STORYTELLING

Story telling is the oldest form of education. People around the world have always told tales as a way of passing down their cultural beliefs, traditions and history to future generations.

WHY THEY ARE SO IMPORTANT IN INFANT EDUCATION?

I am agree with some of Mathev James points when he talks about storytelling.  I think that some of his benefits of using storytelling in kindergarten are:

●       Inspires purposeful talking, and not just about the story -- there are many games you can play.

●       Raises the enthusiasm for reading texts to find stories, reread them, etc.

●       Initiates writing because children will quickly want to write stories and tell them.

●       Enhances the community in the room.

●       Improves listening skills.

●       Really engages the boys who love the acting.

●       Is enjoyed by children from kindergarten to the end of elementary school.

●       Gives a motivating reason for English-language learners to speak and write English.

Us we can see stories are effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore remember. Storytelling can be seen as a foundation for learning and teaching. While the story listener is engaged, they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a transformative and empathetic experience. This involves allowing the individual to actively engage in the story as well as observe, listen and participate with minimal guidance. Listening to a storyteller can create lasting personal connections, promote innovative problem solving and foster a shared understanding regarding future ambitions.

In class we have seen the main reasons for using storybooks and storytelling. These reasons are:

●       Stories are motivating, appealing and a source of positive attitudes. 

●       Storytelling in the classroom becomes a social experience where emotions and feelings are expressed. Therefore, social and emotional development is encouraged. 

●       Children identify with the characters and become personally involved in the story. 

●       Cultural information can be transmitted and cross-cultural comparison encouraged. 

●       Learning strategies can be worked (e.g. listening for general meaning, hypothesising, predicting, etc.). 

●       Rhythm and intonation can be improved. 

●       English can be connected to other subjects by means of stories. 

●       Creativity is encouraged. 

●       Structures and vocabulary can be presented and practised. 

●       Input that is a little beyond the learner’s current level of competence can be provided. 

●       Children can deal with ideas and important topics. 

●       Different types of intelligences can be developed.

A BIT LOST

WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK

I chose this book because it´s one of my favourites stories and I like the values that it transmit (helping each other) and I think that it is important that children learn to help others since they are young.

I like this book also because of the illustrations. They are so simple and the author try to focus the pictures in main actions. It makes it easy to understand the plot and helps you follow the story. For this reason I believe that it is a good book for second language learners. 

SUM UP

Little Owl must be more careful when he is sleeping...Uh-oh! He has fallen from his nest, and with a bump he lands on the ground. Where is his mummy? With the earnest assistance of his new friend Squirrel, Little Owl sets off in search of her, and meets a sequence of other animals. He takes the little owl to a bear, a rabbit and a frog.   But only the frog knows where owl’s mummy is and they finally find her. 

AUTHOR

The writer and the illustrator of this book is Chris Haughton. This book it is the first picture book that he made. This book has been translated into over twenty languages and has won many international awards, including the Premio Andersen Award.

As an illustrator, he said in his web page: “I need to simplify everything to communicate something very elemental. So I try to find the very essence of a story and strip everything else back. One of the things I’ve been trying with my books is to tell stories as much as possible through images rather than through words. If the story can be read without language, it should have the ability to be understood by the very young.”

This is one of the main reason because I choose this book. I consider that children can receives second languages inputs while they are understanding the hall story because of the illustrations.

BOOK´S ILUSTRATIONS

Now focusing on the illustration, I would say that they are cool and quite unusual for a children’s picture book. But I like them because they are simples and almost child-like. They focus in the main action and they don´t have distractive pictures in the back ground, for this reason I consider that this book is a great idea to teach a second language.

I think that the illustrations in this book are useful and are created for people who don´t know how to read yet or don´t understand the language. This artist as we know have the ability to make books that you can understand only with the illustrations that accompany the text.

For this reason I think that it is a good book for second language learners and if you do a storytelling whit it the listeners can learn a lot because they are going to understand the story and receive at the same time a lot of inputs.

Now talking about the way that he made the book I will say that blue, orange and green are the predominant colours.

The letters are big and uniform and It is a bit insolate in the text, for this reason I could say that it is highlighted in the book. They use sort and easy sentences in the pages.

AGE

Now thinking about the best age to do a storytelling whit this book using a second language, I would say that the perfect age is 3-4 years old. Because it´s a simple story that they could understand easily with the help of the pictures.

But we know storytelling can be adapted to all ages, leaving out the notion of ages segregation. Like we learnt in this subject, storytelling can be used as a method to teach ethics, values and cultural norms and differences. Learning is most effective when it takes place in social environments that provide authentic social clues about how knowledge is to be applied. Stories work as tools to pass on knowledge in a social context.

PREPARING STORYTELLING

The first think I thought about was the introduction. Because from my point of view it is the most important thing.

For these reason I read the scripts in model and I watched some videos on Youtube about a good storytelling introduction.

Finally I talked about it with one friend and she helped me to think about the best introduction possible. We got to the point of doing it with a plush owl and a song. We thought that it was the best idea to keep children´s attention.

I believe that with this book we can work and introduce the question. For this reason I worked a lot in the intonation.  But we worked a little bit the description too.

Focusing now in vocabulary I could say that the book uses easy and basic words. With this book they can learn some animal’s nouns, some adjectives…

Another thing that I like about the book is that the story can be related to the pupils ‘personal experience. Because they could feel like the baby owl when they get lost and they can´t find their mother. And for this reason they would understand more easily the story, because they identify with baby owl and it is a way to pay more attention.

But I am scared of concentrating on the story and forget the listeners. For this reason I think the best way to interact with the audience is by doing questions like: what do you think is going to happen? Or How would he be feeling now?

STEPS TO PREPARE

When finally I chose and found the book and I have it physically, I began to read it in silence and searching some words that I don´t know how to pronounce properly.

When I finished it I began to do some annotations about some ideas of how can I do a storytelling with it. I thought about: the introduction, how to participate with the audience, the best way to finish.

Then I begin to read it aloud whit some intonation and sense of drama. I practice it with the brainstorming’s sheet next to me and I was writing some ideas during it.

When I learnt the structure of the story I wrote it in a paper and I continue practicing, this time focusing on the pictures and how I can show them to the audience. Because I think that in this book the pictures are so important and they really help you to understand the story.

The most difficult think to me was thinking about the best way to conclude because I watched some videos on internet about it, but I didn´t get any ideas. Then I thought that what I really want is for children to comment on the story till the end. And this book can help you do this. So I think that I am going to conclude my storytelling with a question.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

·        https://www.chrishaughton.com/