storytelling with language learners Archives - Kids English Theatre

Play It Up During Storytime! 3 Ways To Inspire your ESL Students With Drama!

Miranda Legge — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 13:31:46 +0000

Play It Up During Storytime! 3 Ways To Inspire your ESL Students With Drama!

For students learning English as a second language, storytelling is a fantastic way to cross the language barrier because it’s part of the human experience and is present in every culture. You can use this to your advantage as an ESL teacher by combining storytelling with dramatization to pull in your students and help them really enjoy learning English. You might even inspire them to create their own stories!

You can dramatize your storytelling using some simple drama techniques

Here are 3 simple ways to get started:

1. Start by speaking more slowly, with more emphasis on your words using your intonation. You can even repeat some keywords or actions as you read along to check your students’ comprehension.

2. Use different voices to engage your students. Try whispering part of the story to create suspense or singing part of the story to make your students laugh. Change your voice pitch, tone and ask the children simple questions as you read the story to keep them focused and participative.

3. Exaggerate your facial expressions and physical movements. Try wearing a simple costume (hat, cloak, spectacles etc.) and incorporate some fun props to set the scene of the story and create a magical atmosphere. Finally, try having students act out and recreate the story themselves. By inspiring children to create their own fantasy worlds their language skills and confidence quickly improve.

When it comes to incorporating these techniques in your classroom, a good place to start is picking out a good storybook. As I demonstrate in my Youtube video, a simple story with good visuals is key. It gives you room to dramatize the story.

Will You Be My Friend? by Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, is an excellent storybook choice for several reasons. The story itself is simple with little text. Most importantly, the visuals of the story are engaging. The tail of an animal is shown at first and then the grand reveal is on the next page. This is an easy one to engage students with because you can have them guess what the next animal is and you can play up the characters with different voices.

Other great storybook ideas are:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
Brown Bear – Eric Carle
Good News Bad News – Jeff Maki
Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell
The Colour Monster – Anna Llenas
Pete The Cat – Eric Litwin

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable.

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

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What Makes a Teacher Unforgettable?

brandparvindarsaini — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 14:27:56 +0000

We have just completed this September’s 5-Day Intensive training course in Florence with some amazing teachers from around the globe, all with different backgrounds and teaching experiences. It was great fun!

I’m always super excited about meeting new groups and I usually start the first day of each teacher training course with a simple question:

– What qualities do you think make a good teacher?

Participants usually shout out things like- patience, passion, being a good listener, friendly, approachable, motivating, caring, fun, belief in their students… etc

My second question follows with:

– Did you yourself ever have a teacher at school who had these same qualities? A teacher who has had an incredibly positive impact in your life. An unforgettable teacher.

I’m always surprised (or rather shocked) when very few people ever raise their hands (sometimes none).

It’s strange how we all instinctively know what qualities a good teacher should have but very few of us have ever actually had one ourselves.

So how can we be different for our young learners?

For me, a good teacher is synonym to being an excellent communicator.

Sometimes we give great importance to becoming a theory expert (whether it be English, Maths, History etc…) but we give less importance to understanding HOW to deliver that knowledge in an engaging way that gets children excited about learning.

By learning how to communicate better and becoming more aware how our students communicate we can adopt different teaching strategies in any given situation.

So, for example if we see children falling off their chairs with boredom, we’ll know how to change our behaviour, energy, tone of voice, eye contact or facial expression to help instantly re-connect with them.

Successful communication skills don’t come naturally to most – they need to be learned, developed and practiced, practiced, practiced but the benefits are immeasurable.

What we teach and how we teach it can make a difference in young lives….forever!

Be theatrical! Be unforgettable!!
Miranda

Free E-Book Teach Children English Through Drama 4 Steps to Getting Started ==> https://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/free-ebook/

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Storytelling with young language learners

brandparvindarsaini — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:34:41 +0000

I used to really dislike storytelling with my young language learners.
Why?
Because it was such hard work!
I would find it exhausting maintaining children’s attention for longer than a “page” and it crushed me when I saw eyes rolling or heard little voices exclaim “when is it finished?” or worse still “this is BORING!!”.

I desperately wanted these beautiful stories to fly off the page and touch children’s hearts but I had no idea where to start – the language barrier seemed like an impossible obstacle to overcome.

Well, I had to start somewhere and I quickly learnt that to engage young non-native speakers I couldn’t simply rely on narrating the story and showing pictures. I had to bring it to life in some way. So I started introducing props, costumes, music, puppets, masks and I began inventing ways to bring a little magic to stories and awaken all the children’s senses.

Since then I have spent years developing a multitude of creative strategies in ACTIVE and MULTISENORY storytelling using drama and play.

Now I want to share with you my TEACHING SECRETS and help you feel more creative and confident storytelling. I guarantee these fun and indispensable teaching tools will change the way you teach languages FOREVER.

TEACHER TRAINING MASTERCLASSES in FLORENCE, ITALY

Kids English Theatre Teacher Training Home ==>
http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/

FREE E-Book ==>
http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/free-ebook/

Feel free to message me
Miranda xx

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Why do English lessons flop?

brandparvindarsaini — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:18:34 +0000

Have you ever prepared an activity for your children based on what you’ve read somewhere or seen someone do? But when you introduce it, it completely FLOPS?

Why is that?

A lot comes down to how we communicate.

I often see teachers with impressive qualifications, knowledge and experience but with something fundamental missing: Effective communication skills.

According to research (Albert Mehrabian PhD , professor at UCLA), our non-verbal communication has a powerful impact on the people we come into contact with – much more powerful in fact than our verbal communication.

How much?

A whopping 55% body language communication as opposed to 7% verbal.

You can see better in the graph below what happens in the first 4 minutes of meeting someone new and how we quickly judge, like or dislike that person based on how they communicate.

Anybody who has met me knows how passionate I am about positive communication skills. I believe communication and theatre can resolve the majority of teaching challenges, forever!

For example:

when teachers tell me they are having classroom management issues, chaotic classes, noisy, misbehaving, uncooperative children – a lot can be resolved through better communication skills.

When teachers tell me they are unable to handle forthright or disgruntled parents – much can be dealt with better communication skills.

When teachers tell me they don’t feel confident teaching – again, communication skills are the solution

And above all teachers who struggle with bored, fidgety, distracted students can instantly turn their class around and find more enjoyment and satisfaction from teaching when they adopt positive communication skills and theatre of course!

So if communication and theatre techniques are so important in the classroom why aren’t more teachers embracing them?

Because communication skills unfortunately cannot be learned from a text book, video course or from someone telling you “communicate better! ” – you have to develop and practice these skills, in person.

This is the simple reason why I have designed a training course using theatre techniques to help guide teachers develop and above all practice these imperative skills and prepare them to face any audience with more confidence, power, warmth, trust and professionalism.

For more info about our teacher training courses ==> http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/teacher-training-courses/

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How to teach children English through role-play

brandparvindarsaini — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 16:53:33 +0000

One of the most challenging aspects of teaching children English is getting them to speak spontaneously and without embarrassment.
But how do we that?
ROLE-PLAYING offers children multiple opportunities to “try-out” fun roles and situations like at the restaurant, at the doctors, at the market –in a safe and supportive setting before they try them out for real.
In particular role-playing helps children practice new vocabulary in a natural and instinctive way.

If you want to find out more about how to teach children English through theatre visit my website ==> http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/
Or download my Free E-book ==> http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/free-ebook/
And remember…be theatrical!
Miranda

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ESL Drama Games and Stories

brandparvindarsaini — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:21:46 +0000

Are you looking for new activity ideas and storybooks to introduce to your children?

One of my children’s favourite storybooks is The Color Monster: A Story about Emotions by Anna Lienas. Do you know it? It’s a beautifully illustrated pop-up storybook and the simple language makes it ideal for introducing or reviewing colours and emotions with young language learners.

As a fun follow up activity to the story and to get those theatrical juices flowing, I ask children to stand up and listen to a short piece of music for example 50 secs of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. While the music is playing I hold up an “emotion” flashcard (or a page from the The Color Monster) and encourage the children to walk, dance or move around to the music and express that particular emotion.

After 40-60 secs I change the music and play a different piece for example: Happy by Pharrel Williams this time I hold up a different flashcard and encourage the children to express that emotion dancing to the music. I personally download music from iTunes for example classical, rock, pop, instrumentals etc to reflect happy, sad, angry, sleepy, love, etc.

Great fun for kids of all ages and it helps make language learning more memorable.

If you don’t have much space in your class to move around it also works well sitting down with children using dancing hands to express the emotions.

Be theatrical !
Miranda xx

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Performing with young language learners

brandparvindarsaini — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:15:29 +0000

Just before Christmas my 5-6 year old language learners presented their own “mini Christmas show” to families and friends. 10-minutes of sparkling Christmas songs and chants that ended with all the children showering paper snowflakes on our young protagonist, dressed up as a Christmas tree!

I always get so excited seeing children performing and putting into practice their language skills with such merriment and enthusiasm.

But, probably what I will treasure most is while I was awarding the children with their special stickers at the end of the show I noticed one particular student overwhelmed with emotion from the whole experience.

I sometimes underestimate the power that theatre and performance can have on young minds and hearts and yesterday I was happily reminded that theatre really can start a love for language learning … hopefully forever!

I recently posted some tips on organising a Christmas Show with young language learners on my Facebook page and I thought I would post them here too. The tips can apply to any mini presentation (not only Christmas) you may be planning with your kids this year.

TWINKLY TEACHING TIP OF THE DAY 1.

Bring festive spirit to what you already have.
If you’re in the middle of preparing a role-play for example of “The Three Little Pigs”, don’t suddenly abandon what you’re doing in favour of “The Grinch” two weeks before Christmas, you’ll never get the children prepared in time and it’s likely to flop.

Why not work with what you already have? The Three little Pigs can still be given a festive feel simply by dressing the characters in Christmas colours (red, white, black) and Santa hats and having them sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas as a finale altogether with the Mr Wolf!

In the past I’ve even had my kids perform a Christmas Fashion Show and it worked a treat
Sending you more pre- Christmas cheer and theatrics tomorrow

CHRISTMAS TEACHING TIP N.2
You’re running out of time but still want to make your little ones shine
Try narrating a Christmas story and simply have your children dramatize it.
Prepare a couple of short poems or chants for your kids to recite (as a chorus) and you’ll have a mini Christmas performance set up in no time.
It can help to adapt and simplify traditional nursery rhymes or chants to fit your children’s language abilities. They can be even as simple as:

Santa Santa comes every year
Santa Santa brings Christmas cheer
Santa Santa has a reindeer
Ho, Ho, Ho! Santa Santa’s nearly here!
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

CHRISTMAS ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING TIP OF THE DAY 3

[Be a role model]
Children can often feel a little overwhelmed when acting in front of an audience (in English!!!), so never abandon them on stage to face the music alone. Remember to always stand front stage facing your children smiling and guiding them animatedly through their songs and chants – your presence and encouragement will help them forget they’re under the spotlight and give them extra confidence. You’ll instantly notice they enjoy the whole experience much more.

[Can’t be heard?]
If children whisper their lines encourage them to project their voices by simply cupping your ears with your hands and miming the lyrics or script lines exaggeratedly – you’ll find children will naturally imitate you and speak up.

[Lastly] Keep in mind that no-one expects your show to last 2 hours!
10 mins is just fine for children to celebrate and demonstrate a dash of Christmas spirit and fun.

Be theatrical!

Miranda

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How do you build a child’s confidence in English?

brandparvindarsaini — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 10:43:27 +0000

There is no doubt that it is simpler to teach and boost confidence in children who are naturally extrovert and who readily jump in and try new things with zest and enthusiasm.

But what about shy or introverted children? How can we encourage them to become confident communicators, presenters, leaders? It’s a challenge we teachers face daily, especially when some children would prefer to jump into an icy bath rather than “take centre stage”.

I believe it’s these children who need our support and encouragement most.

So how can we help?

One simple method I use in class to help boost confidence is by focusing on CHORAL DRAMA GAMES and SONGS.

CHORAL work requires children to actively participate as a WHOLE GROUP (often in a circle). By singing as a chorus or physically moving around in structured group games no-one ever feels singled-out or under pressure to perform alone. Children learn how to collaborate and support each other as a team and it’s this sense of unity/companionship that helps (especially shy) children relax and gradually build their self -confidence.

An example of a “choral” drama game I play with new groups is:

Islands and Sharks

The teacher calls out a number and the children must physically form an island with the same number of children. Any child left out must dive into the pretend sea and start swimming. Lots of fun and laughter. Islands and Sharks and more group drama games can be found in my FREE-E-book

Let’s help ALL our children conquer their fears and become confident communicators – and what better way than through laughter and play.

Be theatrical!
Miranda

Resources ==> www.kidsenglishtheatre.com
==> http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/free-ebook
==> http://www.kidsenglishtheatre.com/video-course/

==> www.facebook.com/KidsEnglishTheatre

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Always be prepared for the unexpected when teaching children ESL

brandparvindarsaini — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 11:17:48 +0000

When I first started teaching children English and Drama I completely underestimated just HOW MUCH planning and didactic materials were needed to teach a 60-minute lesson.

I remember holding one of my very first lessons teaching a group of 6-year olds and feeling super-confident that I had more than enough material to last the lesson – only to run out after the first 15 minutes! Arghh!!!!!
(I hadn’t considered the fact that young children get terribly bored playing the same activity after 5- minutes)

I was therefore forced to improvise for the remaining 45 minutes (an agonising experience and not one I recommend ). Needless to say the lesson totally flopped and I kicked myself all the way home for not being better organised.

Since then I always over-plan lessons.
I add-on extra activities just in case I finish the program early or in case children dislike a particular game and I have to cut it short. Some extras are energy boosters and some are coolers, depending also on children’s energy levels.

It often takes much longer to PREPARE lessons than to ACTUALLY teach them but at least now I feel safe I always have a back-up. My motto is “always be prepared for the unexpected when teaching kids”

Happy teaching
Miranda

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