LGA 3101 CHILDRENS LITERATURE

EXPLORING AND EXPLOITING STORIES IN THE

PRIMARY ESL CLASSROOM

TOPIC 6

6.0 SYNOPSIS
Topic 6 introduces you to the concepts of traditional literature, realistic fiction, fantasy,
non-fiction and picture books. It also aims to give some suggestions on teaching
strategies using stories in the classroom.

6.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

define and understand the concepts of traditional literature, realistic fiction,

fantasy, non-fiction and picture books;

6.2

identify and discuss the strategies using stories in the classroom.

FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

EXPLORING AND EXPLOITING STORIES IN THE

PRIMARY ESL CLASSROOM

Types Of Stories

Traditional Literature
Realistic Fiction
Fantasy
Non Fiction
Picture Books

Teaching Strategies

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6.2.1 Traditional literature

Traditional literature or folk literature includes stories from times before recorded
history and from all parts of the world. Stories of religious significance, stories about
mythical heroes and heroines and stories of real people who performed brave deeds
belong to this category. These have been passed down by word of mouth through the
generations. What brought about the creation of folk literature? Russell (2005) cites the
following

human needs as the reason for the existence of this specific genre of

literature:

the need to explain the mysteries of the natural world in the absence of scientific
information;

the need to articulate our fears and dreams, thus making them accessible and
manageable;

the need to inmpose some order on the apparent random nature of life, thus
helping us to understand our place in the universe;

the need to entertain ourselves and each other.

Types of Traditional Literature

Folklorist William Bascom, in Norton (2006) defines four types of traditional literature as
stated below:

1. Folktales
These are prose narratives which are regarded as fiction which usually tell the
adventures of animal or human characteristics. Example of a folktale is Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs

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2. Fables
Fables are brief tales in which animal characters that talk and act like humans indicate a
moral lesson or satirize human conduct. The Hare and the Tortoise is a popular
example.

3. Myths
Myths are stories of gods, goddesses and heroes of a given culture. Myths perform a
number of functions:

i.

myths explain the origin of the world and of human beings;

ii.

myths explain the origins of customs and societal beliefs;

iii.

myths provide explanations for natural phenomena;

iv.

myths help to define human relationships with the deity or deities;

v.

myths may reinforce cultural values;

vi.

myths help to resolve humanitys fear of the unknown.

4. Legends
Legends initially grew out of mythology, but instead of focussing on gods and
goddesses, these stories had human beings as their heroes. Tales about Robin Hood
are clear examples of legends.

Values of Traditional Literature for children

Helps children understand the world

Helps children identify with universal human struggles

Provides pleasure

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6.2.2 Realistic Fiction

Realistic fiction aims to portray the world as it is. It does not contain fantasy nor
supernatural elements. Everything in a realistic story including plot, characters and
setting- is consistent with the lives of real people in our world. The word realistic does
not mean that the story is true, however; it means that the story could have happened.
The plots in these stories deal with familiar everyday problems, pleasures and personal
relationships.

Types of Realistic Fiction

i.

Family stories also known as domestic stories, rely on episodic plots in which
families are normally engaged.

ii.

Stories of social realism present a multi-faceted view of society.

iii.

Adventure and survival stories - depict an individual or individuals pitted against

the forces of nature or the the forces of a cruel, insensitive society

iv.

Mystery of detective stories involves the solving of a problem, usually a crime

v.

Animal stories often portray the relationship between an animal and a youthful
human companion

vi.

Sports stories promote high moral character and good sportsmanship

Values of Realistic Fiction for children

It allows children to identify with characters of their own age who have similar
interests and problems.

It can help children discover that their problems and desires are not unique and
that they are not alone in experiencing certain feelings and situations.

It extends childrens horizons by broadening their interests, allowing them to

experience new adventures, and showing them different ways to view and deal
with conflicts in their own lives.

It can help children discharge repressed emotions and cope with fear, anger or
grief.

It provides children with pleasure and escape.

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6.2.3 Fantasy
Fantasy is any story of the impossible. It may include magic, talking animals, time
travel, the supernatural, adventures in alternative worlds any feature that is contrary to
the laws of nature as we understand them. Modern fantasy has its roots in traditional
folktales. However, it is distinctinctly different from folk literature.

Types of Fantasy

i.

Animal fantasy stories where animals talk and exhibit human emotions

ii.

Toy Fantasy stories of toys come to life and most of the animated toys wish to
become human

iii.

Magical fantasy and tall tales the magical phenomenon of the story becomes
the subject of the story, for example the character possesses

superhuman,

magical strength
iv.

Enchanted journeys and alternative worlds the protagonists undertake journeys

to some fantasy world where magical things occur

v.

Heroic or Quest Fantasy the heroes or heroines are engaged in a monumental

struggle against a seemingly all-powerful evil, and the fate of an entire civilisation
often depends on the outcome of that struggle

vi.

Supernatural and time-shift fantasy- include ghost and witch stories, stories of
mysterious and unexplained occurences, and stories of time travel

vii.

Science fiction and space fantasy speculative writing usually focusing on life in
the future, either on earth or on some other planet which include stories about
aliens from outer space

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Modern fantasy and contemporary realistic fiction are different. The table below shows
some of these differences.

Modern Fantasy

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Believable

Authors must encourage readers Authors may rely on relevant

stories

to suspend disbelief

subjects, everyday occurences,

or extreme realism

Plot

Conflict

may

be

against Conflict develops as characters

supernatural powers. Problems cope with such problems as

may be solved through magical growing
powers.

up,

survival,

family

discord, and inner-city tensions.

Antagonists may be self, other
family

members,

society

or

nature.
Characters

Personified toys, little people, Characters act like real people.

supernatural beings, real people Animals

always

behave

like

who have imaginary experiences, animals.

animals who behave like people

Setting

Past, present, or future

Imaginary

world,

may

The contemporary world is as we

travel know it

through time and space

Norton (2006 )

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6.2.4 Nonfiction

Nonfiction is prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real
people, places, objects, or events. It is an account or representation of a subject which
is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or it can give either a true or a
false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the
authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition.
Autobiographies, biographies, essays, reports, letters, memos, and newspaper articles
are all types of nonfiction.

Characteristics of Nonfiction
Works of nonfiction differ from works of fiction in several ways.

The people, events, places, and ideas presented in nonfiction are real, not
invented.

Nonfiction is narrated by an author who is a real person.

It presents facts, describes true-life experiences, or discusses ideas.

Nonfiction is written for a specific audience, or group of readers. In addition, it

addresses a clear purpose, or reason for writing. The audience and purpose
influence the type of information a writer includes.

Tone, the authors attitude toward the subject or reader, is displayed through the
writers word choice and style.

The writer contributes more than information to nonfiction.

Style is the particular way in which a writer uses language. Style reflects an
authors personality. Factors that contribute to an authors style include level of
formality, use of figurative language, diction or word choice, sentence patterns,
and methods of organization.

Tone is the authors attitude toward both the subject and readers or listeners. In
conversations, you can hear a speakers tone in the way words and phrases are
spoken. When reading, you can hear tone in an authors choice of words and

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details. The tone of a literary work can often be described with a single word
such as: pompous, playful, serious, personal, sarcastic, or friendly

Perspective is the viewpoint or opinion an author expresses about the subject,

either directly or indirectly. Bias occurs when a writer makes a one-sided
presentation (for example, by ignoring relevant facts or by using emotional
language that unfairly sways readers or listeners feelings).

Purpose is the authors reason for writing. Common purposes are to inform, to
persuade, to honour, to entertain, to explain, and to warn.

Types of Nonfiction
There are four main types, or modes, of nonfiction that are defined by their purposes.

1. Narrative nonfiction
Narrative nonfiction tells stories of real-life events. Examples include autobiographies
and memoirs. Some narrative nonfiction is reflective writing, which shares the writers
thoughts and feelings about a personal experience, an idea, or a concern. Examples
include reflective essays, personal essays, and journals.

2. Expository nonfiction
Expository nonfiction informs or explains. Examples include analytical essays and
research reports.

3. Persuasive nonfiction
Persuasive nonfiction presents reasons and evidence to convince the reader to act or
think in a certain way. Examples include editorials and political speeches.

4. Descriptive nonfiction
Descriptive nonfiction uses details related to the senses to create mental images for the
reader. Examples include character sketches and scientific observations.

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Specific Types of Nonfiction

i.

Almanac

An almanac is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field

or fields often arranged according to the calendar. Astronomical data and various
statistics are also found in almanacs, such as the times of the rising and setting of the
sun and moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals of churches, terms of courts,
lists of all types, timelines, and more.

ii.

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.

Biographers generally rely on a wide variety of documents and viewpoints; an
autobiography however may be based entirely on the writers memory. Closely
associated with autobiography (and sometimes difficult to precisely distinguish from it) is
the form of memoir.

iii.

Biography

A biography is a description or account of someones life and the times, which is

usually published in the form of a book or an essay, or in some other form, such as a
film. An autobiography(auto meaning self, giving self-biography) is a biography of a
persons life written or told by that same person. A biography is more than a list of
impersonal facts (education, work, relationships, and death), it also portrays the
subjects experience of those events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae(resume)a
biography presents the subjects story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life,
including intimate details of experiences, and may include an analysis of the subjects
personality.

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iv.

Blueprint

A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing,

documenting architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term blueprint
has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan.

v.

Book report

A book report (or book review) is an exposition giving a short summary of a book and a
reaction to it. While it includes some details, a book report is usually tailored to its
readers. Book reports usually follow a set format but may vary in length and complexity
depending on the academic level at which they are set and the importance of the
individual assignment. They are commonly assigned in primary and secondary schools.

vi.

Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) is a genre of writing

that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative
nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which
is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft. As a
genre, creative nonfiction is still relatively young, and is only beginning to be scrutinized
with the same critical analysis given to fiction and poetry.

vii.

Diary

A diary is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by

date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries
undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization,
including government records, business ledgers and military records. Schools or
parents may teach or require children to keep diaries in order to encourage the
expression of feelings and to promote thought.

Generally the term is today employed for personal diaries, in which the writer may detail
more personal information and normally intended to remain private or to have a limited
circulation amongst friends or relatives. The writer may also describe recent events in

LGA 3101 CHILDRENS LITERATURE

his/her personal diary. The word journal may be sometimes used for diary, but
generally one writes daily in a diary, whereas journal-writing can be less frequent.
Whilst a diary may provide information for a memoir, autobiography or biography, it is
generally written not with the intention of being published as it stands, but for the
authors own use. In recent years however there is internal evidence in some diaries
that they are written with eventual publication in mind, with the intention of selfvindication (pre- or posthumous) or simply for profit.

Diaries are highly varied, from business notations, to listings of weather and daily
personal events, to inner explorations of the human psyche, to expressions of ones
deepest self to records of thoughts and ideas. By extension the term diary is also used
to mean a printed publication of a written diary; and may also refer to other terms of
journal including electronic formats eg. blogs.

viii.

Dictionary

A dictionary is a collection of words in a specific language, often listed alphabetically,

with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other
information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also
known as a lexicon. In many languages, words can appear in many different forms, but
only the undeclined or unconjugated form appears as the headword in most
dictionaries. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book, but some
newer dictionaries are dictionary software running on PDAs or computers. There are
also many online dictionaries accessible via the Internet.

ix.

Encyclopedia

An encyclopaedia is a comprehensive written compendium holding information from

either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. Encyclopedias are
divided into articles with one article on each subject covered. The articles on subjects in
an encyclopedia are usually accessed alphabetically by article name and can be
contained in one volume or many volumes, depending on the amount of material
included.

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x.

Essay

An essay is usually a short piece of writing which is often written from an authors
personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary
criticism,

political

manifestos,

learned

arguments,

observations

of

daily

life,

recollections, and reflections of the author.

xi.

History

History is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record.
Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which
uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts
to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events.

xii.

Journal

A journal has several related meanings:

a daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually referred to as a

diary.

a newspaper or other periodical, in the literal sense of one published each day;

many publications issued at stated intervals, such as magazines, or scholarly

academic journals, or the record of the transactions of a society, are often called
journals.

xiii.

Journalism

Journalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and opinion via a
widening spectrum of media. These include newspapers, magazines, radio and
television, the internet and even, more recently, the mobile phone.

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6.2.5 Picture books
Most childrens books are illustrated, but not all illustrated childrens books are picture
books. According to Nodelman in Norton(2006), picture books communicate
information or tell stories through a series of many pictures combined with relative slight
texts or no texts at all .

llustrations are as important as the text in picture books or sometimes even more
important than the text.This is because children respond to stories told visually and
verbally.

Childrens books, ranging from Mother Goose books and toy books for very young
children to picture storybooks with plots that satisfy more experienced older children are
included in the picture book category.

Types of Picture Books

i. Mother Goose Books

Mother Goose rhymes, also known as nursery rhymes, are a childs first introduction to
literature. These rhymes share the characteristics of two types of literature. First, they
are folk literature- songs that were passed on by word of mouth long before they were
written down. Second, they are a form of poetry, with rhyme and rhythm being a large
part of their attraction. Mother Goose rhymes are pure fun, their delightful nonsense
and eccentric characters remain with us beyond childhood.

ii. Wordless Picture Books

Wordless picture books contain only pictures and little or no text. There has been
contraversy over whether these books actually constitute literature but it is evident that
they contain literary elements including plot, point of view, theme, character, setting and
tone. Wordless picture books demand an oral response from the readers and they
promote positive reading habits and attitudes among children.

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iii. Toy Books

Toy books are cardboard books, cloth books or pop-up books which include some
gimmick in addition to a story. Usually these books are intended for

very young

children.Visual image is given more emphasis than text in toy books.

iv. Alphabet Books

They are designed to teach children to recognise the letters and sounds of the alphabet.
All good alphabet books have some unifying element that helps to make them a
satisfying artistic whole.

v. Counting Books
They are designed to teach children the concept of counting and recognising
numbers.Some counting books contain virtuallly no text, just the numbers and the
objects to be counted.

vi. Concept Books

The purpose of a concept book is not to tell a story, but to present factual material
through illustrations and accompanying text. Alphabet and counting books are concept
books in that their purpose is to present concepts to young children.. But concept
books go far beyond teaching letters and numbers. They deal with almost any subject
such as opposites, colours, spatial relationships or sounds.

Concept books are clearly didactic books they educate but do not preach. A good
concept book will convey its information in a clear and entertaining way. The material is
accurately presented in a simplified form suitable for very young children.

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vii. Picture Storybooks
Picture storybooks combine the art of storytelling with that of illustration. They are
widely varied in content. They may consist of retelling of traditional folktales eg. The
Three Little Pigs; original fantasies such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit; or realistic stories
such as Iras Sleep Over. Picture storybooks consist of the same narrative elements of
storytelling, that is, point of view, character, plot and conflict, theme, style and tone.

Elements in Picture Storybooks

Originality and imagination

Picture storybooks and their accompanying

illustrations are filled with imaginative episodes.

Plot The plots are usually simple, clearly developed and brief.

Characterization The characters in picture storybooks must have specific traits

that make them appealing to young children. they must experience situations and
emotions immediately familiar and credible to the children.

Setting Picture storybooks rely on illustrations to establish the location of a

story in time and place, create a mood, clarify historical background and
emphasize symbolic meaning.

Theme The themes in picture storybooks for young children are closely related
to childrens needs and understandings.

Style Because a picture storybook contains so few words, its author must
select words very carefully. The book must be designed to catch childrens
attention and to stimulate their interest.

Humour Humorous literature is effective in attracting children to the pleasures

of reading and writing. Many elements in picture storybooks can cause children
to laugh out loud, namely word play and nonsense, surprise and the unexpected,
exaggeration, the ridiculous and carricatures, and superiority.

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6.2.6 Teaching Strategies

i. Storytelling
Learning the art of telling stories is useful because of the pleasure it provides both the
teller and the audience. The following steps may be considered in telling stories.
a. Choose a suitable story .
b. Prepare the story for telling
c. Share the story with an audience
d. Observe childrens responses to storytelling
e. Encourage children to be storytellers

ii. Shared Reading

Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience. Children join in the reading of a
big book or other enlarged text as guided by a teacher or other experienced reader.
Shared Reading is generally accomplished using an enlarged text that all children can
see. Student interactivity is the distinguishing feature of Shared Reading versus
Reading Aloud. Selected books must be suitable for students to join in the experience.
During the reading the teacher or another reader involves the children in reading
together by pointing to or sliding below each word in the text. This provides children the
opportunity to participate and behave like a reader. Shared reading models the reading
process and strategies used by readers. The teacher deliberately draws attention to the
print and models early reading behaviors such as moving from left to right and word-byword matching. Shared Reading creates a risk-free environment, allowing children to
focus on the enjoyment of the story.

The selected book must have the possibility of multiple readings for enjoyment. Many
texts used in early stages of literacy have a repeating refrain or rhyme to increase the
enjoyment of reading the story over and over. The book is initially read by the teacher to
model reading strategies. In subsequent readings, the children become more
interactive.

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Teaching Methods
Initial reading (done by teacher) follows this pattern: Gather children in an area close to
the book. The book must be easily seen by the children.

Introduce book (share theme, examine title, cover, illustrations, etc. make
predictions)

Excite student's imagination and relate prior experience to text

Concentrate on enjoying the text as a whole (Read with few stops)

Encourage students to use background knowledge to make predictions

Encourage spontaneous participation in the reading of the story

Discuss personal responses to the book

Be positive in accepting/encouraging children's responses

Teacher is almost entirely responsible for the reading of the text.

Close Reading- (Subsequent readings)

Direct children's attention to various aspects of the text, and reading strategies,
and skills. Many of the strategies needed for independent reading can be taught
during shared reading, especially when shared reading takes place with a small
group versus the whole class.

Identify vocabulary, ideas and facts, discuss author's style, skill, and viewpoint.
Remember to focus on the enjoyment of the story. Try not to draw attention away
from the story with too many teaching points or too much attention to detail.

Experiment with intonation and expression, discuss colorful phrases or words.

Attend to teaching points as they arise.

Benefits of Shared Reading:

Rich, authentic, interesting literature can be used, even in the earliest phases of
a reading program, with children whose word-identification skills would not
otherwise allow them access to this quality literature.

Each reading of a selection provides opportunities for the teacher to model

reading for the children.

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Opportunities for concept and language expansion exist that would not be
possible if instruction relied only on selections that students could read
independently.

Awareness of the functions of print, familiarity with language patterns, and wordrecognition skills grow as children interact several times with the same selection.

Individual needs of students can be more adequately met. Accelerated readers

are challenged by the interesting, natural language of selections. Because of the
support offered by the teacher, students who are more slowly acquiring reading
skills experience success.

3. Role Play
Role-playing can be thought of as unstructured drama In these exercises, a student
looks at the topic from the perspective of a character, who will affect and be affected by
the topic. The instructor provides the setting and the characters, but the students have
to decide their characters' lines and directions. Generally, the students will need to do
some research to make informed decisions from their characters' perspectives. This
research opportunity can easily become an inquiry element.
The character might be a miner trying to figure out how to stake a claim and to make his
or her fortune off of it or an engineer who wants to build a space probe. Alternatively,
the character could be an organism that is part of a food web and the student's job is to
work out his or her relationships to the other members of the food web (role-played by
classmates).

4. Readers Theatre
Readers Theatre is an activity in which students, while reading directly from scripts,
are able to tell a story in a most entertaining form, without props, costumes, or sets.This
is a reading activity, and students are not asked to memorize their lines. They are,
however, encouraged to use intonation and gestures appropriate to their characters
and their characters words. Readers theatre is a simple, effective and risk-free way to
get children to enjoy reading. As children write, read, perform and interpret their roles
they acquire a better understanding of the literature.

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Benefits of Readers Theatre

It provides repeated reading practicean important factor in building fluency.

Repeated reading practice also improves students confidence in, and
enthusiasm for reading. Its an enjoyable change of pace from everyday practice
sessions.

Its a wonderful opportunity for children who are used to feelings of failure to
provide expertise entertainment for others.

Like storytelling, reader's theater can create images by suggestion that could
never be realistically portrayed on stage. Reader's theater frees the performers
and the audience from the physical limitations of conventional theater, letting the
imagination soar.

Almost any story can be scripted for reader's theatre, but some are easier and
work better than others. In general, look for stories that are simple and lively, with
lots of dialogue or action, and with not too many scenes or characters.

Readers Theater involves children in oral reading through reading parts in

scripts. Unlike traditional theatre, the emphasis is mainly on oral expression of
the part. Readers Theater is "theatre of the imagination". It involves children in
understanding their world, creating their own scripts, reading aloud, performing
with a purpose, and bringing enjoyment to both themselves and their audiences.
imagination of the perceptive silent reader".

5. Story Grammar
Story grammar evolved from analyses of folktales conducted by anthropologists in the
early 1900s. They found that, regardless of age or culture, when individuals retell
stories, the retells follow a pattern. This pattern is referred to as story grammar. Story
grammar involves expression of the characters problem or conflict, a description of
attempts to solve the problem, and an analysis of the chain of events that lead to
resolution. Story grammar also involves analysis of how characters react to the events
in the story.

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Activities using stories in the classroom
i. Using illustrations
It is always a good idea to exploit pictures to help the child understand and visualise the
story. The stories have illustrations which can be used to introduce the story, elicit
vocabulary they know, introduce difficult words in that story, and generally excite the
interest of the child for the story.. Ask learners to look at the picture before reading, and
ask questions such as who are the people?'; what are they wearing?' (and why?);
what is the cat holding?'; what has happened?'; how is the woman feeling?' etc.
Learners will be introduced to vocabulary, will be more able to understand the text, and
will be more engaged in the reading task (was I right? Is it a necklace or a watch?)

ii. Pre-teaching vocabulary

Many stories are related to a topic. These topics can have specialist' vocabulary which
may cause problems in comprehension. You will usually find links to other related
exercises on thematic vocabulary which can be taught first. For example, you can use
activities to practise the names of the animals in a particular story as well as use
flashcards to introduce the animals.

iii. Introduce the theme

Many of the stories are related to a topic. It can be a good idea to familiarise learners
with the topic before reading, by trying activities related to the topic, by setting a task to
find out about the topic (this could even be for homework), or by discussion (in your own
language with lower level learners if you like). For example the story Football Crazy' is
about a girl playing in a boys football team, breaking down barriers, adults treating boys
and girls differently. This is an important issue for children. Before reading the story you
could ask your learners to name famous footballers, and once you have a list you could
see how many famous players are women. Then you can ask more questions such as
why are there so few famous female football players?', what about other sports?' etc.

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iv. Input cultural background
Many stories assume a knowledge of cultural norms. Children are usually interested in
finding out the differences between their own culture and the lives of children in other
parts of the world.. Some stories have more overt cultural background. In the story
Hairy Henry's Holiday', typical sights of London are mentioned, such as Big Ben', The
London Eye' and Madame Tussauds'. You could use pictures of these places before
children read or listen to the story.

B. Activities during reading

i. Use a variety of ways to read

There are many different ways to approach the story. It is quite likely that younger
learners will want to read/hear/or listen to the story several times, particularly the
shorter, flash-animated ones. This should not be discouraged as it helps learners to
equate oral and written forms which is important for the development of reading skills. In
the classroom it is important to vary the kind of reading.

The teacher could use a data projector for a class to listen to/read a story as a
whole-class activity

The teacher could read the whole or parts of the story to a class with the text

The learners can read by themselves silently, either on-screen whether at school
or even as homework

Some stories can be read as texts with illustrations and then children can watch
the flash movie version, or this order could be reversed.

ii. Sustaining reading

If the story is very long then it is important to keep the class motivated to read. The
teacher could stop at convenient cliff-hanger' points and ask the class what happens
next?' This use of prediction skills makes the learners want to read on to the end of the
story to find out if their own idea is correct. In a classroom this could be done as a
guessing game' if the teacher is controlling the pace of reading.

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iii. Total Physical Response
With very young or active learners the story can be mimed while the teacher reads or
the children listen. A story like The Snowman' could be used for this. The actions of
waking up, running into the garden, building the snowman and the melting' are all easy
to mime.

iv. Characters and voices

In stories which have a lot of characters you could ask students to read the dialogue of
the characters. The teacher could read the dialogue of characters in different voices
first.

v. Vocabulary help
If a child is reading individually at school or at home they could also use dictionaries to
check on the meanings of unknown words, if the learner is at a high enough level to use
this independently. This is available at http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

C. Post-reading activities
i. Quick comprehension check
It is always a good idea to do a quick comprehension check when your learners have
finished reading the story, or at the end of each page of text. This may take the form of
a few gist' questions about the text in oral form, asking children for a response e.g. why
is this person sad, which character did the children like etc. This could be done in
written form.

ii. Make a poster/illustrate the story

You can use any story as an opportunity for some creative drawing and illustration,
perhaps with vocabulary labels in English. For example, in the story Carnival Crime',
you could ask a learner to draw the carnival costumes in the story and label them. As a
follow-up they could design their own carnival costume or a costume for a festival in
their country.

LGA 3101 CHILDRENS LITERATURE

iii. Stimulus for writing
Many stories lend themselves to acting as a stimulus for creative writing, depending on
the level of your learners. Younger learners or learners who have a lower level of
English could use one of the simpler stories as a model for a story of their own.

iv. Role-play/acting out

Interpreting stories as role-play can be as simple or complicated as you like. It could
start with miming basic actions, then speaking or improvising dialogue. In the classroom
the teacher will need to be organised in advance with moving furniture, providing simple
props etc. You could even use facepaints.

TASKS
Complete the following tasks and keep a record in your
portfolio
1. Read Russell (2005 ) and Norton (2006 ) and make short notes on traditional
literature and realistic fiction. Design activities using such stories to teach young
learners.
2. Discuss with your group members and list some titles of stories which can be
categorised as realistic fiction. What are some of the issues that are discussed in
these stories and how can they interest children?
3. Read up on fantasy stories. Discuss the elements that make a good fantasy.
Present the information in a graphic organiser.
4. Which types of non-fiction work are suitable for children? Discuss in your groups and
provide justifications for your choice.
5. List some listening and speaking activities using fantasy or traditional literature.
6. Discuss some ways of using picture books in the classroom
.

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References

Norton, D.E. (2006). Through the Eyes of A Child: an Introduction to Childrens

Literature. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Russell, D.L. (2005). Literature For Children. A Short Introduction. (5th Ed.)
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-kids/tips-using-stories
http://www.oe.k12.mi.us/balanced_literacy/shared_reading.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader's_theatre

Take a break and move on to the next topic when you are ready

Prepared by:
Nagamah Raju Sathian
IPG Kampus Tun Hussein Onn, Batu Pahat.

LGA 3101 CHILDRENS LITERATURE