Week 3

Activities
to explore
and exploit
stories
ELAB3013 Language Arts
 Storytelling is the ancient art of narrating stories through vocal
performance, gestures, and improvisation. It is a powerful teaching tool
that helps capture students' attention, imagination, and interest.

Make abstract ideas and Model proper language use,

complex subjects more concrete grammar, and pronunciation,
and relatable by embedding helping students develop their
them in a narrative context. linguistic abilities.

Encourage creative thinking, Celebrate cultural diversity

problem-solving, and critical and traditions by sharing
analysis as students interact folktales and stories from
with the story's characters, various backgrounds.
events, and themes.
 Why mastering storytelling skills is crucial for teachers?
to allow them to effectively convey information, concepts, and
values in an engaging and memorable way.

Storytelling

cultivate emotional
develop public speaking skills,
connections with students,
confidence, and the ability to
promoting empathy,
capture and hold an
understanding, and retention
audience's attention.
of the lessons.
 Storytelling
Objective : Activity: Variation:
Students prepare and present an Assign stories to
Develop narrative skills, original short story orally to the class. connect with a certain
engage creativity, build Encourage use of descriptive language, theme, literary period,
public speaking vocal expression, gestures, and or cultural perspective
abilities. personal experiences as inspiration. being studied.
 Storytelling Activities for Primary School Pupils

Story Circle Role-Playing Stories

Story Props
Story Stones
Puppet Show
Story Jars
Story Maps
Character Hot Seat
Story Retelling with Pictures

Story Time with Sound Effects

 A chain story is a collaborative storytelling activity where each
person adds to the story in turns. This helps to build creativity,
Chain Story teamwork, a nd na rrati ve s ki l l s a s the s tor y unfol d s w i th
contributions from everyone involved.

1
Starting the story 3 Conclusion
§ Begin with an engaging opening § After everyone has contributed, bring
sentence or paragraph. the story to a satisfying conclusion.
§ Make sure the starting point is clear and § Read the entire story aloud to the
provides a good foundation for others to class and discuss its development.
build on.

2 4

Developing the story

Introduction § Each student takes turns adding a
§ Explain the concept of a chain story few sentences or a paragraph to
to the students. continue the story.
§ Discuss the importance of continuity § Encourage students to maintain
and coherence in storytelling. logical progression and consistency
in the plot and characters.
Reflections
Chain Story Benefits
• Have a class discussion
about the experience. • Creativity: Students use their
• Reflect on how the story imagination to add to the story.
evolved and the • Teamwork: Promotes collaboration
contributions made by as each student builds on others'
each student. ideas.
• Narrative Skills: Helps develop skills
in plot development, character
creation, and maintaining
coherence.
• Engagement: Keeps students
interested and actively participating
in the storytelling process.

Guidelines
• Set rules for contributions (e.g., Follow-Up Activities
minimum and maximum length of each
• Assign students to write individual
addition).
reflections or alternate endings.
• Ensure that each contribution builds on
• Create a class book of chain stories,
the previous one and adds value to the
showcasing different themes and
narrative.
styles.
 Role Play
IMPLEMENTATION STEPS

Preparation
§ Choose a story or scenario that is suitable for the lesson and
the age group of the students.
§ Create a clear outline of the roles and the situation to be
enacted.

q Role play is an educational Assign Roles

activity where students act out § Assign roles to students, ensuring each student understands
characters or situations. their character’s background and motivation.
§ Provide simple costumes or props to make the activity more
q This method helps students engaging.
understand different
perspectives, practice Setting the Scene
language skills, and develop § Explain the context of the story or scenario to the students.
social and emotional learning. § Set up a designated area in the classroom where the role play
will take place.
 Role Play
Rehearsal
§ Allow students some time to prepare and rehearse their roles.
§ Guide them on how to express emotions and actions relevant to their characters.

Performance
§ Have students act out their roles in front of the class.
§ Encourage them to stay in character and interact with each other as their characters would.

Discussion
§ After the role play, discuss with the students what they learned from the activity.
§ Ask questions about the characters’ actions and motivations to deepen understanding.

Reflection
§ Have students write or draw about their experience in the role play.
§ Encourage them to reflect on what they enjoyed and what they found challenging.
Graphic representation is a
powerful tool in teaching
language arts, as it helps young
learners visualize concepts,
organize their thoughts, and
engage more deeply with the
material.
 Vocabulary posters
Story Maps
• Choose a familiar Graphic Representation • Select new vocabulary
story. words from a story or
• Draw a large map lesson.
on a whiteboard or • Create a poster for each
chart paper with word with the word in the
sections for the center.
beginning, middle, • Around the word, draw
and end. pictures or symbols that
• Work with students illustrate the meaning.
to fill in each • Add sentences or
section with main synonyms to provide
events, characters, context.
and settings.
• Use pictures and Graphic Organizers
short phrases to • Provide students with graphic organizers
illustrate key points. like Venn diagrams, T-charts, or KWL
charts.
• Use these to compare characters, list
Character Webs
pros and cons, or outline what students
• Pick a character from a story.
know, want to know, and have learned
• Draw a circle in the center of a paper with the character's name.
about a topic.
• Around the circle, add lines connecting to other circles with
• Encourage students to fill in the
information about the character (e.g., traits, actions, feelings).
organizers with drawings and short
• Use words and images to represent the character’s attributes.
phrases.
 Tutorial Task (25 June 2024)
Each group will be assigned one of the following activities to explore and exploit stories in a
classroom setting. The duration of performance of each group is 20 - 30 minutes.

Story Telling
1. Prepare and perform a storytelling session using expressive language and gestures.
2. Reflect on the preparation, challenges, and engagement techniques.

Chain Story
1. Collaboratively create a chain story with your group and perform in the class.
2. Discuss and reflect on the story's evolution and the collaborative process.

Role Play
1. Plan and perform a role play based on a chosen story or scenario.
2. Write individual reflections on character perspective, group dynamics, and teaching benefits.

Graphic Representation
1. Create a graphic representation of a story (e.g., story map, character web, graphic organizers).
2. Present the graphic to the class and write a report on its creation and effectiveness in teaching.

Prepared by IRO for

ELAB3013 Semester 3 2023/34