Fairy Tales and Teaching Course

Today we talked about Fairy Tales again, and worked with a couple of texts. we started with a warm-up exercise called "The Fairy Tale Landscape", where we had to work in pairs, and through talking had to find the missing items on our pictures. Then we worked in group and prepared a teaching course with Fairy Tales as the theme. I think today was very productive, and I learned a lot. It was especially exciting to prepare a teaching course, as it really prepares us for our future as teachers. :)

Fairy Tales Questions

Bosma, Bette: Fairy Tales, Fables, Legends, and Myths

Ch. 1 pp. 1-14 The Tale ch. 3 pp. 26-42 Understanding the Story ch. 6 pp. 84-97 Creative Activities with Folk Literature

Chapter 1

  1) What are Bosma’s arguments for the importance of using folk tales in the teaching of English?

Guided reading of folk literature, directing attention to this story structure, helps the child become a better reader.

To read folk lit is fun and it's easier to learn when you enjoy the task.

2) What is your attitude to the quoted evaluation-list on p. 7?

Positive, it'll help the reader find suitable reading for the children.

3) How does Bosma define a fairy tale, an animal tale, a legend and a myth?

Fairy Tales: an enchantment, has other supernatural elements - imagery like talking animals (personification), witches, once upon a time and so on.

Animal tales: one of the oldest form of lit - characters are animal acting like people. Teach about life, usually with lessons concerning personal traits and getting along with others. Native-Americans legends and myth. The form of the animal tales fit into three main categories:

1. Trickster tales - one central character, usually a wise trickster in animal shape. Brief and direct.
2. Fables - Brief animal stories with a specific lessons, generally stated at the beginning or end.
3. Etiologica (origination)l - States the origin of certain characteristics of the animals. Entertainment.

Legends: Folktales, typically believed by the storyteller. Set in historic time and place. Typically something that goes from "mouth to mouth" - tradition.

Myths: Told as fact and set in remote past. Storyteller doesn't necessarily believe the myth.

Chapter 3

 4) What is your position on Bosma’s methods of reading aloud?

Makes good sense, to stop and discuss the text - make sure everybody is following.

Repetition is good, because language will recognizable and practice pronunciation.

Practice makes perfect.

5) Do you think it is a good idea to ask pupils to predict what they think the story will be about?

Great for the imagination. And vocabulary exercise.

Maybe hard if they know the story beforehand.

Questions while reading.

6) What do you think of her way of doing it? (pp. 28-29)

Good to have a plan beforehand - dividing it in steps. Does the prediction come true? Maybe stop sometimes in the story - predict what happens next or was what happened what you expected?

7) How do you find her idea of letting pupils reading to each other in small groups after they have read the folk tales silently? (p. 29)

Great for vocabulary and pronunciation, and better understanding of the text.

8) Comment on Bosma’s assertion that “Folktales can be used with children of all ages because of the tales’ many layers of meaning. The subtle messages that delight the older child are not picked up by the younger reader, but that does not lessen appreciation of the story. The experienced teacher adjusts the lessons to challenge children at their appropriate developmental level.” (p. 30)

Agreed, fairy tales are for all ages, but of course the exercises have to follow the ages.

Small children: entertainment

Older students: analyzing

9) Explain the object of and take a stand on Bosma’s concepts of “story mapping” and “directed reading-thinking activity”

It's about making a summary, it's analyzing. Putting the story in a box - very manageable. Doable for all ages.  

Chapter 6

10) What do you think of Bosma’s many forms of creative response to folk literature such as pantomiming, drama, mask making, storytelling, music, dance, reader’s theatre, puppetry, visual art, visual imagery and language exploration

It's great, active while learning. Creativity - great for imagination. And improvisation. It doesn't get boring and the same - "writing on the board" but the pupils get to do something. Not everybody learns the same way, some need to see, some touch, some listen and some do. With these styles everybody has a chance. Motivating.

Though Bosma’s book is intended for American native speaking children do you think we can extract some useful ideas and tools for our teaching of English as a foreign language in the Danish folkeskole?

Yes, learning is the same all over. We can use her ideas in Denmark.

Fairy Tales Questions

Christensen, Jørgen Riber: Fairy Tales

pp. 10-26 Introduction Fairy Tales

1) How does Riber define and characterize a fairy tale?

2) What is meant by upward social mobility? And could you give some examples of fairy tales where this phenomenon is represented?

Upward Social mobility: change in persons status resulting in that rising to a higher position in their status system.

Example: Cinderella.

3) How does Riber characterize and define a literary tale?

4) What is a fable?

literary genre. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim.

5) What is a myth?

Myth is something you don't know if it's true or not. Like gods - for instance Nordic mythology (Thor, Odin etc.)

6) What is meant by the concept of motif-index?

It's another way of characterizing/labelling fairy tales- looking for motives etc.

More for teachers than for pupils.

Use this to prepare for class.

Will mention all fairy tales with motives in common.

7) What did the Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp become known for in 1928?

He talked about making the perfect fairy tale. 31 functions of what should be in the tale (not all in the same).

Yet another way of "labelling" a fairy tale.

8) What did the French A. J. Greimas become known for?

Actantial Model

9) Explain the idea of the actantial model

Subject looking for an object, which is send by a sender. The object is received by the receiver. There's a helper to the subject, and an opponent.

Can use it for analyzing fairy tales. Usually fit in with the folktales better than literary tales.

10) Try to think of some fairy tales where this model could profitably be used

 Simple Simon

Sender: King              Object: Princess                 Receiver: Simple Simon

Helper: The tings        Subject: Simple Simon       Opponent: The other men (princes, brothers etc)

11) Try to use the actantial model in an analysis of some of the fairy tales you probably have come to think of

 Simple Simon

Sender: King              Object: Princess                 Receiver: Simple Simon

Helper: The tings        Subject: Simple Simon       Opponent: The other men (princes, brothers etc)

12) What is meant by Jung’s archetypes and what have they to do with fairy tales?

A clear-cut character - like a stepmother = mean/wicked or fair maiden = sweet

Like stereotypes. 

Teaching Course Fairy Tales in a 9th grade

	Læringsforudsætninger	Mål	Rammefaktorer	Indhold	Læreprocesser	Vurdering
Emne	Fairy Tales	Learning about Fairy Tales and being able to analyze it	Write the plan on the board Warm-up exercise - The Fairy Tale Landscape, talk about what we did last time Talk about what we did today Kompendium: 2 different Fairy Tales List of the 31 functions Analyzing models	Reading out loud, Analyzing, writing own fairy tale	Individual work Group work Pronounciation Vocabulary	Did the pupils learn the intended material? What did they think about it?

Lesson plan

	Warm-up	Main Content	Evaluation	Homework
Lesson 1	Fairy Tale Landscape	What is a fairy tale? The 31 functions (Class) Read and talk about "Jack and the Beanstalk". Which functions are used? (group) Break: surprise exercise "Jack and the Beanstalk" (class)	What did we learn today? What did you think about it? (class)
Lesson 2	What did we do last time (groups)	Analyze "Simple Simon" and find the functions. (group) Break: surprise exercise Start writing a fairy tale (to hand in in a week (lesson 4)) (individually)	What did we learn today? What did you think about it? (class)	Read Simple Simon
Lesson 3	What did we do last time (groups)	Choose between "Simple Simon" and "Jack the Beanstalk", and prepare a scene to play in front of the class. Everybody has a role, and afterwards the class should identify the fairy tale functions. Write it down (group)	What did we learn today? What did you think about it? (class)
Lesson 4	What did we do last time (groups)	The last perfomances. The teacher reads a fairy tale out loud and the pupils have to find the functions and write them down (Class) Fairy Tale Landscape	What did we learn this week? What did you think about it? Would you like to do something similar again? (class)	The fairy tale is to be handed in today!