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How to Use Puppets in Oracy

Oracy is the art of being able to communicate effectively with what you say and to understand accurately what is being said to you. This skill can be used in the classroom and at home and can be a helpful tool in teaching both primary and secondary languages. Puppets can help ease the discomfort a child feels when learning these new skills by making it seem as if "someone else" is doing the talking.

Things You'll Need

  • Puppet for teacher
  • Puppet for each student (optional)
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Instructions

  1. Telling Stories

    • 1

      Create a story to tell to the children, making sure to include plenty of details, varied word sounds and some new words or ideas. Be certain to have this story pre-written and well rehearsed, as you will need to be focusing on using correct grammar and proper enunciation. Using a published story is fine, but find one the students are not already familiar with.

    • 2

      Tell the children ahead of time to make sure to listen to the story, as you will be talking with them about it when the story is done.

    • 3

      Use either one puppet to tell a story to the children, or multiple puppet to tell a story through dialogue. Of course, you can create characterizations for the puppets, but it is more important to be accurate in how you use your words.

    • 4

      Try out using some nonverbal communication with the puppets. Have them slump over when upset, brighten up when happy, and sometimes use pauses.

    Checking Comprehension

    • 5

      Ask questions of the children to see what details they remember from the story. This can be done as the teacher or through the puppet. It is likely that the students will be more comfortable and open when answering the puppets. This is normal and also the reason why using puppets works so well for oracy.

    • 6

      Ask open-ended questions. Allow students time to form their answers and ask follow-up questions. Here, you and the puppet are helping the student to formulate their ideas from thoughts into words.

    • 7

      Direct the students to ask questions of the puppet that relate to what she knows of the puppet or the story that was told.

    Dialoguing with Puppets

    • 8

      Lead a conversation with the students, who may have their own puppets.

    • 9

      Help the students listen. Using dialogue helps the students recognize that there are times to speak and times to listen within a conversation. Explain to the students prior to beginning that you are looking for them to not only answer questions but to ask questions of you (or, your puppet, rather) or to comment on what you have said.

    • 10

      Hold a conversation with the student and act as the puppet. Make sure that the students have enough knowledge about a topic (as in, "What do you do at a birthday party?" Or, "Let's talk about families!") that they feel comfortable asking and answering questions.

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