We are storytellers Project! #AlQaReading #readoutloud #storytellers #ServiceLearningProject #ceipalbaplata

“Si alguien lee para ti, desea tu placer; es un acto de amor y un armisticio en medio de los combates de la vida. Mientras escuchas con soñadora atención, el narrador y el libro se funden en una única presencia, en una sola voz. Y, de la misma forma que tu lector modula para ti las inflexiones, las sonrisas tenues, los silencias y las miradas, también la historia es tuya por derecho inalienable. Nunca olvidarás a quien te contó un buen cuento en la penumbra de una noche.”

― Irene Vallejo, El infinito en un junco: La invención de los libros en el mundo antiguo

Fostering a love of telling and reading stories is the first step to developing the literacy skills that can change lives. Reading stories empowers students to make informed choices in a wider world, enabling them somehow to imagine a better future to hope for. Literacy is the first step on the long walk to real social inclusion and active participation in society. The aim of this project is to inspire a love of reading in both, our students, and CEIP Alba Plata students so as to improve literacy in both.

Our students of ESO2 have prepared with our coteachers Raquel García and Marina Hurtado some stories to share with one of our primary school communities, CEIP Alba Plata, set nearby in our surrounding school area, as part of a Service-Learning Project which aims not only at helping students develop their literacy skills but also to create engagement with reading stories as well as facilitating our student's personal growth. By means of storytelling, this Service-Learning Project enables students to connect what is being learnt in class about pronunciation, stress, intonation, and rhythm with a practical experience "on site" with the closest Primary School.

Our sessions were all double: two periods of language and literacy in a row, weekly. In this post you will find information related to the organisation of the lessons we used to prepare the telling aloud tales project.

SESSION One (double session)

We read and comprehended the stories.

We worked on the Vocabulary.

We arranged the class into different groups.

The tales we worked with were:

Sharing a Shell

When Crab finds a new shell, he doesn't want to share it with anyone - especially not a blobby purple anemone and a tickly bristleworm. But life in the rock pool proves tougher than Crab thinks and he soon finds he needs his new housemates. Sharing a Shell is a charming underwater tale of friendship and fun from the stellar picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, creators of What the Ladybird Heard. With brilliant rhythmic verse, bright and distinctive illustrations and glitter on every page, this is a firm favourite with children and parents alike.Enjoy all the stories from Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks: Sharing a Shell, The Princess and the Wizard, The Rhyming Rabbit, The Singing Mermaid, Sugarlump and the Unicorn, Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox, What the Ladybird Heard, What the Ladybird Heard Next and What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday.

How to Catch a Star

A boy longs for a star of his very own and imagines what a wonderful friend that star would be. In this story in which no other human being appears, he tries out different ways to capture a star to be his companion and eventually he succeeds in his own special way.

The Way Back Home

A delightful story about an Earth boy and a Martian who both crash land on the moon. They co-operate to find solutions so that they can both return to their homes in their respective craft. The joke of it is, the Earth boy has to return home by other means to collect the things they need to effect the repairs and then return to the moon to help his new friend.

Up and Down

The friendship of the boy and the penguin who first met in Lost and Found continues and they enjoy many activities together, including a game of backgammon. Then one day the penguin decides that, since he has wings, he ought to try and fly. After a variety of attempts, he believes he has found a way to become airborne but is that what he truly wants?

"Once there were two friends, and they always did everything together. Until one day the penguin decided it was time to spread his wings. But will the boy be there to catch him if he falls?"

UP AND DOWN

SESSION TWO

Role-play, reading out loud, roles distribution, team work, team spirit and general organisation within the groups.