Activities to use children's literature in the EFL classroom

Can it!

Image: An empty tin can,
by Sun Ladder

A story container will soon become a favourite way of book sharing in your classroom. 

To make a story container, students need a clean, empty can with the label removed. Provide your students with a label-size piece of cardboard or construction-paper, some craft sticks, construction-paper scraps, tape, and crayons or markers. Have them decorate the cardboard label with the title, the author, and an illustration from a chosen book. Then have them tape the completed label around the can. Next have students use the construction-paper scraps and craft sticks to create a stick puppet for each important character in the story. To talk about their book, students show their decorated container and talk about each character puppet. After the presentation they store the puppets in the container and display them in the classroom for an exhibit.

Reports on file

These stylish file-folder book reports will tempt your youngsters to read one another's favourite books.

To make a file-folder report, a students writes the title of her/his chosen book on the tab of a coloured file folder. Next, he/she completes a report form with this information about the book: title; author; illustrator; my favourite character; my favourite part of the story; question about the story. At the bottom of their paper, students write a question about the story on several lines provided. Then, they draw a scene from the story on a sheet of drawing paper. Finally they staple their completed form to the left side of the folder and their illustration to the right side. Store the folders in a file box for students to review during free time.

Handy-dandy reports

Give literature a hand with cute book reports. Have each student write the title and author of their book on a hand pattern. Next, on separate squares of white paper, have students illustrate two different characters, an item in the setting, and two objects that were important in the story. Have them cut out the pictures and the hand pattern. Then have them glue one picture to each finger of the hand cutout. Display the completed projects on a bulletin board titled 'Give a big hand to these books'.

It's in the bag

Image: Brown Bag (with staple)
by Jeffrey Beall

Students will enjoy giving book reports when they assume the roles of their favourite characters. Have each students use markers, construction-paper, and thread to decorate a paper lunch bag to resemble a character from a favourite story. To report on her/his book, the student slips the puppet onto her/his hand and speaks about the story from the character's point of view. After the students have given their presentations, staple the puppets to a bulletin board. To complete the display, post a label near each puppet identifying the character and the story it is from.

Pre-reading word search

Stimulate your students' interest in new vocabulary with this pre-reading strategy. Before the class begins reading a new story, provide several minutes of pre-reading time in which students scan the story for interesting or unfamiliar words. After the allotted time, ask students to report their findings. List their responses on a sheet of chart paper labelled with the title and author of the story. Discuss the meaning and pronunciation of each word on the list before having the students read the story. The children will be more familiar with the story's vocabulary, which will increase their comprehension of the reading material. After reading the story, post the word list in your classroom as a handy reference for students to use with other reading and writing assignments.

Story wheels

To begin, ask students to name the beginning, middle and ending events from a given story. List their responses (in the order they occurred in the story) on the blackboard. Then have each student illustrate the events on a story wheel. To make a story wheel, a student uses a pencil and a ruler to divide each of two paper plates into four sections. Students write the title and author of the story in the top right quadrant of one plate. Then they rotate the plate one-quarter turn clockwise,, label the top right quadrant 'beginning', and draw a picture of a corresponding event there. In a similar manner, she/he labels the next quadrant 'middle' and illustrates the problem of the story. Then she/he labels the final quadrant 'ending' and illustrates the ending of the story. To make a wheel cover, they draw a large dot in the centre of the second plate where the four lines intersect. Next students carefully cut away one section of the plate, leaving the dot intact. Then, they erase the pencil marks remaining on the plate and personalise it as desired. Then, using a brad, they attack the wheel cover atop the wheel. To use the story wheel, the students turns her/his wheels so that the second event is showing. She/he tells what happened before and after the second event. To check her/his answer, she/he turns the wheel forward or backward to reveal the other events. Continue having students turn their wheels to a determined event and having them tell what happened before and after the event shown.

Make friends with a book

Help your students select the best in literature by providing them with some references. You will select short-story books, beginning chapter books, a selection of stories to read aloud to your students and a list of favourite authors. Your class is sure to find several favourites among these teacher-recommended titles.

Life-size library figures

Invite your youngsters to enter the world of books by enlarging library-book characters onto a poster board. Colour, cut out, and laminate each figure. Display the characters in your classroom or in the hallway. Then add conversation bubbles encouraging students to read.

All aboard!

Image: locotoy, by jean victor balin

Mount a cardboard engine on a classroom wall. Provide each student with several coloured copies of a boxcar pattern to take home. Each time the student reads a book at home, have her/him complete the information on the boxcar, cut it out, and return it to school. Mount the boxcars on the wall to create a train. As the train grows throughout the year, so will your students' reading abilities.

The growing caterpillar

Image: pipe cleaners, by essie

Motivate students to read independently by challenging them to achieve a group reading goal. To create this display, cut a supply of large cardboard circles. Add pom-pom eyes, a nice mouth and pipe-cleaner antennae to one circle to resemble a caterpillar's head. Mount the caterpillar's head on a classroom wall. Tell students that for every book a student read, a segment will be added to the caterpillar. The student must write her/his name, the author's name, and the title of the book on a cardboard circle, then have a teacher or parent initial the circle to indicate that she/he told them about the book. Reward the students with a special party in their honour upon completion of their goal. Your students will be amazed at how fast the bookworm grows.