Listening 4 Language: Traditional Stories

Last fall, I attended a Listening and Spoken Language presentation by Kathryn Wilson and Beth Walker {love!}. They discussed the importance of reading “traditional literature”-types of stories with kids with hearing loss. Stories like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Three Bears,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” are what we think to be “common knowledge” for all; and for hearing kids, it most often is. But kids with hearing loss have many times missed these along the way. Knowledge of these stories is important because it’s not only common knowledge, but there are also references made to these stories all the time in popular culture.

I took this message to heart, and have really made an effort since then to read traditional literature-stories with my kiddos (at their levels).

Recently, I created two Listening & Language Activity packs for two stories, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. (With “Oz the Great and Powerful” coming out soon, I thought this would be a good one!) I have used both of these with my upper elementary-early middle school kiddos, and they’ve been great! I ordered a couple of easy readers from Amazon, and also found a few at thrift stores. The students were able to understand the key concepts of the stories, especially those that might be referenced in pop culture. In addition to comprehension activities, each pack includes other language games targeting skills such as categories, functions, grammar, inferencing, etc.