25

The Reading Matrix

Vol. 6, No. 1, April 2006

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH STORIES: THE DEVELOPMENT

OF A HANDY PARALLEL SYLLABUS
Nitinou Loukia
[email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract
_________________
The paper is based on the conviction that stories, apart from being every
young child’s bedtime friend, can become every young learner’s school time treasure.
Moving within the context of English language teaching in Primary schools in
Greece through a compulsory course book (Fun Way series), the paper identifies a
mismatch between what is considered as good primary practice and what is realized
in practice through the use of stories inside the course book. A parallel, story based
syllabus is developed, which aims to cater for the problems conceived, and the theory
behind it is presented in order to justify the selection of both the framework and the
materials. Andrews (2000:3) uses the term “framework” to ‘refer to a diagrammatic
representation of a course outline or plan’ and this is also the view of “framework”
adopted in this paper. The paper also analytically presents seven teaching sessions
within the framework and alternative assessment for one. The framework will be
presented and evaluated in relation to the theories about how children think and learn
and about acquisition/learning of L1 and L2. Suggestions will be made for improving
and further developing the framework.
_______________

The teaching situation

Greek State Policy regarding English language teaching
The Greek State’s policy regarding foreign language education is reflected in
the Comprehensive 6-year Curriculum for the Teaching of English (1997:65-66).
English as a foreign language to be taught to and learned by Greek students is given
“first priority”, one main reason being that
‘ ...it is the mother tongue of several largely populated
countries ...whose peoples enjoy a high level of technological,
economic and cultural development’.
Rixon (1999) presents a wide variety of Young Learner teaching situations and also
identifies the situation in Greece as one where ‘English enjoys popularity and high
prestige’ (1999: vii). In practice the situation is as follows: English is not the
principal language in the country but it holds a prominent position (it is a strong asset
for getting a job, it is a language of communication in tourism and business). The
children do not hear it used much around them in everyday situations as subject
teaching/learning is conducted in L1. However, the media and technology
(computers, computer games, CD’s) provide increasingly more chances for children
to contact the language.
English Language teaching status
Teaching English in the private language school sector has been an industry
for many decades and, for the past decade, English as a foreign language is being
 26

taught within the State school system also. The lessons come in 50-minute periods
three times a week. The teacher of English does not teach other subjects and uses an
ELT syllabus for which the textbook is the main provider and very often the only
resource. The materials used for instruction is the series Fun Way (1, 2, 3 for the 4th,
5th, 6th grades respectively) which consist of a Student’s book, a Workbook, a
Teacher’s book and an audio cassette. The books are written by Greek authors. They
are provided to the students by the State; the teachers cannot substitute Fun Way with
a different course book, but are not restricted to the use of extra material, provided
they find the resources to generate or reproduce it. Two years ago the innovation of
teaching English language to students of the third grade (8 year olds) was introduced
and teachers can choose for this class a course book from a list of approved books
published by ELT Publishing Houses.

Getting to the framework

Identifying an area in need of adaptation/ development
For a course to have a coherence of purpose, it is impertinent that the aims and
objectives of the Syllabus ‘are not contradicted at the classroom level’ (Nunan 1988:96).
Therefore, in order to identify an area in the teaching material that would need further
development, a cross reference had to be made between The Comprehensive 6-year
Curriculum for the Teaching of English, the Syllabus Document, requirements and the way
these are realized in the textbooks and Teacher’s Book. Three steps were taken to this end:
1. The leading Syllabus aims were isolated. These were identified as follows: a. the
Syllabus Document adopts a communicative framework where ‘knowledge is a
learning experience ... that results from a process which requires the activation of
cognitive, social and functional skills’ (Syllabus Document: 71-72), b. a learner
centered teaching/learning approach is adopted and considerable attention is given to
the conceptual and psychological development of the target audience. The latter
statement proves the State’s concern about the degree of impact that the age and
cognitive development of children should exercise upon the curriculum.
2. A story incorporated in the course book was examined, “Bong’s story”, first as a story
in itself and, then, as a story used for instruction. The course book writers, being aware
of the importance of stories as a tool in teaching the language in a context familiar to
the child, decided to realize the State aims by incorporating this story in Fun Way 1.
3. The comparative analysis, between the Syllabus demands and the way these could be
developed through a story-based syllabus, provided the rationale for the development of
the parallel syllabus that is presented in the paper.

Target group, class profile

The writer of this paper conducted the series of observed lessons with the 4th grade
class of the 2nd Public Primary School of Volos. The class consists of twenty native Greek
students (twelve girls and eight boys) all of which are monolingual. They are about 10
years old. Sixteen of the students have also been learning English in a private language
school for 1 or even 2 years. Two students only study English at school. The main course
book used is Fun Way 1.
The way these learners are taught the different subjects at school in their mother
tongue reflects an attitude towards learning the language and not learning through
language. Unavoidably this attitude becomes deeply rooted and forms their expectations in
learning the second language also. Teaching contextualized language and developing
cognitive awareness through stories is not considered as an effective language teaching
methodology for Greek subjects. Literary texts in general are used as a basis for teaching
 27

structure and developing grammar drills. The story-based approach is not normally adopted
in private language schools either.
Teaching children of this age is not easy, but it is certainly challenging. Brewster
insists that one of the seven main features of good primary practice is ‘reading literature for
enjoyment, responding to it critically and using that reading for learning’ (1991:5).
However “comforting” it might be for the teachers to be ‘in charge of the proceedings’
(Skehan 1996:17) with a traditional model of teaching, they should not ignore that stories
are made for children and that young learners are also children. An area, therefore, which is
less developed, is the possibility of using children’s stories for the production of a wide
variety of language and learning activities. These can lay the foundations for the
development of more positive attitudes towards the foreign language and language
learning.

Why use stories?

Ellis and Brewster (1991) give several reasons why teachers should use storybooks.
• Storybooks can enrich the pupils’ learning experience. Stories are motivating and
fun and can help develop positive attitudes towards the foreign language.
• Stories exercise the imagination and are a useful tool in linking fantasy and the
imagination with the child’s real world.
• Listening to stories in class is a shared social experience.
• Children enjoy listening to stories over and over gain. This repetition allows
language items to be acquired and reinforced.
• Listening to stories develops the child’s listening and concentrating skills.
• Stories create opportunities for developing continuity in children’s learning
(among others, school subjects across the curriculum)
(Adapted from Ellis and Brewster 1991:1-2)
The question arises, then, of what we mean by “stories”. Children have already formed
their schema of what a story is since early childhood. Within the family environment
children have had numerous opportunities to listen to stories being read to them, to hold
and discover the world of the colorful pictures and, later, to make efforts to “decode” the
letters and sounds until they make sense to them as words and sentences. Teachers can
choose from a wide range of storybooks of this kind: traditional stories and fairy tales
which are common in most European cultures (Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood for
example); picture stories where children can build up their own version of the story;
fantasy stories; animal stories. Alternatively, many authentic storybooks written for English
speaking children are suitable for use in an EFL classroom. The advantage is that they
bring the ‘real’ world in the classroom and they are an excellent opportunity for providing
our students with examples of authentic language use. For the story-based syllabus, which
will supplement the existing framework, three stories were selected: Where’s Spot, Spot’s
Birthday, by Hill E., and Meg and Mog by Nicoll E. and Pienkowski J.,
There are several criteria a teacher could use for selecting a story that would be
accessible and relevant for her learners. The successful choice, however, is not enough to
ensure the good use of a story in class. The activities designed for each story and the
exploitation of the rich material in the story itself are very important also. The table below
shows which of the criteria for selecting stories “Bong’s story” fulfills, and which of these
criteria are actually exploited by the way this story is to be taught if we follow the writers’
guidelines in the Teacher’s Book.
Criteria for the selection of stories Bong’s story
Fulfills Exploits
 28

appropriate language level (vocabulary, structures, notions/ 9 8

functions)
content (interesting, fun, motivating, memorable, encourages 9 8
participation)
visuals (attractive, potential to work with, size) 9 8
pronunciation (intonation, rhythm, repetition) 9 8
motivation (develop imagination, arouse curiosity, draw on 9 8
personal experience)
Language learning potential (skills development, language 9 8
practice, recycling, prediction, other strategies)
potential in terms of learning other subjects, target/other culture, 9 8
metacognition
The table reveals that “Bong’s story” has great potential for use in class but this potential is
not exploited, although it could be transformed in a useful teaching tool. To cover up for
the lack of using a story productively, the parallel syllabus will prove extremely handy.

The story-based framework in class

The selection of stories and their position in the parallel syllabus
The three stories selected are authentic ones, in the sense that they were originally
written for English speaking children. The language is not selected or graded; however,
they contain language traditionally found in most beginner syllabuses. Each story has
different aims to accomplish within the parallel syllabus depending on its content, language
features and activities. The two syllabuses, main and parallel, need to run in tandem, since
the parallel syllabus is used as supplementary to the main. For this reason the stories have a
rather fixed position within the main syllabus of the class, the position dictated by the
amount of language, skills and strategies developed up to the point each story is introduced.
Because the students will be working with a story-based syllabus for the first time, the
decision was made that they would not have to work extensively on acquiring new
language and structure (the course book does plenty on this!), but it would be more
profitable for them to focus on other -more ‘original’- aspects of language learning through
stories.
The diagram shows the interweaving of the two syllabuses. First, the number of
English sessions per year were calculated; then the two syllabuses were considered in detail
in order to find the points where the parallel syllabus could best fit in; after that, the
sessions were estimated that should be devoted to each Unit of instruction in Fun Way 1;
last the whole syllabus was put together as a year-plan for the specific group of learners.
This organizing of the teaching material does not imply that it is rigid. The teacher may
predict possible problems and provide for them in advance, but one may not predict
everything. If such an unpredictable situation should arrive, the solution is simple and
dictated by the Syllabus Document itself. What applies to the syllabus of Primary school in
general, is that it is not compulsory to cover the whole material in the course books. The
Document provides a catalogue of the language, functions, notions, strategies e.t.c., that a
learner should acquire within the three years of EFL learning in Primary education and
does not restrict the teacher to the use of extra material, as long as the syllabus can be
covered.
The first story, Where’s Spot, is an easy one and appears as soon as students have
acquired the basic language to work with it. The other stories appear in relevant positions
where more language and structures have been acquired.
 29

The story-based parallel syllabus

Course book
Fun Way 1
Units 1-4 Story book
(about 24 sessions)
Where’s Spot
Course book
2 sessions
Fun Way 1
Units 5-7 Story book
(about 24 Spot’s
sessions) Birthday
2 sessions
Course book
Fun Way 1
Units 8-10 Storybook
(about 27 Meg and Mog
sessions) 3 sessions

Description and rationale for the framework

The story-based framework is designed to show students how the language, they have
already learnt, is used in a different context alternative to the course book. It aims to create
a productive environment where the students will develop their whole personality. Learners
are expected to start developing a more positive attitude to learning the foreign language
for the following reasons:
1. The stories are memorable, as the language is repeated, and this encourages students to
participate. This recycling of patterns incites students to predict what is coming next in
the story and, at the same time, exercises their imagination.
2. The pictures are closely related to the text, sometimes they even structure the text (see
Meg and Mog going down the stairs, where the text appears going down the stairs also).
This can support the learners’ understanding. The strategy of inferring meaning of
words from the text is also supported by the illustrations. The colors, the simple shapes
and figures do not distract the learners but rather guide them to key points of the texts.
Another merit of this kind of illustrations is that they are easy to imitate or copy, so it
comes natural for many creative activities to fit in the framework.
3. The stories are expected to motivate the learners and arouse their curiosity about the
target language and its culture. The fact that Spot’s stories are also well known in
Greece (they have been translated and published), indicates that some of the children
may have read them in their mother tongue. This, far from being discouraging for the
selection of the stories, was actually one of the reasons for choosing them for this
framework: making such associations with the children of the other culture is
welcoming, so that learners discover by themselves that they can have many things in
common.
The activities follow the following guidelines in their design. The development of the
guidelines are based on the theories of how children think and learn and owe much to the
 30

work of Wood (1998) and the edition of Teaching English to children by Brumfit, Moon
and Tongue (1995).

DESIGN PRINCIPLES RESULT

they are enjoyable/motivating create a desire to continue learning
they exercise imagination development of useful strategies (predicting,
hypothesizing, planning, sequencing, classifying)
they exemplify language features in use real life use of language
they allow frequent repetition language items are acquired/reinforced
they build up the child’s confidence • non-threatening context for learning
• familiar genre raises background knowledge
they encourage social interaction/social skills pair/group work, cooperation/sharing
they present/practice through concrete objects, illustrations, visuals, touch-and-see things enhance
following the child’s conceptual development comprehension/long term memory
they exploit the child’s enormous amount of action games, action songs, creative activities are
physical energy ways to learn-by doing
they consider the short concentration span of a planning feasible lessons, good management of the
child at this age class

This story-based syllabus places a lot of attention to the development of areas which are
rather neglected in the main syllabus for the class. An area that can prove a source of
wealth for our learners is that of “learning to learn”. Ellis insists that ‘in order to develop
an awareness of learning and learner responsibility, learning-to-learn should be built into
the curriculum in an explicit and systematic way’ (Ellis, 1991:191). Learners can be guided
to reflect on the process of learning even if they are young. Students of the age of 8-10 are
beginning to develop greater self-awareness and can take responsibility of their learning.
Small scale Portfolios, simple questionnaires or learners’ diaries can be designed to
increase the students’ metacognitive awareness and could also serve as ways of alternative
assessment/evaluation of both the students’ achievements and the program’s effectiveness.
The parallel syllabus makes an effort to link the stories with cross-thematic learning. There
are many areas in the curriculum where links can be made. Telling the time, counting,
numbers, shapes, relate to Mathematics; the life cycle of animals, outer space,
understanding the passing of time relate to Science; food, Nature relate to Environmental
Education; action songs and games relate to Physical Education.
The story-based syllabus can raise cultural awareness issues. A carefully selected
story can give information about life in the target language. In this syllabus Spot’s birthday
and Meg and Mog inform about birthday celebrations and Halloween in the target language
culture. Discussions can be held (probably in the mother tongue), projects and surveys
among other community members of the target culture can be arranged. In this way
learners become aware that learning can be an experience of their everyday life, which is
not confined to the school environment only.
The lesson plans illustrate in practice the use made of each story.

Where’s Spot by Eric Hill, publication by Puffin Books

Two teaching sessions
SYLLABUS
Main concept : spatial context
Aims Let’s meet Spot (session 1) Spot in our class! (session 2)
Structural/ Simple present Interrogative forms (yes/no questions)
Functional aims prepositions Wh- questions
Statements with the verb to be
Skills Listening to the story, to instructions and statements, Listening to the story, to instructions and
questions and answers, games statements, questions and answers
 31

Responding to instructions/prompts Speaking: asking and answering questions,

Reading: words and sentences games, role-play
Reading: retelling the story with prompts
Writing: copying games, gap-filling
Language features Verbs: imperative. Simple present of the verb to be Recycling
Yes/No questions (interrogative)
negative-affirmative answers
prepositions of place (on, in, inside, under, behind, in
front of)
vocabulary Animals: revision (dog, puppy, bear, snake, lion, Recycling vocabulary
monkey, crocodile); new (hippopotamus, tortoise)
Birds: revision (penguin)
Furniture: revision (armchair, door, wardrobe, bed,
table)
Objects: revision (box, basket, telephone); new (clock,
piano, stairs, rug, vase)
Creative activities Drawing, singing Drawing, dramatization (role-play)
Learning to learn Predicting, developing memory sequencing pictures, developing memory
Curriculum links Environment: life of a pet
Activities Introducing/revising vocabulary: listen and arrange Group work: Sequencing game/listening/
pictures of animals memory: Ss put pictures of the story in the
Miming and discovering animals right order, then T reads and Ss verify/
“What’s missing” game with furniture correct their sequence
Action game: following instructions with prepositions Pair work/information gap activity:
(e.g. Stand on the chair) Worksheet (pictures of furniture, one S has
Practice/production of key structures the complete pictures): Ss ask/answer and
* follow up for action game: Ss take positions in class draw the animals in the right place according
and T guesses to their peer’s instructions
* work with story pictures: gradually develop memory Writing: copying game: Ss choose from lists
(e.g. Is Spot in the wardrobe?) and prediction skills on the board and complete worksheet
(e.g. Who is behind the wardrobe?) Retelling of story T uses prompts on the
Song (Hockey Cockey) board and Ss reconstruct the story by relating
Worksheet (room with furniture/objects) the pictures in the story book to the
Follow instructions and draw the animals in their place questions/prompts on the board
in the room Optional: Role-play: Roles: child, mother
and dog. Child can’t find his dog and asks
questions to mother.

Spot’s birthday by Eric Hill, publication Puffin Books

Two teaching sessions
SYLLABUS
Main concepts:
Aims Oops! Spot again (session 1) What a party! (session 2)

Structural/ Imperative, imperative

Functional aims possessives, articles
Skills Listening to story/instructions, questions, answers Listening to words in Bingo game
Speaking: interviewing, questions and answers Speaking: singing birthday song, party
Reading chart (birthday dates0 reception
Writing completing chart Reading invitations
Language Simple present, simple past, Simple present, simple past
features Interrogative, Yes/No questions Wh-questions
Prepositions (in, on, inside, under) Prepositions (behind, in front of)
vocabulary Animals, house places (recycling from Where’s Spot: recycling
rug, curtain, door, plant, cupboard, bath, coat)
Numbers (cardinals and ordinals)
Months, days
Creative activities Make birthday cards/invitations for the party Put party decorations
Learning to learn Preparing a party-discussion/decision-making Making arrangements, following plans
Classifying
Cultural elements Celebrating birthdays in two countries Celebrating the ‘English’ way
Curriculum links Maths: numbers and quantity, Dramatization of the story: real life
Music: singing songs party/activities
Physical education: moving around,
understanding spatial context
 32

Activities Interview: Ss find out peers’ birthdays, list them as for Bingo game, party games: action games,
each month and closest birthdays Simon says…, find the treasure
Sing ‘Happy Birthday’
Prepare birthday party (decide on number of people for
the party, make invitations, make preparations for food,
drinks0

Meg and Mog by Nicoll and Pienkowski, publications Puffin Books

Three teaching sessions
SYLLABUS
Main concepts: colors, size and shape, time
Aims Let’s meet Meg, Mog and the Owl Poor Meg!!! (session 2) Poor me!!!! (session 3)
(session 1)
Structural/ Asking for and giving information Giving instructions Telling the time
Functional aims using Yes/No and Wh-questions Asking for and telling the time
Describing clothes, people
Skills Listening for general understanding Listening to instructions Listening to instructions
using visual clues Speaking: imitating spells Speaking: giving instructions
Speaking; asking and answering Reading: dictionary Reading: food package, recipes
questions, describing Writing: copying, recipes Writing: copying
Reading: word flashcards Listen to the story on the
cassette and follow book
Language Adjectives (big, black, long, tall, Recycling of first session, Recycling and transferring to
features striped, straight, curly)- word order further practice another context (food recipe)
Verbs (to hook, to make or chant a
spell)
vocabulary Food: revision (eggs, bread, milk, Recycling of first session, Recycling and extension
jam); new (kipper, cocoa) further practice
Animals: revision (cat, spider, frog,
bat, mouse); new (beetle, worm)
Clothes: revision (shoes, hat,
stocking); new (cloak)
Broomstick, cauldron
Creative singing Drawing, puppet making Making a cake
activities
Learning to Classifying, sequencing Predicting, hypothesizing, using Memory training
learn dictionary
Cultural The image of witches in the two Food in another country
elements cultures (breakfast ingredients)
Curriculum Science: life cycle of animals Mathematics: telling the time Environment: food
links
Activities Revise vocabulary: clothes: ask and Use puppets: to retell the story, Visit the school canteen and
answer about clothes pupils are to make prompts for writing a make the cake!
wearing small version of the story
Animals: describe your pet Rebus: give sentences with
Food: what’s your favorite food words at random order, Ss put
Picture dictation: Meg’s picture to them in order
describe Listen to the story on the
Listening dictation: listen and draw cassette
Meg

The activities within a learner centered environment

Brewster rightfully claims that ‘inclusion of a variety of teaching styles is a realistic
reflection of what actually goes on in primary schools’ (Brewster, 1991:5). The story itself
and the activities, built within the corpus of the text, are the structuring components of the
lesson. The stages of the lesson, where extra activities can be inserted, are clearly defined.
In this way, the context assumes great importance; young learners can more readily make
associations between the language needed and the language produced, because we provide
them with a coherent context, where language and structures are not used for their own
 33

sake but have a target. Children can thus store new knowledge more easily and retrieve it
when they find themselves in a similar context.
The different activities for each session act as a guide for the organization of
individual/pair/group work. Children’s stages of development, according to Piaget, play an
important role in how they learn. The target group for the sessions exemplified have just
gone beyond the beginnings of the “operational stage” (where the social instinct starts
developing) and which occurs ‘towards the age of 7 or 8’ (Wood 1998: 28, see also Brumfit
1991:2). These learners are now at the stage where in Vygotsky’s view, ‘speech comes to
form the higher mental processes which are culturally formed in social interaction’
(Brewster 1991:3). Therefore, in order to follow the children’s conceptual development, the
teacher must provide for alternative organizational patters for her class. Not all children
develop at the same speed and it is certain that each child has a different style in learning
and a unique personality.
The different stages were designed with Halliwell’s suggestion in mind that
‘children cannot concentrate on one thing for a long period and lessons should, therefore,
be divided into series of activities lasting no longer than 5 or 10 minutes’ (Halliwell
1992:27). The projects and surveys suggested may last much longer. Students can work
alone or in groups outside the school in their free time; this reinforces the idea that learning
English is not restricted to the classroom environment but connects to their everyday life.
The pictures have a central role to play in the story-based syllabus and the learning-
to-learn process. They can be a stimulus for forming hypothesis, predicting, sequencing and
exercising memory. Words are better associated with pictures. In addition, a story is more
memorable if it can be related to a sequence of pictures. This quality of theirs makes
pictures a useful tool for the design of activities, especially oral or written ones. They can
help in practicing speaking and writings skills: the story can be reconstructed orally or on
paper (guided tasks) with the help of key-visuals from the storybook. Moreover, they can
provide high face and content validity as stimuli for pure writing or speaking tasks in a
conventional testing situation (if the teacher chooses this kind of assessment).

Alternative assessment (see appendix)

The way of alternative assessment that can be devised for the teaching sessions is
the Portfolio style assessment. This develops students’ critical learning perspective. It
prompts students to reflect on what they have learnt in each story-based session. No mark
will be awarded for the students’ performance, as this will impede with the relationship we
want to develop between the students and literature in general; we do not want students to
aim at grades. The Portfolio designed to exemplify this kind of assessment for one of the
stories, is produced according to the guidelines of the European Council’s Education
Committee as these are described in The European language Portfolio: a Guide for
Teachers and Teacher Trainers. It is a procedure of self -assessment where students record
their achievements. Apart from the sections which relate to language learning, a second
section is inserted where the students may record their reaction to the material itself, -if
they liked the story, the illustrations and the activities. The Portfolio can be of great use to
the teacher and has both wash-back and wash-forward effects. The teacher can:
• trace and record the learners’ individual progress
• prepare remedial lessons for common problems detected
• measure the students’ reaction to the introduction of innovative methods in teaching
• evaluate the course of the story-based syllabus with the specific teaching groups and
trace the areas in need for adaptations
 34

• evaluate the story-based syllabus and the teaching material and make
adaptations/developments
It can be of value for the learners:
• they have a concrete image of their areas of achievements/weaknesses
• they can gain self-esteem when they see the number of things they have achieved, even
if this is small (“something is better that nothing”)
Parents may also benefit in that they get more involved with their children’s life in school
when they are allowed to participate in one way or another (for example, help their children
with out-of-school projects). They can also be in a position to evaluate their child’s work in
a more objective way.

What about a useful piece of advice to teachers?

Don’t forget the stories as soon as you have worked with them, they have even
more to offer. Begin certain sessions (the first of each week for example) with a re-reading
of the story as a warm up activity. Children enjoy reading over and over again the same
stories. Have a copy of the book handy, so that the students can read and touch it in their
free time. This may make their relationship with books stronger.

Conclusion
A story-based framework of teaching and learning can become a very powerful tool
in the hands of a teacher. A well-organized story session can intrigue the students and make
them want to explore many features of the language. As teachers, we want to make our
students autonomous, lifelong learners. We will have made a large step towards this aim if
we make them learn consciously and assume responsibility for their learning.
 35

References
Brewster, J., (1991), «What is good primary practice?» in Brumfit C, Moon J, Tongue R
(eds) Teaching English to Children. From Practice to Principle, edition published by
Longman Group Ltd, 1995

Brumfit C., Moon J., Tongue R. (eds) (1991) Teaching English to Children. From Practice
to Principle, edition published by Longman Group Ltd, 1995

Ellis, G. & Brewster, J., (1991), The Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers, Penguin

Ellis, G., (1999), «Children’s literature as a means of developing metacognitive awareness»

in Literature and the Young Learner IATEFL Young Learners SIG Newsletter, Whitstable:
IATEFL Publications.

ELT Curriculum Design Committee, (1997), The Comprehensive 6-year Curriculum for
the Teaching of English, Pedagogical Institute, Athens, Greece

European Council, (1996), A Common European Framework of Reference, Modern

Languages Department, http://culture.coe.fr/lang/eng/eedu2.4.html

Halliwell, S., (1992), Teaching English in the Primary Classroom, UK, Longman

Little, D. & Perclova, R., (2000), The European Language Portfolio: a Guide for teachers
and teacher trainers, document number DGIV/EDU/LANG (2000) 28, Modern Languages
Division, Strasbourg, Council of Europe.

Nunan, D., (1988), Syllabus Design, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Skehan, P., (1996), «Second language acquisition research and task-based instruction», in
Challenge and Change in Language Teaching, Jane Willis & Dave Willis (eds),
Heinemann, pp. 17-30.

Vygotsky, L.S., (1978), Mind in society, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University

Press.

Wood, D., 1998), How Children Think and Learn, U.K., Blackwell

Storybooks
Hill, E., (1980), Where’s Spot, first published by Heinemann Ltd, this publication by Puffin
Books, Harmondsworth, 1985

Hill, E., (1982), Spot’s Birthday, first published by Heinemann Ltd, this publication by
Puffin Books, Harmondsworth, 1985
 36

Nicoll, E. and Pienkowski, J., (1972), Meg and Mog, first published by Heinemann Ltd,
this publication by Puffin Books, Harmondsworth, 1975.

Course book
Pedagogical Institute, (2004), Fun Way 1, ΟΕDΒ, Athens
Ntinou Loukia is a teacher of English in primary schools in the city of Volos, Greece. For
the present year she has been detached at the University of Thessaly, Department of Human
Sciences, to organize the Laboratory of European Literature. She holds a BA in English
Language and Literature and a Masters of Education Degree in Teaching English to
Speakers of Οther Languages (M.Ed. in TESOL). She has participated in a number of
teacher training programs organized by the Council of Europe and seminars conducted in
Greece and Europe. She has published articles in Greek and American journals and has
made presentations in seminars and Congresses. Her main field of interest is innovative
ways in the teaching of English Language to young learners and specializes in teaching the
language through stories. Her second field of interest is using educational technology in
promoting collaboration between schools and their students.
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APPENDIX
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I can …….

8 Say

Ask and answer

“where”
Names of ….
Date
animals

Date

Furniture

Ask questions Date

with “Is……?”

Date

Use
Words for prepositions
things
Date
Date
Act out my
mum looking
for me!

Date

Ι can sing

1. “Hockey, cockey” Date:

2. The “cat, rat, dog, frog” Date:

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I can …….

Write 

Ask and answer

Names of animals “where”

Date
Date

Furniture

Date
Words for
Ask questions things
with “Is……?”
Date
Date
Use
prepositions

Date

I can …….

Understand

The life of a pet in the

How to work with my
house partners
Date Date
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Read 

The story
Τον διάλογο στη σελ. 13
How do I feel?
Date

My “score” :

Date Date

Not very comfortable yet Ok

Date

I did it! Date

I’m a star!!!! Well done me!!!!!!!!!!!!!