Let's tell stories to children!

[teacher]

Do you think it is worth? Expalin why ...

[GCantoni]

This is a test made by the teacher to check if everything works. It looks as if everything were ok.

teacher

[FFiorin]

Telling stories to childrenis important for different reasons:
- first of all children like listening to stories
-stories are a means to develop their imagination and creativity
-stories favour the expression of personal emotions
-children can explore further situations and experiences
-children may identify with the characters or reject them
-children can reinvent the world

[APustetto]

Francesca I totally agree with you.
Once I happened to read a story to children. They were about four years of age.
I immediately realized they were listening to me carefully. This means that they were really involved. They followed the story line. They liked the images that came with the story. They asked a lot of questions because they were very curious.
So I can say that stories are useful to capture children's attention, to stir their curiosity, to involved their emotions, to practice their speaking skills.
In conclusion I can say that It's worth to use stories with children.
Anna la Rossa.

[teacher]

As I was able to understand I see that you are becoming familiar with using the message board.
In addition, I have to recognize that your comments are really interesting because you all underlined the strong points to use stories with children.
Now, what I would like you to think about is "Is it easy to use the foreign language to tell children stories and how can the teacher make it a funny, involving and pleasant activity so that children may be active participants in the learning process?" That's the question!! Isn't it?
teacher

[AMioBertolo]

I think that stories are very important because children are attracted by them.
Theaching with stories can be an "help" for teachers.
Perhaps it isn't always easy but children learn a lot of things and different topics because their attention is higher; but a good teacher has to know that children are children and so their span of attention is not so long.
So, stories are useful but: be carful! : don't use them for a lot of times and a lot of lessons.

[ESegatto]

Telling stories to children is important because from stories they can learn a lot.
Children's attention is totally captured in listening to stories: they are fascinated and i think that it is worthy use stories in teaching.
Teachers can use stories to talk about emotions, feelings, morals and promote active education and stories can be a useful means to reach such aims.
So yes, i really think it is worth..

[FFiorin]

I think telling stories to children in a foreign language may be a challenging adventure, but it's worth to spend some of ourenergies in this activity!
Of course you might find it necessary to:
- use a really simple language
- support stories with pictures and sounds and
- make activities which involve body, too.
In this way the teacher promotes also different types of intelligences.

[PRossi]

I think that it is really useful to use stories with children, because through stories you can reach their imagination and fantasy, that is the most important part of their life, especially in the first years.
Children don't see the world in a rational way as do adults. They think in an imaginative way and in this way they try to explain what happens in their lives. Through stories we can reach this world and involve the child completely . Teaching through stories favours motivation and attention and can be used both as a didactical and educational tool. Stories give models for life.

[AMioBertolo]

I think using the foreign language to tell children stories may be difficult because children are very young ; but I think that a foreign language teacher has to be able to make a story (even if difficult) suitable to children.
So teacher can make children active participants in the learning process with the help of pictures, sounds, body languge, voice intonation and with some activities for comprehansion.

[SSantellani]

I think that "Telling Stories" is an important technique and children like it very much.
Teachers should create a great athosphere: everybody sits on their chair or on the floor in religious silence without losing attention ....
The teachers cannot read the story to the class without a suitable preparation s/he should use an appropriate tone of voice, pictures, ....
I think Tellig Stories is worth...
Silvia

[ESegatto]

Using a foreign language with children can be a hard challenge for the teacher. Her/his aim is to make children understand the content of stories and the way to do it is to simplify stories.
The teacher can do it using pictures, animations and also through the use of the voice.

[SSantellani]

I think that in this period with this society, English first enter in children's life and better is it.
I don't think that use a foreign language is difficult if they are familiary with it.
Teachers can stimulate their creativity, their fantasy...with pictures, videos, work group, manuality...
Silvia

[PRossi]

I don't think that using a foraign language to tell stories to children is easy, but I think that telling stories to children can be a useful way to make them learn the language in a funny and motivating way. Stories can help teachers to create a context for children to use language. It is also very important in the scuola dell'infanzia, because listening to stories provides the child with the stuctures of the language in a natural way (as for their mother tongue), that is though listening.
The story has to be adapted to the age of the child and to his/her pre-requisites (not too difficult and not too easy either), simplified in an "intelligent" way. As far as the task is for children very demanding, the teacher has to support it with images, multimedia...