Storybooks as English Learning Materials

In the hype of STEAM education, the picture storybook, a subgenre in children's literature, becomes an ideal language learning material which works much better than flash cards. The reason is obvious. They have very different objectives.

While we can only use flash cards to teach vocabulary through rote memorization, a picture storybook has its own soul. The beautiful illustrations in a picture storybook not only have their own aesthetic value, but also build children's art appreciation muscles. The text, on the other hand, not only provides children with an intriguing storyline and heroes or heroines they can identify with, but also presents them a conflict to be resolved until the end of the book. All these literary elements are already there in the picture storybook. Through guided reading, children can enhance their reading comprehension, better their reading strategies, strengthen their problem-solving skills, and most importantly, learn to understand the world from different perspectives.

We need to help students become independent readers and thinkers. Rote memorization does not do that. I hope STEAM is not just another short-lived hype, but an educational movement of authentic collaboration and integration of sciences and arts.

Kaiser Kastle's Reader's Theater series includes 16 classic stories that children around the world have enjoyed reading for ages. To name a few, Turtle and Rabbit and Crow and the Pitcher from Aesop's Fables, Mulan and Yi and the Ten Suns from Chinese folktales. There are many stories like these which allow students to learn about, in addition to the English language, morals, natural science, compassion, independent thinking and problem-solving skill. When your students tell you what they've learned from these storybooks or act it out in their own ways, you know that you've done it. That's the day when a teacher puts a big smile on his/her face.



Dina Jao,
Editorial Manager, Kaiser Kastle
Jan. 2020