After hearing a story again and again, either read or told in simplified form from the pictures, preschoolers are learning listening and comprehension skills, pronunciation modeling and new vocabulary in context. When presenting books and stories a small kindergarten class, of course no child is permitted to sit on the teacher’s lap, but if the teacher sits on a low chair surrounded by children on chairs or on the floor, a similar intimacy can be achieved. This closeness can also enhance the dramatic moments of the story (such as an animal capturing someone) where the teacher suddenly reaches out adding a memorable thrill to the experience.

Children love repetition of their favorite stories and soon, the bolder ones join in the storytelling and delight in the game of pointing out familiar objects, animals, colors and counting items. Along with the names of animals it is natural to introduce animal sounds in English when the creatures appear: duck (quack-quack); dog (bow-wow, arf-arf); sheep (baa-baa), etc.

The best phonics to use with little children is rhyming sounds. For this reason, simple poetry and stories using rhymes both catch the ears of children and help them “predict” the next word, especially accompanied by pictures: “This is Spot. He is _______ (hot).”

Visual discrimination can be developed, as well, through imaginative questions: “Find the monkey . . . Not the one in the red hat, not the one in the blue hat, but the one in the green hat.” In every picture book I read to/with children I exploit every chance to get the children to identify vocabulary they know and ask them to count any multiples in the illustrations. This is actually drill word, but cleverly disguised as storytelling in which they participate in the telling.

Soon, the children’s favorite entertainment is “reading” even though they can’t identify the printed words yet. Instead they are “reading” the pictures with new understanding and developing a joy in learning new words, hearing them in the context of a story. The language development of children at this age is phenomenal; pre-occupation with words and sounds of words is characteristic of the very young child. Books and storytelling help to fill this insatiable desire to hear and learn new words.

Reading aloud to/with children helps them develop their full language potential. If they are exposed to many books, over and over, their eyes and ears can be trained together in English as any Russian child naturally is in Russian. Simple structure patterns, word order, variations and question-making are introduced without any formal “grammar lessons.”

The more the teacher can bring the book or story alive the better. Easier books can be read slowly and dramatically, perhaps changing voices for characters or partially acting as you read. Even more advanced books with good illustrations can be used if the storytelling is simplified and the vocabulary kept within reach of the children’s understanding. With folk tales that both you and the children know well, this is not hard at all, and you can then pause and talk more about various details or actions in the pictures. It is also interesting to compare two books with the same story (Cinderella, for example) for parts that are the same and those that are different.

Books and stories certainly lend themselves to art activities, puppets and dramatic play, music and dancing. And children need the opportunity to look through and reexamine the books they are going to be read or already know. In this way, English books become friends and of something “foreign” or frightening.

1. Read a story to a couple three-year-olds. See how many ways you can bring the children into the experience and help them participate.

2. Tape record your voice telling or reading a story. Listen to yourself with two other people and critique your timing, voice(s), and intonation. Re-record the same story and see if you can make it more interesting and imaginative.

3. Try to observe some children being read to (by someone else). Watch the children’s responses – verbal comments, facial expressions, body movements and questions.

4. Explore how many different kinds of picture and story books are appropriate for young learners of English. The books may be either in English or Russian. Think about the best way to exploit them in the language learning classroom.