ESL Teaching and Learning Tips
In America, we tell bedtime stories to our children. Sometimes we read them from little books, sometimes they are just stories we know. But often we pretend we are reading the story from the book, but we are actually just telling the story from memory, adding little bits to make it more interesting, and leaving other parts out that our child hasn't liked in the past.
When the child is very small, we can read a longer, more complicated story to the child by simplifying it while we "read." We make it shorter, using simpler grammar, and use words we know the child knows or will be able to figure out when listening. (Occasionally you can stop and ask 'What do you think? Is that scary, silly, funny, whatever?' Your child can use his own words then, with some prompting from you.)
You can also ask him questions about what he thinks of the story. What do the character look like? What are they wearing? What do they eat? Who is their favorite character? Why? At his age, he might not know much about plot, but he'll have an opinion about the people in the story.
Sometimes the discussion about the story with your child is more fun than reading the story itself! And in that way, he continues to have fun while he learns, which hopefully will become a lifelong habit!
Messages In This Thread
- Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- KamalaDevi
- Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Pat
- Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Extefler
- Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Dr.Yanni Zack
- Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Extefler
- Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Pat