Teaching English as a second language

Storytelling has universal appeal and relevance which transcends culture, nationality and race. And storybooks provide invaluable visual and linguistic support for young learners and their teachers.

Sign language is intriguing to all children – the body movement, facial expressions and hand gestures of sign language can be really helpful alongside spoken and written language to help decode the meaning of words and phrases.

We hope you find Signed Stories beneficial to your ESL classroom – through some of the most popular stories by well-known authors, with simultaneous English text and professional voiceover, presented visually with pictures, animation and iconic sign language. There is a fantastic range of different English voices on our website.

In this section you’ll find advice on using stories and sign language, guidance on which stories are good to use and advice from English language teachers and The British Council.

"The use of signing effectively supports pupils with language barriers, those in the early stages of learning English and others with difficulties in concentration.” Ofsted, the UK Government’s education advisor.