Storytelling in the learning process of little children

Abstract

The first part of this dissertation focuses on the various type of literature available for little children, going from traditional tales such as myths, legends, fables and fairy tales to realistic and historical stories as well as poems, rhymes, songs and jokes, and on literary qualities, such as characterisation, plot, theme, pictorial and verbal style, which can be traced out in stories. Besides, the selection of instructional media and their use for storytelling are discussed. The second part deals with identifying the language arts as means of communication so as to be able to design learning activities which promote the language arts skills. Such activities are discussed in chapter five, all activities which teachers can adopt in their classrooms in order to make the teaching of the arts creative and interesting for the pupils. Many of the activities mentioned in this chapter were carried out with a group of six children (8 year old), during the observation sessions, and the results obtained are integrated and discussed in this last chapter.