![\"img_3377\"](\"http:\/\/www.languages4kidz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_3377-800x598.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReading to very young learners is an effective and enjoyable way to expose them to a foreign language. Children of all ages love to be read to.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When you read out loud, you are teaching about communication, and helping young children build their listening and memory skills. You are giving them information about the world. You are introducing them to concepts and vocabulary in a fun way, and you are helping them develop skills in the target language by imitating sounds, recognizing images, and learning words. Moreover, children will not just “learn” the words, they will immediately see how the words are used and hear them in a meaningful context. This is so much more beneficial to the children in your group than simply memorizing a list of words.<\/p>\n
Stories are perfect for teaching young EFL\/ESL learners because children already love stories and are already motivated at the thought of listening to one.<\/p>\n
Reading invites children to look, point, touch, and answer questions \u2014 all of which promote social development and thinking skills.<\/p>\n
Stories play a crucial role in children\u2019s language-learning, not only because of children\u2019s natural interest in stories, or their appeal to their imagination, but also because stories embody<\/p>\n
a narrative structure of discourse which can be useful for<\/p>\n
learning more in general.<\/p>\n
In your classes Story Time can be an important tool for providing a basis for the development of the target language.<\/p>\n
![\"img_3467\"](\"http:\/\/www.languages4kidz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_3467-800x598.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Helpful suggestions for conducting Story Time<\/i>:<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let children predict Story Time<\/i> by inviting them to help you set the story blanket.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Help everyone find a comfortable space.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Make sure everyone can see the book.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Present the book with lots of enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Read the title and author.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Talk about the pictures on the front page.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Make sure you look both at the book and the children.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Read slowly and clearly.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Read with expression, open your eyes wide, look surprised and smile.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Use your voice in many ways, pitching it higher or lower, or using different voices and talking excitedly to catch<\/p>\n
children\u2019s attention and making the story more interesting.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Use different gestures and motions to keep children interested.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus on the illustrations and emphasize the rhythms and rhyming words as you read.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Invite parents and their children to participate by filling in words, using expressive voices, answering easy, basic questions, pretending and role playing.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Invite children to anticipate each page by using a \u201cwonder, what\u2019s next\u201d look on your face.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask for understanding as you read the stories. Look for signs that show comprehension, such as a nod or a comment.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Try to present the selections chosen in a different way each time you read them.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Allow your creativity to show through. Make animal sounds, change your voice, sing little songs and, most of all, use gestures. Have fun and invite children to imitate you and have fun as well.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Teach them a song that goes along with the theme of the story.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Teach them actions to go along with the songs.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let them act out parts of the story.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Provide props and outfits that encourage them to dress up like characters in the story and do things the characters in the story did. So, if the characters in the story decorated cookies, give them some time to decorate cookies.<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Have the students draw a picture about their favorite part of the story. Have them show it to the class during<\/p>\n
\u201cshow and tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Read the same stories over and over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reading to very young learners is an effective and enjoyable way to expose them to a foreign language. Children of all ages love to be read to. When you read out loud, you are teaching about communication, and helping young children build their listening and memory skills. You are giving them information about the world. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":13120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languages4kidz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}