WHY USE STORIES WITH EARLY LANGUAGE LEARNERS

WHY USE STORIES WITH EARLY LANGUAGE LEARNERS

My love for using stories in my classes is never-ending! Read some of the reasons why I use stories in my classes:

THEY ARE FUN AND ENGAGING

When using stories, students always want to know the end of it, so it really keeps them engaged. In my experience, the stories are even more engaging when they are simple and students can follow the plot in the target language.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE ABOUT OTHER CULTURES

You can also bring stories that give students opportunities to learn about other cultures. Make sure to check facts before bringing the story to the class. It’s important to avoid stereotypical stories or overgeneralization.

PRESENT LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT

Stories are perfect to provide “chunks” of language, rather than isolated vocabulary words. Stories present useful language and grammar in context. Make sure the stories you use with early language learners provide enough repetition and use high-frequency vocabulary and phrases.

CHILDREN NEVER GET TIRED OF THEM!

Find different ways to retell the story. You could have your students draw their favorite part of the story, and later you might use their pictures to retell the story. You can add more fun by retelling the story and having your students become active participants in it! This way you are providing repetition without your students even noticing it!

STORIES I USE!

Although these are my own stories, I also include a variety of stories from other authors and cultures:

Have fun bringing stories to your students!

 

THREE FREE STORIES FOR YOUR ELEMENTARY SPANISH CLASESS

THREE FREE STORIES FOR YOUR ELEMENTARY SPANISH CLASESS

These are three simple and easy to understand stories that I have written for elementary students, although I have also been delighted to hear from middle school teachers that they have used them with their beginner classes. These stories have a lot of repetition in them.

Make sure to download the free resources that go along with them. Just click on each picture below, and it will take you to a new link to download the stories and activities.

Have fun reading these stories to your students!

Find more teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers:

 

SHORT AND COMPREHENSIBLE STORY FOR EARTH DAY

SHORT AND COMPREHENSIBLE STORY FOR EARTH DAY

This is a short story with a simple goal, to raise students’ awareness about the negative environmental impacts of latex, plastic, and other materials. I created a story after being inspired by another video (further below in this post) that demonstrates why releasing balloons into the air can have such terrible consequences for animals, especially birds.

In my short and comprensible story, a red balloon listens to two birds talk about how another bird died after eating a piece of a popped balloon. This makes the red balloon sad, and it wishes never to be big. Download the story to see what happens next!

Earth Day is on April 22nd, and using this story is a great way to introduce this celebration to class. You can download the story for free from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

You might also take a look at organizations such as Greenpeace to complement the story.  Greenpeace has YouTube channels for some Spanish speaking countries: Argentina, Colombia, México, Chile with many videos that are short, sweet and simple and can inspire many interesting lessons and reflection.

Here is a link to the video that I came across, made by Mexico-based Pamela Quibec, which served as inspiration for Simón el globito:

Enjoy bringing this story to your classes!

You might like this resource on Teachers Pay Teachers

Create Your Own Interactive Sock Puppet Book

I had a lot of fun making this sock puppet book so I thought it was a good idea to share with you here the template I used. I printed the pages on stock paper, and it was easy to create. What took the longest was the puppet, but there is no science behind it. 
I included in the video below a quick tutorial on how I made my puppet, but there are more elaborate ones on YouTube – just search “How to make sock puppets,” and you will get tons of results. 
I included a blank template you may use to add more emotions in the book. You can also write a story about the puppet. Ready to make your book? Click HERE to download the files. 

Have fun!

More teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers!

La Oruga Comelona



Since in many of my classes my students read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, and also to support the butterfly unit they explore in their homerooms, I came up with an adapted version which I love calling “la versión criolla” of Eric Carle’s story. This oruga decides to take a trip around Latin America and tries different traditional dishes. I used a picture of a caterpillar, a big colorful map, and pictures of the different traditional dishes and places where they originate that la oruga visited. Children had fun learning about the different dishes, and it was also an opportunity to learn about geography and the butterfly life cycle in Spanish!




La Oruga Comelona

En un día en el que hace sol, la oruga sale de su huevo para cantar una canción:

“Tengo hambre, tengo hambre, debo crecer muy grande. Mis maletas debo empacar y por  Latinoamérica  me voy a viajar”

El lunes comió en Colombia un sancocho que la dejó como un ocho.

El martes fue  a México, comió un pozole y luego se durmió sobre  unas flores.

El miércoles fue a la República Dominicana, comió mofongo y se quedó dormida sobre un hongo.

El jueves fue a Cuba, comió tostones y se quedó dormida sobre un par de cajones.

El viernes se fue a Argentina, se comió unos alfajores que después le  dieron dolores.

El sábado fue a Perú  y comió ceviche como loca que otra oruga la confundió con una foca.

El domingo fue a Ecuador y sintió que comer una hoja sería mejor.

Después de tanto viajar, a su casa en Colombia tenía que regresar. Había ganado tanto peso que ya no cabía en la hoja de su árbol de cerezo.

¡Upa, upa, es hora de construir una pupa! Y después de tanta fiesta en su nueva casa decidió tomar una larga siesta.

En la mañana, junto al sol, de la pupa una linda mariposa salió.



*This is story was written by Carolina Gómez and it’s being shared for classroom use only. It can’t be sold! If you which to use it a different way, please contact the author directly. This story belongs to Fun for Spanish Teachers ©2012.


Have fun teaching!