Application of Preschool English Stories Teaching幼兒英語故事教學的應用

祝綺

Abstract： English Stories teaching is a type of teaching form to be acceptable and popular for children. but the researches work on practical model of preschool English stories teaching is rare. This article will address this issue， make a suggestion about the practical model.

Key words： preschool English stories； teaching； practical model

1. Introduction

Children are considered natural language learners； according to second language acquisition theory， they can learn faster and with much less difficulty than adults， but they should be exposed to natural learning environments， to real communication situations and to special teaching practices that make learning a meaningful， enjoyable and lifelong process.（Porras，Nohora 2010） Preschool English stories teaching is a type of teaching form to be acceptable and popular for children and also is the development of the preschool children listening， speaking， reading and telling ability of the important ways.

2. A Brief Review of Preschool English Stories Teaching

2.1 Definition

According to Kindergarten Job Directive Rules， children begin schooling in kindergarten raging from 3 to 6 or 7 years old.（Ouyang 1） Thus， in this paper， preschool English education refers to those aged 3-6 years accept receive English education. Preschool English stories teaching is a process that teachers help children to gradually and consciously realize the structure and rules of the English language by let children access to many complete meaning English stories language materials， then they co-construct the specified form of language by teacher-children interaction like games and performance. （Zhang 12）

2.2 Different Functions

To hear the story and tell the story are the nature of children. The main functions of Preschool English stories teaching are as follows：Firstly， it is good for fostering interests

As the saying goes， “Interest is the best teacher.” Li Chen claims that Teachers can take the storytelling method to have a good time with children in English teaching process with a suitable language environment.（148） Secondly， it is good for developing language skills. English stories teaching can provide a good opportunity for children language practice and help them to set up language sense in a way. Children are allowed to actively participate in the performance activity in English teaching stories process and gradually familiar with language construction and language sense. Last， it is good for enriching life experience and foreign culture. Not merely do English stories have always permeated virtue-thinking and consciousness， but also can build the capacity of all aspects in preschool English stories teaching process. Taking the Santa Claus story for example， not only does it can expand children knowledge base， but see different culture background knowledge. In a word， English Stories teaching is a powerful strategy in preschool English education because they provide children with a raft of interesting and enriching input.

2.3. Practical model of Preschool English Stories Teaching

3.1 Selecting stories

First of all， teachers should select right and magnetic materials for English stories classes.（1）From Internet： a raft of website provide many English stories are fit for children to learn at home and abroad. For instance： http：//www.storyplace.org/， http：//pbskids.org/， www.nicjr.com， and so on. （2）From some meaningful Chinese folk tales：teachers can rewrite them to help children know Chinese culture based on the characteristics of study and teaching aims.（3）From preschool English books：Ying，Liao（40） recommends that teachers ought to adapt the contents based on teaching aims. Such as， teaching the usage of “be going to do something”， they can change “Brown Bear ， Brown Bear， What Do You See？” into “Brown Bear， Brown Bear， who are you going to see tomorrow？ I am going to see the bird.” Besides， the criteria for the option of stories for children ought to include “age-appropriate theme； simple language； limited use of metaphor and unfamiliar experiences； use of rhyme； distinct plot； realistic but simple dialogue； potential for reading aloud； brevity； and nice illustrations”.

3.2 Process of Teaching

3.2.1 Pre-storytelling activities

Firs of all， the teacher ought to analyze the theme of the story so that he/she use some pictures and multimedia to help children to familiar with them； pick out the key vocabulary words so that he/she help children to understand them by playing games and showing pictures or entities. It is requisite to teach the students the key vocabulary words to help them follow the English story which serve as a basis for learning vocabulary words before storytelling. It is so much more beneficial to the children than simply memorizing a list of words. Afterwards， there are three ways to use in the process of introduction： （1）children can guessing the contents by showing related pictures or playing a related song. （2）children can discuss the topic that they are

familiar with.（3）the teacher plays a role of the story.

3.2.2 While-storytelling activities

Firstly， it perhaps necessary and wise synthetically to employ meaningful teaching methods to have a English stories class. Here are three methods that merit attention：（1）Sandwich story teaching methodology is a useful way to teach English to children， which is advocated and wrote by Ji Yuhua， a professor of English at Xiamen University. The story is written with English words， phrases and sentences sandwiched between Chinese so that children can understand them with the help of both the Chinese context and the story plot. For example， in little red riding hood， little red riding hood asked，“Oh，NaiNai， how come you yanjing are so big？” Ouyang （93）claims that by this method， English words， phrases and sentences are embedded gradually with the percentage of English words increasing story by story， until the young learner is able to understand stories written completely in English.（2）Scene-playing method is a meaningful way for teacher to play up the scene in the process by making the most of aids， entities， stick figure，and especially modern educational technology. For instance， in Santa Claus， teachers can play the feature film and decorate the Christmas tree with children. In the process， the teacher can help children learn words like Christmas card， stocking，star，present， Santa Claus.（3）Immersion story methodology refers to the teacher tell the story in English to help children learn by show teaching aids， multimedia，body language ，and so on.

How to tell the story more magnetic and vivid？ the criteria for the telling of stories for teacher should include “familiar with story at full cock， lively vary the tone， naturally use body language and ask Ingenious quizzes led children to think seriously”. Leaving off the ending and letting children describe what they deem will happen， and then tell it， is also a great way.

3.2.3 Post-storytelling activities

English Stories are a fine jumping board so that the teacher can make activities and funny games based on the theme and vocabulary in the story to give the children more chance to acquire the story and use knowledge actively. Here is just a raft of activities as follows： （1）Pass every student a picture that describe the plots of the story and have them line up in due order the plots.（2）Teach them a song and a chant which goes long with the theme of the story and then make the chants or songs simple and read back them often in different voices， and incentive the preschoolers to participate in. （3） Let children act out parts of the English story and then create a good environment that allow them to dress up like roles in the story and do things the roles in the English story did. Therefore， for example， if the roles in the story decorated trees， give them some time to decorate trees . （4） Have the children draw a picture about their favorite part of the story and then account to it to children.

Conclusion

As children have short attention spans spending five minutes on a story， teachers ought to select the appropriate methods in order to make study funny and meaningful for preschoolers in the process of English class. Stories are the most reasonable sources for preschoolers in effective English learning. English stories teaching are motivating for preschoolers ； can set up a pleasant learning atmosphere；made the preschooler's learning English more interesting and meaningful. Thus， teaching English using stories as a teaching method can creates a good learning environment for preschoolers in the process of English teaching.

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