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Tell it Again – The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers
Part 2: Story notes – Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Lesson One
Aims
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To contextualise the story and relate it to children’s
own experience.
To introduce and/or revise colours.
To learn the ‘Colour Chant’ to help memorise colours
and practise pronunciation and rhythm.
Materials
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Colour flashcards or strips of coloured card for each
of the colours in the book.
Blu-Tack.
Blank paper and coloured crayons for colour dictation.
Introducing the story
Show the pupils the cover of the book. Point to the bear
and ask: ‘What’s this?’ Encourage the reply, ‘a bear, it’s
a bear, it’s a brown bear’ and point to the title reading
‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’. Repeat the whole title, ‘Brown
Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ miming see if
necessary. Ask questions about the bear: ‘Where do
you think the bear is?’ ‘Have you ever seen a real bear?’
‘Where can we see bears?’ (in a zoo, at the circus, in the
forest, in a toy shop, on television, in a film, in a park, in a
painting, in a cartoon, in a book). ‘What do you think the
bear is looking at?’ Tell children they are going to find out
later but first they are going to learn or revise colours.
Presenting/revising colours
Present or revise colours by holding up the colour cards
or strips one by one, saying or eliciting the colour and
fixing it on the board with Blu-Tack. Encourage children to
repeat several times, chorally and individually, taking care
they pay attention to the pronunciation.
Once the cards are on the board, point to cards
individually and ask children to repeat, first in order and
then at random, gradually building up speed as their
competence and confidence develops.
Depending on the level of pupils and time available,
play some of the following games:
Point to… Put the colour cards around the room. Children
say the colours as you stick them up. Give instructions,
e.g. ‘Point to purple!’ ‘Point to brown!’ Children listen, look
round the classroom and point to the correct card as fast
as they can. This could be played as a
team game.
Listen and hold up. Distribute colour cards to pupils.
If possible, make enough for all the pupils to have one
each. Call out colours at random, asking children holding
the corresponding card to hold it up. Alternatively, they
could come and stand in line at the front of the class as
you call out the colours. You could then expand this
game as follows: ‘Red sit down!’ ‘Blue turn around!’
‘Red stand up!’ etc.
Colour dictation. Children will need a blank sheet of
paper and coloured crayons. Dictate colours. Children
listen and colour. Make sure you keep a record of the
colours and order in which you call them out! Check.
You could ask pupils to exchange their sheets of paper
and correct each other’s work. Depending on the pupils’
age and level, you may suggest they write the colour
words. Put these on the board for pupils to copy and
match to their picture dictation.
What’s missing? Attach the colour cards to the board.
Allow children a few minutes to look at them and then
ask them to close their eyes. Remove a colour. Tell pupils
to open their eyes and ask: ‘What’s missing?’ To make this
game more difficult, remove two or three colour cards at
a time. This game can also be played as a team game.
Repeat if it’s true. Put the cards on the board. Point
to one and say the colour, e.g. ‘red/It’s red’. If you have
said the correct colour, children repeat it. If not, they
stay silent.
‘Colour Chant’
Round off this lesson with the chant. Hold up the doublepage
spread of the colours in the book and revise them.
Chant and ask children to listen to the rhythm. Chant
again pointing to the colours either in the book or on
the board. Encourage the children to join in:
Brown,
Red and yellow
And blue and green,
Purple,
White and black
And orange and brown
Brown,
Red and yellow, etc.
Part 2: Story notes © British Council 2014
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