The Best Stories To Learn English As Children
Children’s stories are one of the best resources we can find to help our children learn English. Of course, you need to choose them well. The stories to learn English must have characteristics so that they are motivating and help us in our intention to learn the new language.
Why are children’s stories in English an excellent resource?
- First of all, because they are motivating. Children find them attractive, especially illustrated ones, and it is easy for them to attract their attention.
- Because they use a simple and repetitive vocabulary that will help them understand the story and remember the vocabulary.
- The illustrations help them understand the meaning.
- It is one of the best ways to find vocabulary in a meaningful context for the child.
- They read them over and over again, which helps them become familiar with the vocabulary and expressions.
- Children can learn cultural differences through stories and their characters.
- On the internet we can find a lot of resources related to the story (videos, songs, games …)
What stories in English can I choose?
In my experience as a mother and an English teacher, these books are among the most liked by children and among the best for learning English at home:
- The very hungry caterpillar, by Eric Carle . The story of the greedy caterpillar, a classic in British children’s literature, is one of my favorites. It is about a caterpillar that is born on a Sunday and eats different foods during the week. Ideal for learning the days of the week and food in English.
- Rod Campbell’s Dear Zoo . None of the animals that come from the zoo can be kept at home as pets. Not the elephant, which is too big, or the giraffe, which is too tall … Until the end, they do not find the perfect animal to have as a pet. Ideal for learning zoo animals and adjectives.
- Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see ?, by Eric Carle. Animal and color repeating book, excellently illustrated, attractive and memorable. The brown bear, the blue horse, the green frog, the lilac cat, the red fish, the black sheep, the white dog, the gold fish, the yellow duck … On the internet you can find a lot of resources related to this story ; from videos, songs to games and coloring sheets.
- Ketchup on your cornflakes by Nick Sharratt. This book of super fun and very easy questions is going to get a lot of laughs. The book is divided into two parts, leaving a silly question, such as: “Do you like ketchup on your cereals?” or “Do you like toothpaste on your toast?” Kids love it. It is ideal for learning vocabulary because the pictures illustrate the word, and for practicing the questions of: “Do you like …?” , with food and other vocabulary.
- Handa’s surprise , Eileen Browne. Handa is a girl who lives in Kenya and one day she decides to surprise her friend Akeyo with a basket with seven delicious fruits. On the way to get to her friend’s tribe, she thinks about which fruit her friend will like the most. Distracted in her thoughts, she will meet different animals that will make her surprise herself at the end of the story. This book is very useful to learn vocabulary of fruits, animals and culture about the African continent. On the internet there are also a lot of resources related to the story.
Audiobooks
In the market there are audiobooks ( audiobooks ). These are books with CDs where there is a recording of the story read by an English-speaking person. This type of book can help us a lot if we are not sure of our own level of English, or if we want to improve it.
So why not take the opportunity to introduce the stories in English to our family? Learning English at home with our children has never been so easy and fun.
