For this reason, storytelling is an incredibly important part of a child's social, emotional and language development.
We look at approaches and ideas for storytelling that you can use in the classroom.
We consider criteria you can use to select appropriate picture books for storytelling as well as approaches, ideas and tips for using storytelling in your classroom.
This free mini-course gives you a taster of some of the content adapted from our Young Learners course.
Reflection: What are the stories that stood out to you as a child?
Selecting Stories
Reflection: What stories do you know that fit into the different categories?
The Picture Book: Gaining a Deeper Understanding of the Visual Language of Illustration
Visual literacy: Drawing on Illustration Devices to Tell Stories Visually
Comic and Graphic Genres
A summary of activities for the classroom that build around the storytelling
From Listening to Telling I
Example Lesson Plan Using Film
Reflection: What ways have you used video successfully with Yls for listening?
Example Lesson Plan Using a Cumulative Storytelling Format
Performance and Drama: A Lesson Plan Idea
Reflection: What techniques and ideas do you have or are using drama as a storytelling device?
Combining Language Learning and Visual Literacy: An introduction to what I've learned through working with children
FREE PREVIEWFinding Focus
What do We See?
Creating a Positive Drawing Experience: Motivation and Encouragement
Warm Up Drawing Activities and Applications
Using images to create ideas and speaking opportunities.
My Clothes Do Not Fit Me by Louise E Potter
Short Play Example: Bossy Lola
Short Play Example: Fernando Goes Nuts
The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers, by Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster
FREE PREVIEWProps for Story Retelling
Supporting the new language of stories: Activities with flashcards
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Very interesting notes on what to take into account to select the best stories that cause real interest from the learners. Drama, creativity, plays, and performance is a very creative way to introduce YLs to the practice of real English. It's com...
Read MoreVery interesting notes on what to take into account to select the best stories that cause real interest from the learners. Drama, creativity, plays, and performance is a very creative way to introduce YLs to the practice of real English. It's complete in the sense that the course shows you how to consider the English language as a whole system to be taught and learned, having English in mind not only the syllabi and grammar but as an integrated unit including also the practical use of language chunks used in daily life. Thanks.
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Emma Pratt (photographed here in 2026 with her father’s cows :) ) is a PhD candidate at Massey University, New Zealand, and an experienced teacher educator with over 20 years’ experience working in international education contexts across the UK, Spain, and New Zealand. Her current teaching focuses on preparing learners for UK English examinations, while her earlier work includes teaching and assessing academic writing for IELTS and Cambridge English. She is particularly interested in helping educators understand how writing is assessed and how teaching can be aligned with established frameworks. Alongside this, her broader pedagogical interests explore relational and reflective approaches to learning, including how classroom environments, attention, and wellbeing shape the learning experience. She brings a collaborative, practical approach to workshops, grounded in shared experience and open dialogue.
Emma has been designing online learning courses since 2013 and was, with Jamie King, a finalist in the ELTons 2014 for Innovation in Teaching
