Written by: Speech Therapist Wong Nga Yan
Children learn to organize the vocabulary they have acquired into sentences through storytelling, which also promotes their cognitive and language development. However, many parents often find it challenging to guide their children in storytelling. Here are some tips to help enhance children’s narrative abilities.
1.Choose Appropriate Stories
As the saying goes, “To do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools.” If you want your child to tell stories well, the first step for parents is to select books that are suitable for their children. According to the “Guidelines on the Pre-primary Education Curriculum” published by the Curriculum Development Council in 2006, the content of books for young children should be healthy and interesting, with vivid character portrayals and illustrations that clearly display the theme.
When selecting books, parents should pay attention to whether the content aligns with the child’s interests and experiences. Additionally, parents should start with books that have simple plots and more repetitive sentences, helping children grasp and use the sentences within the stories. As children grow older, parents can choose books with more complex storylines. The themes of the stories can be diverse to enhance children’s exploration of the outside world.
2.Learn Through Imitation
Most children not only enjoy listening to others tell stories but also like to tell stories themselves. However, some parents may be too eager and, after purchasing books, hurry their children to tell stories, which can lead to the child losing interest in storytelling. If a child has not yet mastered narrative structure, no amount of urging from the parent will result in a good story. Therefore, parents should first allow their children to learn through imitation. After reading a story to the child, parents can let the child know it’s their turn to tell the story and remind them to recount the events in order.
When the child is telling a story, parents should encourage them to use complete sentences and respond to their narrative. For instance, if the child uses a shorter sentence to tell the story, parents can extend the sentence by adding new content and encourage them to repeat it. For example, if the child says, “Bing Bing took the big apple,” the parent can try to expand the sentence to “Bing Bing took the biggest apple” and ask the child to repeat it.
If the child struggles to remember the details of the story, parents can provide appropriate prompts, such as pointing to pictures for reminders or using questions to guide them. After the child finishes telling the story, parents should praise their efforts. If the child still cannot recount the story content after prompting, the parent can help them recall the forgotten part and encourage them to continue.
