Stories are really important because they create an emotional bond with children. Why not creating a memorable story to teach pronunciation to young learners?
In Peninsular (Spain) Spanish, the articulation of >TH< sound is found in words like ‘Cecilia’ or ‘zanahoria.’ And it should be “noticed” by EFL learners before it is acquired. This is in keeping with the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1993).
Teachers need to create a magical learning environment, with perfect scaffolds to introduce new EFL sounds (Palavecino, 2021).
‘Th Th Thumkie in Spain’ is an illustrative story that provides the right scaffolding to make the new sound noticeable and related it to new letters. The sound is introduced through a traditional game which makes the relation of spelling-sound memorable and fun. The story will reveal ‘Thumkie’ in words, by playing ‘I Spy’, and encourage children to play with >th< in words after the story. Equally important is training children to trace >TH< in their own thumbs and find it in words playfully.
EFL Phonics Stories
By Prof. & Lic. Stella Palavecino, M.A.
All of these books are accompanied by teaching additional material, which can be found at https://emopronstories.com.ar/
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