Most parents have already heard how important it is to read to
their kids. Whether it's reading aloud to your children or simply a home
environment that values reading, it's been shown that books having a central
presence in the home can have a positive impact on kids' performance in preschool and beyond.
What you might not know is that oral storytelling is important
too. This is fundamentally different than reading a picture book aloud to your
child, and as a result, brings with it different benefits. Here are some of the
reasons why storytelling is an important part of any high-quality preschool
program.
- Language skills: Just like reading aloud, storytelling
helps preschool children to learn and practice language skills such as
vocabulary, sentence structure, and rhythm. The language of oral
storytelling is less formal and more interactive than reading from a book,
yet more structured than conversation, so it teaches different language
skills.
- Imagination: Even when someone else is
telling the story, oral storytelling encourages more creativity and
imagination than simply reading from a picture book, especially when the
storyteller uses opportunities to engage kids in the story. When the story
is being told to a group of preschool kids, they can be asked to imagine
some element of the story, or chant or sing repetitive elements in the
story, such as the refrain of the bad wolf: "Little pig, little pig,
let me come in!"
- Creativity: Storytelling can be used to
encourage creativity, such as when a group of preschool kids is asked to
take turns deciding what happens next. In addition, children can be
encouraged to tell stories themselves, even if it's just the story of
something they did over the weekend. An atmosphere of storytelling teaches
preschool kids not only what constitutes a beginning, middle, and end, but
also how to introduce elements that will inspire the rapt attention of
their audience.
- Community: Because oral storytelling
encourages more involvement than a group of preschool kids passively
listening to a story being read to them, storytelling encourages a sense
of community within the preschool class. Stories that the kids take turns
choosing what happens next, or include the members of the class as
characters, encourage a sense of togetherness.
To see for yourself the difference that elements such as oral
storytelling make in a high-quality preschool program, contact our Milpitas
preschool today.
