Story -telling

for Young Learners

by Annie Tostevin The following ideas are based on "The Frog Family" story from Young Learners by Sarah Phillips (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993 - in the Resource Books for Teachers series). Materials For both lessons: Flashcards made from photocopies of the frogs and lily pad (see pp. 28-29 and 3435). Note: these have been reduced in size to fit in The Journal. You can enlarge them again. Scissors and glue, enough for a set per pair Just for lesson 1: A large blue sheet of card (to represent a pond) A photocopy of the text, frogs and lily pad Copies of worksheets l a (p. 30) and lb per pair of students Copies of worksheets 2 (p.31) and 3 (p.32), enough for one per student Just for lesson 2: A copy of the text cut up into sections Copies of worksheet 4 (p.33) per pair of students Sheets of plain white paper Preparation Make the photocopies as indicated in 'Materials'. With the photocopy of the text, frogs and lily pad. make a 'Big Book' (one page per section of text - 16 sides in all) for initial telling of the story and for students to refer to during activities. Procedure Level Age Time Beginners 6- to 10-year-olds 2 lessons of 50 minutes each

Lesson 1 1 On the floor in the middle of the classroom, place the 'pond' with the 'lily pad' in the middle. Direct the students to sit with you in a circle around the 'pond'. 2 Introduce the 'frogs'. Explain they are a family and elicit "Daddy frog". " M u m m y frog". "Brother frog", "Sister frog" and "Baby frog". 3 First reading: using the "Big Book', start to read the story to the class, making sure the students can see the words. As you read, use appropriate actions and gestures to make the meaning very clear. Also, using the flashcards. 'act out' the story, e.g. wipe your forehead to show how 'hot' it is. show Daddy frog jumping onto the lily pad. etc. 4 Second reading: give five volunteer students a frog flashcard each, which they can use to 'act out' during the second reading, as you re-read, encourage the students to join in. both in the words and the actions - they will probably start to do this automatically as there is a lot of repetition in the story.

Annie Tostevinlis a Senior Teacher at the British Council in Coimbra. She was previously Head of Young Learners at the British Council in Seoul, Korea.

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The Journal

5 Third reading: as most students will probably want to have a ' g o ' at being the frogs, re-read as many times as they maintain their interest. With each reading the students will proabably assume more and more responsibilty for the tellling of the story. 6 For Activity one put the students into pairs. Give out copies of worksheets l a and lb. scissors and glue to each pair. Tell your students to cut up the sentences and re-arrange them in the order of the story. They can refer to 'The Big Book' to check, so make sure it is in a place accessible to everyone. Note: students will finish this activity at different times - you can do the activities that follow with those who finish early - late finishers can always do these activities for homework. 7 Activity two: give out a copy of worksheet 2 to each student. Get your students to work out what Baby frog is saying, by using the code at the top of the page. 8 Activity three: give out a copy of worksheet 3 to each student. Tell them to see how many frogs thay can find - there are 17 in all. Lesson 2 1 Using flashcards of the Frog family stuck on the board and appropriate actions, elicit the story from your students (without the 'Big Book'). 2 Give each student (or pair) a section of the text - they then have to arrange themserves in the order of the story. In large classes this could be done in groups, the 'winning' group being the first to put themselves in the right order. 3 For activity one divide the class into pairs. To each pair give out a copy of worksheet 4. a sheet of plain white paper, scissors and glue. Tell them to cut out the pieces to make Brother frog. Ask them to write a sentence underneath about the picture. 4 Activity two: Tell the pairs to draw and write about other members of the Frog family in order to make their own storybook. Alternatively, they can do this in order to produce a wall display. 5 Activity three: the song "Ten green frogs". Using the tune to the well-known "Ten green bottles" (if you don't know the song, ask any friendly Briton), sing "Ten green frogs" with the text below. Your students can take on the roles of the frogs to act out the song as it is sung, by 'falling off a desk. Ten green frogs sitting on the wall. Ten green frogs sitting on the wall, And if one green frog should accidentally fall, There'll be nine green frogs sitting on the wall.

Nine green frogs sitting on the wall, etc. (The song continues till there are no green frogs left on the wall.) Variation with more advanced classes Add more details to make the story more demanding linguistically, e.g. more background information, sizes of frogs, time, etc. [For practical reasons, the pictures of the frogs, together with worksheets la, 2, 3 and 4 are reproduced in the centre folds of this edition (pp. 28-35), so that you can detach them. The story itself and worksheet lb appear on the next page.]

The Journal

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The ffo<j f a m i l y
This

is (i s t o r y a b o u t Daddy troy, M u m m y f r o ? , s i s t e r fnnj. Brother f r o ? a n d i?aby

it w a s h o t - v e r y , v e r y h o t ,

a n d Daddy f r o ? w e n t j u m p , ] i i m p , j u m p , a n d s a t on a l e a f in t h e p o n d . Mummy f r a ? w a s hot - v e r y , v e r y h o t .

so

Daddy f r o ? s a i d , " C o m e h e r e ! "

\ i u m n i y f r o ? w e n * j u m p , j u m p , j u m p , a n d s a t o n t h e l e a f in t h e p o n d .

sister f r o ? u / a s h o t - v e r y , very h o t . so M u m m y f r o ? said, " c o m e h e r e ! "

sister f r o ? w e n t j u m p , j u m p , j u m p , a n d s a t o n t h e l e a f in t h e p o n d .

Brother f r o ? u / a s h o t - very, v e r y h o t .
so sister fro?

said, " c o m e h e r e ! "

B r o t h e r f r o ? w e n t j u m p , j u m p , j u m p , a n d s a t o n t h e l e a f in t h e p o n d . Baby

troy w a s h o t - v e r y , v e r y h o t .

so Brother troy said, " c o m e h e r e ! "

Baby fro? w e n t jump, [ u m p ,

j u m p , a n d s a t o n t h e hud" in t h e p o n d . cdl f e l l into t h e w a t e r .

And t h e n - spLASH

- they

Worksheet l b
So Daddy frog said, "Come here!"

Sister frog went jump, jump, jump, and sat on the leaf in the pond.

Baby frog was hot - very, very hot.

Sister frog was hot - very, very hot.

This is a story about Daddy frog, Mummy frog, Sister frog, Brother frog and Baby frog.

Brother frog was hot - very, very hot.

And then - SPLASH

- they all fell into the water.

So Brother frog said, "Come here!"

So Sister frog said, "Come here!"

Baby frog went jump, jump, jump, and sat on the leaf in the pond.

It was hot - very, very hot,

So Mummy frog said, "Come here!"

Brother frog went jump, jump, jump, and sat on the leaf in the pond.

Mummy frog was hot - very, very hot.

Mummy frog went jump, jump, jump, and sat on the leaf in the pond,

and Daddy frog went jump, jump, jump, and sat on a leaf in the pond.