Teaching English Toolbox - OPEN ACCESS SANDBOX

Story Café - 5th / 6th grades

In this task, learners will put together a story café for other classes, parents, or the public.

  • Level: A2 and up
  • Coursebook connections: Explorers "Preparing a Class Breakfast"; reading and listening to stories
  • SWBAT:· tell a story in an engaging way / use the language of serving / work together to prepare a story telling.

This series of lessons will take quite a bit of preparation! First, set a date approximately 6 lessons away from when you start and know who you want to invite - parents and siblings? Other classes? The public (if you can do this at the public library). Reserve a room you know you can set up approximately 6-8 tables in.

Engange and Activate!

For this first lesson, the introduction where you model what the learners will later do, the teacher should choose the story they like best, in this case we use “Night at the Zoo” and should bring the following items:

  • The story
  • A tablecloth
  • Punch or tea
  • Some cookies
  • Some stuffed animals / animal pictures
  • Some word cards from the book (zookeeper, cage, …)

Ideally, tables and desks are pushed together to make ONE big table that everyone can sit around. This works just as well in a circle in the classroom with a round (ideally) tablecloth in the middle.

Teacher Language: "Come to the front. Sit in a circle. Say “hi” and chitchat with your neighbor – HOW ARE YOU??!"

  1. Tell the learners that this is an EXAMPLE of what THEY are going to do either at “Erzählnacht” or wherever you organize this. 
  2. Offer the learners some punch /cookies with “Would you like / care for some…”? Choral drill the language or ask them to ask one another.
  3. Prompt the learners to say what they can about the story with the pictures / words you brought. 
  4. READ the story to the class. Tell the learners that the stories we will work with are by Tom Reed, who lives in Zurich and MAY come and visit us!

Learner language on the board: Would you care for a cup of punch? A cookie? Yes, please, No thank you!!

Ask the learners “What makes a good storytelling café for younger classes / parents / etc…”? List ideas on the board:

  • We need: tea / coffee / punch / cookies
  • We have decorations like….
  • We make invitations…
  • We get the people interested in the story
  • We are polite: Would you like….
  • We need: tea / coffee / punch / cookies
  • We have decorations like….
  • We make invitations…
  • When we tell the story we get the people interested by acting / reading clearly....
  • We are polite, we ask if they would like more coffee / tea.....

Lead the learners to the rubric suggested below but adapt it based on what other ideas students have. Tell learners "In pairs, you will choose a story you like the best or the story the teacher assigns you. You will decorate a table, you will practice reading the story, you will serve community members."

Decide who works together with whom in this project.

  1. Have learners pick up any book and ask "What do you see? Read the back cover and the blurb - what is it about?"
  2. Have learners choose another book and do the same!
  3. Have learners browse through the books with partner(s) and make a list of 3 favorite books and why they are favorites.
  4. In class, share rankings and decide who will work with which book!

Create – Work on materials and language

You will need two to three lessons to let learners work on their storytelling and preparations for the café.  The following are ideas for the board, for fillers to start and end lessons and to keep the learners are task.

Checklist

  • Can you read your story out loud fluently and in a fun way?
  • Do you have word cards ready to help your listeners?
  • Do you have pictures or objects to engage your listeners?
  • Can you offer someone a drink / snack?
  • Can you make small talk?

With this exercise, students should first have a bit of fun guessing what they can about Tom Reed. Here is a worksheet you can use for these activities.

  1. Fill in the gaps individually – no wrong answers! 
  2. Read it out loud to your neighbor- find out what you wrote the same and differently!
  3. Teacher reads it out loud, learners write down the “correct” answers! Alternatively, let the students go to Tom Reed's website to find the answers.
  4. Hide the page! What can you remember about Tom Reed? What will you tell the others at the story café?

Peaksay Practice here: If you have computers, you can let the learners work on Peaksay. Alternatively, write the language on the board and do a mingle, have learners copy it into their notebooks, erase words, etc....

  • Hello! Welcome to our Story Café! I will be your server today! How are you?
  • I am fantastic! I am so happy to be here!
  • Great! What can I get you to drink? We have coffee, tea, water, and syrup.
  • I'll have some coffee, please.
  • Do you take milk or sugar with that?
  • Oh, yes. Oat or soy milk, please! And a bit of sugar.
  • Sure! I'll be back in a minute. Please help yourself to the snacks we have on the table, too!
  • Thank you so much!
  • Here you go! Are you ready for a story now?

Depending on who is invited, these will look quite different, but basically students should be able to write "Who / What / Where / Why / When" and the appropriate information correctly. 

Share – Host the Story Café!

Practice first as a class – give each other feedback (fluency, etc…) and then host the story café for the invited guests!

Extensions

  • Invite your local author to your school for a reading or a workshop!
  • If you did this in your school, ask the teachers who brought their classes to write thank you letters (in German or English) to your class.

Assessment Opportunities

  • Use the single point rubric provided above to follow student progress and to evaluate their performance during class practice session or during the story café itself; 
  • Use any of the products (choiceboards or worksheets or other) to assess various skills;
  • Use observations for listening to your instructions, working together (in English), reading out loud.