IDEA
YOUNG LEARNERS
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Maximizing children’s language potential
Episode 2

Magdalena Duchnik
How about a good story?
In the first article of the series dedicated to teaching
pre-school children aged 2-7 we presented our
approach to exploiting songs as a valuable source
of language for this age group. This episode will
be focused on using stories with children - stories,
which are very often the core element of many
courses for young learners.
Many teachers use stories. But in order to make
students like stories it is crucial to introduce and
practice them in a way that is appealing to children.
They need to associate stories with fun and play
rather than with “learning the language”.
We want to show how to conduct engaging lessons
with a story that your students will love. And how to
increase the challenge gradually so that your students
will end up retelling or even acting out the story.
Modern, age-relevant content
Children are surrounded by stories. Parents read to
them, pre-school teachers educate them through
stories, they watch cartoons that tell stories on TV.
It is important that stories used in the classroom are
Magdalena Duchnik
Magda is an Opole University
graduate in Applied Linguistics.
An EFL teacher, teacher trainer
and owner of a language school
with over 10 years of experience,
she is the co-author of Teddy
Eddie - a licensed programme
for pre-school children. She has got two children:
Alicja aged 3 and Kuba aged 8.
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Maximizing children’s language potential –
core elements:
 Modern, age-relevant content
 Sensible motivation – external and internal
 High language challenge
 No idle play
funny, engaging and up to date. They should present
language in context that is easy to understand
and teach in such a way that your students will
understand the natural language flow, where new
words and unknown chunks do not disturb the
comprehension. Some stories encompass elements
of drilling, which is a great stimulus for speaking.
From what we observe half of the success of
a story are funny, cartoon-like illustrations and lively
recordings that grip our students’ attention.
Fun and play
Doing things is fun! Do not just talk about things,
do them! Act out and mime the stories and songs,
manipulate with flashcards (put them in order, hold
them up, put them in a box etc.). Introduce a lot of
movement. Children have lots of energy and they
usually have fun when performing actions.
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YOUNG LEARNERS
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Sense of humour. Humour is vital in the stories and other texts, but remember that young students are
still learning what is funny, just like they are still learning other social standards. You have to point out such
humorous moments. Make students realise they can laugh at something, model the actions, underline what
is funny and sometimes explain why.
THE STORY: (the story is available at http://www.teddyeddie.pl/the-teacher.html).
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STORY
YOUNG LEARNERS
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
Read the story showing flashcards and using
mime and gesture (feelings, actions etc.).
Encourage students to follow your mime and
gesture. Make sure students understand each
sentence (sometimes even translate bits and
pause for explanations).
Note: Model the gestures yourself first with
exaggerated movements and facial expressions
- it would be great if you can make
children laugh at your actions. Repeat
the activity at the following lessons and
then gradually let the children take over
and demonstrate their creativity. They need
to associate the movements with meaning to
make more durable connections in their brains.
Introducing the story:
You need: story flashcards, the recording (optionally
the video recording)
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Students sit in a circle or line in front of
the teacher. Tell them they are going to listen
to a story about six witches who take part in
a race (L1). Do not tell the plot so as not to spoil
the fun and comprehension practice.
If necessary pre-teach a few words (a witch,
a race, petrol).
Before listening make sure students are sitting
still and concentrate. Play the recording and
show the appropriate flashcards so students do
not lose track.
Optional: You can play the video recording
to introduce the story.
Checking comprehension:
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Students say what they understand the story is
about (L1).
Practicing the story:
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Play the recording or read the text. Ss put
the flashcards in the right order on the floor.
Optional: Students hold flashcards - one flashcard
each. They stand in a line according to the order of
the text as you are reading or playing it.
Read the text in a jumbled order. Students point
at the right picture or hold up the appropriate
flashcard.
Optional: If you have lots of space in your
classroom you can put the flashcards on the
floor and students must stand by the right
flashcard or tap it with their hand.
Read the story pausing for students to insert
first single words, then gradually longer and
longer sequences.
Have you practiced the identification of the story
parts enough? Why not challenge your students
with a flashcard game? Use story flashcards to do it.
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PICTURE BIT BY BIT – A GAME
YOU NEED:
a set of flashcards, a cloth/a piece of paper
❶ Teacher shows students a flashcard bit by bit (you can cover the card with a cloth/a piece of paper).
❷ Students must guess what is in the picture.
OPTIONS/COMMENTS:
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Encourage students to use full sentences, e.g. I’m the blue witch... I’m driving my truck.
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This game can be also played in teams, teams take turns to guess the flashcards. Help all the teams
so that they all feel success. They can “compete” against you – make sure they win
Story manipulation, retelling and acting out:
This stage requires very good understanding of
the story and quite a lot of prior practice.
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Tell the story, changing some elements eg.
I’m the white witch. I’m flying my banana. [...]
It’s big and slow. I’m going to dance.
Note: Change one or two words in a caption.
If they are funny for children they will be more
engaged in the activity.
Get students to retell the story using flashcards
as prompts.
Students act out the story without the recording.
Remember not to correct them at this stage –
accuracy is not important here!
The activities described above are scheduled for
several lessons and they should be introduced
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gradually, one or two at a time. It is important
to lead the students in such a way that they reach
the final stage and still have fun with more and more
challenging, though doable, tasks.
References:
D.Kubica, M.Duchnik, A.Komada The Yellow Book of Teddy Eddie
D.Kubica, M.Duchnik, A.Komada Teddy Eddie and his Sock - Course
Manual
All the ideas are taken from the Teddy
Eddie programme. More materials and the
information about the license conditions at
www.teddyeddie.pl
PRINTING HOUSE
 +48 (25) 740 50 05
 +48 (25) 740 50 06
 drukarnia@ragus.pl
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