If your child is in primary school, you may be looking for ways to help them improve their English. Reading books with them can help them learn English. All children love a good story. It can help them pick up new English words and phrases while learning about the world around them, especially if you’re there to guide them.
Let’s look at some of the benefits of reading and common challenges parents face when reading English language stories to their kids.
Then we’ll explore some of our favourite stories to read!
How children learn English through stories
Stories are fun and they contain interesting language – and they are memorable. In our English classes for young children at the British Council, we often use storybooks and stories to help children learn and remember English words. Find out more about English classes for your children, here
Now, let’s look at some of the benefits of reading stories to your children:
- Story characters, settings and plots help children learn about the world around them, stimulate their imagination and encourage curiosity – child ask themselves ‘I wonder what will happen next?’
- Learning English words from long vocabulary lists is boring and hard. But stories have characters and action and connect to our emotions. When new words appear, they are in a familiar context, which makes them easier to understand. Both children and adults find these new English words easier to learn, because they are associated with their meanings. And in some cases, you can also look at their illustrations.
- Rhymes in a story help children learn how to pronounce and spell those tricky English words in a fun and entertaining way. They also make words easier to remember, because they help children recall words by the way they sound.
- Listening to a story or reading a story over again can help children internalize English sentence structures more naturally. When they study English grammar in the future, they will have a better foundation.
- Stories are structured in a particular way. They have a message, they use descriptive language and dialogue. These are some of the most important building blocks of good communication. Children learn to follow a storyline and organise their ideas through reading stories, listening to storybooks and telling their own stories.
How to overcome the challenges of reading English stories with your kids
Parents who speak other languages sometimes worry about reading in English with their kids. You might be worried about difficult English vocabulary, pronunciation or finding the right story to appeal to your children. Let’s have a look at some of these challenges and see what you can do to overcome them.
When should I read stories with my kids?
It’s good to have a routine. You may decide to read a story before bedtime or read together in a comfortable chair by the window. A routine gives your kids something to look forward to. Your children will think of reading in English as an enjoyable activity they do with you or Grandma or someone else your child likes.
What if I don’t speak English very well?
If reading a story out loud to your child in English is difficult or stressful for you, many children’s stories are available as audio books or online audio books. Learn English Kids website by the British Council has a large collection of audio books stories. Your child can read the story in English and listen to it at the same time.
If you choose to listen to a story together, you can do it before bed, in the car on the way to school or even in the park.
What if my child doesn’t understand the story?
It’s important to choose a story that’s appropriate for your child’s age and reading level, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t understand every word. In fact, it’s good if the language is a little challenging. Inferring the meaning of a word from context is a valuable reading comprehension skill – and a good way for your child to learn new English words.
For younger children, story books with pictures will also help. They can help your child to figure out what is going on in the story.
Children can also enjoy a story just for the way it sounds, rather than focusing on the meaning of every word. Many children’s stories are simply a good excuse for saying silly rhymes, having fun with tongue twisters and enjoying the funny sounds of words in the English language – and there are plenty of those!
How do I choose the right story?
Choose a simple story with appealing illustrations, based on your child’s interests.
Our pick of the best short stories for your kids
To help you get started, here are some of our favourite children’s stories. Our expert teachers at the British Council say they are suitable for primary school children:
- There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
This traditional tale is about an old woman who accidentally swallows a fly and keeps eating other animals to catch the fly. By the end, she’s eaten an entire horse. It’s a fun way to learn animal vocabulary and rhyming words. Plus there’s a catchy song by the British Council.
2. Goldilocks and the three bears
Children love this classic fairy tale. Many English phrases are repeated in this story,. so it’s easy for them to get familiar with the language. If they don’t like naughty Goldilocks sneaking into people’s houses, they’ll enjoy watching her get a scare at the end.
3. The great race
Your child may know a little about the Chinese or Vietnamese zodiac. Reading this story about the Jade Emperor can help you explain the order of the calendar to them. You can tell them about their year, which Zodiac sign they have and what it means. It’s also a good opportunity to make all the noises for the different animals in English.
4. A dog’s life
Teach your children about safety with this fun story from the perspective of a dog. Dino the dog tells you about what he did last week to protect the neighbourhood children. You can encourage your kids to do their own growly dog voices and ask them for safety tips.
5. The princess and the dragon
Stories can be great for helping your children learn adjectives, and this one is packed full of them. You can do mimes for adjectives like ‘scary’, ‘high’ and ‘angry’. Best of all, the ending is different from typical stories about dragons. Your kids may enjoy the surprise.
Discover more great English short stories for kids
When you encourage your children to enjoy reading, you open up their world. There are thousands of great English short stories for them to enjoy.
If you enjoyed this blog post, the British Council has more stories and storytelling tips. While these stories are particularly suitable for younger children, a good story can be used with any age group.