Developing Language and Literacy through storytelling

1. Why Tell Stories to
Kindergarten Children
Training Co-ordinator
Mrs. Nasreen Farah Javed

2. Rationale
 The food we eat makes our bodies
and the stories we hear make our
minds’.(Wright, 1995)

3. Introduction
 Storytelling, as used today, often refers to an
interactive experience between a teller and a
listener.
 Among the techniques and methodologies available
to the teacher,. Storytelling is a superb methodology
in the modern language classroom for the
communicative approach and in keeping with
Modern Language
 It serves as a platform to develop the two strands
of the modern language curriculum - language
awareness and cultural awareness.

4. Benefits of Storytelling:
Stories can:
• enhance children's’ motivation to learn the modern
language by stimulating their imaginations and
their involvement in the storytelling process.
• help children to look at life from different
viewpoints and imagine what it feels like to be
someone else
• link to other subjects in the curriculum and present
opportunities for cross curricular integration

5. Benefits of Storytelling
 help children to develop their thinking skills.
• provoke a shared response thereby developing
pupils’ social skills facilitate the acquisition and
revision of vocabulary and structures.
 Most of the new language in stories is perfectly
contextualized and it is usually repeated more
than once so that the listener has more than one
opportunity to understand the meaning.

6. Benefits of Storytelling
 enhance the development of the child’s literary
competence i.e. the child’s ability to understand
and enjoy literature.
• help to develop children’s intercultural
awareness through their experience of culturally
specific stories. A carefully selected story can
give information about life in the target country.

7. Benefits of Storytelling
 improve pupils’ pronunciation through an
enhanced awareness of the rhythm and intonation
of the modern language
• promote communicative exchange between the
storyteller and his/her audience by inviting the
audience to collaborate in predicting the end of the
story.
 composing an alternative ending and giving a
summary of the story to that point develop pupils’
appreciation of a variety and range of accents
through listening to stories on CDs/DVDs.

8. Benefits of Storytelling
 Stories both entertain and impart wisdom.
 I can teach my children in an unique way that
they will want to listen and remember.
 Storytelling ignites the imagination.
 It fosters listening and comprehension skills.
 It teaches speaking skills. Shortly after
beginning to make up stories for my five-year-
old, he wanted to make up stories to tell me!

9. Benefits of Storytelling
 Storytelling is part of our language arts, which
is a vital part of any person’s education!
 Stories help people understand their place in the
world. For children, stories can help them
understand who they are and the world they
live in.
 It’s relaxing. A stress-reducer!

10. Benefits of Storytelling
 Storytelling provides valuable one-on-one time
with the teller and listener(s). Telling stories to
children is an expression of love.
 Similarly, storytelling connects people and
communities. It’s a positive form of
communication that fosters compassion and
understanding.
 Stories preserve cultures, beliefs and values and
shares those cultures, beliefs and values with
the rest of the world.

11. What can storytelling offer?
Children have an innate love of stories. Stories
create magic and a sense of wonder at the
world. Stories teach us about life, about
ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a
unique way for students to develop an
understanding, respect and appreciation for
other cultures, and can promote a positive
attitude to people from different lands, races
and religions.

12. Performance techniques
Telling a story can captivate an audience…that is,
with the right techniques and a little practice:
 Remembering and retelling the plot:
 map the plot as a memory technique
 use story skeletons to help you remember the
key events.
 think of the plot as a film or a series of
connected images.

13. Performance techniques
 tell yourself the story in your own
words
 create your own version of the story
(adapt and improvise)
 retell it numerous times until it feels
like a story.

14. Guideline for Storytelling:
 vary the volume, pitch and tempo of your voice
(enunciate clearly and exaggerate expression)
 use your face, body and gestures (let your body
speak)
 make your body and face respond to the tale
 have a clear focus and maintain concentration

15. Guideline for Storytelling:
 maintain engaging eye contact with the audience/
individual listeners
 create a charismatic presence (make the audience
believe in you)
 use different, exaggerated character voices
 use your space/ be dynamic
 remember to pace yourself
 always remember to regain your style as a narrator
 use silence and pauses to add dramatic effect.

16. Types of Stories:
 Fables
 Fairy Tales
 Legends
 Myths
 Parables
 Personal Stories
 Religious Stories
 Tall Tales
 Traditional Stories

17. Activity:
 Telling stories using the big book.

18. Conclusion: A last word…
 Young Learners share a remarkable variety of
personal experiences, values and ways of
understanding. The language they learn in the
classroom is the tool they use to shape their
thoughts and feelings. It is more than a way of
exchanging information and extending ideas, it is
their means of reaching out and connecting with
other people. Stories can link not only between the
world of classroom and home but also between the
classroom and beyond. Stories provide a common
thread that can help unite cultures and provide a
bridge across the cultural gap.