Teacher Training Course –

Human beings are narrative beings. We live, learn, love, hate, gossip, lie, dream in narrative form. All we want is a good story to talk about… to think about… to be part of…

Stories and ESL Increase motivation and communication.  Help Ss enrich their vocabulary and develop listening skills.  Raise Ss linguistic awareness of the foreign language. Develop Ss’ literary competence. Stimulate & develop the imagination.

Before Reading Raise your Ss’ curiosity about the story: Help Ss make predictions about the story (use mime/pictures/ posters/ flash cards/ words/ sounds/ songs). Introduce the characters. (show pictures and ask “Who is this person?”; “Why is he/she doing this?”; “What has happened?” “How is he/she feeling?”)

Before Reading Pre-teach vocabulary. Introduce difficult words. Play BINGO with vocabulary / pictures / characters of the story.

While Reading Be creative – Have fun: use mime and gestures. Elicit the story through questions or cues. Ask the Ss to: Predict: order pictures, words or sentences Ask Ss to Repeat; Complete; Correct. Stop before the end, ask the Ss to predict the continuation or the end. Compare with the real end.

After Reading Ask Ss to match who said/did what. Retell the story with their participation. Ask Ss to retell/continue the story. Rewrite; make a story book. Order lines/ words / pictures. spot the mistake as you retell the story. Do craftwork; role play.

After Reading Ask Ss to come up with different titles for the story. Repeat quotes from the story, ask “who said it”. Let the Ss draw a picture about their favorite part of the story.  Allow the Ss to dress up like the character and do what they did. (If they made cookies, allow them to make/decorate cookies).  Ask Ss to report the story as a TV/radio journalist.  Interview one of the characters.  Write the diary of a character.

Resources – Online Stories