the power of tales: building a fairer world

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The Power of Tales: Building a Fairer World

Learning English Trough Stories by means of sets of cards/pictograms Teacher´s guide

THE POWER OF TALES:

Building a Fairer World: Learning English through Stories by means of sets of cards/pictograms

The Power of Tales: Building a Fairer World brings together a collection of carefully structured activities and ideas with plainly articulated educational and

language teaching objectives. That is, the purpose of these activities is basically to focus on content and language integrated learning (CLIL).

All the accomplishments in these pages are addressed to those teachers who want to contribute to achieve a better sympathetic, supportive and more

sensitive citizens by working with and for solidarity and civic competences in terms of equality, solidarity, children’s rights, within the ‘Ahora Toca…’

program framework.

We include here storytelling activities based on pictograms. The aim of these activities is to carry out oral (communicative), written and grammar practice

while telling the tales included in our book of tales The Power of Tales: Building a Fairer World.

We have created a whole bunch of pictogram-sheets which will help you in the activities proposed. In order to create the pictogram list we have extracted

the most frequently used nouns, verbs, adjectives and verbs from the fifteen tales included in the book by means of a computational corpus analysis tool,

WordSmith Tools, so as to create the pictogram pages for teachers and students.

Most pictograms are image-based, but we have included some cards with grammatical categories in order to cover the possibility of practicing storytelling

and grammar all in one for higher levels. We have made the decision not to provide the pictogram-sheets in terms of each individual tale with a threefold

purpose: firstly, because individual and group differences in language competences are set in primary and secondary students. Due to this, it is likely that

different students and different classes at the same age level will know and learn different things and thus, the teacher could adapt the pictogram-sheets

to their students’ level. Secondly, we would like to leave at the teacher’s choice the possibility to focus on some particular vocabulary they want to work

with regardless of the level of the class and finally, by doing a whole sheet of pictograms we avoided repetitions of images for the sake of space economy.

For these reasons we provide you here with the whole lot of pictogram- sheets including more than 400 images, the grammar categories sheet and an

empty template sheet so you can create your own customized pictogram worksheet. Most of the pictograms have been taken from the on-line program

Arasaac, a free tool which provides graphic resources and materials to make communication easier among those people with some difficulties in this field.

Level All (storytelling by means of pictograms can be adapted to any age range, depend on the activity proposed to the students)

Age group Pre-primary, primary and secondary

Time 15 to 45 minutes

Aims Basic competences: reading, listening and speaking. Specific competences sequencing events, distinguishing grammatical categories, group/individual work, following instructions. Cross curricular competences: those related to arts and crafts (since the pictograms have to be prepared) and civic and solidarity competences (since they are included in the stories told). Other: To stimulate presentation skills like talking in front of the rest of the class, making decisions (which pictogram to use in my story which will let me go on).

Materials Photocopies of the pictograms sheets.

Scissors, hard cardboard, magnets, Blue tack or similar

Description Telling the tales by using the pictograms as the characters Listen to a tale, introduce characters: descriptions, group work, following instructions

Preparation Create your pictogram-sheet according to the vocabulary (either picture-based or grammatical categories) that you would like to use in class.

Prepare the teacher’s set of pictograms in a bigger size so, once they have been cut, they can be seen well by every child in the classroom.

We encourage teachers to paste the pictograms on hard cardboard or even laminate them. If you have magnet board, you can paste the pictograms on magnets (your students could help you in this task).

Photocopy the set of pictograms provided for each student. In case you made the decision to make your students work groups, you can provide them with only a set of pictograms for each group. We have included some blank spaces in the pictogram-sheets so you or your students could include more images.

If you’d rather want your students have the whole set of pictogram-sheets, make your students select the pictograms for one specific tale or another and cut them. They can keep them in envelopes. Some cardboard could be pasted on the back side of their pictogram-sheets in order to make them thicker and thus, more resistant.

These activities are suitable for all tales

Action protocol Activity 1: working individually

Use your own pictograms set to tell the tale chosen for that session. Start telling the story and sticking each pictogram at the same time (see sample 1 below). The whole lot of pictograms needed for this activity should be previously selected in terms of the tale chosen.

Encourage your students to come to the front and help you with the pictograms in order to tell them the tale again. You can repeat this with different children so they will learn how to tell the tale by their own.

Assign each child a set of pictogram-sheets and make them look for the pictograms that are going to be used to tell the tale selected.

Once the pictograms have been located, it is their turn to cut them (and paste them on hard cardboard if asked).

Leave them time to play with their own pictograms trying to tell the tale while you go around the classroom listening to them and checking.

To finish, ask some of them to come up to the front and tell the tale to the rest of the classroom. To make it funnier, one of them could start the tale, then another one could go on and son on, in such a way that at least 5 or 6 students can tell the tale.

Activity 2: working in groups

Use your own pictograms set to tell the tale chosen for that session. Start telling the story and sticking each pictogram at the same time (see sample 1 below). The whole lot of pictograms needed for this activity should be previously selected in terms of the tale chosen.

Encourage your students to come to the front and help you with the pictograms in order to tell them the tale again. You can repeat this with different children so they will learn how to tell the tale by their own.

Assign each group a set of pictogram-sheets and make them look for the pictograms that are going to be used to tell the tale selected.

Once the pictograms have been located, it is their turn to cut them (and paste them on hard cardboard if asked).

Make each child hand an equal number of pictograms.

The child having the first pictogram of the tale starts it. Then it is turn for the child having the second one and so on. The can tell the tale while placing the pictograms on the table they are working.

Activity 3: variation of activities 1 and 2 for higher level students.

In higher level groups, the stories could be told using, apart from the image-based pictograms, the grammatical categories pictograms (see sample 2 below).

You can encourage more aged students to create activities for the rest of the class by using pictograms.

Activity 4: higher level students.

Students can change the stories by using some of the pictograms left.

They can write a final draft of the new version of the tale, read it to the rest of the class and have the class vote on the best one.

Activity 5: Storytelling with pictograms displayed on the class

This is a group activity. After following the steps given on the previous activities, the students can work in groups to make a wall poster with the pictograms telling the tale. This poster could be improved by adding a title, some drawings, using stickers, etc. This poster could be left stuck on the walls.

Each group could work on a tale poster so you can have many of the tales told by means of pictograms displayed on the walls.

Evaluation of the activity

The evaluation of the activity is difficult for early-aged children; nevertheless some feedback can very positive in other to make clear some final basic concepts. The evaluation of the activity can be designed as an Interview to children about what they have just learned and whether they are going to put it in practice at school, the park or home.

Sample 1 only

pictograms

there was a country called rainbow

there lived beautiful

and colourful creatures pink yellow

Once upon a

time…

green

purple blue

they had a different

job

in that wonderful

valley

adorned by green

trees waterfalls

and thousands

of colourful and perfumed blossoms

1,000

Sample 2 Pictograms

+

there was a country called rainbow.

There lived beautiful and colourful

creatures pink yellow

Once upon a

time…

+VERB

+VERB

+ADJ

green

purple blue

they had a different

different jobs

in that wonderful

valley

adorned by green

+ADJ

+ADJ

+NOUN

trees waterfalls

and thousands

of colourful and perfumed Blossoms.

+NOUN

1,000

+ADJ

Pictograms word list

Nouns adventure, advice, afternoon, animals, bed, bedroom, beach, ball, bag, boy, box, book, birthday, breakfast, bush, cake , car, carrot, class, city, chocolate, children, cheese, cave, cat, cow, country, colour, clock, claws, classroom, classmates, creatures, day , diversity, dust, [earth/ world], ear, eye , fun, fruit, friend, freedom, forest, football, foot, food, [flower/ blossom], floor, fish, fire, father, farm, family, fairy, face, gymnastics, group, girl, garden, game, hand, hat, happiness, house, immigrants, lettuce, museum, morning, moon, mother, [martian/ alien], map, man, night, owl, poppy, playground, planet, pizzas, people, peace, patience, party, parents, owl, root, sausage, salad, sandwich, schoolbag, school, second, sea, sunlight, sun, street, star, spice, son, solidarity, sky, sister, shoes, shoelaces, sheep, [story/ tale], team, teacher, table, tree, town, tomato, time, voice, visitors, violence, vegetables, week, wall, waterfall, wizard, wish, window, wind, wool, wood, woman, wolf, year

adjectives afraid, angry, amazed, bad , best, [beautiful/ nice], brown, bright, brave, bored, blue, big, colourful, deep, dark, different, delicious/ tasty, enchanted, empty, full, fun, [frightened/ shocked/ scared], free, fast, far, green, [great/ wonderful], good, golden, generous, hungry, healthy, hard, happy, ill, long, lonely, little, light, nice, new, old, perfumed, purple, pretty, powerful, poor, pink, rich, right, red, sweet, surprised, strong, strange, small, short, sad, true, tired, tall, unfriendly, worried, white, warm, wrong, weak, yellow

Verbs attend, ask, arrive, [allow/ let], abandon, [begin/ start], be, break, change, can, [call/ phone], cry, come, close, defend, decide, discover, disappear, do, dream, eat, find, fight, fall, feel, forget, finish, go, give, get, hurt, help, [hear/ listen], have, live, like, leave, love, lose, look, move, mock, make, need, open, put, prepare, play, pick, paint, rest, read, realize, study, [speak/ say /tell/ talk], spend, [smile/ laugh], smell, sleep, sit, show, shout, shine, share, [see/ watch], turn, try, take, think, taste, take, understand, visit, want, walk, write, work, win, wake, whisper

Adverbs always, finally, last, never, suddenly, soon, sometimes, together, tomorrow, well, yesterday

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES SHEET

+VERB

+NOUN +ADJECTIVE +ADVERB +DETERMINER

+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


+VERB


nouns adventure

Advice

afternoon

animals

ball

bag

Bed/bedroom

beach

birthday

book

boy

box

Breakfast

Bush

carrot

Candle

cake

car

class

Classroom

city

chocolate

children

cheese

cave

cat

cow

country

country

clock

claw

Colours

classmates

creatures

Day

Diversity

dust

ear

Earth/world

eye

Face

fruit

friend

freedom

forest

football

foot

food

Flower - blossom

floor

fish

fire

father

farm

family

fairy

Garden gymnastics group girl game hand house

hat

happiness

immigrants

Job

lettuce

man

map

martian / allien

mother

moon

morning

museum

night

Owl

party

patience

Peace

people

pizzas

planet

Playground

Parents poppy rainbow root sausage sandwich salad

school

second

sea

sheep

shoelaces

Shoes

Sister

Sky

Solidarity

Son

Spice

Star

Street

Sun

Story/tale

Sunlight

schoolbag

Teacher

Time

Table

Tree

town

tomato

team

violence

valley

vegetables

voice

visitors

wall

waterfall

week

wind

window

wish

wizard

wolf

woman

wood

wool

year

adjectives

afraid

amazed

angry

bad

beautiful, nice

better

big

blue

brave

bright

brown

bored

colourful

deep

dark

different

delicious / tasty

enchanted

empty

fast

far

free

frightened, shocked, scared

generous

great / wonderful

golden

green

good

full

happy

hard

healthy

hungry

ill

lonely

light

little

long

new

old

pink

purple

poor

powerful pretty

perfumed

right

red

rich

sad

small

strange

strong

surprised

sweet

short

tired

true

tall

unfriendly

white

worried

wrong

weak

warm

yellow

adverbs

always

finally

never

last

soon

sometimes

suddenly

together

tomorrow

well

yesterday

verbs

attend

ask

arrive

allow/let

abandon

begin /start

break

be

call

call, phone

can

change

cry

come

close

defend

decide

discover

disappear

do

dream

eat

find

fight

fall

feel

forget

finish

go

give

get

have

hurt

help

hear/listen

live

like

leave

love

lose

look

move

mock

make

need

open

put

prepare

paint

play

pick

realize

rest

read

study

sit

sleep

speak/ say/ tell/talk

spend

spend

share

smell

smile/laugh

show

shout

shine

taste

see/ watch

turn

try

take

think

understand visit want walk write whisper

work

win

wake

Educational material edited by Ayuda en Acción for the Educational Programme Right Now...

Content: María Alcantud Díaz. Design: Margarita Milio.

Reproduction, dissemination and use of this material is authorised as long as it is for educational non-profit purposes and the source and authors are quoted.

the power of tales: building a fairer world

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