The Best Tales For Teaching English To Children – Parenthood

Children’s stories in English are among the best sources available to help our little ones learn this language. Obviously, you have to choose them well. Tales to teach English should be fun and help us in the process of teaching a new language to our children.

Why are children’s stories in English such a great medium?

• In the first place, because they motivate them. Children find them attractive, especially the pictures , and they pay attention more easily.

• Because they use simple, repetitive vocabulary that will help them understand the story and remember the vocabulary.

• The illustrations help them understand the meaning of the text.

• This is one of the best ways to find vocabulary in a context that is meaningful to the child.

• They can read them several times, which will help them become familiar with the vocabulary and expressions.

• Children can discover cultural differences through stories and their characters.

• On the internet, you can find a lot of resources related to storytelling (videos, songs, games…).

Which tales in English to choose?

My own experience as a mother and English teacher has taught me that these books are some of the books kids love the most, and are the best for teaching English at home:

The very hungry caterpillar , by Eric Carle .

This is the story of a very greedy caterpillar, a classic in British children’s literature, one of my favorites. He talks about a caterpillar that is born on a Sunday and during the week it eats several different foods. Great for learning the days of the week and food in English!

Dear Zoo , by Rod Campbell .

None of the animals that come from the zoo can be domestic animals. Neither the elephant, which is too big, or the giraffe, which is far too big… Until the end of the book, we can’t find a perfect animal to have it with us. Ideal for learning about zoo animals and adjectives!

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?, By Eric Carle.

It is an animal and color repetition book, very well illustrated, attractive and memorable. The brown bear, the blue horse, the green frog, the purple cat, the goldfish, the black sheep, the white dog, the golden fish, the yellow duck… On the internet, you can find a whole lot of related resources with this tale… from videos to songs to games and coloring sheets.

Ketchup on your cornflakes , by Nick Sharratt.

This book of very fun and easy questions will get many laughs. The book is divided into two parts, so that there is an unexpected question, like ”  Do you like ketchup in your cereal?”  “Or”  Do you like toothpaste on your toast?  », Children love it. It is ideal for learning vocabulary because the pictures illustrate the sentence, and for practicing “Do you like…  ? ” Questions . », With food and a different kind of vocabulary.

Handa’s Surprise , by Eileen Browne.

Handa is a child who lives in Kenya and one day she decides to surprise her friend Akeyo with a basket full of seven delicious fruits. On the way to get to her friend’s tribe, she reflects on which fruit her friend will like the most. Distracted in her thoughts, she meets different animals that will cause surprise to come by itself at the end of the story. This book is very useful for learning the vocabulary of fruits, animals and culture on the African continent. There are a lot of resources on the internet related to this tale.

Audiobooks

Also, it is possible to buy audiobooks . These are books with CDs where there is a recording of the story read by an English speaking person . These kind of books can help us a lot if we are not sure about our own level in English, or if we want to improve it.

So why not take the opportunity to introduce storytelling in English into our family? Bringing English home and learning it with our children has never been so easy and fun.