Teaching Folktales

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English - Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature Studies, grade: 2, Martin Luther University, course: Teaching English in a Postcolonial Context , 6 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Working as a teacher can often be very difficult. There are not just the questions of how to structure the lesson or motivate the students, but also whether or not the various topics are accepted by them and helpful in learning a language. In his book 'The Folktale' Thompson points out that, 'The teller of stories has everywhere and always found eager listeners.' As a result, folktales seem to be incorporated very easily into a lesson. In this paper, I want to look at the use of folktales in a classroom, where English as a second language is being taught. First of all, however, I want to consider the definition of folktales and explain the hidden subtypes behind the term. Apart from looking at the origins of a folktale, or folklore in general, I want to take a look at their function. Later on, I will also discuss the reasons for using these in school. Finally, I want to provide the reader with a variety of activities that combined can be used with reading folktales.