Teaching English is Child's Play!
The Value of Storytelling in English Language Teaching using Creative Cross-Disciplinary Techniques for Children ages 2-6
Learning English as a foreign language is an essential life-skill in today’s globalized world. Studies show that its education in preschool years is the most valuable moment to introduce it as a foreign language.
As bundles of energy, our little ones learn best when moving and using their senses! In this workshop, we will adopt innate language-learning strategies, the way children acquire their native language, to show you how to introduce English as a foreign language and employ creative techniques with the use of songs, games, listening activities, visual cues, actions, stories and more!
Whether your kids are visual, auditory and/ or kinesthetic learners, they will love the skills and activities we will share with you during our workshop.
About this workshop
This class is meant for any early years professional whose goal is to introduce English as a foreign language or create a bilingual environment for her childcare setting. It’s also a great professional development training for educators who are already involved in ELT and are looking for new and innovative ideas to adopt in the classroom.
Watch the video:
This workshop is subdivided into 4 parts:
Part 1: Tell Me a Story – Scaffolding techniques in storytelling for English language learners
- Young children as self-motivated natural language acquirers
- Enhancing innate language-learning strategies
- Imitation, repetition and the choice of simple words in story telling
- The phases in story-telling and creating a story
Part 2: The Listening Walk – Developing listening skills by reconnecting with nature
- Hearing vs. listening: training little ears to listen
- Acoustic ecology: the sounds of Nature and their role in listening skills
- Class preparation and sound collection
- Building a story around sound
Part 3: Total Physical Response in Storytelling – Combining movement to language to enhance meaning
- Total Physical Response in the early years
- Coordinating speech and action
- Combining visual, kinesthetic and auditory learning style
- Hand-eye coordination in action-stories
Part 4: Paint Me a Story – Applying layers and composition to build a story through images
Capturing movement onto canvas and paper
- Aesthetically arranging images together
- Creating a story through layering and composition
- The final performance piece
Previous Workshops
Saturday, March 28 2015, from 9 to 17: Little England Bilingual School, Via de Gasperi 1, Collebeato (BS), Italy
Sunday, March 29 2015, from 10 to 18: Doremi Baby, Via Felice Casati 38, Milano, Italy
Click here to view images more images of previous workshops.
For more information email info@hooplaeducation.com
Download the schedule - Download the flyer
About the Speakers
Wendy Parker
Wendy has over 15 years experience in English language teaching as a teacher, teacher trainer and content and curriculum developer. Originally from Northern England, she has dedicated herself to introducing both children and adults to the English language in Spain where she has been running a language school for the past 8+ years. She now has 300 students ranging from 2 to 70+yrs old. In addition, she works as a speaker and writing examiner for Cambridge ESOL. She has been a licensed Kindermusik Educator since 2012 and more recently joined the team as the European educator recruiter for Kindermusik International.
In addition, Wendy is a skilled storyteller and puppeteer, and in 2010 established her puppet company catering to the ELL community in Catalonia. Her company offers puppet shows on a regional level to primary schools and language schools, including a recent partnership with the regional tourism board and the town council as part of their local culture and history line of stories. Wendy also takes her puppetry to primary schools and leads children in Interactive Reading as well as participating in the Tortosa English Festival every year.
Stefania Sarasiti
Stefanìa Sarasiti holds a degree in pre-school education, with extensive experience working both as a kindergarten teacher as well as environmental studies with children. Her passion for environmental awareness started in 1996 when she worked for the Sea-turtle protection society in Gytheio and Athens (Greece) until 2000 raising awareness for these beautiful creatures in schools as well as amongst tourists and with local fishermen. Her dedication lies especially in the fieldwork and during this time was even responsible for the winter project.
Stefanìa is also a certified Horticultural Therapist from the Agrarian School of the Monza Park (Italy) adding gardening and horticulture to her proficiency in environmental studies. Moreover, in 2014 she specialised in Environmental Education from the Environmental Education Centre in Northern Italy.
Stefanìa has over a decade experience working with schools on environmental projects with children ranging from kindergarten up to age 12. She also heads horticultural therapy projects ranging from work with the homeless shelter to abused women and their children, believing that there is nothing more powerful than the healing aspect of Nature. Her passion lies in “Bringing all people close to Nature and Nature close to people”!
A mother of two, Stefanìa is a Greek-German living in Italy with her family. Her multicultural background and extensive travel gives her a unique perspective on education.
Angelica Manca
As a global citizen who was born and raised in Europe (France, Switzerland, Italy and the U.K.) and 15 years work experience that spans the Americas, Europe and Asia, Angelica has dedicated the last 8 years of her professional career to the promotion of creativity in the early years, particularly in the realm of music and language development. She has spoken at multiple conferences in Europe and Asia on The Role of Play, Music and Movement in English Language Learning for Young Learners (Children’s Museum Rome, 2009); The Impact of Play in Social-Emotional Development (Beijing International Early Childhood Conference, 2010); The Impact of Music on Foreign Language Acquisition (International Conference on Bilingualism, Hong Kong, 2012), to name a few.
During the past 8 years as International Director of Kindermusik International, she has combined her background in Psychology, experience in early childhood education and English language learning to create ABC English & Me, the first English language learning program for small children using music as a vehicle of learning. She believes in the value of communication and combining skills to bring the highest learning experience.
Paul Wagner
Paul Frank Wagner is a contemporary artist based in Paris, France. Born in Paris, he was raised in the United States - Los Angeles and New York City - and studied art history and French Literature.
His art is strongly influenced by what was coined in the 1960's movement as "Arte Povera", or "simple art" and Minimalism. The use of rope as his main material essentially aims to promote a revolutionary art, free from any convention and power of structure. Texture, accessibility, recycling propensity, and most importantly an ability to both connect and free distinct elements are the reasons Paul has chosen "rope" in his artwork. Paul has created and developed a unique art form of 3D rope paintings suspending a frame with ropes through various points of attachments. The creation of each installation is well-documented through film and photography and is an integral part of his works.
In 2005, Paul was 1 of the 30 Artists featured in "30 Ways to make a Painting" - together with high profile artists such as Christo, Keith Sonnier, Allan Mc Collum and Nam June Paik to name a few, at the Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinatti, OH. USA. In 2009 his solo show was featured at Scope Miami for Grey Gallery/LHP Productions. In 2014 his "Exhale" Installation for the animals in the Forest won 1st prize on Artslant Magazine.
Today, he travels the world creating and performing his 3-Dimensional Rope Painting installations in the most unusual locations. His passion lies in conveying the message that everyone is an artist and like Picasso said "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up". As a Hoopla Education professional, Paul has been awakening artists – young and old – with his creative workshops.
Kindermusik is the world's leader in early childhood music and movement, enjoyed by over 1 million families in over 70 countries worldwide. Kindermusik activities will be featured in some of the TPR activities and story telling techniques conducted in this workshop. Click here to find out more about Kindermusik.
Little England Bilingual School is an innovative preschool and primary school that has successfully integrated a bilingual curriculum - English and Italian - with a creative programme that includes Reggio inspired activities. To find out more about Little England click here.