Storytelling with children

Активізація комунікативного підходу на уроках англійської мови

засобами “storytelling with children”

                      Сучасний учитель має бути готовим до сприйняття і засвоєння нових педагогічних технологій та їх застосування у навчально-виховному процесі,тобто до інноваційної педагогічної діяльності. Фаховий рівень учителя,а відповідно й ефективність навчально-виховного процесу,залежать від уміння правильно визначити та оптимально поєднати можливості й переваги педагогічних інновацій.

     Учитель не народжується новатором,він ним стає. Керуючись цією думкою,враховуючи досвід провідних вчителів-новаторів,намагаюся у своїй педагогічній діяльності застосовувати саме інноваційну модель навчання, інтерактивну.

     Слово "інтерактив" прийшло до нас із англійської,і я вважаю знаковим використання цієї технології саме на уроках англійської мови. Інтерактивне навчання,на мою думку,максимально наближає вчителя до мети практичного оволодіння іноземною мовою як інструментом у діалозі культур,бо створює найсприятливіші умови активної взаємодії всіх учнів,передбачає моделювання життєвих ситуацій,вчить спілкуванню з іншими людьми.

     Визначаючи методи та засоби реалізації інтерактивного навчання на уроках іноземної мови,хотілося б розповісти про використання мною такої форми роботи як “storytelling with children”.

     Переконана,що майже кожен практикуючий вчитель,є свідком того,з якою жагою діти слухають та розповідають іншим різні історії. Вважаю це переконливим аргументом формування у них мотивації до того,щоб слухати й розповідати різні історії саме іноземною мовою,в нашому випадку,англійською. Такими історіями можуть бути невеличкі фабульні тексти,відомі казки в англомовному варіанті. І,насправді,це тільки питання часу,щодо створення певної картотеки історій у педагогічному арсеналі кожного вчителя. Головне полягає в тому,щоб правильно визначитися з відповідною віковою категорією учнів,що будуть задіяні в роботі,етапом уроку та метою щодо формування певних мовних та мовленнєвих навичок засобами storytelling. А визначившись з цим,вчитель має організувати роботу за обраним текстом так,щоб вона була цікавою та продуктивною,а в окремих випадках,спонукала до творчого пошуку,сприяла формуванню комунікативної компетенції учнів. Допомагають мені в цьому різноманітні інтерактивні завдання,activities,серед яких активне місце посідає парна робота та робота в групах, мозковий штурм, діалог.

     Прослухавши історію, діти мають продемонструвати своє розуміння почутого, виконуючи такі завдання:

I. Children's comprehension questions.

1.   The children work in groups. Each group writes down five comprehension     questions about the story.

2.   Divide the class into new groups so that each child is the only one from his or her original group.

3.   Each child then takes turns to ask the other children's questions.

II.   Muddled   sentences or words.

1.   Choose key sentences from the story.

2.   If necessary, the children copy the sentences on to sheets of paper and cut them up.

3.   They try to arrange the sentences into the correct sequence, or copy them in the correct order into their books.

4.   Once the children have made their sequence you can tell the story again and they can check if they have arranged their sentences correctly.

5.   The children can arrange key words or pictures instead of sentences in their proper sequence.

III. Information gap filling.

1.   Prepare two different versions of the same text, with gaps in different places.

2.   The children work in pairs. Each partner has the same text but with different gaps. They help each other to make a complete text.

IV. Find the mistakes.

1.   You, or the children working in pairs, rewrite the story with mistakes of content in it (not grammar!).

2.   Other children must find the mistakes.

3.   As a variation you or a child say one sentence with one change in it. Another child must say the sentence correctly.                   

V. Throw the ball and continue the story.

         A child begins the story and then throws a ball to another child who must  

        continue it.

VI. Growing story.

1.   Divide the class into two teams and ask them to stand in two rows at the back of the class. Divide the board into two parts.

2.   The first child in each group runs to the board and writes the first word of the story and then runs back again to the back of his or her team. The second child then runs to the front and adds the second word of the sentence, and so on. The aim is to see how much each team can write correctly in three minutes. The children can help each other and prepare the child who is next in turn to write on the board.

VII. Mixing two stories.

      Write out sentences from two stories on strips of paper and mix them up.                               

      Make a copy for each group.

1.   Put the children into groups.

2.   Elementary level: ask the children to sort the sentences into two groups, one for each story.

Pre-intermediate level: ask the children to sort the sentences into groups and then to sequence them properly.

VIII. Mime and guess.

     Write out ten sentences from the story which can mimed.

1.   In groups, the children choose a sentence and take turns to mime it.

2.   The others try to guess the sentence they are miming.

IX. Evaluating the story.

1.   Ask the children to tell you what they thought of the story.

Here are some questions you can ask them:

Did you enjoy the story?                  very much/a bit/not very

                                                         much/not at all.

Did you understand the story?         most of it/a bit of it/not much

                                                         of it/nothing.

Which was the best part?                when . . .

Which was the worst part?                       when . . .

Which was a funny part?                          when . . .

Which was an exciting part?                     when . . .

X. Acting out.

1.                 Divide the story, with the children's help, into different scenes.

2.                 Divide the class into groups. Each group is responsible for its scene.

3.                 They practise their scene and then perform it for the rest of the class.

XI. Interviewing a protagonist.

1.                 You (or a child) take on the role of one of the protagonists (or antagonists)  from the story and sit in front of  the class.

2.                 You might begin this activity by asking the children to write down ten questions they would like to ask the character.

3.                 The class ask any questions they want to.

Example:

You are the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood"

-Why did you eat Little Red Riding Hood?

-Why don't you eat bread and cheese?

-What music do you like?

-What's your favourite colour?

XII. Your own experience.

          Ask  the children to think about what happens in the story. Has anything similar happened to them?

     Таких після текстових завдань значно більше,але  описані саме ті,які вже "прижилися" на моїх уроках та, сподіваюся,зацікавлять інших.

     Наприкінці хочу запропонувати текст для рівня рre-intermediate у режимі storytelling та lesson plan  до нього. Цей текст можна співвіднести з такою актуальною темою як "Environment Pollution". Обов'язково слід сказати дітям, що цей текст склали теж діти, це буде додатково мотивувати  їх до його сприйняття.

 Pre-intermediate

The bottom of the sea

It is the year 2010. King Triton lives at the bottom of the sea, in an ivory tower, among weeds and little stones. The sea is very dirty and King Triton and all the fish are very sick and sad.

'Oh, dear. Oh, dear. What can we do?' says one little fish.

'Don't worry,' the king says, 'The fish can clean the water with their fins and the trash cans can eat all the trash.'

So the multi-coloured fish, the sea horses, the eels, the sharks, the dolphins, the starfish, and the crabs clean and clean and clean the sea. The trash cans eat all the trash: all the paper, plastic bags, and plastic bottles, the old tins, and shoes.

Finally, after twenty-five days, they finish the work. The water is clean and transparent, the seaweed is green, and the coral reefs are pink.

King Triton and the fish are not sick now. King Triton invites all the fish to a party at 6:30 p.m. in the whale's mouth.

An eel plays the keyboard, the sea horses play the violins, and the dolphins play the trumpets. Sebastian, the little crab, conducts the orchestra. They all live happily ever after.

                    

The bottom of the sea: lesson plan

 ^{LEVEL____________  Elementary}

^{TIME______________   35 minutes}    

^{LANGUAGE_________ Developing the ability to listen to a story containing a}               

                         ^{lot of new words but still being able to follow the gist of it}

^{IN CLASS   __ _______   1.Write the following words on the board: bottom, sea,}

        ^{tower, weeds, stones, fish, trash, can, sea horse, eel, shark, dolphin, starfish, crab, plastic, bottle, tin, whale.}

 ^{2. Draw  a wavy line near the top of the large piece of paper and say This is the sea. Then draw a hilly line at the bottom and say This is the bottom of the sea.}

^{3. Teach the phrase Please draw a . . . . . .. Write it on the board and invite the children to tell you which objects from the list to draw. Keep on saying their English names as you draw them. Ask the class to repeat each word in chorus, and for some of the children to repeat it for you. Pretend to admire your drawing and praise it! It's a lovely tower, isn't it? Ask questions about the things you draw, for example, Have you seen a shark?}

^{4. Play a game of 'describe and identify'.}

                                     ^{You: It's a horse but it lives in the sea.}

                                     ^{Children: It's a sea-horse.}

                                     ^{5. Tell the story, miming sadness and sweeping the sea clean.}

                                     ^{6.  Tell the children the story was written by a class of children in San Marino for a story competition. Ask them if they like the story.}

                                     ^{7. Ask them to choose and write down one word from the board that they like, and one word they don't like. Tell them that you will tell the story again and this time they must jump up and sit down every time they hear either of their words. Tell the story and let them jump up and sit down.}

                                     ^{8. Tell them you will repeat the same activity, but this time they must watch to see which words their neighbour has chosen.}

                                     ^{9. They discuss with their neighbours which words they think each one has chosen, and which they think is the word they like and which is the word they don’t like.}

                                    ^{10. Show the ten muddled sentences.}

                                    ^{L The fish clean the sea.}

                                    ^{N The fish are not sick.}

                                    ^{E After 25 days the water is clean.}

                                    ^{X The sea is dirty.}

                                    ^{L The trash cans eat the trash.}

                                    ^{C All the fish are sick.}

                                    ^{T They have a party.}

                                    ^{E King Triton lives in a castle.}

                                    ^{E 'Don’t worry!' the king says.}

                                   ^{Tell the children to imagine what sequence they should be in to tell the story and to copy the initial capital letters. If they write these letters out in the correct sequence they will get the word 'EXCELLENT' . If they can do this, you can say that their work is excellent!}

                                     ^{The children can make their own picture of the sea and its creatures in their books; and on the opposite page write out the ten sentences which summarize the story in the correct sequence.}

                                     ^{This story can obviously be related to the topic of pollution.}

                                     ^{The story can be rewritten by the children and set in a different context.}

                                      ^{It is not important for the children to retain all the words for the sea creatures.}

                                     ^{Please note that 'trash' and 'trash can' are the American English equivalents of the British English 'rubbish' and 'dustbin'. You can choose according to which variety of English you teach.}