Enhancing Students’
Reading and Speaking Skills through the
Learning and Teaching of Phonics and
Storytelling
Phonics Teaching Series (2)
rundown
+ Roles of Phonics and Stories + Stories, Phonics & Learning + Using Stories
+ Developing Phonics Skills when Storytelling + Activities Demo & Application
Reading
+
Word Recognition
+
Language Comprehension
supplement
&
complement
Phonics Stories
Reasons for Using Stories
+ can be read in a short time + enjoyable and motivating
+ appeal to different learner types + provide cultural information
+ encourage intercultural understanding +
+ +
Reasons for Using Stories
+ featured in the General English programme and Reading Workshops
+ introduce / revise vocabulary, grammar structures and phonological / pronunciation features
+ develop / integrate strategies / skills such as active listening, critical thinking and prediction, building
confidence when reading aloud, creativity & imagination, and independent learning
+ +
Story features – 4Ps
+ People + Place + Plot
+ Purpose
Phonological features
+
Alliteration
+Repetition
+Rhyme
+
Onomatopoeia
cuckoo, boom, sh great, plate, bait
Pat pats her pet poodle Penny.
Dance, dance, dance!
Selecting Stories
Ts – whether stories are relatable to contexts / themes, language structures / functions
Ss – whether stories are
interesting to them and suit their English abilities and age
Links
+ Using Storytelling to Develop Students’ Interest in Reading, EDB (2015)
+ The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers, Ellis G & Brewster J, Teaching English, British Council (2014)
+ Genre
+ traditional stories / fairy tales / atypical ones
+ non-fiction
+ fantasy, myths
+ biographies, diaries
+ stories about own and other cultures
+ Topic
+ animals, insects + science
+ colours, clothes, food + school life, professions + dinosaurs, dragons
+ witches, wizards, magic + festivals, customs
+ family, friendship
English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (2017), p.136 https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/kla/eng- edu/Curriculum%20Document/ELE%20KLACG_2017.pdf
Types of story books
+
general books
+graded readers
+phonics readers
Graded Readers
+ written with vocabulary and sentence structure in mind + normally created for children who are learning English
as a foreign language
+ publishers normally issue series with 4 - 6 different levels to allow progress over time
+ simplified versions of existing books, original stories or factual books
Phonics Readers
+ written with words made up of sounds that the child has learnt in mind
+ normally created for children who are learning phonics + levelled according to the phonics programme it is
associated with
+ simplified versions of existing books, original stories or factual books
Analysing Graded and Phonics readers
+ has fewer words?
+ has more high frequency words?
+ supports language comprehension?
+ supports word recognition?
+ has a more interesting storyline?
Which one …
How do we decide?
Purpos es
Increase Vocabulary Raise Reading
Confidence Challenge
learners
Storytelling - preparation + The book itself
+ The content
+ The illustrations + The flow
+ Questions
+ Classroom setting
Storytelling - techniques + Session lengths
+ Visibility + Audibility
+ Voice & rendition
+ Non-verbal techniques + Eye contact
+ Sound effects + Props
+ Learner participation
A framework for a story- based methodology -
Plan-Do-Review model
Pre-storytelling activities
+ a. Ask Wh-questions about the title / cover to activate learner interests.
+ f. Present / revise vocabulary, grammar structures, sounds or other phonological features.
+ g. Read the repeated words or phrases and ask Ss to predict why the word or phrase is repeated.
+ i. Show the cover to Ss and get them to predict what’s going to happen.
While storytelling
+ b. Chanting, rapping, singing, asking and answering questions, reading aloud.
+ d. Listening for gist or specific information.
+ h. Reading for gist or specific information.
Post-storytelling
+ c. Give Ss illustrations from the story and get them to line up in order.
+ e. Make a book for the story in groups.
+ j. Write captions, short descriptions, slogans, dialogues, or a new ending.
+ Recycle the activities from the Pre-storytelling stage to help Ss revise
phonological activities
pre-storytelling
during storytelling
post-storytelling
Activities Demo & Application
Preparation
alliteration repetition rhyme
onomatopoeia
other phonological features
Phonological features:
+ Alliteration + Repetition
+ Rhyme + Onomatopoeia + Others
+ ‘high hill’, ‘got to go’, ‘come to a cave’
+ ‘We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one.’ +++
+ ‘there – bear’
+ ‘stomp’ ‘squish’ ‘huff’ ‘puff’ +++
+ rhythm, stress
Demo & Application
+ A. Framing the target letter sounds in text – Demo / Application
+ B. Reading aloud similar but new words in texts - Demo / Application
+ C. Blending and chunking letters to work out the pronunciation of words - Demo
+ D. Reading aloud – Demo / Application
Creating stories with our class
+ A direction
+ An island of Hong Kong
+ A profession, 2 first names, an adjective, 2 objects & an animal all beginning with the same sound
+ 3 words that rhyme
+ A long time ago, in the northernmost part of Lantau, there lived a teacher named Tom.
+ Tom was timid and he liked trees.
+ One day, he found a tomcat in a tin. He took it home and called it Tink.
+ He started talking to tomcat Tink, ‘Hi, hi, hi!’
+ During the day, Tom gave Tink food and said, ‘Pie, pie, pie.’
+ Before Tom went to bed, he touched Tink’s toes and cried,
‘Bye, bye, bye.’
+ Tink was finding Tom quite tiresome so he purred to himself with a sigh, sigh, sigh.
