TELLING TALESEXTENSION ACTIVITY FOR HOME PRACTICE

Sitting with your child and talking about a picture together can be a very useful language learning and listening activity, whether you are telling a story or just talking about what you see illustrated on a page. The picture attached to this page was created to supply plenty of things for your child to sit and talk about, since it shows a busy scene, filled with children doing a variety of activities. We recommend printing it on a color printer or perhaps printing it and coloring it in for this activity.

I SEE / I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE1. Sit next to your child with the illustration in front of both of you.2. Decide who will go first.3. Whoever is going first must look at the picture and find something

to talk about. Then, the person should say, “I spy a_______” or “I see a________” without pointing to it or indicating in any way where this thing is.

4. The other person must either find it and say, “I spy/see it, too!” or give up and say they do not spy/see it.

5. To make this game more challenging, you can pick out a set of things like “I spy eight white flowers” or “I spy three bows on a string” and the other person must find all items on the page.

CHALLENGE: An even more challenging variation on this game is to describe what you spy/see without telling its name. For example: “I spy something red and tasty” (apple) or “I spy someone wearing a pink vest” (skateboarder girl). For children who are able to spell, you could even say, “I spy two things that start with the letter ‘s’” (sun and squirrel). You might find that the child is inspired to find even more things starting with that letter, which is a great opportunity for them to show off.

STORYTELLINGThe attached picture is full of little scenes within the larger picture that can be spun into their own stories or used as a part of a bigger story. However you decide to use the photo is great, as long as you have fun! Remember: there are no incorrect answers when you are storytelling! With this in mind, use the following as a guide:

1. Sit next to your child with the illustration in front of both of you.2. Tell the child that you would like to take turns telling stories. You may

want to tell yours first so that the child understands that they do not have to talk about every single little thing in the picture.

3. Start off with a short story about one part of the picture. Be imaginative and let your creativity show. Here is an example of a story that someone could tell using the picture:

One day Lisa and her little gray dog, Hero, walked to the park. There was nobody there when they first got there, so they started playing Hero’s favorite game. Lisa would throw the ball and Hero would try to catch it. Soon, after they played for a while, lots of people arrived. But Hero stayed by Lisa because he really wanted her to keep throwing the ball for him.

4. Next, you can either ask your child to retell the story or just ask her questions about the story (What was the dog’s name? What was his favorite game?). If you’ve asked her to retell the story, just let her talk and try not to fill in any details for her. When she is done, pause for a few seconds, giving her the chance to think of what else she can remember. 5. Now it is your turn to be the listener while your child is the storyteller. Have fun and remember to listen carefully!!

CHALLENGE: 1. You can make this activity slightly more challenging by rolling dice over

the picture and seeing where they land. Wherever the dice land is what you have to tell the story about (to simplify, use just one die). This might be quite challenging, depending on where the dice land!

2. You can make this activity more challenging by simply telling longer, more detailed stories. Just watch and make sure that your child is not overwhelmed by how long or detailed they are. The important thing is that your child gets practice listening, not that they remember every single detail of a long story.

3. To make this activity into a written activity, have the child write down what the storyteller said. If you want to, tell half a story and have the child write down what they have heard and add their own ending.

2

SUPER CHALLENGE: 1. Taboo Words: To make this game even harder, take turns storytelling

but with taboo words that are forbidden to say during storytelling. Attached with the busy picture is also a set of cards that can be used for this purpose.

2. Must Words: The attached word cards can also be used to write or tell

a story. Have the storyteller choose a picture card and any number of word cards to include in his story.

VARIATION: You can use photos from magazines or photos you have lying around at home to tell and retell stories. These encourage creativity and add variety to any listening activity.

3

girl boy

sun cloud

school sidewalk

books apple

dog park

flowers tree

bottle dancing

bench reading

flying swinging

playing riding

drumming jeans

backpack scarf

kite bird

squirrel book

drum guitar

4

5