Story Listening with Spanish

Spanish teacher Maria-Fernanda Torres drew a big green frog on the classroom whiteboard for her first-grade students during a lesson in early September. The frog was a baby who was crying while sitting in her house. As Torres described in Spanish the state of the sad frog, she continued to draw details and pictures that followed her movements, sounds, and storytelling. The students listened intently, comprehended, and answered Torres’ questions, using their budding knowledge of Spanish. Torres’ teaching method is called Story Listening, which ties together visuals and spoken and written words to teach children language using compelling comprehensible input through stories. With Story Listening, younger students build their listening and literacy skills, and, when they are ready, they read the stories they learn in class and other books of their choice. “Eventually all of the comprehensible input through listening and reading will support students’ second language acquisition,” said Torres.