Discussion Task #1: Getting Ready for Story-telling


Discussion Task #1: Getting Ready for Story-telling

I think it’s important to create an atmosphere in which the students are comfortable and eager to listen. I also believe that it is important to help the children engage with the story by having them gesture and make sounds to go with the story. After a story, it’s best to follow-up with songs and rhymes and other activities done in a circle that relate to the story
 
For a toddler story-time, I believe it is best for them to sit on the floor in a semi-circle in front of the story-teller. (with their moms, as needed).
 
Begin each story-time with fun finger plays and rhymes that the children know:
 (Where is Thumbkin?; Itsy, Bitsy Spider; If You’re Happy and You Know it;  etc.). Using the same rhymes each week helps them become more familiar with the story-time routine, and they also become comfortable with the rhymes and language patterns.
 
To get young students to settle, use ‘Open, Shut Them’. This rhyme helps them learn to place their hands in their laps and focus their attention before the story begins.
 
When telling a story, as much as possible, try to engage the toddlers in the story. Plan to use gestures that students can imitate and sounds that they can make.
 
Choose repetitive stories like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, help the very young children begin to recognize and say familiar sentence patterns. The Brown Bear, Brown Bear book, which has a sliding door, is great. It reveals one animal per page. You can create anticipation by slowly opening the sliding door and encouraging the children to predict what animal it will be. If they can only think of the animal sound or the name of the animal in their native language, accept that and then say the English name of the animal for them. Be sure to let the children say the sound that each animal makes, too! It makes the story more fun!

Comments

  1. Maha ZakariaApril 23, 2016 at 10:07 AM

    Very nice ideas here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maria BossaApril 23, 2016 at 10:10 AM

    wowowowowow thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Juan UribeApril 24, 2016 at 4:29 AM

    Karen, 

    I was able to get transported to your room with these lovely children and their moms. 

    I like how you open with grace by having a finger rhyme they can all participate by doing the finger movements. Also having them make the animals sounds lets students participate even if they do not have the English words to express themselves. 

    As you have pointed out, bringing repetition is essential to children who are learning the language. The repetition not only exposes children to the vocabulary and structure many times, but also allows them to produce these when the story is being told the first or second time. 

    What would you tell the animals in the book, Karen?

    ReplyDelete

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