INTRODUCTION

The title of the article that I have chosen is Using Stories in English Omani Curriculum. This article was written by Kothar Talib Sulaiman Al Harrasi form the Rustaq College. The date of publishing this article was on November 2012. The main focus of this article is to explore the effectiveness of the stories in Omani curriculum (English for Me) and also suggests some efficient techniques and activities in teaching stories based on the analysis. There are few findings which show that the stories in the textbook are enthusiastic and suit learners interest and level of proficiency. According to Ellis Brewsters article it is mentioned that it might be very frustrating for learners to learn second language, therefore, integrating fun in learning would help them to develop positive attitudes towards learning a language. Stories are an effective and enthusiastic technique in teaching young learners because they provide amusement and help young learners enjoy learning language in a purposeful communication. Since the curriculum in Omani integrate stories for teaching English, Kothar Talib conducted a study on the improvements of the language acquisition by the students. I was personally attracted to this article because I wanted to know the ways of integrating stories in teaching English language. During my practical, I had difficulties when it comes in conducting literature lessons because the school does not pay much attention to it. They were more focused on grammar and structures, writing and speaking skills. Less attention was paid to literature which was really a negative thought given by the school. As I read this article, I feel that using stories to teach English will be really interesting and fun to trigger the excitement of reading in students. There are also many advantages of using stories provided in this article.

SUMMARY Teaching young learner English language is not easy but it is something that can be done in a practical way. The natural characteristic of a child will eventually stimulate their interest towards the language and develop their awareness of rich language uses. It is stated that, childrens literature has gained an increase interest in language teaching and an inclusion of literature in a language classroom has few benefits. In general there are few effects of stories in language development, first advantage is culture. Every society has long traditions of oral storytelling which often represents its culture which arouses childrens curiosity to discover different cultures, people and places from other parts of the world. Reading will allow students to understand a bit of others dressing, type of transportation at that time or the way people live. Learners will eventually enhance their intercultural understanding and thus be tolerant and open-minded to other speakers of second language. Moreover, children can notice and compare the changes and development that have happened during the time. Stories also provide authentic use of language where learners have opportunity of hearing the authentic uses of grammars and structures. Children will also be engaged in story events where they will try to predict what will happen next and guess the meaning of new words. Stories also help children broaden their vocabulary and also as an effective aid for internalizing some grammar rules because they provide a rich source of language structures and repetitive sentence patterns. Furthermore, stories are an effective and enthusiastic technique in teaching young learners because they inject lots of amusement and help them enjoy learning language in purposeful communication.

A new textbook have been designed in the Omani English education called English for Me which includes more purposeful and meaningful language that stimulates real life situations. There are a range of various kinds of stories used and are taught using different techniques such as using pictures and gestures, adapting TPR activities and listening to stories on tape recorder. The main objective is to help learners to communicate in the FL. Stories should be appropriately chosen for effective language teaching and it is one of the essential roles of the language teachers. Furthermore, stories should be analyzed in terms of its suitability to level and intrinsic needs, cultural enrichment, content, linguistic values, amusement, etc. All the stories in the textbook have been chosen correctly which has many positive side of it in the learning of the language. First is the length of the stories. It is quite suitable where its not too long or short. Besides that, most of the stories have been shorten into simple paragraphs so that the shortness of the stories gives students the feeling that they can handle and finish something in English and do not lose their concentration in the story line. Another advantage is the textbook is a rich source of language input. Every story evolves certain linguistic structure. Thus, stories allows the teacher to introduce or revise new vocabulary and sentence structures by exposing the children to language in varied, memorable and familiar contexts, that will enrich their thinking. The language in the stories provide natural, enjoyable and meaningful context for language exposure. Hence, with all the repetitive patterns of key words and language structures will allow children to acquire the rhythm, intonation and pronunciation of language.

Readability of the text is also an advantage because all the stories chosen are according to the students level of proficiency because it should provide comprehensible input. The language is accessible to the learners because they are not linguistically and cognitively difficult. If the stories are a little bit adapted to suit their language level, then the children will learn more from it. The textbook have stories context associate both national and international cultures which is good because the learners will be exposed to other cultures. Stories from different cultures familiarize learners to different cultures but at the same time they support using local or national stories because these stories assist to lower the effective filter since they are familiar to them. The Omani textbook also holds lessons and morals for young learners which are useful for them to learn and apply in their life. All stories hold a moral value or didactic goal of various aspects. It will also develop and exercise childrens imagination which leads learners to imagine them as the characters living the story events as their own experiences. Children can also become personally involved in a story as they identify with the characters and try to interpret the narrative and illustrations. Stories in Omani are taught using different sorts of techniques and methods which makes stories more interesting and memorable. In addition, using visuals makes the class environment enjoyable but it is a valuable technique to get learners used to guessing from the context. The pictures and illustrations not only make stories more attractive and enjoyable but it is also a good means to improve comprehension.

The stories in the textbook are not carried out in isolation but in an integrated approach. In Omani context, the stories associate many physical activities such as acting out, making masks and doing the TPR activity. KEYS TPR total physical response ELT- English language teaching EfM- English for me

This paper tries to explore the use of stories in Omani schools in the first cycle which is the elementary level by analyzing their effects in language learning and suggesting series of story activities with their rationale. In this article, the methodology on how the research was done is not included by Kothar Talib.

CRITIQUE I am impressed with this article because of the current changes in our Education system. The new KSSR system has Literature lessons integrated with the English lessons. There is going to be separate periods which will be only emphasized on Literature. I personally support this decision because students will learn how to appreciate Literature and have pleasure in reading. The topic of this article attracted me because I feel that Malaysian schools pay less attention to Literature, therefore reading this article has broaden my mind towards teaching English using stories. I find it useful because I know all the advantages of using stories in the classroom. The author Kothar Talib has achieved his purpose of this study by my point of view. This is because through the research and observation that he has done in the Omani schools, he really found the related result of how effective the English for Me textbook have been useful to improve students language acquisition. The textbook have really been useful in improving the students comprehension, vocabulary, imagination, thinking skills, etc. It also help to make the classroom atmosphere more interesting, develop positive attitudes toward learning, arouse students interests and curiosity and encourage them to participate. The study has really found the related information that shows the effectiveness of the textbook. These articles have provided all trustworthy information regarding the content and I also agree with all the point of view given by the author. All in all, this article did not contain any errors in meaning, biasness or any kind of omission from the article. I did research on this paper, and the given information is factual and trustworthy.

This article has no contradiction with other article. This article is useful because the integration of stories in the Omani curriculum have been practiced for the past decade. They have much experience regarding integrated teaching of Literature lesson in English language learning.

CONCLUSION As I have mentioned earlier, I really feel that this article is useful because it can be used as a guide for me to conduct Literature lessons in the future. The practical ways of selecting the correct stories for Literature lessons have also been stated which will help me in the future when preparing materials for my Literature lesson. I really agree that using stories in the lesson will create a more fun and interesting learning environment. Children are usually more enthusiastic and lively as learners and less embarrassed in talking the new language. Somehow this paper have given more confidence for me to conduct a better Literature lesson and also many ideas that can be integrated together in the lesson. I personally feel that all future teachers of English should read this article to gain broad knowledge on the ways to use stories in the classroom. This also because there have been new addition to the syllabus of English whereby the teachers have to teach separate lessons for Literature which consists of a double period. The teacher must be prepared to teach the students and also have a basic idea on what kinds of activity to conduct for the lesson. Moreover, the future teachers will have a guide on the selection of stories that can be used in the Literature classroom. This article will be really useful for teachers who for the first time going to teach Literature lessons because they will have a clear idea on the things that they have to do and prepare.

REFERENCES Ellis ,G. & Brewster,J. (2002). The it Again The New Storytelling Handbook for Teachers London Kothar Talib Sulaiman Al Harrasi (2012) Using Stories in English Omani Curriculum Wright ,A. (1995) Storytelling with Children Oxford Oxford University Press Slattery ,M.,&Willis ,J.(2001).English for Primary Teachers :A Handbook of Activities and Classroom Language Oxford :Oxford Press