Storytelling ignites the spark of creativity as it translates imagination into words. It is a form of expression for children to express their thoughts. It can be presented through drama, arts, music or verbal communication. Through this process, they will be able to expand creativity, boost memory, nurture critical thinking, and develop psychosocial skills.
The behavior of telling stories can be fostered through read-aloud activity. It is an instructional approach whereby parents, educators or caregivers read texts from storybooks aloud to children. The reader often includes variations in their tone, pace, and volume to make the reading more engaging. They also grab the listeners’ attention by asking questions or personalize the stories by sharing their opinion and life experiences relating to the stories.
What are the benefits of storytelling through read-aloud activity?
Killing two birds with one stone.
Development of emergent literacy skills
Parent-children storytelling through read-aloud activity is positively related to language and literacy growth
Ample research has found that by telling stories in a form of read-aloud to children and in particular young children, it activates the development of emerging literacy ability. This skill develops before children learn about complex reading and writing skills. By having developed this skill at an early age, it will benefit children’s later educational development.
Phonological awareness
For children to read texts for storytelling, they need to understand the structure and rules of translating prints into meaningful sounds
Phonological awareness is the ability to manipulate the sound of spoken language. Reading aloud provides the opportunity for children to learn about the concepts of print and spoken language. They will also learn the right way to pronounce words and understand their meaning. Subsequently, it will lead them to expand their vocabulary, which will be beneficial for children who prefer to use their own words when telling stories to the audience.
When should I begin a read-aloud activity with my children?
For children age 2 and above who have begun to speak, having someone to read stories aloud will encourage them to pronounce words accurately and understand the meaning of it.
Moreover, for students who are struggling to read, they will be able to overcome this deficit by practicing read-aloud. It will help them to sound out words, which will lead to the development of phonological awareness. This will help them to grow confidence in storytelling.
How do I do the read-aloud activity with my child despite having a busy schedule?
Parental commitment often intertwines with other commitments and this results in parents spending less quality time with their children. This is concerning as parents play an important role in educating children; as quoted from Barbara Bush, “home is the child’s first school, parents are the child’s first teachers.”
With the rising use of technology devices, you can maximize the use of it by installing apps that provide audio book narration. With these apps, you will be able to do the read-aloud activity with your children anywhere and at any time. You can even conduct the activity on your way to send and fetch your children from school. The long, empty journey can now be replaced with a meaningful and productive journey for both parents and children. While your children listen to the audio book narration, you can engage with them by asking them to tell you what the story is about. This will strengthen the bond between you and your children.
Some parents may view technology devices as tools that distance them from their children. This can be combated as Me Books Plus offers the option of switching narrative voices to the user’s voice. By having their parents’ voices to deliver the stories, it will help the children to be more familiarized with their parents’ voice. This will help to secure attachment between children and parents and as found in previous research, early parent-child relationships influence children’s engagement in literacy activities.
Other than mastering literacy skills and improving their phonological awareness, children will also be susceptible to expand their creativity when using Me Books Plus. This is because Me Books Plus provides the opportunity for children to design the sound for each scene of the story themselves. As aforementioned, storytelling through read-aloud activity is the trick that you can use to help your children master their literacy skills and with Me Books Plus, you can do it anywhere and at any time!
Click here to download our Me Books Plus App: https://apple.co/2S3iKzk (iOS) or http://bit.ly/2S7TFmY (Android).
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