Collecting Folk Tales
You
and your students can search for traditional tales to share in
the language classroom. Familiar tales are easier to remember
than new tales when retelling, reading, or writing in another
language. Encourage students to collect traditional tales, in
whole and in part, from friends, family, and community members.
Stories can be shared at any time, and are often told at family
gatherings and festivals. The following hints may help you and
your students to track down and collect some of these folklore
gems for use in the class and beyond.
USE
BAIT: Share songs, objects, visuals, sayings and more to jog memories.
Try telling a tale of a familiar character or a popular type of
tale, to remind listeners of stories they have heard. If you,
as a teacher or tutor, are new to the culture you are collecting
from, then learn as much as you can first about the culture behind
the stories: the history, values, the important folk characters
and favorite tales, etc.
PIECE
TOGETHER THE PARTS: Often you may find only fragments of stories
remembered by people, not entire tales. So, carefully take down
those parts and later you may be able to fill in the blanks after
talking to others. Or gather several people who might know similar
stories together, to help each other remember.
RECORD WELL: When you or students gather tales, try to use a tape
recorder. If you don’t have one, or if people object to them,
then take careful notes as the story unfolds. Questions are best
kept until the teller is finished with a story, for once a person
takes on the role of storyteller, they enter into a different
space.
Finding
Family Stories
While collecting traditional tales takes time, everyone can remember
a few personal experience stories, and most people enjoy telling
them. Sharing such tales helps students to value their own lives
and heritage, too. Let students draw images to help them remember
a few stories. Have them choose their favorite to practice and
tell. After telling, they can write down the tale or dictate to
a willing scribe. Please visit Family
Stories for more ideas and a list of common story themes.
Here
are several true stories that show the range of tales possible.
The first two anecdotes, by Sarah G. and Danielle, both 9, illustrate
the kind of word mix-ups that occur in learning another language.
The third, told by Ly Sieng Ngo and used with her permission,
shares a more poignant true story, reminding listeners of the
refugees’ experiences.
Last Fourth
of July, my family was watching fireworks. An especially loud
one went off and I said, “That scared the heck out of me!”
Well, my little brother copies me a lot, only sometimes he mixes
up the words. So after the next big firecracker he said, “That
scared me out of the heck!”
Once when
my brother was nine, he decided to make cookies. He had never
made cookies in his life. He opened the cookbook and started.
When it came to the part where he had to add egg whites, he
picked up some cracked egg shells. He was sure that egg whites
meant white egg shells. When everyone had the cookies later,
they were very, very, very crunchy. When people finally figured
out why they were so crunchy, everyone laughed and laughed.
My brother didn’t make cookies again for a long, long time!
The situation
was so bad. You could see too many people dead and starving to death
and sick with no medicine. And you knew that it will come, sooner
or later, to you. Then one day, my sister came to visit and she
became very ill. I tried to nurse her, but we had no medicine at
all and only a few teaspoons of rice to feed her.
I used to
put a wet cloth on her forehead and fan her gently – that
was all I could do. Soon, she began to see things, to talk strangely.
One night she started to scream loudly, sometimes saying words,
sometimes just making awful sounds. Next morning, my neighbor
said that they heard my sister screaming last night. They said
if your sister has this kind of thing, she won’t live. I
tried to deny what they said, I wanted her to live so badly.
Six days
later, I came home at my 10:30 AM work break and heard my sister
talking. I tried to call her name to see if she wanted something.
I kept calling her name as I came closer, but she didn’t
answer me. When I got to the house, she was opening her eyes wide.
Staring at the ceiling, she kept talking, louder and louder and
louder. She said, “I will live and I will go to Paris to
join my brother.” I lit a very small candle and watched her.
Not very
long after that, she said, loudly, “Cambodia will win, and
I will join my brother in Paris.” Then she died, she stopped
breathing. After she died, I was very, very depressed because
I loved her so much. Because she had so many things in her life
she wanted to do. It was just too early for her to die.
|
