Storytelling-based arts projects offer a universal and inclusive pedagogy; challenging prejudices, celebrating diversity and promoting tolerance and resilience in participants. In addition they assist in the development of receptive and expressive language skills, provide a credible basis for understanding folklore, cultural traditions and social…

A folktale may be defined as a tale of the people, a short, fast-moving oral or written adventure story perhaps of a comic or romantic nature. It is a traditional story of a particular group of people and follows a basic design. Since it is told by many storytellers, it has differing versions or variations. Because it has been handed down through…

For thousands of years metaphors have been used as a teaching device to help people grow, to understand, to develop ego strength, resilience and a quality of life. Each system of therapy has a set of metaphors in the form of a vocabulary. Fairy tales have messages on different levels and leave the metaphors open for interpretations. The power of…

Focuses on Walt Disney and Shelley Duvall, mass media producers who furnish children with fairy-folklore. Compares and contrasts what Disney and Duvall do and do not convey through their fairy-folk tales. (MS)

The Appalachian "Tale of Red Emmy" presented in the novel "Oral History" by Lee Smith (1983), reveals both an Irish origin and an American transformation. Granny Younger, one of Smith's narrators, tells of a curse visited on four generations of the Cantrell family after Almarine Cantrell chanced upon the witch Red Emmy in the…

This paper asserts that multicultural literature must not be set aside as "other" literature, or worse, be dismissed as second class literature. The paper argues the intrinsic value of multicultural literature, and outlines class and individual activities that show the vast possibilities of stories from around the world. The following…

Underscoring folklore's appropriateness to multicultural classroom settings are its connection with past and present cultures, its constancy and change, and its potential for oral transmission of human values. Most importantly, folktales and songs enable children to participate in the history of universal human emotions. To effectively include…

Storytelling is a shared experience between the teller and the listeners. The two basic concerns of the storyteller are to choose good stories and to make the telling interesting and exciting. Selection of a story should be based on the criteria of good plot and characters, an authentic setting, appropriate dialog, and appeal to the listerners'…

Reviews the 1990 conference on children's classics that was sponsored by Drexel University and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Highlights include summaries of and excerpts from papers by author and illustrator Wendy Watson and Anita Lobel, and information on the recipient of the 1990 Drexel Citation, author and illustrator Carolyn Croll. (LRW)

Classroom teachers might consider teaching children to become critical readers through the use of traditional literature. It is not necessarily difficult to define critical reading, but it is a difficult task to teach students when and how to read critically. The six skills most important to critical reading are that the reader should (1) read…

A study described the need fulfillment imagery found in selected versions of folk tales for children. The needs identified were physiological, safety, love, achievement, knowledge, change, and aesthetic. Forty individual books published since 1960 under the broad category of folklore and available in the United States were content analyzed.…

An individual folk anthology unit covering eight topics is described in this paper. The eight topics include (1) I have an identity, (2) my interesting name, (3) mandalas and sentences, (4) rhythms and rhymes of old times, (5) myths of my childhood, (6) folk legends/old and new, (7) aspects of folklore, and (8) slang. The activities accompanying…

While being videotaped, ten second graders and ten fifth graders retold the story of "Beauty and the Beast" which was read twice to them during the preceding week. Responses were evaluated for content and accuracy. Results showed that younger children more accurately recalled the story and more frequently mentioned its resolution. Older children…

Relates how the author/illustrator discovered similarities between African and American culture and found renewed pride in his African ancestry, while researching for a new book, an African variant of "Cinderella." (ARH)

One avenue for authentic exploration of different cultures is to incorporate folktales and folklore into early childhood curriculum. Universal themes are found as common threads in the folklore of many cultures, and folktales and folklore contribute to learning about each culture's rich heritage. Folklore and folktales teach young children about…