Resources
Resource 1: Lesson plan for storytelling
Adapt this plan for your own class.
Here are some issues to consider as you choose a story and plan to tell it.
Choose a story you know well and that your students know well in Hindi or their local language. It can be from a book, but you will need to tell it aloud without the book. The story might be linked to a topic in your textbook, or it might be linked to a local festival or community event. The story might be important to students’ experiences in a general way, or it might develop their knowledge in a specific subject area such as science, history or geography. Perhaps the story has a moral message that you feel is important for students to learn. Perhaps you will choose a traditional tale. Why is this story a good one for your class?
- Consider the story in terms of its length. Can it be told in a short space of time?
- Consider the story in terms of complexity. Does it use familiar or unfamiliar words and phrases?
- Where in the story will you be able to stop and invite students to join in with you or repeat after you?
- Consider whether the story is inclusive from the perspective of marginalised groups. Will any student feel left out or embarrassed by the story?
- Think about what props or pictures you have or you need to make, to help the story come alive for the students. Will you need, for instance, pictures of a hat, a broom or a lamp? Or will you use real objects?
Preparation
- Choose a story you know well.
- Prepare a simple version of the story in English.
- Practise telling it, so that you are confident.
- Select key words and phrases. Choose words and phrases that are important to the story and are repeated in the story, so that students have more than one opportunity to listen and practise them. Make these words and phrases memorable and manageable, so that students will enjoy learning them.
- Write the key words and phrases in English on word cards.
- Make pictures (draw them or cut them out of a magazine) to match the word cards. Or use objects, such as a hat, broom or pot.
- Practise telling the story using the word cards and pictures or objects.
- Find moments in the story where you can stop and ask students to repeat after you, or to join in a repeating phrase.
- Decide how you will prepare the students to listen to the story (rhyme, song, drum, bell or other method).
In the lesson
- Prepare the students for a story so that they are all listening (ring a bell, beat a drum, clap).
- Tell them they will hear a story in English and practise English together with you.
- Tell the story. Speak slowly. Use gestures and facial expressions. Show the word cards, pictures or objects. Encourage students to repeat and join in.
- Practise together the repeating words or phrases in English, matching words with pictures or objects.
After the story
- Keep the English words and phrases on the wall so that students can continue to read and practise them.
- Encourage the students to retell the story in English.
- When you tell the story again, ask the students questions such as ‘Now, what happened next?’, ‘Where did that happen?’ or ‘Who did that?’ Take this as an opportunity to assess students’ understanding.
4 Summary