Generic Teacher S Notes for Storytelling Sessions

Teacher’s Notes for Storytelling Sessions

Beginning the story

Whenever you use a story in your class it is a good idea to set up some kind of preparation ceremony so that the children will get used to winding down a little and prepare themselves to listen.

• Arrange the children in a circle or semi-circle and get them as close to you as possible.

• Use a storytelling carpet where all the children can sit together (smaller groups)
• Ask the children to rest their head on their arms on their desks (larger groups)
• Use a song, light a candle, chant a verse or play a musical instrument before telling the story

Ending the story

The end on the story should be clear to the listeners firstly by the teacher’s tone of voice and of course by the narrative.

 Repeat the same music/song that you used at the beginning of the story

 Ask the children to carefully fold up of the storytelling carpet

 Blow out of the candle

This should never be hurried so as not to break the magic of the story.

Physical Story Warm-ups

Two little feet go tap, tap, tap

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap

One little leap from behind the chair

Two little hands reach high in the air

Two little feet go jump, jump, jump

Two little hands go thumb, thumb, thumb

One little child turns round and round

One little child sits quietly down

Beginning the story

Are you ready, sit right down,

Let’s have a story in the round,

Brave heroes, many dangers,

Beasts and kings, old men, strangers,

Sit as close as close can be,

And listen shhhhh………. to me

Ending the story

That is the end of our story today,

We listened and we heard our characters play,

Brave heroes, many dangers,

Beasts and kings, old men, strangers,

Go as quietly as quietly as can be,

Say goodbye, goodbye to me

Idea 1

Drawing

Draw the part of the story you liked the most.

This is one of the best activities for children when they have just listened to a story. Teachers will be able to see what the child has understood and what aspect of the story the child identifies with the most. Ask the children to write a sort phrase that goes with the drawing.

Idea 2

Character profile

Ask the students to choose a character from the story. Ask them to write a profile of the character.

(For younger children they can draw the character and write a short phrase in a speech bubble)

Idea 3

Story mime

Mime the story as the teacher re-tells it. This can be a whole class activity. Students can take on the role of each character as it appears in the story and mime through the actions. This is a good activity to do before trying the role-play in Idea 4.

Idea 4

Role plays

Arrange the class in small groups according to the characters – Read the story slowly for students to know what to do. Select key sentences from the story for the children to repeat together. When each group has practised the story a few times, set up an audience and ask them to perform it.

Another alternative is to get children to make stick puppets of the characters. These can be used to tell a puppet story. (This is good for shyer students or for classes where the children don’t know each other very well).

Idea 5

Story sequence

Write the story sequence and cut it up into small sentences. Ask the children to get into groups of 4. Give each group the story sentences and ask them to rearrange it in the correct sequence.

(For younger children this can be done by copying the illustrations and they have to put it into the correct order)

Idea 6

That is wrong

Retell the story again but change some of the words (tell lies) and the students have to say what is wrong / or they can chant the following verse as soon as they hear the mistake:

That is wrong Mr / Mrs Mory

Tell again another story!

Idea 7

Active words

Read through the story. Ask students to choose four words that they liked. For each word there will be a gesture. For example:

1. Children stand up

2. Children put their hands on their heads

3. Children repeat the word

4. Children have to clap their hands.

Now tell the story again and every time the four words are mentioned the children must do the actions.

Idea 8

Class discussions: Older children like giving their opinion of a story so it is nice to set up some discussion groups. Possible ideas for discussions could be:

If I were the character what would I do?

How would I change the beginning?

How would I change the ending?

What I consider to be the best part of the story.

What I consider to be the worst part of the story.

Idea 9

Pass the picture tell the story

Sit in a circle with the children. Show them a picture of part of the story and tell the part of the story which goes with it. Give the picture to the next student in the circle who repeats the sentence you said. That child gives it to her neighbor who does the same thing. When the class is confident you can have several pictures moving at the same time.

Idea 10

Throw the ball and continue the story

When children are familiar with the whole story you can ask them to try and remember the whole sequence. For example:

Arrange the group in a large circle. Give one student a ball. He will begin telling the story and when he passes to the next person they have to continue and so on until the story comes to an end.