Teaching Young Language Learners Through Stories: Using Stories and Children’s Fiction to Motivate Your Primary Learners and Improve Learning Outcomes

Many teachers use stories in their teaching. That might be younger learners listening to stories or older children reading fiction or extracts for themselves. Working with stories and literature enables the teacher to expose learners to English in ways which are engaging, resonating and meaningful, and which stimulate the imagination and creativity. Stories can appeal to all age groups, and through work which is multimodal can support learning of all proficiencies. Teaching Young Language Learners Through Stories provides theoretical support alongside practical activities to explain why and how teachers can use stories. Each chapter explores how different genres of literature can contribute to second language development, alongside practical examples. These genres include picturebooks, graded readers, graphic novels fairytales, novels and short stories. Within each chapter, the theoretical approach is first explored in more depth. It considers the characteristics of young language learners, how they learn, and how stories can provide an alternative to working with a textbook while still addressing required syllabus content and learning objectives. Then, practical examples guide the reader in using these different genres in their own teaching practice. Whilst the book primarily offers guidance and relevant suggestions for students aged 6-13, each chapter also considers how the principles can be used with older learners and adults.

Sharon Ahlquist has been teaching English to students of all ages for over 35 years across Europe, with a particular interest in teaching children and teenagers. She also teaches on both pre-service and in-service courses for teachers of primary and secondary students. She has a Masters and Doctor of Education degree in teaching English as a second/foreign language and applied linguistics, and has worked as an examiner on both Cambridge English Exams (speaking) and IELTS (speaking and writing). Stories and literature are the focus of Sharon’s classroom-based researc.