A short while ago I had asked you to tell me about your top two questions in relation to using stories for language learning and I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
Some of you would like to know if they can use stories without the assistance of a teacher; others are more concerned with correct pronunciation, visual aids, e.g. illustrations, or how to check if the children understood what the stories were about (listening and reading comprehension).
Some of you would like to know if they can use stories without the assistance of a teacher; others are more concerned with correct pronunciation, visual aids, e.g. illustrations, or how to check if the children understood what the stories were about (listening and reading comprehension).
I will be sending you a handful of emails over the next few days and I am going to answer your questions about using stories for language learning so that you can see for yourself how it can work for you and your child.
All of us who want our children to learn a language other than the majority language the community speaks, are constantly looking for ideas and resources that help them learn BUT also offer the fun factor that is so important to engage and motivate children.
So here’s a question for you: Wouldn’t it be great to spend time with your child doing something you both enjoy and by doing this, you can teach or support him to learn the language that plays such an important part of your own life?
Stories as a language learning tool can help you to achieve your goal: raise a bi- or multilingual child and pass on the language you feel so passionate about. You can achieve this - not by forcing your child to sit at a desk and study the language with textbooks – but with reading stories using natural language about any topic one can imagine and that your child is interested in.
Stories also make it very easy for you to use German in a variety of contexts, especially if you are a non-native speaker of German and worry about passing on incorrect language. Everything is there ready for you to use: vocabulary, sentence structures, tenses, verb conjugation, and much more.
What would it mean to you to be able to take matters into your own hand and raise a bilingual child, enjoy the process together and be confident that what you do is helping your child to learn in a playful yet structured way?
I have been learning languages since the age of nine and as far as I remember, my earliest ‘teaching’ experience goes back to helping a class mate with our Russian homework. I have been teaching in different roles over the last 15 years, also in areas not related to languages, and my students always got the best results through learning by doing, supported by theoretical or technical knowledge as necessary.
Having worked with adults previous to teaching children, I took specialist courses on teaching languages to young children. Using stories as a learning tool, among other child-centered methods, stuck with me. It also comes naturally to me as a teaching method as I am an avid reader myself and love getting lost in a good story, experiencing other people, places and times.
I have been using stories in my lessons as well as with my own children for the purpose of improving and developing their German. The most challenging aspect from a language learning point is how the language is transferred from a story into our everyday lives or your child’s life respectively.
Over the last few years I have specialised in using two strategies to support the acquisition of German in children through stories:
- pick short stories with little text that
- tell the story in simple short sentences and
- are written in the present tense,
- supported by corresponding illustrations
(- and by your native language (if you are learning along with your child, e.g.bilingual or dual language
books)
- watch out for audio versions (CD / MP3 / online listening) to help with pronunciation as well as
- added teaching guides/materials to extend the learning beyond the story to related activities such as
songs, quizzes or games
This leads me to two of the questions you have asked about using stories for learning German:
Q. Can it be done only with the assistance of a German teacher?
A. You can use stories to learn German yourself or with your child even WITHOUT the support of a
teacher! The most difficult part here is to find suitable books and stories but once you've got a few you
can start on your own. Depending on your own level of German you may or may not require, for
example, audio support to read the stories to your child. Should you require further help with
pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar, there's a lot of support available online in forums or online
dictionaries (for example www.dict.cc - with pronunciation) to help explain specific questions about the
language as you come across it.
Q. Are the stories with pictures?
A. The answer here has to be YES, both for beginners as well as early readers. In both cases,
illustrations enable the listener or reader respectively, to understand the content of the story even
without knowing every single word of German. Illustrations offer context to the narration, as much as
actions offer context to what you are talking about to your child. There is a specific type of story -
Picture-Reading-Stories (Bilderlesegeschichten) that contain specific words as illustrations as part of
sentences and encourage the development of new vocabulary.
I would like to show a simple example so you can try using a very short story to learn German without any preparation. Read the story (one page) and listen to the audio. As an additional activity let your child draw a picture about the story. I would love to see what he/she drew so feel free to put it up on
my Facebook page!
Language development in any language follows certain steps from learning to listening and understanding to speaking and using the language. Here we are talking about the first step: becoming familiar with vocabulary and pronunciation. So for now, try this short story to test learning German with stories.
In my next email I will show you activities related to a story to practise listening comprehension, the next step to actively using, e.g. speaking German.
Please share how you are getting on with this first activity and leave your comment or questions below!
Best wishes,
Sandra
All of us who want our children to learn a language other than the majority language the community speaks, are constantly looking for ideas and resources that help them learn BUT also offer the fun factor that is so important to engage and motivate children.
So here’s a question for you: Wouldn’t it be great to spend time with your child doing something you both enjoy and by doing this, you can teach or support him to learn the language that plays such an important part of your own life?
Stories as a language learning tool can help you to achieve your goal: raise a bi- or multilingual child and pass on the language you feel so passionate about. You can achieve this - not by forcing your child to sit at a desk and study the language with textbooks – but with reading stories using natural language about any topic one can imagine and that your child is interested in.
Stories also make it very easy for you to use German in a variety of contexts, especially if you are a non-native speaker of German and worry about passing on incorrect language. Everything is there ready for you to use: vocabulary, sentence structures, tenses, verb conjugation, and much more.
What would it mean to you to be able to take matters into your own hand and raise a bilingual child, enjoy the process together and be confident that what you do is helping your child to learn in a playful yet structured way?
I have been learning languages since the age of nine and as far as I remember, my earliest ‘teaching’ experience goes back to helping a class mate with our Russian homework. I have been teaching in different roles over the last 15 years, also in areas not related to languages, and my students always got the best results through learning by doing, supported by theoretical or technical knowledge as necessary.
Having worked with adults previous to teaching children, I took specialist courses on teaching languages to young children. Using stories as a learning tool, among other child-centered methods, stuck with me. It also comes naturally to me as a teaching method as I am an avid reader myself and love getting lost in a good story, experiencing other people, places and times.
I have been using stories in my lessons as well as with my own children for the purpose of improving and developing their German. The most challenging aspect from a language learning point is how the language is transferred from a story into our everyday lives or your child’s life respectively.
Over the last few years I have specialised in using two strategies to support the acquisition of German in children through stories:
- the creation and use of short stories about a specific aspect of language and
- the creation and use of play-based learning activities in relating to a specific story
- pick short stories with little text that
- tell the story in simple short sentences and
- are written in the present tense,
- supported by corresponding illustrations
(- and by your native language (if you are learning along with your child, e.g.bilingual or dual language
books)
- watch out for audio versions (CD / MP3 / online listening) to help with pronunciation as well as
- added teaching guides/materials to extend the learning beyond the story to related activities such as
songs, quizzes or games
This leads me to two of the questions you have asked about using stories for learning German:
Q. Can it be done only with the assistance of a German teacher?
A. You can use stories to learn German yourself or with your child even WITHOUT the support of a
teacher! The most difficult part here is to find suitable books and stories but once you've got a few you
can start on your own. Depending on your own level of German you may or may not require, for
example, audio support to read the stories to your child. Should you require further help with
pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar, there's a lot of support available online in forums or online
dictionaries (for example www.dict.cc - with pronunciation) to help explain specific questions about the
language as you come across it.
Q. Are the stories with pictures?
A. The answer here has to be YES, both for beginners as well as early readers. In both cases,
illustrations enable the listener or reader respectively, to understand the content of the story even
without knowing every single word of German. Illustrations offer context to the narration, as much as
actions offer context to what you are talking about to your child. There is a specific type of story -
Picture-Reading-Stories (Bilderlesegeschichten) that contain specific words as illustrations as part of
sentences and encourage the development of new vocabulary.
I would like to show a simple example so you can try using a very short story to learn German without any preparation. Read the story (one page) and listen to the audio. As an additional activity let your child draw a picture about the story. I would love to see what he/she drew so feel free to put it up on
my Facebook page!
Language development in any language follows certain steps from learning to listening and understanding to speaking and using the language. Here we are talking about the first step: becoming familiar with vocabulary and pronunciation. So for now, try this short story to test learning German with stories.
In my next email I will show you activities related to a story to practise listening comprehension, the next step to actively using, e.g. speaking German.
Please share how you are getting on with this first activity and leave your comment or questions below!
Best wishes,
Sandra
RSS Feed
