Unisa Yogyakarta Instills English in Children Through Fairy Tales

Lecturers from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FIKes) at Universitas ‘Aisyiyah (Unisa) Yogyakarta demonstrated innovation in community service at ABA Losari Kindergarten, Ngaglik, Sleman, on Wednesday (August 20, 2025). This creative program carried the theme of Cultivating an Interest in English from an Early Age: The Implementation of Digital Storytelling at ABA Losari Kindergarten.

This activity is a response to the lack of systematic English vocabulary introduction materials at the school. In fact, childhood is the golden age that is most optimal for introducing foreign languages.

The head of the community service team, Farida Noor Rohmah, explained that the main objective of this program is to foster an interest in learning English among children. “We use a digital storytelling approach. Children learn not only by listening, but also by seeing moving images, imitating sounds, and interacting through movements,” said Farida.

The learning medium used is an educational video titled “Animals for Kids – Vocabulary for Children” which lasts 5 minutes. This video introduces vocabulary for animal names such as cat, dog, elephant, cow, monkey, tiger, duck, rabbit, and lion through attractive animations and simple word repetition.

This multimodal learning method combines visual (images), auditory (sounds), and kinesthetic (movements). After watching the video, 25 students at ABA Losari Kindergarten were asked to repeat vocabulary words, answer simple questions, and imitate animal movements. The session ended with an animal coloring activity as reinforcement.

The principal of ABA Losari Kindergarten, Isti Widayanti, expressed her appreciation. “We are very grateful. Through digital story videos, students appear enthusiastic, quickly grasp vocabulary, and are more confident in imitating words and sounds,” she said.

This activity is expected to be a sustainable solution for schools in introducing foreign languages in a fun way.