Hi, my dear colleagues! In my mind, in Methodologyland, there is a constant shortage of interactive storytelling activities, especially ones that involve speaking. It’s even more daunting if you are teaching very young learners who cannot read or haven’t even been introduced to sight words, so I usually use a story cube with VYl!
This post is meant to share a simple, 3-part formula that can be replicated with any picture book without having the teacher prepare the lesson plan for hours.
This magical formula consists of:
- Describing pictures & guessing the story/topic based on 1 picture only
- Interactive storytelling questions during dramatization
- Making up a simple story with story cubes
Describing pictures & guessing the story/topic based on 1 picture only
This could be a lead-in for the storytelling session or another way to start the storytelling without introducing the book.
- You can either show them the cover of the book, have them describe it in as many details as possible, and then guess the topic of the story or…
- You can use storymats (the examples below come from a calendar for children), where there the topic is similar to the topic of the book. I use this for nursery rhyme books and well-know stories and fairytales so that they don’t guess immediately because then they are not that interested to describe.
Here are my sustainable, DIY story mats (most of them are nursery rhymes and famous stories):
Some guided description questions include:
- What do you see in the front of the picture?
- What do you see in the picture?
- What is this (character: animal, girl/boy, anything else) doing?
- What is this (character) wearing?
- What is this (character) feeling in the picture?
Make sure to point to the picture as you show and demonstrate what the front is and the back of the picture because background also plays an essential role in describing.
Interactive storytelling questions during the dramatization
Educators often forget to ask questions during the storytelling itself, and there lies a lot of wasted potentials. Even if the children are very young, we can ask them straightforward questions, such as:
- How many…do you see?
- What is tha name of…?
- What is this? (Always pointing to the illustration)
- Do you like this/that…?
And of course, always asking children things like are you ready to continue to the next page, or do you want to see what is next because that makes them feel like they are in control, and they lead the story, not the teacher, which also makes them more motivated.
They eagerly anticipate what will happen on the next page, and it always works.
An example with a super simple book – easy storytelling activities!
Making up a simple story with story cubes
Story cubes are great for making simple stories. I have 6 of these, and I usually use them to make an alternate ending.
We spin the cube and then name all of the images. After that, I keep turning the cube, and the students use the words they see to make simple, funny sentences to finish the story in a new, fun way. While working with young learners, I usually use the present simple for making up a new ending, and it’s always fun because the cubes are not related to the story, so the ending is always silly.
When you download the printable form below and print it out, you can either draw your own images or teach young learners who can read, and you can also write down some questions or sight words.
Story cubes coming your way!
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What do you think about my storytelling activities, story cube, and story prompts? What are some practical activities you use to make storytelling easy-peasy?
Please write down in the comments or via the contact page. I would love to know your opinion!
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