Simple picture stories for children

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melmrv
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:08 pm
Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Simple picture stories for children

Post by melmrv » Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:22 pm

Hi all,

I am wondering if you could suggest a good website with simple stories for kids who are just starting to learn English. I've tried folk/fairy tales in English, but they are meant for native speakers and so far too complicated for ESL pupils.

It is me who's going to do the reading, but I'd like the kids (6-8 y.o.) to be able to, over time, chant with me and remember a few simple words/sentences.

Thank you for sharing.
Mel.

Sally Olsen
Posts: 1322
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next

Post by Sally Olsen » Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:54 am

Wherever I was, I would search the library or bookstores or bookstalls for children's stories from that place. Sometimes you can only find them in the home language and then I would get my language teacher to help me translate them. The children usually know the stories in their own language and so it is an easier transition to learn the English version. I would get them to draw pictures to illustrate the tales and then take pictures which I printed to illustrate the stories, usually staging the children. I also brought puppets to illustrate the stories and the children acted them out and then showed the puppet show to other classes or the parents. You can also turn them into short movies. I usually never understood the stories or the moral until late into the first year because I didn't understand the culture but it was never a problem for the children to understand. I also found that in some cultures the picture doesn't always go with the words = some had the picture of what was coming and some had a picture of what had happened with the words of what was coming underneath. Some had what I thought were pretty scary pictures. It is a learning experience all around because you can talk about what the original book is like in pictures and then what we would typically expect in an English picture book. It reveals a lot about how we view life.

EwelinaSuetsugu
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 1:56 pm
Location: Japan

Post by EwelinaSuetsugu » Mon Aug 04, 2014 5:56 am

Hello ;-)
If you need simple stories with repetitive words and phrases for ESL pupils (4-10) go to the website
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslstory.htm

There are 30 stories altogether (for different ages)
and songs as well as videos going with the stories.
I teach English to the kids in Japan (2-12) and the stories work for me. They are very affordable, come in paper copies or you can download them and print them out. The stories come with flashcards and games, the whole lesson plans.
This is a link to one of the stories :
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/esl-short-stories

You can also sign-up for free for the whole series of stories:
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/esl-short-stories

Here there`s another link to one of the videos :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZzIavbDjcU

And finally,( if necessary) here there is a link to the presentation how to teach English with stories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu81U_DX0WU

Hopefully that will help a bit.

Take care,

Ewelina

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