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TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity Book
Activities
Activity 32: Storybook predictions
Nick Shekkeris – Cyprus
Age: 7–12
About 30 minutes Large classes? Yes Mixed level? Yes
Materials: A story book and a piece of paper and pen/pencil for each child.
Organisation: Whole class.
Aim: To practise listening skills, especially prediction.
Description: Children work alone. They listen to the story and respond to questions the teacher
asks about the story by writing or drawing on the paper.
Preparation: You will need a piece of paper for each child. You will need to decide where you
are going to stop reading in the story so that children can make their predictions.
Procedure
1. Give each child a piece of paper (A4 size is ideal). Ask the children to divide it into
four squares (by folding or by drawing lines).
2. Tell the children they are going to listen to a story and that they must guess what
happens next at different points. Give an example.
3. Pick up the story book and start to read. About a quarter of the way through, stop reading
and ask the children to write down in the first square what happens next. For example, if the
story is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you could say, ‘Goldilocks walked into the forest and
then she saw a ______. The children write down what they think Goldilocks saw. You can
help the children by going back and reading sections that might help the children to guess.
4. When all the children have written something, ask them for their suggestions. At this point it
is important to praise the children for their ideas – after all, they do not know the story so all
reasonable guesses are acceptable.
5. After discussing the children’s guesses go back to the story and read the complete
sentence. Ask the children questions about the right answer; for example, ask, ‘who do
you think lives in the house?
6. Continue with the story and half way, three quarters of the way and towards the end,
repeat the procedure.
7. Finish by asking children what they think of the story and if they were surprised by
anything in it.
Notes
Do not worry too much about the children speaking in English in this activity. The main purpose
is for them to listen to a story in English and to learn that prediction can be helpful in helping
them to understand. For many children, it will be too difficult for them to express their own
predictions in English, so using the first language is absolutely fine.
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© British Council 2012