Speaking skills, like listening skills, are often neglected in the classroom or teachers assume that they are an area that does not require instruction or facilitation. In order to communicate effectively through speaking, children must exhibit fluency, clarity, and an awareness of audience. Such verbal communication skills are learned through practice and observation of an effective speaker, such as the teacher.
Storytelling:
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of entertainment. It was the television and radio of long ago. Today the art of storytelling has been revitalized in the United States. Professional storytellers are appearing at festivals (like Weber State’s Storytelling Festival in November!), in concerts, and in elementary and secondary classrooms to share their art form. Teaching children to tell stories to their classmates is one of the most effective ways to develop speaking skills in young children.
To teach storytelling to children, it is not necessary to be a great storyteller yourself. It is helpful, however, if you can demonstrate to children some of the characteristics of an effective storyteller. A good storyteller should do the following things:
Select a story that he or she really enjoys and that is appropriate for the audience.
Be thoroughly familiar with the story; memorize only key phrases, not the entire story.
Be imaginative and include gestures and facial expressions to convey meaning.
Speak with expression, feeling, and emotion.
Look directly at the audience; gaze about so that everyone feels involved in the story.
After you have demonstrated storytelling techniques, divide your class into small groups and have students practice telling stories to one another. Storytelling is an art form that develops through practice. When ready, the children can share their stories with the entire class. Here are some activities to involve students in the art of storytelling:
Wordless books: A wordless book tells a story through pictures alone.
While turning the pages slowly, the “reader” adds the narration and dialogue to create a complete story with beginning, middle, and end. Once students see the wordless book strategy modeled by the teacher, they quickly pick up on it and begin telling stories themselves.
Liar’s goblet: Most children are familiar with tall tales (Paul Bunyan,
Pecos Bill, etc.). They love to expand on and embellish their own adventures. This activity builds on the idea of a the tall tale and on children’s enjoyment of exaggeration. It can be taught in the form of a game. First, you need a goblet (a cup, glass, or mug will do). One person in the group takes the liar’s goblet and makes up a short but exaggerated tall tale. The next person in the group takes the goblet and says, “That’s nothing; why I remember . . . .” Each student tries to top the previous story; each story, though different, grows more exaggerated.
Chalk or draw-along stories: In this activity, the storyteller begins the
tale by drawing a circle or line on the board. As the story continues, the teller adds more details to the drawing. Eventually, when the story is completed, there is a finished drawing on the chalkboard. To teach this activity, draw and tell the entire story to a small group of children. When the students have learned the story and the picture drawing, they can tell it to another group of children who have not heard it yet.
New versions and new endings: Another storytelling activity involves
changing elements in the story plot and/or altering the endings of familiar stories. It works particularly well with folktales and fairy tales. To start this activity, read a number of different versions of the same story to your students. For example, you could read a traditional story of the Three Little Pigs and then read Jon Scieska’s book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
Puppetry and Storytelling:
Like storytelling, puppets and masks have traditionally been associated with oral dramatic presentations. Like so many oral activities, creating the proper environment is the essential ingredient to a successful puppetry experience. Begin by creating a simple puppet stage in one corner of your classroom. This could be as easy as draping an ordinary table with an old tablecloth or with colored butcher-block paper. You could also cut out the bottom of a large cardboard box, cover the box with colored paper, and make a simple cloth curtain to hang over the front. Once your puppet stage is in order, the students will naturally gravitate toward it.
The next step is to gather some simple materials for creating easy-to-make puppets. Literally any scrap material can be used in the construction of puppets. Here are several kinds of puppets that students can make:
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Sock puppets: Have each child bring an old sock from home.
Demonstrate that by placing your hand inside the sock—your fingers in the toe, your thumb in the heel—you can make the puppet come alive simply by opening and closing your hand. Next add cloth, felt, buttons, beads, yarn, and so on to make the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. Additional material can be added to extend over the puppeteer’s arm.
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Finger puppets: The simplest way to make a finger puppet is with an
old glove. On each finger, draw, color, or paint facial features of different characters. You can add bits of yarn, sequins, or buttons. Each finger should contain a face with a different expression or look. In this way, you have large groups of tiny character puppets that can talk back and forth.
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Stick-and-ball puppets: With a wooden dowel, tongue depressor, or
bent coat hanger plus a plastic foam ball or old tennis ball, you can teach children to construct a stick-and-ball puppet. First cover the ball with felt or cloth and draw in the facial features. Then decorate with string, small buttons, and so on. Next insert the stick to support the head. (With a tennis ball, you have to cut a small hole to insert the stick.) Finally, cover the stick with a loose cloth, decorated to form a distinctive costume for your puppet. Insert your hand beneath the cloth and grasp the stick. Your puppet is ready.
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Shadow puppets: To create a shadow puppet, you will use stiff
cardboard or oak tag. Cut your puppet shape from the flat pattern in profile because only this outline is seen by the audience. Intricate facial features are not necessary; the unique characteristics of the puppet come from the cut outline. Next, attach the cutout to a stick to be held by the student puppeteer. The unique effect created by the shadow puppet depends on the special stage that you create by stretching a sheet of translucent cloth tightly in a frame. Stand behind the frame and place a bright light behind the puppet and the screen. The audience sees a dark silhouette or shadow against the light screen.
Improvisation:
In improvisation, the dialogue of the various characters is improvised by the actors as the story unfolds; however, an improvisation is not totally unplanned. Generally the story is known in advance, and the actors alter the dialogue as they see fit. In improvisation, unlike theater acting, a script does not have to be memorized. However, simple props, costumes, and even scenery can be used, and students enjoy creating these in class.
Readers Theater:
This is another form of dramatic presentation that increases children’s comprehension of literature as well as develops oral language. Readers theater is a presentation by two or more participants who read from scripts and interpret a literary work in such a way that the audience imaginatively senses characterizations, setting and action. Vocal intonation and facial expressions can also be used to enhance the quality of the presentation. A narrator is often used to direct the various reader-actors on and off the stage and to communicate scene changes to the audience.
Children’s literature is a treasure chest of material to use with readers theater. Adapting the book to create a script entails a lot of conversation and collaboration. Sometimes creating an entertaining script calls for adding new dialogue and new scenes, utilizing students’ imaginations and sense of story.
Theater Acting:
A school play or program should be part of the learning process that leads children to a greater appreciation of literature. It builds confidence in oral communication abilities and enhances social growth, including cooperative learning skills.
To introduce theater acting it is best to begin with discussion. Talk about the work to be performed. Encourage children to make suggestions and decisions about characters, the setting, the staging, and so on. Then improvise the play or story until everyone has a sense of the action, the movement of characters, and the overall theme of the play. Do not be afraid to revise lines, to change parts, or to recast characters.
Theater acting represents the culmination of a dramatics unit. It brings together and integrates listening, speaking, reading and writing skills like no other single activity. It gives students a heightened awareness of the power of literature to evoke emotions from an audience. It engages youngsters in critical thinking and discussion. However, choosing to do a full-scale play production in your class means a commitment of time and energy. You cannot squeeze it between spelling tests, worksheets and basal reader lessons. The sacrifices you make, however, are balanced by the excitement, enthusiasm, and genuine learning that takes place when students discover their talents as actors.
