by Annett Kaminski & Donna Tomlinson

Children around the world grow up with stories and picturebooks. From an early age, they listen to close family members telling or reading stories to them in their first language while observing gestures and illustrations, listening to rhyme and onomatopoeia, handling flaps and other haptic features that a picturebook might offer and sharing their genuine thoughts about characters and the problems they face. For many, these early multimodal experiences with stories and picturebooks not only become part of their most cherished and happiest childhood memories, they also lay the foundations for their literacy development, their understanding of the world around them and their identity as empathetic members of their communities.

When teachers decide to organise storytelling or picturebook read-alouds in an additional language in their classrooms, they continue this literacy journey. They can build on their young learners’ positive experiences with these multimodal texts and they can provide an environment in their formal classrooms that is reminiscent of a naturalistic setting for language acquisition. Sharing a story or picturebook holds the potential for a holistic experience with an additional language: 

• The narrative creates access points for understanding (Cameron 2001) and a meaningful context for communication (Fleta 2019) as well as an incentive for contemplating ideas and expressing one’s thoughts (Ellis & Brewster 2014). 
• By discussing characters‘ actions and motives, learners are encouraged to reflect on behaviour, views of the world and perspectives that are different to their own, which can foster academic literacy skills (Ghosn 2013), intercultural understanding and contribute to global citizenship education (ICETEMP Consortium 2022; Valente 2022; Søgaard 2024). 
• The multimodal experience of the read-aloud scaffolds learners‘ comprehension and draws attention to linguistic features, such as new words and phonetic or syntactic patterns (Fleta 2017). It also sensitizes the learner to how meaning can be transported through peritextual features (Mourão 2015) as well as through different modes of communication such as sound, image and gesture (Serafini 2014). 
• Hands-on activities organised around storytelling and picturebook read-alouds allow for a multisensory experience of language. They provide opportunities for noticing, recall of linguistic items and developing multiple literacies, including visual, literary, emotional, cultural, environmental and nature literacy, for example (Cameron 2001; Mourão 2013; Ellis 2018), as well as for encouraging not only verbal, but also embodied expression and communication.
• The appeal that a real picturebook can have - artistically designed for maximum aesthetic effect - allows for numerous encounters and re-readings during which content and language can be revisited. This affords a deeper understanding by discovering more layers of meaning, potential gaps and contradictions for a critical reading of the text (Bland 2023).

The diversity and complexity of picturebooks means that making the most of this valuable resource in formal early language settings demands considerable skill (Read 2006; Kaminski 2025). The language teacher has to manage all facets of the mediation process. This covers the selection of age-appropriate picturebooks or stories and preparing learners for the storytelling or the read-aloud in the first instance. Secondly, it includes the orchestration of the actual storytelling or read-aloud performance emphasizing multimodal elements for comprehension and the moderation of learners‘ response during the book talk - scaffolding learners’ language as well as allowing critical thinking to emerge. Lastly, it also involves the setting up of holistic follow-up activities that provide learners with the opportunity to recycle language, delve deeper into topics or issues that the picturebook or story addresses and take action in their immediate environment (Bertoldi & Bortoluzzi 2019; Ellis & Mourão 2021).

During the first stages of the ICETEMP project, the RPTU team was responsible for identifying: 

1. a set of published models for storytelling and picturebook mediation that inform about good practices and can guide language teacher education;
2. publications on teachers‘ competences for storytelling and picturebook read-alouds (see suggestions for reading);
3. picturebook lists with regard to global citizenship education and to developing intercultural awareness 

The implementation of these strategies, namely the selection and mediation of picturebooks, and the incorporation of engaging follow-up activities and discussions that align with the principles of dialogic teaching, should effectively facilitate English language acquisition while supporting intercultural and citizenship education in primary and secondary school classrooms. 

A first version of this text was produced in September 2025.