Folktales Lesson Plans

Young scholars are introduced to the various types of cultures found in the world. Using the internet, they research a culture they are interested in and answer comprehension questions. In groups, they demonstrate in a PowerPoint presentation their mastery of one characteristic of culture.

Students explore storytelling by reading cultural stories by different countries. In this folk tales lesson, students read an American, Mexican, Irish, British and Native American folk tale and identify the different plots, characters and settings. Students define vocabulary terms from the stories and identify the geographic location of the specific country.

Participate in a number of different types of lesson provided in this curriculum framework for teaching. The goal of the units is to introduce Latin American culture into different schools across the United States. Each unit is standards based and includes activities and assessment guidelines.

Srtudents explore the folktale and folklore genres as well as the world of myths. They read myths and folktales to increase knowledge of world cultures and traditions and follow the writing process to create writing in different genres.

Students explore oral history by locating geographic sites on a map. In this folk tale lesson, students listen to several stories read to them by their teacher and discuss the plot, characters and settings. Students locate story settings on a world map before participating in a world culture party.

Students read several early American folktales and describe how Anansi stories moved to the New World. They define reciprocity and serial reciprocity and analyze whether one is more advantageous than the other.

Students use the geographic themes of location, place and human-environment relations to describe settings and cultures represented in folktales. They identify aspects of various cultures and the naturally generous nature of the main characters.

Students read three Suni folktales and describe people's motivations for serving and analyze whether their motivations can be changed. They analyze character traits portrayed in the stories.

Students read several Chinese folktales and debate the possibility of a different conclusion to the story and analyze whether it would have been as effective. They also decide if there are legitimate reasons why one can be excused from giving to others.

Students study various Asian folktales. They study examples of wealth other than money, qualities needed by ancient leaders compared to modern leaders, competitive giving, frugality and thriftiness as vices, and stubbornness as a weakness.