Pauline Godson Oyoo
Hello,
I am a storyteller based in Valencia, Spain. A teacher and the director of the Lighthouse Academy in Ontinyent , Valencia. I have always thought that having knowledge about a subject is one thing and knowing how to transmit it to students is another. That is why I strive to find suitable methodologies so that communicating and teaching in English can be easier to understand and assimilate.
I have used storytelling as a teaching tool for the past twenty years and will continue to use it because of the results I see and have seen in our students. I first used storytelling with my son Jonathan in his younger days and took the same books I read to him to class and told them to my students although they were not included in the school syllabus. I also use theatre where they can act out the stories, crafts and worksheets to work on sentence structure and noticed how they would understand syntax even before they could read or write.
An incident with my son confirmed this when he formed one of his first sentences in Valenciano (a language spoken in Valencia which I did not understand at the time) which he memorised during a valencian storytelling session at the kindergarten when he was barely three years old. This incident made the power of storytelling very clear to me.
I was the pioneer in English storytelling at the public library in Ontinyent, Valencia providing this service for 6 years in the last Friday of every month, for both parents and their children at the public library which was success and always full to capacity as they took a minimum of thirty children accompanied by a parent or a carer. This clearly went to show that it was an activity that people in the town enjoyed and thought it was useful. During this period, I submitted a project to an international company and won a money price designated to the purchase of English storybooks for public library in carer. These books are currently being used by the children in the town.
I have also done and do workshops and training for teacher training colleges, the University of Valencia and teacher training courses in the area. Storytelling services are also offered to schools in the Valencian Region and the results have been positive.
I have written Arts and Crafts books with the Oxford University Press Spain with the New Think and Do arts project for the 5th and 6th primary school. Which is also aimed at teaching English as a second Language in Spain using the CLIL methodology (Content language integrated learning). A delight to say that storytelling was also used in these Art and Crafts books.
The lighthouse Academy has a YouTube storytelling channel called ‘Storytime with Pauline’ you are all most welcome to subscribe and watch the stories.
Let’s learn together!!
Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak
Apparently one of the most influential picture books. This story is told for children who are learning English as a second language, so repetition is appreciated. the students at the end of the video are Spanish speakers. Apparently one of the most influential picture books.
Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne
Handa’s Surprise is a fun Story with beautiful colourful illustrations of an African young girl who takes different tropical fruits to her friend Akeyo. Little did she know there was a surprise waiting for her. In this story, apart from learning simple sentence structures the children learn different fruit and animal vocabulary. It has a wealth of resources that you can work with. The children can join in a fun song!
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Children identify with this story because they have owned or wanted a pet at some point in their life. A boy writes a letter to the zoo hoping they will send an ideal pet. Will he get it? Listen to this captivating story that engages children as they guess which animal the zoo brings.
Peace at last by Jill Murphy
Are you teaching about different rooms in the house? Then this is the story to listen to. An interesting story of how daddy bear tries to sleep. This fun story with repetition that allows children to participate. Moreover, the beautiful illustrations make the story a delight to read.
The big wide mouthed frog by Ana Larrañaga
A fun story where the big widemouthed frog asks other animals what they eat. “Who are you and what do you eat?” Will he like what all the animals eat? Let’s listen, participate and find out.
Mum’s new hat by Roderick Hunt
Featuring the Oxford reading tree characters. Mum buys a purple beautiful new hat but something happens to the hat. Listen to the story and find out. “Get my hat” says Mum.