In addition to our free R-SUCCESS training webinars, you can find a collection of sample stories, along with accompanying resources in our resource library. To access these materials, all you need to do is sign up for a free account! The resource library is accessible via the ‘Login’ page.
Each story is accompanied by a Story & Information for the Storyteller page. This document has information related to the three different components of R-SUCCESS oral storytelling. The first component is the Pre-Telling, which is an opportunity for you to set the stage for the story by building background knowledge and introducing new vocabulary words. For each story, we’ve included background information, including information about the story’s country of origin, an introduction to the characters in the story, and key concepts related to story details. The Pre-Telling also includes suggested vocabulary words related to the characters, setting, or plot that you can introduce prior to starting the story. You don’t need to define every word on the list. Instead, feel free to focus on a few key words each time that you share the story. Additionally, for Pre-K teachers, we’ve included recommendations for applicable Pre-K for All Thematic Units that may be tied into the oral stories.
These are just a few suggestions for getting started. There are many different ways that you can set the stage and introduce the story. Other ideas include using visual aids to help introduce vocabulary words, eliciting story predictions based on the title, having children visualize the setting, or using a map to show the story’s country of origin.
Next is the Telling, which includes the story text. During the telling children are encouraged to be active listeners as they experience the story world as created solely through language. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the story, the characters, and the sequence of events. It may be helpful to write a brief summary of the story to help you capture all of the main events. We do not recommend memorizing or reading directly from the story text since this can take away from the expressive nature of oral storytelling. As you familiarize yourself with the story, you can begin to think about how you will help the children to visualize the characters and the setting (e.g., by using pictures and props, or different voices and movements for each character). This is also a good opportunity to think about what vocabulary words related to the story you will want to teach the children.
Each story can be adapted to fit your classroom. For example, you may choose to shorten the story for younger children, create an alternate ending, include a proverb or dicho, or integrate a new concept.
The final component is the Post-Telling, which is an opportunity to build comprehension of story details. For each story, we’ve included a few Discussion and Writing Prompts to encourage children to share their opinions about the story, make connections between the story events and their own lives, and recall story details. We recommend picking 1-3 questions from the list that you think may help to start a conversation about the story. Depending on the age of the children, you may choose to have them share their responses during a group discussion, or in a drawing or written form.
Additionally, each story includes a separate Activity Page with a drawing prompt, along with space for children to describe their drawing in a word or sentence, if appropriate, depending on their age.
These are just a few of the possible post-telling activities that you can choose from. You may decide to come up with your own questions or post-telling activities. For example, you may have children create puppets, masks, or props of the story characters, or even act out specific scenes from the story. We encourage you to adapt these stories and related activities to best support your children and their interests.
We hope you and your children will enjoy these stories! If you have any questions about accessing or using the Resource Library, feel free to contact us here or email rsuccess@nyu.edu.
Are there stories that you would like to see us adapt for oral storytelling? Send us a suggestion in the ‘contact us’ form!