DEFINITION

 Myths, legends, proverbs, nursery rhymes, and stories handed down by word of mouth from generations past.

-Literature and the Child, 446

  

Examples

 

Ÿ Fairy Tales and Folktales-Cinderella

Ÿ Fables-The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Ÿ Nursery Rhymes- Mother Goose

Ÿ Tall Tales- Paul Bunyan

Ÿ Legend and Hero Stories- Robin Hood

Ÿ Folksongs and Work Songs- Yankee Doodle

Ÿ Mythology- Relations between people and gods and the origins of the earth.

*The bible has also been mentioned under Folklore.

 

Why the Bible?

       *Used to explore literary content.

      *Universal element- best selling book in the world!

    *The bible is full of myths, legends, essays, sermons, lyrics, fables,   drama and much more.   Stories of Sampson have even been called “tall tales”.

 

 

 Teachers must make a distinction between the use for teaching religion and teaching literary content.

 

Common approach- examine how a contemporary author retells a Biblical story- how do they interpret it? What is the theme realized etc?

 

            “If we don’t know the Bible and the central stories of Greek and Roman literature, we can still read books and see plays but our knowledge of literature cant grow, just as our knowledge of mathematics cant grow if we don’t learn our multiplication tables.”- This is a quote by:(I Know it and will add it soon)!!

 

 

Checklist for evaluating folklore

 

Language Should

Ÿ  Retain the flavor of the oral form

Ÿ  Have natural, easily spoken rhythms

Ÿ  Reflect the integrity of early retellings

Ÿ  Avoid controlled, diluted, or trite vocabulary

 

Illustrations Should

Ÿ  Complement and extend the narrative

Ÿ  Portray the traditional character of the tale

Ÿ  Reflect the cultural heritage of the tale

 

Literature and the Child, 166

 

 

 

 

How and why did folklore come to be?

 

Ÿ  According to the authors of Literature and the Child, “The Roots of folklore exist in all societies from all times.”  They believe throughout time people felt the need to use their imaginations to alter reality  into a vision that they can control.

 

Ÿ  Carl Jung said that the subconscious is a part of the human mind from which dreams, fantasies, and imagination come from, which explains the commonality between folklore among different cultures.

 

Ÿ  Sigmund Freud believed that that fairy tale characters symbolize subconscious urges during a child’s emotional development.

 

Ÿ  Bruno Bettelheim said that fairy tales were used to tap into unconscious wishes and desires and help children deal with emotional insecurities by using fantasies.

 

 

 

 

 

Archetypes- Reappearing Themes

 

Ÿ  Hero’s Quest- Slaying a dragon, saving a princess

Ÿ  Good Mother- Fairy godmother

Ÿ  Bad Mother- Wicked step mother or wicked witch

Ÿ  Shadow- The inner darkness inside people

 

  

Why Teach Folklore In The Classroom?

 

Simple Structures- allows children to feel comfortable and embrace the stories.

 

Great tool for teaching important literary components like characters, plots, themes and settings.

 

Rhyming and lyrical- appeals to young children.

 

Can be used to teach important ideas- ABC’s

 

Can help us to understand ourselves and others from different cultures.

 

Many stories of folklore have repetition- helps in developing reading skills and gains familiarity.

 

Fascination- Engaging characters, nonsense, imaginative use of words and ideas.

 

Evolved for a reason- the same stories that were made popular centuries ago before they were written down, are the same stories that we read about today.

 

Anything goes!- There is nothing too preposterous!

-Hey diddle, diddle.