Tell it Write: Playful Techniques for Supporting Early Creative Writing
We do not ask children to compose melodies when they first learn to play an instrument. Instead, we teach them music that has been composed by skilled composers. Letting young children write their free flow, stream of consciousness narratives is valuable. But it is also valuable to give children structured exposure to already created, tried and tested stories and get them to practice retelling and rewriting these.
The best type of stories for this purpose are patterned folktales; stories such as The Three Bears, The Enormous Turnip and The Little Red Hen. Their simple and highly repetitive structure make them easy for preschoolers to understand, and to absorb the language structures within them. With repeated and comprehensive exposure to these stories through tellings, readings, retellings and post story activities that explore their narrative element, the children find it easy and natural to write their own versions.
In this hands-on workshop you will learn easy to use, tried and tested and fun post story activities that can provide children with a deeper exploration of the stories that you read and tell in your classroom. These activities will help children creatively retell the stories, and can form a bridge between the oral and written forms of the language and lay the groundwork to support children’s early creative writing.
Target Audience: Educators/ Practitioners