Learning English through

Stories, Games, and Songs

1. Munasyarifah (2520048)
2. Adila Roosyidah (2520054)
3. Putri Dewi Rikza (2520060)
4. Luthfaturrohmah (2520061)
 Learning Through Stories
Stories and themes as holistic approach to
language teaching and learning
Stories offer a whole imaginary world, created by language, that
children can enter and enjoy, learning language as they go.
Themes begin from an overaching topic or idea that can branch
out in many different directions, alllowing children to pursue
personal interest through the foreign language.
The discourse
organisation of
stories
The first, obvious, key organizing feature of stories is that events
happen at different points in time, they occur in a temporal
sequence. The other key organizing feature of stories is their
thematic structure. There is some central interest factor that change
over the timescale of the story: difficulties or evil are overcome, or
a major events is survived.
 Language use in stories

Children’s stories contains uses of language that are considered

typical of poetic and literary text. Many of these devices offer
opportunities for foreign language learning.

1. Parallelism
2. Rich vocabulary
3. Alliteration
4. Contrast
5. Metaphor
6. Intertextuality
7. Narrative / dialogue
 Quality in stories

A good story is, at one level, simplpy one that

listeners or readers enjoy. Quality stories have
characters and a plot that engage children often the art
work is as important as the text in telling the story,
and they crate a story feeling of satisfaction when the
end is reached.
Choosing stories to promote language learning
'Real' books or specially written ones?
Real books were those written by 'real' authors for parents to buy for
children.
Will the content engage the learners?
A good story for language larners will have interesting characters that
children can empatise with, who take part in activities that the learners can
make sense of.
Are the values and attitudes embodied in the story acceptable?
Stories should be checked for values and attitues that may not be
appropriate.
How is the discourse organised?
Stories with a structure close to the prototypical format set out in
section are likely to be most accessible to children.
What is the balance of dialogue and narrative?
In a story this is can invluence choice and will certainly affect the way
a story is used.
"How is language used?''
The built-in repetition of words and phrases is one of the features of
stories that is most helpful for language learning.
What new language is used?
In planning the use of a story, the teacher can identify language use and
make three rough groupings:
1. language that children have already met, and that will be recycled;
2. new language that will be useful for all children to learn from the story;
3. new language that may or may not be learnt, depending on individual
children's interest.
 Ways of using a story
1. Evaluating the language learning opportunities of the story
- "Real' books or specially written ones?
- Will the content engage the learners?
- Are the values and attitudes embodied in the story acceptable?
- How is the discourse organised?
- What is the balance of dialogue and narrative?
- How is language used?
- What new language is used?

2. Language learning tasks using the story

- Preparation activity: brainstorming vocabulary
- Core activity: reading the story
- Follow-up activity: vocabulary learning
 Learning Through Games
Children enjoy constructive play and games. They are not only motivating and fun
but can also provide excellent practice for improving pronunciation, vocabulary,
grammar and the four language skills. In some cultures and con texts, however,
games are seen as merely time-fillers and their potential for 'real' learning is not
recognized.
Games may be simple and require very little planning or may need quite a bit of
preparation and the use of special materials, such as dice, boards, or picture, word or
sentence cards. Some games are competitive, with teams or individuals working
towards being the winner. Other games are cooperative, where teams or pairs work
together to achieve a common goal, such as drawing a picture or solving a puzzle.
 Types of Games
There are many different kinds of games which can be grouped according to the kinds of
language or learning focus they have and the kinds of resources, classroom management
and organization they need. We can divide games into two main types: language control,
or accuracy. focused games, and communication, or fluency-focused games.

Accuracy-focused games
In these games the aim is usually to score more points than others and there is often a
clear winner. This kind of game may focus on comprehension (listening/reading) as well
as production (speaking/writing). In this case, the child may not necessarily say anything
but gets used to hearing or reading words or sentence patterns over and over again. Some
of these games are also very good at training pupils' memories.
Fluency-focused games

The second type of game we have referred to moves from language control to
communication. This type of game tends to focus on developing fluency and
collaboration with others. These games are an important part of the 'communicative'
and 'activity-based' approaches and are usually done in pairs or groups of four.
Collaboration is achieved by trying to create a context where the pupils' focus on
getting a task done together, while of course using key language, rather than simply
practicing language items for their own sake.
 Selecting Games
Using the two main ways of classifying games there are other factors the teacher needs to
consider when choosing a game.
Is it suitable for beginners or very young Does it settle or stir?
children? Stirring activity engages the pupils
Games for these groups need to have physically or mentally so they are very
simple language and should be easy to active. With young children in particular you
explain, set up and play. Everyone should will need to use lively games to keep the
be able to participate and it should be fun. children physically occupied. Miming
The best way to ensure pupils understand games are also useful for mentally engaging
is to play the game with one or two pupils. With older pupils, for example, you
children in the front of the class as a can use a series of cards which give sug
demonstration. If children in your group gestions for a mime, such as reading a
are highly competitive let more than one comic, eating a hamburger, etc. This can be
child be the ultimate winner. done as a whole class game.
What kind of resources do I need?
Games can be classified by the resources
required to play them. Such as; No resources
e.g. guessing games, listening games;
Simple pencil and paper/blackboard games
(spelling games); Picture games (Describe,
Picture Dictation, Mime); Word cards
(Dominoes, Read and classify); Games
using Sentence Cards (matching parts of a
sentence); Dice games (dice have words or
pictures on them); Board games; and Games
using charts or matrices (Draw and Arrange
type games using an information gap).
Does it have a link with a theme or other
subjects?
Many games such as Bingo and Dominoes,
can be adapted to link to various projects or
curriculum areas. These well-known games,
often played with young children at a very
simple level, can be adapted for older
children to fit in with various themes. A
simpler game for younger pupils helps them
practise body parts for a topic on Our
Bodies. Each pupil takes the top card from
the two piles and tries to touch one body
part with the other. The pupil gets one point
for each success.
 Evaluating the potential of games

Teachers may sometimes use games for 'fillers' and 'light relief", but integrated
practice is more educationally sound. Teachers should be able to describe and
classify the kinds of language practice a game provides. They need to ensure that all
of the pupils have something to do and are occupied most of the time. If they are 'out'
of a competitive game too quickly, for example, pupils will have nothing to do and
start being disruptive. Teachers need to build up a repertoire of games which are
useful for different stages of a lesson. Teachers also need to be on their guard for
games which at first sight look like fun but which do not actually provide much
language focus.
 Songs, rhymes and chants
Children love songs, rhymes and chants and their repetitive nature and
rhythm make them an ideal vehicle for language learning.

Why use songs, rhymes and chants?

1.A linguistic resource
2.A psychological/affective resource
 Type of songs, rhymes, and chants:
● Rhymes that are used for the regulation of games usually include
dip ping. They are used to eliminate children when deciding who is
going to be a key person for a game and many rhymes are
traditionally used by children to perform actions in groups, to clap
together in pairs or when skipping, and last is finger rhymes or
plays involve actions just for the hand and children can remain
seated.
● Stress and rhythm. More important features of pronunciation, such
as stress and rhythm, can also be practised in a very natural way
using songs and rhymes.
● Intonation can also be practised in rhymes.
● Ear training: need for pupils to have some 'ear-
training to help them distinguish between different
aspects of English pronunciation.
● Tongue twisters have always been favourites and use
alliteration which makes correct pronunciation
difficult.
When and how to use
songs, rhymes and
chants?
Songs, rhymes and chants can be used in many different
ways: as warm ers, as a transition from one activity to the
next, closers, to introduce new language, to practise
language, to revise language, to change the mood, to get
everyone's attention, to channel high levels of energy or to
Integrate with storytelling, topic work or cross-curricular
work.
 Adapting songs, rhymes and chants

Many songs, rhymes or chants can be easily adapted changing key words
to fit in with a particular story or theme. The advantage of this is that
children may already be familiar with the song, rhyme or chant. The
finger rhyme Two fat gentlemen can easily be adapted to fit in with the
story The Snowman by substituting gentlemen with snowmen, snow
women, etc. Songs from around the world can also be easily adapted to
fit in with story-based work
 Building up a repertoire of
songs, rhymes and chants
To develop a wide range of songs, rhymes and
chants that are suitable for the age group(s) you
teach and the context in which you work, you may
like to build up a record in the following way.