Discussion Topics for Week 6 Folklore, Fantasy, and Science Fiction,
A good folktale has special qualities. When talking about language an educator must find
a folktale that reflects speech with richness and spontaneity. The folktale must reflect the
cultural integrity of the past with an appropriate structure. In other way it maintains the
direct structure of oral history and explores important universal themes. When looking for
the illustrations the educator must pay attention to illustrations that are excellent and detailed.
The illustrations must go according to the written text and will complement it, extending the
narrative. This type of book offers real and unique cultural details that enrich the written
text.
There are different types of folktales. An educator can find the following types of
folktales that can be used in the classroom:
1. Talking animals and trickster tales – as the name describes them, these are folktales
where the animals can talk with humans and the animals can have human characteristics,
they can be silly, evil or wise. The rewards in the story belong to the wise and good
characters. The educator can use these books in the classroom to teach about how they
can take care of the animals. They can be used with a unit that has lessons about animals.
In third grade can be used with Unit 3.3 that talks about animals.
2. Noodlehead tales - These folktales are focused in characters that have a pure heart but
don’t make good decisions or lacks of a good judgment. These stories are very funny
with a good sense of humor. The educator can use these books in the classroom to teach
how to make good decisions and learn about facts and opinions using the story. Students
can explain how the situation can be solved in a better way, learning from the errors of
the characters in the story.
3. Fairy tales – they have magic included. The characters are magical and the reader can
find a fairy godmother, wee people, and lots of magical characters are part of the story to
make fantastic things happen. In these stories bad things or bad characters are punished
while good things or characters are rewarded for their hard work and good deeds. The
fairytales shows that honesty, courage, kindness, generosity, helping others, etc, are
“jewels” of great value. Inside the classroom fairytales can be used to teach students
about the great importance values have in our lives. We must show them how to use it to
make our world a better one.
4. Tall tales – tales from United States mainly indigenous. They have a lot of facts, myths
and history; it is like an American folktale form. The tall tales shows real life heroes but
in an exaggerated way, these heroes are very powerful too. During the story the reader
will understand that the heroes will find difficult challenges and will find excitement on
how the hero will overcome the challenges that are presented.
Folktales have different features of patterns like motifs, themes and conventions. A teacher
can help students to recognize the features or patterns in a story when they discuss different
stories with characteristic structures in the classroom. The conventions are the foundations of a
folktale. One of the foundations that the kids usually recognize is “Once upon a time” and the
ending “They lived happily ever after”. Another variations that the kids recognize very often
are: “Long ago and far away” or “Once there was or once there was not” Another repetition in
different folktales is the repetition of number three like three bears, three pigs, three billy goats
and this is usually followed by three events. An example for this is “Goldilocks and the Three
Bears” this story contains three bears, three chairs, three beds, and three bowls of porridge.
The motifs are repetitions of words or phrases or maybe objects, ideas, characters, events or
units of actions. These repetitions are used to examine or classify tales. The themes show the
values and the ideology of the author’s story.
The content of the folktales deals with issues of universal concern to humanity. The battle betwe
en good and evil is waged over and over again: hatred, fear, pride and greed are incompatible
with love, stability, hard work and heartless action. Some stories that have these features are:
Conventions: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “The Seven Ravens,” and “The Seven
Swans.”
Motifs: “Cinderella”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”. “The Magic Porridge Pot” , “Jabuti the
Tortoise.”
Themes: “Sleeping Beauty”, and “Hansel and Gretel.”
The nursery rhymes are folklore in verses. They are a compressed structure of folklore.
Through this young children learn about formation or structure, theme, characters and it is the
solid rock for the next education in literature. Nursery rhymes are mostly used in the first ages of
a child and they build up or reinforce the sense of language in a child.
A language's prosody (timing, stress, pitch, and intonation) reflects speech history and affects the
ears of the listener. A second example of childcare is thinking about the use of words and ideas.
Nothing suspicious! The third feature is that the structure is compact, rises quickly, and the plot
drops. Nursery rhymes help children enjoy reading and as they grow they start to understand the
different types of literature as legends, myths, folktales, tall tales, moral fable and simple stories.
Children's nursery rhymes have sometimes been called by other names since the mid-1700s.
However, they became popular in the early 14th century. Learning and rehearsing conversations
in kindergarten promotes fluent reading. They keep young children entertained with fun, easy-to-
remember lessons. Rhyming patterns promote phonological awareness and can support
cognitive and other brain development. Returning from the music, the music in the nursery has
more influence. Perhaps most importantly, singing with children in the nursery is emotionally sti
mulating.
The controversy is that some of these nursery rhymes is that many of them have a dark past.
Some are glossing over the roots of racism; this can mean politics, murder and disease
(Overstreet, 2021). Some teachers think that this background is not good to be learned by kids
and don’t want to read them or sing them in the classroom.
The nursery rhymes are very important in early childhood because:
Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight
nursery rhymes by heart by the time they're four years old, they're usually among the best readers by
the time they're eight. - Mem Fox, Reading Magic.
Children's puzzles provide children with an educational background that develops important
developmental skills and can often lead to hours of creative and open play. They are powerful
learning centers for early reading, encouraging children to learn about the rhythm and structure
of words. (The importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood, 2020)
According to McManus (2014) some terms and expressions that we use which are borrowed
from mythology are:
Golden touch
Pandora’s box
Don’t fly too close to the sun
Archille’s heel
Crying wolf
All roads lead to Rome
Carpe Diem (Size the day)
Caught between Scylla and Charybdis
The writing is on the wall
Sour grapes
Butter some up
By the skin of your teeth
Fantasy Literature includes fantasy, science fiction and folklore. Fantasy try to unravel the
mystery of the behavior of the world, the world and the people who live in it. The elements of
fantasy are:
Setting – The setting becomes believable when the author provides many details that make the
reader think, with all the emotions, contradictions and subtleties of being human.
Plot - Even if the events are not real, the events in the story must be related in the story world.
Characters - Characters that stand out in fantasy and science fiction are multifaceted characters
who act consistently, respond and construct with conviction, and grow and change throughout th
e story. There is a unity between character and action: character both influences and is affected b
y events in the story.
Style - Style is used to create an ambiance. Rich imagination and beautiful words help readers
imagine the world being created. Style makes the characters and plot believable. Clear dialogues
and clear phrases help readers develop and continue character. A well written story has clear
structure, beautiful images, and rich language.
Theme - The great struggle between good and evil, the meaning of being human, and the
consequences of pride are an important theme in fantasy stories. These deep themes continue
throughout the story, logically originating from the characters and plot. At best, the questions the
se stories ask emerge from a combination of character and action, keeping the reader engaged an
d asking questions about life.
Types of Fantasy
Quests and Fantasy Worlds - Like ancient legends, many fantasy stories are tales of adventures
set in a fantasy world where the hero leaves home to achieve a goal, finds himself, and returns as
a wiser and better person. Ex: The Lost Years of Merlin.
Magic and Magic Realism -This magic stories can include objects or places that cause
characters to travel to a fantasy world through time and space, objects or actions that make
characters dream, talismans that do not exist in the real world, characters or creations with magic
al powers. Creative fantasy authors can invent anything that their imagination pictures. Ex: The
Real Boy.
Literary Lore - is a story created to imitate the attributes of the ancient folklore, is the past years
has become very famous. Ex: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.
Animal Fantasy and Miniature Worlds - this kind of story gives human characteristics to
animals using human attribute like language, feelings and thoughts. Ex. Charlotte’s Web.
The use of fantasy literature in the classroom is very important because it explores the
human conditions, the fights between good and evil and portrays a self identity. These stories
helps to find and essential element that is, to explore the meaning in life. Every student must
find their meaning or purpose of their lives.
Science books are very good to read because they help us to understand the world we live
in and we can picture things that are incredibly amazing in our universe. Science fiction expands
our understanding and helps us to think and analyze even more. I have read books like The
Hunger Games, The Maze Runner. Those books can be read in high school but they are not
appropriate for younger kids. Some science fiction books for young kids are E.T. the
extraterrestrial and Eager.
References
Galda, L., Liang, L.A. and Cullinan, B.E. (2017) Literature and the child. Boston: Cengage
Learning.
McManus, M.R. (2014) 10 expressions that came from the ancient world, HowStuffWorks.
HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/10-
expressions-from-ancient-world.htm (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
Overstreet, M. (2021) 10 disturbing nursery rhyme origin stories to celebrate Nursery Rhyme
week, BOOK RIOT. Available at: https://bookriot.com/nursery-rhyme-origin-stories/
(Accessed: April 23, 2023).
The importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood (2020) PACEY. Available at:
https://www.pacey.org.uk/news-and-views/pacey-blog/2019/october-2019/the-importance-
of-nursery-rhymes-in-early-childhoo/#:~:text=Nursery%20rhymes%20provide%20bite
%2Dsized,rhythm%20and%20patterns%20of%20language. (Accessed: April 23, 2023).
