Do you want to start using stories in the preschool ESL classroom but don't know where to start?  There are many super preschool activities for ESL classrooms, including games and songs, but it is also very important to not discount the power of stories.  

Children are captivated by stories and can internalise vocabulary and the structure of language while listening to them.  Whether you're reading a classic book, making up a story as you go along or designing a story specifically for a particular lesson, you'll want to be sure to include stories in the preschool ESL class every day.

One of the reasons why stories work so well in the ESL preschool classroom has to do with intrinsic motivation.  Intrinsic motivation is the theory that people are motivated by internal factors.  

Children of preschool age 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.   Simply put this means that preschool children must enjoy your classes or they will not be motivated to participate and learn.

As children already love stories listening to stories, you are half way there to intrinsically motivating them.  The rest depends on how good the story is, how interesting and colourful the illustrations are, and how you tell it.  

There are so many ways to use stories in the classroom that the possibilities are practically endless.  Here are some ideas and tips to help you effectively use stories in your preschool ESL classroom:

Teach Vocabulary  

Before you use a story in the ESL preschool classroom, it is beneficial to teach the students the key vocabulary words to help them follow the story.  The story can therefore serve as a basis for learning vocabulary words.  It goes deeper than that, however.  The students will not just "learn" the words, they will immediately see how the words are used and hear them in context of the language.  This is so much more beneficial to the students than simply memorizing a list of words.

Be Creative   
 
Whenever you tell a story allow your creativity to show through.  Have fun with it and go with the flow. Make animal sounds, change your voice, sing little songs and, most of all, use gestures.  Have the children join in with you when it comes to animal sounds, songs and gestures, or give them props to touch during the story telling.  This is known as total physical response or TPR, which engages the children fully and allows them to feel or relate more deeply to the words, so they are more likely to remember them.

Practice reading the story before you read it to students.

• Think of a different voice you can use for each character.

• Practice the intonation. For example, if the child in the story is sad, make your voice sound sad.

• Use the cover of the storybook to help children learn to predict what the story will be about.

• As you read the title and run your finger under it, ask children to think what the story will be about. Ask for their predictions. Write some of their predictions on the board.

TPR in the primary classroom

The basis of Total Physical Response is seen in every day, in every classroom, in every school, in every country around the world. It is based on the idea that the natural response to understanding a command is a physical response.

A child will be willing to demonstrate comprehension through a physical action long before he/she is willing to give a linguistic response.

The use of real objects in the classroom and the use of picture flashcards allows the teacher and children to respond to language long before they can respond linguistically.

The secret is simple. Physical responses are very good ways to respond to language you have understood. Physical actions bring language to life and make it easier to remember.

Ideas for TPR activities can be found in many textbooks and teachers who like TPR techniques can apply them with all teaching materials. Eko and Tina is a good example of this. Go to Resources for a sample activity.

Total Physical Response techniques are very useful to teachers of young children particularly before they begin to read and write. But do not think that TPR techniques cannot be used when teaching adult business people. TPR is useful for all learners and teachers.

Characteristics	Implications	Need
Pre-school or just beginning school	Not used to classroom conventions	Training in class routines e.g listening to teacher
Limited motor skills	Clumsy control of pen / scissors etc.	to develop motor control e.g. colouring, copying
Learning holistically	Whole child needs stimulation	opportunities to move, sing, play, explore, touch etc
Cannot distinguish between different parts of language	Cannot analyse language	Exposure to *chunks of language e.g. chants, stories, classroom language
Limited reading/writing skills in L1	Introducing reading/ writing in English	Lots of listening, speaking activities Fun introduction to English letters and words
See no need to communicate in English	Students use L1 exclusively	Reasons to speak English e.g. games, chants
Love stories, fantasy	Bored with many topics	Stories, fantasy, fun

chunks of language = words that naturally come together e.g. `thank you very much', `glass of water', `have a nice day' -  that are easily learnt, repeated and do not need analysis. 

Chants

Chants are great as children

• learn to work together

• pick up chunks

• get to listen to lots of meaningful language

• have a reason to use English

• find them funny

• move their body

• enjoy repeating them

Chants are easy to make up. I made this one up for my 5-6 year olds. They had already begun learning animals. We chanted it together and did actions for the different animals. (pretended to splash water etc)  

• My name's Fred and I'm a frog - jump, jump, jump

• My name's Kate and I'm a cat - miaow, miaow, miaow

• My name's Fergie and I'm a fish - splash, splash, splash

• My name's Micky and I'm a mouse - squeak, squeak, squeak

• My name's Benny and I'm a bird - flap, flap, flap

This is a lovely chant with a rhythm that children enjoy. They can stretch their arms out to show `big' and bring their hands close together to show `little'. It also helps to develop:

Motor skills - children will enjoy colouring in the pictures that come with the chant. Colouring demands concentration, eye/hand coordination and hand control - all important pre-writing skills  

Word recognition - when beginning word recognition they can draw a line between the animal words - cat, mouse etc and the and the pictures

 

Songs

Classic songs like Old MacDonald had a farm (see related pages below) are very popular with young children. This is a version of the song that encourages students to produce long vowel sounds. It also practises the numbers one to four.  Farms are pretty universal. Young students enjoy making the animal noises and farm animals are a nice lexical set.

To create a nice wall display, get children to draw their favourite farm animal and the teacher (or a child who draws quickly and finishes their animal) can draw a big farm to paste the animals onto. More animals can be added later as well as a farmer etc. Once they begin writing, students can label the different animals.

Stories

There are many story books based on animals. Children love listening to stories about animals especially If there are colourful, child-friendly visuals to help them follow the story. You can also use cuddly animal toys while story-telling to get and hold the children's attention.  

Games

Children all love games. 4 - 6 year olds have still to develop cooperative skills, so introducing games that involve turn-taking helps to develop these skills. Do not despair if they get impatient or want to take each other's turns - they are still learning to be less egocentric and need lots of opportunities to allow these skills to develop (see related pages The animal game below).

The first version of the game is appropriate for 4 - 6 year olds as they simply have to count out the steps of the game according to what their dice lands on and then name the animal on the spot.  

Cutting and colouring

See related pages How things work below. The students get to create a herd of elephants by cutting out an elephant and naming him/her. They can also colour it in. They can practise the `What's your elephant called?'  & `He's / She's called….'

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