Folktales are a fundamental part of education.

Passed along by parents and others, folktales are parables that teach children about their heritage, culture, and codes of behavior. As students come to understand the logic behind the telling of folktales, they also begin to understand the workings of a foreign culture. As many students will find, certain folktales are very similar to popular stories today. Through this awareness, students will discover the similarities between themselves and people who practice a different way of life. The folktale presented in this lesson is called Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. This book is also accompanied by two other African folktales entitled Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John L. Steptoe and Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric Kimmel. The story, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, was chosen because of it's accessibility and popularity. It has a theme that addresses lying and the damage it entails. This lesson can be adapted to almost any type of folktale. The author, Verna Aardema, began writing for unusual reasons. She was born in 1911 and from the age of eleven, she wanted to be a writer. Consequentially, she received a B.A. in Journalism. After she had children, she discovered that her daughter would not eat without being told a story. Verna had been studying Africa and adapted and retold folktales to urge her daughter to eat. Some of her stories take place in Ashantiland, or known as the present day country of Ghana. Other stories primarily take place in the Khalahari, which consists of parts of Botswana and South Africa. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears was written in 1975 and then received the Caldecott Medal in 1976 and soon after, the Brooklyn Art Books for Children Award in 1977. I hope you enjoy this lesson and the wonderful books that accompany it.

Folktales: A Cultural Teaching Tool

Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding that folktales carry underlying themes through writing sentences explaining some of the themes presented in several folktales.

Materials Needed: Aardema, Verna. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1992. Kimmel, Eric A. Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock. Holiday House, 1990. Schecter, Ellen. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1994.* Steptoe, John L. Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. Lothrop Lee & Shepard, 1997. *The Boy Who Cried Wolf has been published several times by different authors. Feel free to use any version you wish, or you may briefly retell it yourself.

Introduction: Ask the students the question: "What is a folktale?" Explain that a folktale was told by adults to their children over many generations to teach a history of their people or to teach the children how to behave. Discuss this concept with the students and ask them if folktales have an underlying moral. Have students give examples of stories with morals. The following are three examples.

1. Pinocchio- Don't tell lies.

2. The Tortoise and the Hare- Never give up, despite the odds.

3. The Ugly Duckling- Don't judge people from their looks.

Body: Introduce Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. Tell the students that this is a folktale from Africa and show them the location of Africa on a map. Have them listen to the story and try to identify the underlying message of the story. The children should pick up an underlying message that telling lies can cause a lot of damage. Tell them the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Inform them that this is considered a more familiar folktale. Perhaps, find out from the students who has heard The Boy Who Cried Wolf before. Ask the students to identify the moral and see if there are similarities between the morals of the two stories. Point out that both stories seem to have the same message even though they are from two different cultures. Both groups want their children to know that lying is wrong.

Evaluation: Read the two additional stories, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters and Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock. Explain that these stories are also folktales from Africa. Have the students write a sentence for each story explaining what messages the stories want children to learn.

1. In Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, the message of the story is that people who demean others do not win in the end.

1. Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock brings across the message that deceiving others is wrong. (Be fairly flexible with the sentences the students write. Some students may identify a different theme than those mentioned above. The messages listed above are general themes.) You might ask the students what story that they are familiar with is like Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. It has a similar theme as Cinderella.

Introduction: What is a Folktale

To understand folk stories, we must start with the word folk, which comes from the German word volk, meaning people. A folk story is a tale that originated from a particular cultural group in a distant time and place. The word folk actually suggests plain or simple people who have the best and worst traits of a culture but lack education or sophistication. The knowledge and beliefs embedded in a folk culture come intuitively from the heart and from the accumulated experience of a group of people. The folklore of all cultural groups deals with nature and natural remedies for physical and psychological conditions and reveals practical knowledge that is useful in

daily life. The identities of the authors have usually been lost through time, but the stories live through repeated telling; they are passed down from one generation to the next to illustrate a lesson, moral value, belief or custom that is considered extremely important by a particular folk culture. The stories teach by example and have one or more of the following characteristic features. Simplicity: Folk stories are simple tales about simple people. The language is easy to understand. The ideas are clear and straightforward. The characters are either good or bad, strong or weak, rich or poor, wise or foolish. It is easy to love them or hate them, to respect or abhor them. Folk characters are transparent and simple to understand. Fantasy, magic and the supernatural: Folk stories usually have one or more of these elements. In almost every folktale, something very magical happens. Trees and animals speak. Gods descend from the heavens and change things in supernatural ways. Wizards, witches, fairies, or goblins may cause mischief or perform wonders. Fantasy, magic, and supernatural intervention in the course of ordinary events make a good story and appeal to the readers imagination Customs, traditions and beliefs: Folk stories remind people of their cultural origins. The customs, traditions and beliefs expressed in folktales link people to their history and root them in their past. And, thus, these cultural components are passed on through the generations in the retelling of the tales. A Moral: Folk stories always contain a moral. In other words, they teach an important lesson about human nature that is clear and convincing. It is the moral lessons they teach that make them live through the centuries. Parents use them to teach their children important lessons that will prepare them to live well with a deeper understanding of their fellow human beings. Now that you are more familiar with the features of folktales, you can read them for their deeper meaning and focus on the simple but vivid stories that depict the moral struggle of the human mind and spirit as magically as they narrate fanciful events.

Introduction
Folktales served many purposes, not only did they entertain they provided a way for news to travel from village to village. They also tried to teach lessons about telling the

truth, doing good deeds, sharing etc., as well as lessons about greed, selfishness and deceit etc. Folktales relates to people, animals, good, evil, luck, misfortune, love or hate. folktales also tries to explain the unexplainable occurances in nature. In this unit we will take a magical journey to a land far away. We will learn about a people and their cultural through the use of stories, tales and myths. So climb aboard, buckle up and let's go. TASK The purpose of this activity is to create your own folktale and a 3 minute skit that your group will perform for our class. Your folktale must be based on a lesson you want to teach,or some occurance in nature you want to explain. To do this you must first read at least 3 of the folktales listed on the resource page. Then, answer

the questions pretaining to folktales. Then you will complete one graphic organizer found on the resource page, using the information obtained from your reading and research. Finally, you will vist the process page, here you will find step by step directions for completing this assignment. Good luck! Have fun!

Process
Follow the directions listed below to complete the assignment. 1. You will be assigned a partner. 2. Along with your partner you will go to the resource page, there you will choose 3 folktales you want to read together. 3. After you have read the folktales, you will decide on a particular folktale you want to work with. 4. Next you will choose one of the graphic organizers on the resource page, together you will fill it out to present to our class at

the end of the assignment. 5. You will then go to the true/false section to answer the questions listed there. 6. Finally, you will create your own folktale, that you will perform along with your partner in a skit for our class. 7. Remember, your folktale should be based on a lesson you want to teach or something in nature you want to explain.