Let's Read Stories from around the World!

Abstract

My target learners are 7 year olds who are attending private kindergartens. They have been exposed to English for a short time because they started learning English at the age of 6. I have chosen this target group because I have experience with learning development and know what their capabilities are. Although they can pronounce words and recognize some language in storybooks, they need teacher guidance in order to understand the meaning and follow the narrative of a storybook. At this young age, what they need is to practice basic words and phrases and have ample opportunities to use them in order to move on to the next level. The ultimate goal of the World Fairy-Tale Adventure Workbook is to guide children to develop language items embedded in fun fairy-tale stories and produce them at the sentence-level. By doing fun activities and playing games, children can absorb vocabulary more naturally and become more accustomed to producing full sentences. Throughout the Workbook, they will further develop reading comprehension and critical thinking skills by applying the theme of the stories to their personal lives. This Workbook adopts a Theme-Based Instruction (TBI) method to teaching young learners (YLs). It introduces 10 different parts of the world and selected tales originating from those countries. In addition to an engaging theme, each unit in this Workbook highlights 10 different morals. To catch and keep YLs attention, this Workbook includes many video clips, visual aids, and various interactive activities. Total Physical Response (TPR) also plays an important role in this book, and students play various games that require active movement. Linse and Nunan (2006) note the positive aspects of TPR in that it helps learners to listen attentively and follow instructions well. Playing interactive games can encourage learners to speak more freely by lowering their affective filter (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). By using this Workbook, YLs will become familiar with speaking at the sentence level, rather than just word level. They also will spend a significant amount of time interacting with one another through pair work, role plays, group work, and games to be played by the whole class. By the end of this Workbook, the target students will be able to acquire new vocabulary and produce it at the sentence-level. They will also develop critical thinking skills by applying the morals they have read about in stories from around the world to their own lives. Finally, they will obtain knowledge of different parts of the world and their respective cultures.