Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Gucheng Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Yuncheng Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
“Oh the places you’ll go”! This is a title of a book by Doctor Seuss. I find this title a very good description to what happens to the mind of a child when he or she gets subjected to stories. Whether by listening to them or by reading them. Stories are the key to ignite a child’s imagination. Not exposing a child to stories is like locking him or her up in a dungeon. Brain cells get stimulated when listening to new experiences and adventures of fictional or non-fictional characters. Children will start trying to mimic or re-imagine the scenario during play time with their friends which creates an interesting and fertile environment for brain development and social and emotional development. Children also love to make up their own stories. It is very difficult for them to tell their own stories without having a background of pre-told stories, so you will find that most children take stories that they already read or listened to and twist them up according to their liking and re-share them! Storytelling has been a form of entertainment and brain stimulation since ancient times. You will find stories from pioneer cultures that have been passed onto generations. Stories can be beneficial for children to teach them many aspects like morals, discipline, manners, life lessons, history, folklore, and a whole lot of other things that might be difficult for them to understand or learn in direct speech. Stories are like a vacation destination for the brain with a whole lot of activities. “Suzan! How many times did I tell you to not let go of my hand when walking in a crowded street?”. This is a typical example of a parent trying to set some boundaries for their child that is probably in a stage of discovering and finding their own independence. Yet, we all know how effective this method is. The child will probably not be even listening to what is being said, and if the child is casually listening, chances are they will not get the point. What if the parent actually tells a child a little tale or reads a bedtime story about a girl being lost and having a hard time finding her parents because she did not listen and kept running away from them. This is a much more effective way of educating the child about the importance of this subject. The child will much more likely listen and learn from the story and actually implement the desired behavior in real life! Then you might even find the child telling other children to listen to their parents and hold their hand while going out because he or she heard a story of so and so happening to the girl who got lost! History and folklore. Same thing. If you make a child sit down and try to fill his or her head with history. Chances are they will get agitated and their attention span will be very short. They will misbehave and start becoming snappy. But what if we give them the information they need to know in the shape of a heroic adventurous story. I bet they will be more than willing to enjoy it and will get the take home message clearly and will run back telling every bit of detail to everyone in their household and start a role play of pretending to be the famous historical character. In the end I would like to describe stories like oiling up hinges of a door that won’t open for receiving information. Once you oil up the hinges, it will open up and start receiving. Children will develop their imagination and will remember what they have learned from stories much more than straight forward information or instructions. And this is why stories have been passed on from generation to generation.
