Classic radio recordings to help students with reading

There is a wealth of great media at your fingertips if you scratch a little and today I came across a couple of classic audio recordings I remember hearing as a child around Christmas time which you simply do not hear these days.

These recordings would make for an excellent listening post on an iPad or something similar. 

You could get your students to listen to these and draw an image they can see whilst listening to the story and then maybe put together a piece of writing explaining how their picture fits in with the message of the story.

Maybe students could examine why so much effort was put into creating these great audio stories during the 1940's.

The options are rich - just as the two recordings I have which were first broadcast live on Christmas eve 1944.  I hope you enjoy them.  There are plenty more to be found on Youtube

Bing Crosby reading 'The Small One' from 1944 - Excellent Christmas story

Orsen Welles and Bing Crosby reading 'The Happy Prince'

Great sites to learn English for Free

Dont speak the queens language as well as you would like?  Then these sites will certainly be of use to you to help improve your understanding of the English language.

  • Connect with English Web
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Great Lesson Plan Template - Using Speech Marks

Simon James has submitted a brilliant template to assist students to understand when and how to use speech marks correctly.  The template has been created with a text focus on Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach" but I am sure that your students can get creative with the excellent visuals on the template regardless of whether they have read the book or not. Click here to download the template.

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