Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

What is children’s literature?

It is literature written for children and not necessarily by children, although sometimes

children may and do write it.

To enter the world of children’s literature, one must enter the world of song, play, and dance;

the world of bright colored books with beautiful illustrations full of surprising, mysterious,

and fantastic elements of everyday life.

Children’s literature blends your dreams with suffering and thus seeks to develop children’s

imagination through riddles and rhymes, laughter and happiness; through fairy tales and

moralizing fables; through modern science-fiction and accounts of heroic deeds or deeds that

contrast the action of the good child with the bad.

The nature of literature

Basically children’s literature encircles narratives like fables and myths, fairy tales and stories;

plays, poetry, and traditional literature such as riddles, rhymes, sayings, etc.

What is a narrative?

They are the most extensive type of literature, in addition to being a chronologically-based

story; a narrative is an expression of a people –its values, its traditions, and its customs.

What is myth?

It’s an old narrative bound to the origin of people that attempts to explain natural phenomena

and is saturated with the supernatural, fables are short popular moralizing sermons in which

they characters are animals. «The Tortoise and the Hare»

Fairy tales

The characters in fairy tales are generally children or young people of marrying age who act

and are portrayed like children; they have but one outstanding feature: they are big or small,

weak or strong, beautiful or ugly, obedient or disobedient, good or bad, modest or proud, etc.

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

They are easy to understand and the child does not get lost in complicated plots. The setting is

never described in detail; it is felt or sensed intuitively –fairy tales are absolutely children’s

favorite.

Theater

In the theater all the action is presented in a dialogue form which is not intended to be read: it

is intended for live representation on the stage. It can be represented by children or adults, but

only for the amusement and delight of children.

Through participation in plays the child learns to memorize and repeat language with the

expression of natural speech; learns body expression, language use, enunciation, voice

projection, vocabulary, etc.

Poetry

Poetry is yet another category of children’s literature. Children’s enthusiasm for poetry makes

the answer easy to find, for before they start to read, they have started to appreciate it the same

way our ancestors did: aurally, through ear. And like our ancestors who did not read, children

react with great joy and pleasure when they hear selections in verse. «Say it again, say it

again!»

Meeting the needs of the young students

To meet the needs of the young EFL student through children’s literature, the teacher must

identify the objectives of the lesson; generally these are predetermined by the school in a scope

and sequence of objectives for a given age group or grade level.

The next step is to find the story, fable, poem, etc., that will help attain those objectives

The following suggestions are useful in making the decision to use or reject a selection:

1. Is the level of language too complicated? Can and should the language be modified to

match the students’ level of comprehension?

2. Are the language patterns easy to use?

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

3. Can repetition of language patterns be added without distortion?

4. Is it suitable for dramatization and roleplaying?

5. Does it utilize the two worlds of children, the real world and the imaginary?

6. Is there the potential for integrating cultural, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor

objectives?

Once the selection is made, the lesson can be planned.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood’s mother says, “Little Red Riding Hood! Come here. Take this basket

to your grandmother. There are sandwiches and there is a cake in the basket. Be careful!

There is a wolf in the forest and he is very dangerous.”

Little Red Riding Hood walks in the forest. There are many big trees and beautiful flowers in

the forest and the birds are singing. Little Red Riding Hood likes flowers and she picks them.

She doesn’t see the wolf hiding behind the tree. The wolf is thinking!

The wolf meets Little Red Riding Hood. He says, “Hello,”

“Hello,” says Little Red Riding Hood.

“Where are you going?” asks the wolf.

“I’m going to my grandmother’s cottage”

“Oh! Where does she live?”

“She lives in a cottage in the forest.”

“That’s nice. OK. Goodbye. See you later.”

“Bye-bye!”

“Bye-bye!

The wolf runs to Grandmother’s cottage. He knocks on the door.

“Who’s that?” says Grandmother.

“It’s me!”

“Who’s me?”

“It’s Little Red Riding Hood!” says the wolf.

“Come in, dear!”

The wolf goes into the cottage and eats Grandmother. The wolf gets into bed. He waits for

Little Red Riding Hood. He is hungry!

Little Red Riding Hood dances and sings in the forest. At last she comes to her

grandmother’s cottage.

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

She knocks on the door. “Who’s that?” says the wolf.

“It’s me.”

“Who’s me?”

“It’s Little Red Riding Hood,” says Little Red Riding Hood. “Come in, my dear.”

Little Red Riding Hood goes into the cottage.

She looks at the wolf in bed. “What big ears you’ve got, Grandmother!”

“I want to hear you better, my dear”, says the wolf.

“What big eyes you’ve got, Grandmother!”

“I want to see you better, my dear!”

“What big teeth you’ve got, Grandmother!”

“I want to eat you, my dear!”

The wolf jumps out of bed and eats Little Red Riding Hood.

A man comes. He has an axe. He kills the wolf. Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood

jump out of the wolf. The end.

Follow up:

Prepare interview questions for Little Red Riding Hood for a local newspaper

Ask the students to work in small groups to briefly tell the story of “The Little Red

Riding Hood”.

Give out dialog cards to 4 different pair of students in the class and ask them to look

over the words and use cut our drawings, playdoh or Cuisenaire rods to represent the

characters and things.

Dialogue card 1 LRRH: Oh grandmother, what big ears you have! Wolf: All the better to hear you with, my dear

Dialogue card 2 LRRH: Oh grandmother, what big eyes you have! Wolf: All the better to see you with, my dear

Dialogue card 3 LRRH: Oh grandmother, what big nose you have! Wolf: All the better to hear you with, my dear

Dialogue card 4 LRRH: Oh grandmother, what big teeth you have! Wolf: All the better to eat you with, my dear

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

The Tortoise and the Hare

One of Aesop’s Fables

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than

anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then one day, the irate

tortoise answered back: “Who do you think you are? There’s no denying you’re swift,

but even you can be beaten!” The hare squealed with laughter.

“Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there’s nobody in the world that

can win against me, I’m so speedy. Now, why don’t you try?”

Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was

planned, and the next day at dawn they stood at the starting line. The hare yawned

sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how painfully

slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap. “Take

your time!” he said. “I’ll have forty winks and catch up with you in a minute.”

The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the

tortoise. But the creature was only a short distance away, having barely covered a

third of the course. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have

breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby

field. But the heavy meal and the hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless

glance at the tortoise, now halfway along the course, he decided to have another

snooze before flashing past the winning post. And smiling at the thought of the look

on the tortoise’s face when it saw the hare speed by, he fell fast asleep and was soon

snoring happily. The sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who

had been plodding towards the winning post since morning, was scarcely a yard from

the finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the tortoise a

speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate, his

tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and he’d be first at the

finish. But the hare’s last leap was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him to

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

the winning post. Poor hare! Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the

tortoise who was silently smiling at him.

“Slowly does it every time!” he said.

Follow up:

Storyboard Title:

Author:

Illustrator:

The Princess and the Bowling Ball

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

Once upon a time there was a Prince. And this Prince’s dad and mom (the King and Queen)

somehow got it into their royal heads that no Princess would be good enough for their boy unless she

could feel a pea through one hundred mattresses.

So it should come as no surprise that the Prince had a very hard time finding a Princess. Every time

he met a nice girl, his mom and dad would pile one hundred mattresses on top of a pea and then invite her

to sleep over.

When the Princess came down for breakfast, the Queen would ask,

“How did you sleep, dear?”

The Princess would politely say, “Fine, thank you.”

And the King would show her the door.

Now this went on for three years. And of course nobody ever felt the pea under one hundred

mattresses. Then one day the Prince met the girl of his dreams. He decided he better do something about

it. That night, before the Princess went to bed, the Prince slipped his bowling ball under the one hundred

mattresses.

When the princess came down for breakfast the next morning, the Queen asked, “How did you

sleep, dear?”

“This might sound odd,” said the princess. “But I think you need another mattress. I felt like I was sleeping

on a lump as big as a bowling ball.”

The King and Queen were satisfied. The Prince and princess were married. And everyone lived

happily, though maybe not completely honestly, ever after. The End.

(Selected from The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith)

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

Follow up:

Read "The Princess and the Pea"

Have three cushions, place a small round object (like a marble) under one of the

cushions. Have one child sit on each of the cushions and see if they can guess which

has the pea under it.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Once upon a time there was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. The strange

thing about them was that every morning their shoes were found to be worn off as

if they had been dancing all night.

The king was puzzled and announced that whoever would find out where the

princesses went every night could marry anyone of them. Many kings came to try

their luck but they all failed to find the secret. An old soldier heard about this and

decided to try his luck. He went to a sorceress, who gave him a cloak that would

make him invisible. She also warned him not to drink the wine, which one of the

princesses would bring for him.

Then the soldier went to the king. The king received him with full honour. At night,

a feast was organised where the princesses served wine to him. He secretly threw

away the wine and pretended to be asleep. The princesses, thinking that the soldier

was asleep, went underground through a trap door. The soldier put on the cloak

that would make him invisible and followed the princesses. He saw the princesses

entering a beautiful garden.

Then, twelve princes came in twelve boats and took the princesses to a castle across

the lake where they all danced the whole night till their shoes were worn. The

soldier saw the same happenings three nights in a row.

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

On the fourth day, he told the king about the place where the princesses went every

night. As proof, he showed one of the golden cups from which they drank wine. As

his reward, he chose to marry the eldest princess.

The End

Instituto Guatemalteco Americano IGA

Presenter: Ms. Cynthia Márquez

Using children’s literature in an EFL Classroom

There’s a new kid on the block,

And boy, that kid is tough,

That new kid punches hard,

That new kid plays real rough,

That new kid’s big and strong,

With muscles everywhere,

That new kid tweaked my arm,

That new kid pulled my hair.

That new kid likes to fight,

And picks on all the guys,

That new kid scares me some,

(That new kid’s twice my size)

That new kid stomped my toes,

That new kid swiped my ball,

That new kid’s really bad,

I don’t care for her at all.

References:

• Marie E. Barker, the University of Texas at El Paso, article appeared in the English

Forum

• Sandra Mckay, Literature in the ESL classroom

• Forum, Volume 33 Number 1, January 1995, The Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly

stupid tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

• Storytelling with Children, by Andrew Wright, Oxford University Press.