:

Performance assessment is nothing more than ................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................
9. What five things should be true about a Language Arts portfolio assessments?
Language Arts portfolio assessments should:
..................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
10. How are students are actively engaged in their own growth and development as language
users?
..........................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
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Assessment through storytelling (or writing)

Getting children to retell a story, or create their own (maybe similar or related) story will give the
teacher a fair idea of whether the children
enjoyed the story (aesthetic)
understood the language / plot / content of the story they have been told (efferent)
Children love stories. They love being told stories stories read aloud to them and (even better)
stories told aloud. So making up stories comes fairly naturally to children. Children are already
creating stories in their heads.
The problem arises with:
Language having sufficient vocab and language structure to tell the story in an
understandable form.
Thinking skills and problem-solving ability to logically sequence the story in telling it.
Limited writing skills to produce their story in written form.
Shyness/fear about speaking aloud in front of others.
Insufficient suitable practice time because of listeners (especially adults) getting bored with
them and telling them to be quiet and/or to stop lying.
As part of our storytelling and language teaching we need to encourage ad assist children to
become storytellers. Amongst other things, this will make it easier to assess their progress both by
an aural/oral test such as Performance, and by getting them to create something to include in their
portfolio.
Assessing Children as Storytellers
The teacher can encourage the children to respond to stories in a variety of ways so that they can
visualize and experience the story, and to improve their language, sequencing, social awareness
(listening and allowing others to listen).
Remember also that responding to stories is one of the learning standards.
Ask them to:
o Create art work related to the story including creating puppets to show particular
characters.
o Dramatize all or part of the story
o Join in with rhymes and chants in the story
o Suggest variations or different endings to the story
o Retell the story
o Use puppets in the dramatization and/or telling of the story
Stimulate their imagination with ideas and suggestions. Notice the worthwhile parts of stories
created by them, even if they only make a start (rather than picking up on errors) and provide
encouragement and genuine constructive criticism.
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Firstly teach them to tell stories orally and avoid the difficulties involved in writing. Their stories
can be recorded in video form and they can create pictures to show their story sequence. Once they
have the story well established and organised, then then can work on the written form.
Activities to assist children as storytellers
Here are some activities that are designed to help children develop their storytelling skills.
Participating will both assist trainee teachers to improve their own storytelling skills, and provide
them with strategies to use in the classroom.
Some of the ideas for these activities were taken from Storytelling! (Codell, 2012), Storytelling in
the Early Years (Mynard, 2005), Teachers Guide: Teaching Storytelling (Storytelling Arts of
Indiana, 2012), and Early Years Starter Pack (Ferguson, 2007). These are all available on the
Internet, and are listed in the Bibliography. (Go look them up!)
1. Story Sequence
Firstly the student storytellers need to know the story sequence really well. We dont want to
necessarily memorise the story, but we need to remember what happened in exactly the right order.
It sounds really simple, but for children this is a very important skill.
Activity
On index cards, ask the children to draw simple pictures (stick figures) to indicate the stages of their
story. Lay them out in order like a Story Map.
Do not write words!
Do not write numbers!
They should have about 6 pictures. If they have more than 10 then either their story is too long, or
they are being too detailed about the stages of their story.
The first time you do this activity with the children, they could do it about a story they have already
heard and know so essentially this is a retell activity.
NOW let them take their 6-10 cards in a stack and throw them up into the air! Then they gather
them together, and see if they can rearrange them into the correct order. They can do this several
times for practice.
Observing the children doing this (with a checklist in your hand) will give you a chance to assess their
abilities, and the cards can be included in their portfolio (put in order by them).
2. Character Map
A good storyteller needs to know the story characters (good and bad) and be able to talk about the
freely as if they were friends.
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Activity
Ask the children to draw a character map for each of their characters.
They can start with a circle with the name of the character. Then they add lines, and put a
characteristic or trait at the end of each line. When young children are doing this, we are trying to
get away from the hassle of writing and spelling at this stage, so it could all be done with pictures.
Again, the character map can be looked at for an assessment (year 3 4.2.1) and then also entered
into the portfolio.
3. Paired Storytelling
Children should practise their storytelling with a partner first. This does not necessarily mean that
one tells and the other listens that can come at a later stage. At this stage we just want them to tell
the story together with each other, not strictly taking turns, but both adding parts of the story as
they go along.
The teacher can observe the pairs, and take notes on a checklist. They could also take photos (and
enter them into the portfolio) or video of the children working in pairs. The paired storytelling could
be private with each pair working at the same time and ignoring the others, or it could become a
paired performance (for assessment).
4. Character Voices
This is an easy activity to help your students practise using different character voices without
having to think of the words to say. Speaking with (interesting and) correct intonation is one of the
learning standards for Language Arts. Teacher can observe and keep a checklist.
Activity count to 10
Working with a partner, children take it in turns to try saying the numbers 1 to 10 in each of these
different styles. (Can you think of any others - ?)
1. As an angry parent (or teacher?) telling a child to obey right now.
2. As a young child learning to count maybe making mistakes and repeating and
correcting.
3. Its their party and they have a disappointing number of presents, count them.
4. They are the referee in a boxing match. One man is down, count him out.
5. It is a bad phone connection and they are trying to give someone their phone number
(which is 1234 5678 9 10)
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6. They are counting their coins that they have been saving up in their money-box.
5. Circle Stories
Circle time is a great opportunity to share stories and snippets of stories in a non-threatening
environment. There are a great many storytelling type games you can play such as The Emperors
Cat where each child repeats what the previous one says and adds a line.
Activity circle story
Choose a story the students know (because you have told them) and divide it into 6-10 parts.
Students sit in a circle (on a mat or on chairs), and each in turn around the circle tells one part of the
story. After the last part of the story, the next student starts the story again. If the class is very big,
there could be several smaller circles but it is better if everyone gets to listen to everyone else.
(You could use a set of story sequence cards to divide up the story.)
Teacher can observe, and keep a checklist.
6. Faces
This is another circle activity but this time students practise the storytelling art of showing a face.
Again the teacher can observe the students one by one as they have their turn.
Activity Pass the Face
Students sit in a circle (on a mat, or on chairs) which includes the teacher.
1. The teacher makes a face at the first student. The student copies the face, and turns to show
it to everyone in the circle.
2. The student then makes a different face at the second student.
3. The second student then copies the expression and shows everyone.
4. The second student then chooses a different facial expression to show to the third student.
7. Actions and Gestures
This is another circle activity for students to practice using actions and gestures.
Activity Catch It
Students stand in a circle which can include the teacher. (Once the game is underway the teacher
can move away and start observing and using a checklist.)
1. The first student (or the teacher) looks as something imaginary in their hands - a spider; a
cold, wet, slimy fish; a china teapot; a feather; a dinosaur; a balloon .... etc.
2. They call out another students name across the circle, and what it is that they are throwing
and call Catch it! For example: Faris! An egg! Catch it!
3. The catcher then thinks of a different object and throws it to someone else.
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8. Walk the Walk

Children can have a lot of fun practicing walking in different conditions. This encourages them to
visualize the situation, and can become an enjoyable part of a storytelling.
Activity - walking
Students have turns at demonstrating walking in different ways:
walking home from school knowing there are tons of chores waiting
through heavy sand;
barefoot from a very sticky and squishy swamp;
through a blistering hot desert;
through a scary place at midnight;
with your right foot in a cast;
through honey.
Storytelling Skill - Eye Contact

Shy children especially often struggle with maintaining eye contact with those they are not totally
comfortable with.
Model eye contact while you are talking to your students. Point out the eye contact you have
modelled. Just for fun, stare at each person in the room, have the children do the same.
Tell them they must try to make each listener feel as if the story is being told just for him or her, and
eye contact helps the listeners feel that way.
If the storytellers-in-training are too shy for eye contact, they can look at the tops of people's heads,
and often the listeners cannot tell the difference.
Exercise 1:
With your partner or group, invent a fun circle game involving eye contact.
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
Describe and demonstrate your game to the rest of the class.
How could observing this game be useful for assessment?
..................................................................................................................................................................
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Storytelling skill Using Pauses

When we are nervous its easy to be in a hurry to get through telling a story before we forget it.
Children also need to learn not to hurry, and to know the right moments to pause. These are good
opportunities to make good use of actions, props, facial gestures and special voices.
Exercise 2:
With your partner or group, invent a fun circle game involving pauses.
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................................
Describe and demonstrate your game to the rest of the class.
How could observing this game be useful for assessment?
..................................................................................................................................................................
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How and where to create portfolios

Teachers can be hampered in their preparations for childrens portfolios by decisions about the
actual physical format of the portfolios. There are many different options, and teachers choose
according to what they (or the school, or the students) can afford, as well as what is practical and
efficient.
Many teachers use stationary items such as:
Display books
Scrap Books
Loose leaf folders
etc.
Some schools have gone digital and use a rewriteable CD, others use online ePortfolios.
Here is one online example to consider and explore.
OpenSchool ePortfolio
Firstly, (most important!) Pricing:
Full-featured program for one teacher and unlimited students. Free - Beta version is now available.
Register now! - See more at: http://www.openschooleportfolio.com/pricing/#sthash.d4KuYken.dpuf
This is what they say about their website/program:
For authentic assessment and project-based learning
Interdisciplinary projects are the best way for students to really show what they know and how they
make connections. However, project-based learning does not lend itself to standardized assessment.
With our unique project and rubric creator, teachers can create and assess interdisciplinary projects
using a standards-based approach or teacher-created criteria. Teachers can draw from a library of
portfolio projects and publish their own best lessons for others to use and learn from.
For special education and ELL
Standardized assessments are inherently unfair to SPED and ELL students and may reinforce
underachievement. OpenSchool ePortfolio lets these students show abilities they have that may not
otherwise be measured by current standardized testing procedures. With the growing populations
of both of these groups of students, OpenSchool ePortfolio can paint a better, more holistic picture
of these students and their progress towards desired educational outcomes.
Internet Exercise:
Investigate OpenSchool ePortfolio. Would it be useful in the Malaysian Primary School
situation?
Are there other / better online ePortfolios?
Are there other ways you could create a digital portfolio for your students/
Are hard-copy portfolios better, or digital? Why?
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Portfolio assessments
Portfolios are practical ways of assessing student work throughout the entire year. With this
method, you can systematically collect descriptive records of a variety of student work over time
that reflects growth toward the achievement of specific curricular objectives. Portfolios include
information, sample work, and evaluations that serve as indicators for student performance. By
documenting student performance over time, portfolios are a better way to crosscheck student
progress than just one measure alone. Portfolios can include:
Samples of written student work, such as stories, completed forms, exercise sheets, and
descriptions
Drawings representing student content knowledge and proficiencies
Tapes of oral work, such as role-playing, presentations, or an oral account of a trip
Teacher descriptions of student accomplishments, such as performance on oral tasks
Formal test data, checklists, and rating sheets
Checklists or summary sheets of tasks and performances in the student's portfolio can help you
make instructional decisions and report consistently and reliably. Checklists can also help you collect
the same kind of data for each student. In this way you can assess both the progress of one student
and of the class as a whole.
In addition, here are a few ways that your ELLs can have an active role in the portfolio process:
Students can select samples of their work and reflect on their own growth over time.
You can meet with ELLs to develop their goals and standards.
Together with students, you can set tangible, realistic improvement goals for future projects.
Students as a class, in groups, or individually can create their own rubrics.
(Colorado, 2007)
Tasks
Work with a partner or group.
1. Discuss and create a set of criteria for portfolio assessment
rationalize each criterion
suggest suitable documentation.
2. Design aural-oral and written assessment using stories as a resource
discuss how these resources can be documented in the portfolio
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Codell, E. R. (2012). Storytelling! Retrieved Sept 10, 2012, from Planet Esme:
www.planetesme.com/storytelling.html
Colorado, C. (2007). Using Informal Assessments for English Language Learners. Retrieved July 10,
2013, from Colorin Colorado:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/assessment/informal/
Education.
Farr, R. (1991). Portfolios: Assessment in Language Arts. ERIC Digest. . Retrieved July 9, 2013, from
Search ERIC: http://searcheric.org/digests/ed334603.html
Ferguson, B. (2007). Early Years Starter Pack. Retrieved Sept 10, 2012, from Scottish Storytelling
Centre:
http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk/images/images/tasd/earlyyearsstarter.pdf
Freemantle, J. (2010, June 11). What do children need? Retrieved July 1, 2013, from Janet
Freemantle's Column: http://janetfreemantle.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/children-needstories/
Hamilton, M., & Weiss, M. (2005). Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom. In Children Tell
Stories. New York: Richard C Owen Publishers.
Malaysia.
Mynard, S. (2005). Storytelling in the Early Years. Retrieved Sept 10, 2012, from Teachng Expertise:
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/storytelling-in-the-early-years-1137
Storytelling Arts of Indiana. (2012). Teachers Guide: Teaching Storytelling. Retrieved Sept 10, 2012,
from Storytelling Arts of Indiana: http://www.storytellingarts.org/
Tannenbaum, J.-A. (1996). Practical ideas on alternative assessment for esl students. Retrieved July
9, 2013, from Centre for Applied Linguistics:
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/tannen01.html
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Topic 9: Storytelling Performance

1. Preparing to Present a Story
Some people can feel quite nervous before storytelling for the
first time, even to children. Naturally they want to do a really
good job and leave an ongoing good impression!
Here are some steps to walk through before making that first
presentation.
Credit is given to Jeff Gere and his Tell Well system in for
some of the steps provided here. (Gere, Storytelling Tools for
the Classroom, 2012)
a) Getting Started Visualisation
First we need to choose a story as has been discussed in previous sections. We could think of a
well-known folk-tale, or a story we have heard. We could choose a story we have read in a book. We
could make up a story or tell a personal experience.
We need to KNOW the story really well. That does NOT mean memorise it as such. Only memorise
the sequence of events.
And we need to be able to visualise it the scenes, the characters,
the actions. Visualise and be able to describe how each character
moves and talks.
We need to use imagination to make the story real and complete.
b) Mime
Most people find mime a little awkward and even difficult. But this is a
very important step in preparing the story for telling. As Gere says:
Bad storytelling is often static and word- based. Children respond to
physical movement and it enlivens the tales. Mime forces the
storyteller to start learning scenes and to visualize
the story.
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The facilitator should model how to mime a story first.

The storyteller needs to become the character and mime the action of the scenes.
After a demonstration by the facilitator, participants should go to a private spot nearby to mime and
once there they should close their eyes and explore the scenes in their story. Allocate a specific
amount of time (10 minutes should be enough) and tell participants to return promptly.
NOTE to facilitator
Participants may be quite comfortable to work in the course room as everyone is concentrating with
their eyes closed. This would make it possible to ring a bell or give some other signal for them to
return to their places.
c) Sound Effects
Hopefully by now no one is feeling embarrassed!

We want to add sound effects to the mime. NOT WORDS.
And we dont want the whole story to be a series of noises!
Select the parts of the story, the actions, that would benefit
from having sound effects added.
The facilitator should first model making sound effects. (yes, really!)
Encourage participants to experiment with various sound effects. People will find some sounds more
difficult than others. Work in groups to discuss the most suitable and recognisable sound effects to
make. (Page 9 in participants notes.)
d) Words
The important thing is not to lose the actions and sounds when we
add the words.
Facilitator should model this step.
Tell part of a story using actions, sound effects and words as well.
Putting it all together
The participants should now work in pairs, telling each other their stories using actions, sound
effects and words. The listener needs to give feedback. Facilitator should monitor.
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Listener Feedback
The partner needs to ask questions about parts that are difficult to visualise, if its not clear who is
speaking or what is happening.
Participants should each pair up with another partner and try again.
2. Telling the Story
Of course the following aspects of storytelling also need some

practice, but by now everyone is beginning to feel the need to
get on with telling the story.
a) Character Voices, Faces, and Placement
We have already practised movements and sound effects,

and had listener feedback to tell whether it was obvious
who was doing what in the story.
Dialogue can really liven up a story, but when telling the
story, it becomes tiresome for the narrator to be saying
Now the cat says and then the mouse says and then
the cat says
So to keep the audience informed about who is talking when, the storyteller needs to keep the
characters clear in space and in relation to one another. Each character should have a position
where the teller stands/sits/bends down, and each character should have specific facial expressions,
gestures, and voice quality pitch, gruffness, vocab range etc.
Facilitator should demonstrate this with a segment of story!
Participants consider a story with a couple of characters, and plan how to depict each one.
Discuss choices with their group / partner and if necessary adapt ideas.
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Reflection
Ideally you should watch yourself on video after presenting a story, and examine what went right as
well as wrong.
The children who are listening will reflect back to you on their faces how well you are doing. But
sometimes you can get so involved in the story and trying to remember all of the aspects of your
performance that its hard to even notice accurately what the children are feeling.
Naturally you should keep a reflections journal and write down the things you did notice. How you
felt before you started, as you went along, and how you felt after, and what you noticed about how
the children were feeling. This will only be useful to you later if you can pinpoint what might be
causing these reactions, the things you should try again and the things you should avoid.
In the workshop / class situation (at the IPG) when you are practicing, you should be working with a
partner. And then you should be able to be very honest with each other about how well your various
strategies are working. Is your diction clear? (Are you speaking too fast?) Are your gestures
meaningful or just silly? Are your voices distinct enough? Etc.
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Works Cited in this topic

Barbour, R. (2008). The Art of Storytelling. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from Scholastic Education:
http://education.scholastic.co.uk/content/2554
Education.
Gere, J. (2012). Storytelling Tools for the Classroom. Retrieved Jul 2, 2012, from Pacific Resources for
Education and Learning: http://www.prel.org/products/pr_/storytelling.htm
Malaysia.
McKay, H., & Dudley, B. (1996). Types of Story. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from Australian Storytelling:
http://www.australianstorytelling.org.au/txt/m-types.php
Story
Arts. (2000). Getting Started. Retrieved June 20, 2012,

from
Story
Arts:
Story
Arts. (2000). Retelling Folktakes. Retrieved June 20, 2012,

http://www.storyarts.org/classroom/retelling/index.html
from
Story
Arts:
Straker, D. (2008, March 2). Classic Story Types. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from ChangingMinds.Org:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/classic/classic.htm
Wiehart, G. (2013). Fiction Writing. Retrieved June 20,
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/Character.htm
2013,
from
About.com:
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Appendix Stories and Samples

The appendix contains scans of a variety of books and/or stories. These can be used as examples for
considering various aspects of the course so that no student has the excuse that they lack the
opportunity to look at examples.
To find more examples the students could:
Search on the Internet using the names of authors seen here, as well as authors mentioned
in other parts of the module.
Go to the library there is a room full of books to look through there.
Search for childrens books in a particular genre, or for a particular age-group.
Look in the primary school library.
Flip through some books in a book shop, and then follow up by searching for those titles or
authors.
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Appendix 1: The School Lunch Room

This is a printable story available from www.learningpage.com
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Appendix: 2. The Gruffalo

This is an excerpt from the famous book by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Alex Scheffler.
A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark

wood.
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked
good.
Where are you going to, little brown mouse?
Come and have lunch in my underground
house.
Its terribly kind of you, Fox, but no
Im going to have lunch with a gruffalo.
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He has terrible
tusks,
and terrible claws,
A gruffalo? Whats a gruffalo?

A gruffalo! Why, didnt you know?
Where are you meeting him?
And terrible teeth

in his terrible
jaws.
Roasted fox! Im off! Fox said.

Goodbye, little mouse, and away he sped.
Here, by these rocks,

And his favourite food is roasted fox.
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Silly old Fox! Doesnt he know,

Theres no such thing as a gruffalo?
...
(This is only the first part of the story)
(Wilson, 2006)
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Appendix: 3. Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

This is from Roald Dahls Revolting Rhymes. (Wilson, 2006)
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Appendix: 4. Beach Day
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(Lakin, 2004)
Look up other books by this writer.
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Appendix: 5. Goosebumps Horrorland
(Stine, 2009)
Search for other
stories
by
this
famous childrens
author.
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Appendix: 6. Things are Gonna Get Ugly
(Homzie, 2009)
Find other books by this author on the Internet.
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Appendix: 7. The Dark of Knight
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(Fullerton, 2010)
Can you find more books in this series, or more stories by this author?
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Appendix: 8. Kalulus Pumpkins
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(Medcroft, 2008)
Notice that this author just retold this story.
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Appendix: 9. Dangerous Work
(Noonan, 2000)
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Appendix 10: Goodnight Bobbie
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(Hawes, 1999)
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Appendix 11: Mrs Mogs Cats
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(Powell, 1999)
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Appendix 12: Vroom
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(Atkins, 1999)
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Appendix 13: FALLING BOY by Paul Jennings

Here is a list of things I am good at. A cross means no good. A tick means excellent.
Running x
Football x
Maths x
English x
I.T. Studies x
Girls x
Looks x
Skateboarding x
Being a dork
Bike Riding x
Drawing x
Washing Up x
Lawn Mowing x
Flying
Being a dork gets a tick because thats what I am. People think I am weird. Even Mum (although she
is nice about it). The kids at school basically avoid me. I spend most of the time at recess floating
around on my own.
The other kids dont seem to see things the same way as me. For example - once, our teacher, Jenny
took as all out onto the oval and told us to lie down on the grass.
Look up at the clouds, she said. Look for pictures and tell me what you see.
We all looked up at the clouds in silence.
Straight away I could see a cloud that looked like the girl who answers the phones at the car-wash on
Saturdays. I was crazy about her but she just turned away when I smiled at her through the window.
As we lay on our backs looking up I imagined lots of things. That bit of fluffy cloud up there was the
car-wash girls face. The white stuff was her hair flying out behind her. And the black cloud with the
white edges was the outline of her body. She was hanging onto my back as we plunged down to
earth. I was her parachute instructor and she was in love with me.
Just above that was a long stretch of thin cloud. That was a Concord jet with passengers staring out
in amazement as I free-fell towards the earth with the car-wash girl on my back.
My outstretched hands were joined to a group of small clouds. In my mind they were monkeys. No
one in the world had ever made a parachute ring with monkeys before. Especially the rare Chimpocricket monkeys with green tails and red bottoms that glowed in the dark. They communicated with
chirping sounds which they made by rubbing their long ears together. Like crickets.
Jennys voice interrupted my thoughts. Well, class, she said. What do you see in the clouds?
After a bit, Sean Green spoke up. A duck, he said.
A car, said Amanda Chow.
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A snake, said Oliver Jones.

They are all very good imaginings, said Jenny. What about you, Ricky? What do you see?
I made a big mistake. I told them. Everything. Even the bit about the car-wash girl.
When I had finished there was a long silence. Thats very good, said Jenny.
No one else thought so. Sean Green was circling his ear with one finger to show that I was crazy.
Amanda Chow just glared. This was especially hurtful. Girls didnt seem to like me. And I wanted
them to. What was the trick to it? I didnt have a clue.
Oliver Jones stuck one finger in his mouth and pretended to vomit.
I just dont get it. I told them what I saw. But no one else saw it. They dont like me. I wish I was one
of the crowd. But I am a loner.
I definitely get a tick for being a dork.
But there is one good thing on the list. Oh, yes, I also get a tick for flying. And thats because I can.
It all started when I was a little kid. I used to go leaping off small rocks. I would put my hands up in
the air like Superman and jump up a few centimetres. I wanted to fly. Oh, how I wanted to fly. It
wasnt so much for being up there with the birds or floating around in the clouds taking in the view.
I wanted everyone to see me. I wanted them to point up and say, Look at Ricky. Hes flying. I
wanted their eyes to bug out. I wanted them to faint with surprise. I wanted to be the most famous
person in the world.
Nothing ever happened though. Every time I jumped up I just landed back on my feet.
Once I tried it from the garage roof. I thought, Believe in yourself, Ricky.
Dad was always telling me that. Go for it, Ricky he used to say. Nothing ever happens unless you
take a risk.
So I climbed up the back fence and pulled myself onto the roof. It was a long way down. I closed my
eyes, yelled out, Gigantor at the top of my voice and leapt forward with outstretched hands.
After I got back from hospital I decided on a new approach.
From then on I tried using the power of my mind to lift myself up - levitation. I would screw up my
eyes and try to fly just by thinking about it. I would imagine my feet slowly rising as I chanted. Fly,
fly, fly.
It didnt work. But I didnt give up. Every day I would try again. Fly, fly, fly.
Once I was in the kitchen trying hard. I screwed up my and eyes and concentrated. I tried to lift my
feet off the floor. Just by brain power.
Fly, fly, fly, I said aloud.
At that very moment Mum walked in. Where? she said.
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Anywhere, I said. Just up.

Mum looked at the ceiling. I cant see it, she said.
See what? I said.
The fly. Theres a lot of them around this year.
No, I yelled. Not that sort of fly. Im trying to lift my feet off the ground. I want to fly. Up in the air.
Mum looked worried. Have you talked to your father about this? she said. I thought she was going
to tell me to have a talk to the school counsellor.
Im not, strange, I yelled. Dad said you can do anything if you try hard enough.
Well not everything, said Mum.
Is he a liar then?
No, he just gets carried away.
I believe him, I said. Im going to fly.
I dont think thats a good idea, said Mum.
Ill bet you fifty dollars, I said.
You havent got fifty dollars, said Mum.
She always has an answer for everything, does Mum. Its annoying.
I wagged my finger at her like she does sometimes. Dad always says, Put your money where your
mouth is.
No, she said. Im not going to bet. Instead of trying to fly, why dont you go up to your room and
clean it up?
For ten dollars? I said.
For nothing, said Mum. Its your room.
Im saving up to go to Water World and have a ride on the Super Sucker Water Slide. Every kid in my
class has been to Water World except me.
Mum snorted. Ive heard that one a million times before, she said. But I tell you what. If you stop
that silly business of trying to fly Ill take you to Water World.
I thought about it. I thought about it real hard. I really, really wanted to go to Water World and ride
the Super Sucker. But something inside me told me not to. I knew that one day I would fly.
No thanks, I said. Mum shook her head and looked at me in a worried way and walked out of the
kitchen.
I decided to try again. I closed my eyes, clenched my teeth and concentrated on rising up into the
air. I could feel my brain getting hot. I felt as if my skull was going to explode. My face was burning.
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Fly, fly, fly. I made a picture in my mind of my feet lifting off the ground. Nothing happened. I tried
even harder. I could just imagine my brains splattering on the walls if I didnt stop.
Harder, harder, harder. Fly, fly, fly.
Slowly my feet started to lift off the floor. It was amazing. I had lifted about fifty centimetres in the
air. It felt like walking on water. Whoo, hoo, I yelled. Look at me. Look at me. I can fly.
Mum rushed into the room followed quickly by Dad. I dropped to the floor like a stone.
What? What? What? she yelled.
I flew. I flew. Did you see it?
I saw you give a little jump, Ricky. Now she had a really worried look on her face. She must have
thought I was losing my marbles.
No, no, I flew.
Dont do it, said Mum. Join the football team or something sensible.
I did, I did it, I flew, I shouted. Watch this.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. Fly, fly, fly, I said to myself. Lift off the ground. Feet rise up.
My brain was boiling. My skull felt like the shell of a hand grenade about to go off. But nothing
happened. I gave it one last, desperate try. My toes tingled but I didnt move even a millimetre. I
groaned with the effort of it. But it was no use.
Stop, it, said Mum. You will do yourself an injury.
I opened my eyes. I did fly, I yelled. But even as I said the words I started to doubt. Was it a dream?
Was I going nuts? Did I really lift off the ground when she left me alone in the kitchen?
I did fly, I said. My feet ... The words trailed away.
I turned to Dad. Did you want to fly when you were a kid?
He nodded slowly.
Yes said Mum. But it didnt work for him, either.
What do you mean? I said.
Dont, said Dad. But Mum tightened her lips and kept talking.
It was when you were just a baby, Ricky. You know that old lady over the back fence?
Mrs Briggs?
Yes. Her kitten got stuck up the flag pole in the front yard. She was crying something terrible and
there was no one there to help. Except Dad. She rushed inside to call the fire brigade and while she
was gone he shinned up the pole like a monkey.
I stared at Dad with pride. You climbed a flag pole to save a kitten? You are a hero, Dad.
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Dad blushed.
Except, said Mum. That when Mrs Briggs came outside, the kitten was down on the ground and
your father was stuck up the top of the pole. He couldnt get down.
Thats enough, Mary, said Dad. He doesnt want to know all this.
Mum kept going.
Everyone in the street came to look. There he was a grown man sitting on top of a flag pole and
couldnt get down. By the time the fire brigade came to save him there were hundreds of people
watching.
Wow, I said.
Dad gave a little groan.
It was on the television, said Mum. We were a laughing stock. That cat had saved itself and
climbed down. And your father got stuck. The whole country knew that he climbed a flag pole and
couldnt get down. Thats how well he could fly.
She gave a little smile and then she added. But I still love him.
So do I, I said.
Believe in yourself, Ricky, said Dad.
I do, Dad, I said. I believe in myself.
I did fly. Just a bit. I lifted myself off the ground. But no one else knew.
No one at all.
*
The next morning I put on my back pack and walked slowly to school. I went through the park so that
I could try to lift myself off the ground with the power of thought. I didnt want anyone to see me
going red in the face and groaning with the effort.
I stopped half way across the park and checked things out. There was no one around only a
spotted dog with its head inside a rubbish bin. It was sniffing around for scraps.
I stood still and concentrated. Fly, fly, fly, I said under my breath. I could feel my ears growing hot. I
could feel my eyes throbbing. I could feel ... my feet lifting. I was doing it. I was really, really flying.
Not high, just a few centimetres off the ground.
Now I needed someone to see me. Now I needed someone to almost faint at the sight of my
amazing powers.
Look at me, I shouted to the empty park.
The dog looked. It pulled its head out of the bin and stared at me. And I plopped straight down to
the ground.
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I closed my eyes and tried again. I strained and strained but nothing happened.
I walked away from the dog and along the winding path. One more try. I would give it one more go.
There was nothing I wanted more than to get to school and demonstrate my flying ability.
I concentrated really hard. And once again it happened. Slowly I rose from the ground. I looked
around but there was no one in sight.
The word, forward sprung into mind. Slowly I began to move along the path floating just a few
centimetres above the ground. Higher, I said to myself. I rose about fifty centimetres more. I was
skating along the path and my feet werent even touching the ground.
This was amazing. This was fantastic. Incredible. It was like skidding along on ice except there was
nothing under my feet but air.
I flew around a tree. There was a sign saying, DONT WALK ON THE GRASS. I didnt. I flew out over it,
standing upright and just shooting along as if my body was filled with helium.
A gardener appeared from behind a bush. He stared at me. I fell heavily and crumpled onto the
grass.
Hey, he yelled. Cant you read? Get off there you little brat.
I ran to the other side of the lawn and disappeared into the bushes. I tried to make sense of it.
Sometimes I could fly and sometimes I couldnt. I needed to show someone. I needed someone to
believe in me. Then everything would be okay.
A far off beeping noise floated through the trees. It was the school bell. I was going to be late. There
would be big trouble if I was late.
Up, I said to myself.
Up I went. Not high. Just a little bit.
Forward, I said. I began to skid forward on nothing.
Faster, I said. I went faster.
I didnt say anything to myself, I didnt have to. I just thought it. Brain power was enough.
Faster and faster I sped through the park, standing straight up and skidding forward like a bishop on
a chess board. It was fantastic. The feeling of speed and power and lightness filled my head. I was
dizzy with happiness.
I sped along in silence. My heart was thumping. I was so excited. This was my big chance. Everyone
was going to see me fly. The school gate came into view.
There were kids all gathered around staring at something on the ground. No one was looking at me.
Except one little girl. She gave a gasp. I fell straight down and landed with a small plop. The little girl
shook her head and joined the other kids. They were all staring down into the ground. There was
orange netting surrounding a deep hole where workers had been digging for several days.
But there were no workers. Only kids.
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Whats going on? I said.

No one answered me so I looked for myself.
It was the spotted dog. It had fallen down the hole and was unconscious at the bottom. The little girl
started to cry. It was a very deep hole.
Suddenly a voice said, In to school everyone. Quick. We will call the fire brigade.
It was our teacher, Jenny. She picked up the little girl and headed for the school office.
Everyone shuffled in. Everyone except me.
I was alone at the edge of the hole.
Up, I said.
I floated up.
Forward. I was hovering over the hole. It was a long way drop to the bottom. I would die if I fell.
Down. I began to descend. Down, down, down.
It was dark and cold. I landed gently on my feet at the bottom of the hole. The dog was lying on its
side with its eyes closed. I gently picked it up and cradled it in my arms.
Up, I said.
Up I went. Up, up, up - nearly half way. The dog opened its eyes and stared at me.
Shoot. I began to fall. Crash. Smash. I hit the muddy bottom. Gees it hurt. My ankle was twisted and
every bone in my body jarred. I groaned in agony.
The little dog was okay, still cradled in my arms. I could hear shouting and yelling from above.
I get it, I said to the dog. Now I see.
I had to be quick.
I took off my back pack and tipped out my books. Then I put the empty pack over the little dogs
head. There was muffled barking but I ignored it.
Up,
Slowly I floated up. I stopped when my head was just below the top. I closed my eyes and gave
myself an instruction. Up, over the edge and down. Thats just what happened. To the amazement of
the teachers hurrying across the yard I seemed to just plop out of the hole with the dog.
Jenny took the dog from my arms. The other teachers peered down the hole.
How did you do that?
Its five metres deep and smooth.
Impossible.
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The kids a mountain goat.

A monkey more like it.
They were all patting me on the back.
You should have waited, said Jenny. It was dangerous.
How did you do it?
I flew, I said.
The teachers laughed.
He has a sense of humour too.
So I was a hero. Sort of. They stood me on the platform at school assembly. I was told off for
climbing down the hole because it was dangerous. And I was praised for bravery and climbing skills.
Everyone was nice to me. But no one believed I could fly.
Dad was waiting for me after school. As we walked home I told him the whole story. The true story. I
knew he wouldnt believe it.
We sat down on a bench just over the road from the town hall. The Australian flag flew from a pole
right up on the top. It was growing late and a man was just pulling the flag down. He wrapped it up
and went inside.
I know you dont believe me, I said to Dad. But I can fly.
How do you feel about that? he said.
Why did Dad say that? Its the sort of thing the school counsellor asks you. Why couldnt he just
believe me? I mean, I was a hero.
I thought for a bit. Its lonely, I said. No one else can do it. Not one person in the whole world.
Theres no one to talk to about it. No one to share the fun. Or the scary bits. No one to help or give
advice.
Dad nodded but didnt say anything. He didnt even seem to be listening but I went on with what I
was saying.
There are lots of people in the world who play violins or lay bricks or build houses or climb
mountains and they can all talk to each other about it. But I am the only one who can fly in the air.
The only one. And no one believes me. Not even Mum. Or you.
Dad stared at the footpath. Finally he spoke.
Close your eyes.
What?
He looked along the empty street. Just do it. Close your eyes and count to ten.
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I did as he said. When I reached ten I opened my eyes. He was gone. I looked to the left. I looked to
the right. Nothing. No one. Not a soul in sight.
Up here, came Dads voice.
I looked above my head. Still nothing. Then I stared at the top of the town hall. And saw him.
Perched on the flagpole way up above the clock. Sitting up there and not a cat in sight.
How did you ... ?
Close your eyes and count again, He yelled.
I did what he said but when I got to five and opened my eyes I could see that he was still coming
down. Slowly, slowly like an upright soldier being lowered with invisible hands. He was about two
metres above the ground. As soon as my eyes took in the sight he fell like garbage bag full of rocks.
Ouch, he screamed as he hit the footpath.
Dad, I shouted. Sorry, I looked too soon.
He stood up and dusted himself down. There was a moment of silence. Then he smiled at me.
I hate that bit of it, he said.
I grinned.
Me too, I said. The flying is fantastic...
We both finished the sentence together. ... but we have to smooth out the landings.
Gees we laughed.
Life was great. Really great.
*
PS Dad and Mum took me to Water World for saving the dog. The Super Sucker Water Slide was
good.
But not nearly as good as flying.
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Works Cited in this Module

Atkins, J. (1999). Vroom. Melbourne : Rigby.
Fullerton, C. (2010). Ben 10 Alien Force: The Dark of Knight. New York: Scholastic.
Hawes, A. (1999). Goodnight, Bobbie. Melbourne: Rigby.
Homzie, H. (2009). Things are Gonna Get Ugly. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Jennings, P. (2010). Falling Boy. Retrieved June 30, 2013, from Paul Jennings:
www.pauljennings.com.au/files/FallingBoyDownloadVolume1c.pdf
Lakin, P. (2004). Beach Day. New York: Scholastic.
Medcroft, A. (2008). Kalulu's Pumpkins. Melbourne: Rigby.
Noonan, D. (2000). Dangerous Work. Melbourne: Rigby.
Powell, J. (1999). Mrs Mog's Cats. Melbourne: Rigby.
Stine, R. L. (2009). Goosebumps Horrorland. New York: Scholastic.
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Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Dato Razali Ismail

Stories for Young

Ruth Wickham, Brighton Education Training Fellow, IPGKDRI

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

References for this Topic ............................................................................................................. 22

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Works cited in this Topic .............................................................................................................. 61

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Technique 1: Classic Oral Repeated Reading .......................................................................... 105

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Works cited in this topic ............................................................................................................ 127

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

2. Telling the Story ..................................................................................................................... 154

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Stories for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Topic 1: Importance of Stories for Young Learners

Who is this book for?

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

In her book on Storytelling in Teaching, Green writes the following:

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

stories create interest and fuel curiosity,

Top 10 Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children

Features of childrens stories

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Basic Creative Tools

Tell a personal or family story

First Steps to Retelling a Plot

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

a goal he/she will work to achieve

Give an example of a storyline or plot in a traditional story:

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Works Cited in this Topic

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Topic 2: Exploration of Types of Stories

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Genres of Childrens Literature

Nonfiction: Books of information about a variety of topics in the real world:

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Classic Story Types

Action: Non-stop chasing, fighting, etc.

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Story Genres for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Exploring Story Types

The School Lunch Room

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Exercise 2. Explore and Select

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

References for this Topic

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Topic 3: Stories and the teaching contexts in the primary English

World of Self, Family and Friends;

Theme: World of Knowledge

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

LGA3103 Stories for Young Learners

Topics in the KSSR texts (year 1, 2, 3)