Language Study


Feature Writer: Diane Farrug
Diane Farrug, Diane Farrug

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Find innovative ESL and foreign language lesson ideas suitable for children, teens, and adults. Delve into methodologies and issues important to world language instruction. Discover language learning programs, online opportunities, and other resources. Learn fascinating facts about languages and cultures from around the world.

Your passport to fresh ways of teaching and learning languages is waiting. Come explore our articles, blogs, and discussions. You are welcome to e-mail me with your ideas and comments any time.

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Diane Farrug

Foreign Language Learning Materials for Kids

In: Language Study (general)

If you are a parent or teacher wishing to introduce children to a foreign language, use effective and age-appropriate DVD's, videos, CD's, and books that kids will love. more...

The Grouchy Ladybug

In: Language Study (general)

Use thematic activities based on this fun Eric Carle picture book to teach time, animals, and insects vocabulary to your foreign language students. more...

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

In: Language Study (general)

Teach foreign languages in context with this classic picture book by Bill Martin and Eric Carle. Thematic "Brown Bear" activities make language learning fun. more...

Teach Foreign Language Greetings

In: Language Study (general)

Teach children greetings and introductions in French, Spanish, German, and more. Puppets, games, and activities make foreign language learning fun. more...

Make a French Birthday Card

In: Learning French

Create a thoughtful, homemade greeting card for a special birthday. Use French words and phrases to wish a "Bon Anniversaire" to a French-speaking friend or relative. more...

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Diane Farrug

Jul 3, 2008

Using Stories to Teach Languages

Children's books, fairy tales, and invented storytelling are fun and effective for teaching French, Spanish, German, ESL, and more.


Stories are powerful. When you tap into the magic of a great story, language comes alive. With retellings, hunks of functional language make leaps from the page into your students' everyday vocabulary. The brain holds on more dearly to the language it encounters in the form of a story because it is contextual, and often visual and emotional, too.

Classic, familiar fairy tales are great for narrating, pantomiming, performing with dialogue, reading, illustrating, writing, and re-writing with a twist. Some of my favorites are The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, and The Little Red Hen. I've even used The Three Bears with my Level II high school French students to teach the difference between passé composé and the imperfect verb tenses.

A technique I've dabbled in, but haven't fully developed, is TPRS. TPRS, an input-based methodology originated by Blaine Ray, used to stand for "Total Physical Response Storytelling," but it has been more appropriately titled "Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling." Visit TPRStorytelling for more information.

Here is a resource of Suite101 articles about using children's books for the teaching of foreign languages. I hope it sparks some ideas for using stories and pictures books. And don't forget the goldmine of possibilities in literature from the target culture. Once upon a time, there was . . .

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