Using Stories in the ESL Classroom
by Shelley Vernon

 
Do you want to use stories in the preschool ESL classroom but don't know where to start?
There are many great pre-k activities for ESL classrooms, including games, but don’t discount the power of stories. Whether you're reading a classic book, making up a story as you go along or designing a story for a particular lesson, you can include stories in the preschool ESL class every day.

Motivation

One of the reasons why stories work so well in the ESL preschool classroom has to do with intrinsic motivation: the theory that people are motivated by internal factors. Young children do not understand the external factors that might motivate an adult to decide to learn a second language. So as a teacher it's up to you to create a classroom that internally motivates them to participate in the activities and, ultimately, learn the language you are teaching.
Stories are perfect for teaching young ESL students because children already love stories and are already motivated at the thought of listening to one. And when children listen to stories, they’re able to internalise the language structure.
Eventually they will begin recognize words and phrases they hear in the stories. Besides, there are endless ways to use them in the classroom. Here are some possibilities

 Teach Vocabulary

Before you use a story in the ESL preschool classroom, you'll need to teach the students the key vocabulary needed to follow the story. The students will both "learn" the words, and immediately see how they are used. They will also hear them in context of the language. This is much more beneficial than simply memorizing a list of words.

Varying Classroom Activities

 
Telling a story adds variety to your lessons in terms of content and pace. Preschoolers don't have a terribly long attention span, so you'll want to change your activities every five to ten minutes. That's a great length of time to spend telling a story.
You'll also want some activities to burn all that preschool energy. To keep the class from getting out of control, use a story after a boisterous activity. This allows everyone enough time to settle down before moving onto something else.
And remember that you’re young students will enjoy you telling the same stories over and over again.

 

Be Creative

 

Have fun with your story and go with the flow. Make animal sounds, change your voice, and sing little songs – perhaps some of your students will join in. Most important of all, use gestures.
 

Introduce Other Activities

 
Stories are a great jumping board for other activities. While following a story you could:
 
* Give each student a picture that depicts the events of the story and have them line up in order of the events.
 
* Have the students come up with different titles for the story.

* Repeat quotes from the story and ask the students "Who said it?"
 
* Leave off the ending of the story. Let the students predict what they think will happen. Compare with the ‘real’ ending
 
* Encourage the children to look for patterns in the story. Let them guess, for example, what character will say.
 
* Teach them a song that goes along with the theme of the story.
 
* Teach them actions to go along with the songs.
 
* Let them act out parts of the story.
 
* Allow them to dress up like characters in the story and do the things they did. If they decorated cookies, let the children decorate cookies.
 
* Tell a story to introduce a new unit.
 
* Give the students three events in the story and ask them what came first.
 
* Let the students draw a picture about their favourite part of the story and then explain it to the class.
 
* Let the students tell about a similar experience they might have had.
 
There are so many things you can do with stories in the ESL classroom. Just let your imagination go and soon so will the imaginations of your students!
For ideas to help you get started and free materials on using games in the preschool classroom go to onhttp://www.teachingenglishgames.com/3-5.htm .

  
Shelley Vernon has helped 1000s of teachers be an inspiration to their pupils.
Improve the effectiveness of your lessons and enjoy yourself more.
Receive free preschool ESL games and stories now on http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/3-5.htm