LEGENDARY Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 9
Stage 2: Introduction to the Story
Through a series of pre-reading activities, such as discussing the book cover and title and scanning
the pages of the storybook, pupils are exposed to scenes from the stories to inspire predictions on
what the story will be about. By doing this, children’s literacy skills are developed, and background
knowledge of the story is established. This will better prepare the pupils to develop literacy skills and
linguistic knowledge connected to the story when it is read.
Stage 3: Reading the Story
The first reading of the story is done with authentic intonation, focusing on the pictures and
sequence of the story. Following the first reading is a discussion about the major events and the
accuracy of the pupils’ predictions about the story.
The story is read a few more times, interactively, allowing pupils to become progressively more
involved in the reading. During the reading, questions are asked to establish understanding of the
events and progression of the story as well as to elicit the relevant vocabulary and lexical chunks
that have been learned. Pupils can show recognition of the characters in the story, say how they
believe the characters are feeling at different points in the story, and answer questions related to
the events and settings.
Stage 4: The Final Reading
In this final stage, the pupils put to active use the language they have learned from the story. Pupils
are encouraged to participate in the story’s retelling. Then, they should read the story along with
you in their Stories & More book.
After finishing reading the story, pupils are asked questions to further check their comprehension of
the story as well as to practice the target language. Discussions revolve around the pupils’ personal
and affective responses to the story as they make connections between the story and their own reallife experiences. They reflect on the story and what they have learned from it.
A full list of all story scripts in the program appears in Appendix I.
7. Teaching Vocabulary
The nature of learning vocabulary is dynamic and continues over time (Webb and Nation 2017). Hatch and
Brown refer to four essential steps in vocabulary learning, all of which are applied in Legendary’s careful
methodology for introducing and practicing vocabulary:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sources for encountering new vocabulary
Getting a clear image of new words – visual, auditory or both
Making a memory connection between the form and meaning
Using the word through a continual process (not rote memory) – recycle vocabulary as often as
possible
(Hatch and Brown 1995)
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