Lecturer：Dr. Cheng Wanni、Mr. Lu Yuke

Lecturer’s Profile

Dr. Cheng Wanni is a children’s literature author, early childhood Chinese language educator, and teacher trainer. She specialises in language development, picture book pedagogy, and curriculum design. With extensive experience conducting professional development programmes in Singapore and overseas, she is known for creating highly engaging second-language learning experiences through stories, games, and interactive teaching strategies.

Mr. Lu Yuke is an experienced storyteller and reading advocate with extensive expertise in storytelling, drama-based activities, and children's literacy development. Through story creation, character portrayal, and interactive learning experiences, he has inspired countless children to explore and engage with the world of stories.

Combining educational theory with practical classroom experience, the two trainers will guide participants in transforming story reading into highly engaging and immersive bilingual learning experiences through the effective use of drama and People Games.

Course Overview

A meaningful language-learning activity should go beyond reading and storytelling.

A well-crafted picture book is like a seed. When teachers learn to identify the characters, emotions, settings, problems, and tasks within a story, and extend them through questioning, interaction, drama, and People Games, the story begins to multiply into countless opportunities for language learning.

Such growth does not happen by chance. It requires teachers to develop the ability to deconstruct stories, identify language goals, create interactive contexts, and design participatory learning experiences.

Led by Dr. Cheng Wanni and Victor Lu, this workshop integrates story deconstruction, educational drama, and People Games to help educators transform picture books into highly engaging immersive second-language learning activities. Through case studies, experiential learning, and hands-on practice, participants will gain practical strategies for turning stories into meaningful language-learning experiences that encourage participation, interaction, and authentic communication.

Course Objectives

1. Understand the role of story deconstruction, educational drama, and People Games in supporting second-language learning.

2. Learn to analyse stories through characters, emotions, settings, problems, and tasks, and identify meaningful language-learning opportunities.

3.   Apply interactive questioning, drama-based experiences, and People Game strategies to increase children's participation and communication.

4. Design immersive second-language learning activities that integrate language goals, interaction, and meaningful learning experiences.

Take-home Course Resources

Teaching Tools

• Story Deconstruction Analysis Template (Characters, Emotions, Settings, Problems and Tasks)
• Story-to-Language Activity Design Template
• People Game Design Toolkit