Stories, Song, and Simple Poems: Teaching English Literature to Children

Stories, Songs, and Simple Poems: Teaching English Literature to Children offers a practical and theoretically grounded guide to teaching English through children’s literature in primary EFL classrooms. Grounded in the belief that language learning is most effective when it is meaningful, engaging, and emotionally resonant, this textbook positions stories, songs, rhymes, and simple poems as central resources for holistic language education. Drawing on research in language acquisition, literacy studies, and children’s literature, the book demonstrates how literary texts support vocabulary development, pronunciation, listening and speaking skills, imagination, and emotional engagement. At the same time, it approaches children’s literature through a critical and multicultural lens, highlighting how stories, songs, and poems shape values, identities, cultural awareness, and character formation from an early age. Bridging theory and classroom practice, Stories, Songs, and Simple Poems provides clear pedagogical principles, text selection guidelines, and lesson-design models for literature-based English instruction. Designed primarily for undergraduate students in English Education (FKIP), as well as pre-service teachers and EFL practitioners, this textbook invites educators to see children’s literature not as a supplementary tool, but as the heart of meaningful, joyful, and ethically grounded English language learning.