Essay Implication of multicultural folktales on teacher, students, school, curriculum

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IMPLICATIONS OF MULTICULTURAL FOLKTALES OF THE BLOSSOM TREE

A folktale is often defined as a tale or legend that begins from and is traditional among a people
or folk. It is different from myths and legends because they do not always have religious
leanings, and are not based on historical truths.
Traditional folktale does not have an individual author; instead it is owned by the community.
The folktale contains the entire culture of the community, which also differentiates it from other
groups. Hence, that is why certain community may have the same story or plot but differ in its
setting or characters. This is because it needs to suit the cultural background of the community.
However, multicultural folktales mean that a story contains several cultural or ethnic groups
within a society (Global Kids Oz, 2011). The story does not revolve around a homogenous
ethnic and usually portrays the differences of cultures, customs, manners and also skin colours.
The folktale of The Blossom Tree by.. is an example of a multicultural folktale. It portrays
on the characters cultures such as Patan-Pali where he is a famous merchant in Benares city
while Buddha is a wise man visiting Benares. They have differences in cultures and also
customs.

Global Kids Oz (2011). The importance of Folktales from around the World. Retrieved from
http://simplymulticultural.com/2011/11/the-importance-of-folktales-from-around-the-world/
Temple, C., Martinez. M. & Yokota. J. (2011). Childrens Books in Childrens Hands: An
Introduction to their Literature. Boston, MA: Pearson.
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Students

The Blossom Tree shows that all people have different socio-economy background and family
background. Not all people are born to be rich and born in a well off family as shown in Jigme
character. Merchants in Benares stated that Jigme is poor and only a simple herdsman. He did
not deserved to take in charge of Patan-Palis wealth.
Hence, students may know the real issues and problems in the world. The world does
not revolve only about cartoons or playing games in the handphone. There are bigger and real
issues on the outside of their comfort zones. Thus, folktales can help children appreciate the
reality of human diversity and increase childrens empathy with people of other cultures (Fuhler,

Farris & Hatch, 1998). Through folktales, children can experience the wishes, dreams, and
problems of people around the world and discover that all people share a need for love, hope,
and security (Santino, 1991).
To begin with, every student should be represented, and accurately, in the folktales
used. Bishop (1997) writes that if multicultural literature is tohelp readers gain insight into and
appreciation for the social groups reflected in the literature, then the literature ought to reflect
accurately those groups and their cultures. Negative images and inaccurate stereotyping of
people and cultures in children's fiction books is harmful to students whose ethnicity is being
portrayed. Students should be able to see themselves and their lives reflected in the books they
read (Aoki, 1992; Slapin & Seale, 1992).

Fuhler, C.J., Farris, P.J. & Hatch, L. (1998). Learning about world cultures through folktales.
Social Studies and the Young Learner, 11(1), 23-25.
Santino, B.H. (1991). Improving multicultural awareness and story comprehension with folktales
(in the classroom). Reading Teacher, 45(1), 77-79.
Bishop, R. S. (1997). Selecting literature for a multicultural curriculum. In V. Harris (Ed.), Using
multiethnic literature in the K-8 classroom (pp. 1-19). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon
Publishers.
Aoki, E. (1992). Turning the Page: Asian Pacific American Children's Literature. In V. Harris
(Ed.), Teaching Multicultural Literature in Grades K-8. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon
Publishers.
Slapin, B. & Seale, D. (1992). Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for
Children. Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers.
Other than that, multicultural folktales show benefits in students critical thinking skills.
They do not just show an efferent response, but they show an aesthetic response when asked
to comment on the tales they read. This is supported by Grice and Vaughn where they stated
that the children who showed a preference for multicultural books had been labeled slow
learners and their reading level was two grades below their actual grade level. Yet responses
gleaned from post study interviews showed that the children were able to recall story lines,
assert whether or not the characters were authentic, and whether or not the children could

imagine themselves as one of the book's characters. They were also able to comment as to why
or why not they liked the book. (1992).
Grice, M.O. & Vaughn, C. (1992). Third Graders Respond to Literature for and About AfroAmericans. Urban Review, 24(6), 149-164.

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Teacher

Derman-Sparks, L. & The ABC Task Force. (1989). The anti-bias curriculum: Tools for
empowering young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young
Children.

The Blossom Tree story teaches us the importance of treating everyone as equal and do not
judge them based on fame or wealth. This is shown where the kusha grass helps the Blossom
Tree in preventing the tree from being chopped down. The other mighty trees cannot do
anything to help the Blossom Tree but the kusha grass, who nobody has ever noticed about
them, suddenly tries to help the Blossom Tree.
Hence, teacher must know the moral values that can be derived from the story. Teacher has to
explain explicitly the moral values to the children so that they can relate to their daily life.
Good multicultural literature can benefit all children in an early childhood classroom. Teachers
enhance children's budding understanding and empathy when they make a point of sharing
books that accurately and positively portray the backgrounds of the families in the classroom
and that extend children's awareness to the significant groups in their community and the wider
world (Derman-Sparks et al., 1989).

As a teacher, he or she must know which book is suitable to teach the students. The Blossom
Tree is a prime example of a multicultural folktale that can be taught in the classroom. The story
tells us not to judge a book by its cover. We must choose our friends based on their faithfulness
and the depth of their love. It is a straightforward value that does not touch any sensitive
subjects such as sexism. Therefore, there are some topics that should be taught discretely such
as, focus on women, racial and ethnic groups. Teacher has the discretion to choose books that
identify racism and sexism as social problems.

However, "the author's views are the author's politics, and the books expressing these
views, become purveyors of these politics and potentially persuasive" (Sutherland, 1985).
These views that are mentioned in the statement is the stereotyping of gender roles and social
norms. Females tend to be a damsel in distress and males tend to be a knight in shining
armor as mostly depicted by Disney films. If these images and portrayals remain unchallenged,
readers learn to see them as normal, and the normalizing effects of these portrayals defend the
status quo.
Children do not have to be passive recipients of these expectations and portrayals, they
can be taught to resist and recreate these roles continually, and it is our obligation to help them
resist and question those expectations that limit their opportunities. However, exposure to books
with strong female characters such as the story of The Paper Bag Princess (Munsch, 1980) is
not sufficient to disrupt the commonplace assumptions many students and teachers carry with
them. As teachers, we have to lead discussions and literary interrogations that trouble traditional
notions of gender and make open for discussion those portrayals that are stereotypical and
depict females in subservient positions (Serafini, 2007).

Munsch, R. (1980). The Paper Bag Princess. Willowdale, Ontario: Annick Press.
Serafini, F. (2007). Pigs, Cinderella and Social Issues. The NERA Journal, 43(2), 23-29.

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School

To what extend do teacher and understand scribd..

The Blossom Tree portrays a convincing tale in depicting the differences between rich and
poor, between kind, wise and ignorant people. It is shown in the characters of Patan-Pali, Jigme,
merchants in Benares city, and Buddha. The merchants are snobbish and ignorant of people in
the lower status. Hence, they questioned Patan-Palis choice in letting Jigme taking care of the
warehouses. However, the Buddha knows the best solution in making the merchants
speechless by telling them a story of The Blossom Tree. The story shows multicultural
background and this setting can be applied and adapted in school.
Schools administrators acknowledge and understand the need of understanding the cultural
diversity in school. The school that understands the importance will carry out variety of

programs or activity in fostering inter-cultural knowledge and understanding. This is shown

when the school building multicultural programs such as art club where the pupils can learn
different culture arts, showing appreciation of differences of students when the students show
their talents in performances, avoiding stereotypes of the pupils in the school, acknowledging
differences in pupils and discovering the diversity within the classroom.
Hence, the school must allow and supply teachers with materials that show cultural
diversity. The school may supplies images such as photos and posters that show various
cultural backgrounds of people in the classroom. Dramatic play equipment and objects should
reflect cultural diversity. Cooking tools, clothes, personal objects, and objects used for holiday
celebrations should reflect a variety of cultures. Art materials should include skin tone such as
tan, brown, and black, paint, paper, markers and crayons. Baby dolls should represent various
racial and ethnic backgrounds. Manipulative materials as in puzzles, little people figures, and
games should depict diversity in race and ethnicity. Music is the universal language, so teachers
should have various musical instruments and CDs in their classrooms. All of these materials
must be provided by the school as the teachers do not have enough wealth in buying all of
these resources. (Hall, 1999; Copple & Bredekamp, 2006; Derman-Sparks, 1989)
Coople, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2006). Basics of developmentally appropriate practice.
Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Derman-Sparks, L. (1989). Anti-bias curriculum: Tools for empowering young children.
Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Hall, N. S. (1999). Creative recourses for the anti-bias classroom. Albany, NY: Delmar.

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Curriculum

The story of The Blossom Tree definitely shows people with multicultural background as it
shows in the characters of Patan-Pali, Jigme, merchants in Benares city, and Buddha. They all
come from different status and races and hence, they have different ideas and philosophies.
Buddha and Patan-Pali did not care about social status while the merchants in Benares city
cared about it as they questioned the relevance of Jigme in guarding Patan-Palis wealth.
This story shows that curriculum must have the multicultural folktales in pupils learning.
Curriculum, in its most simple, essential, commonly understood form, is the "what" of education.
It is crucial to academic performance and essential to culturally responsive pedagogy.

Hence, countries that use multicultural approach in literature will bring benefits to the pupils as
they tend to respond to socially oriented curriculum and work better in group. Israel, Germany,
Italy are countries that teach using a social structure and curriculum. The countries contain
pupils that are from a socialized culture that prioritizes group achievement, cooperation,
obedience, and respect toward authority tend to be externally motivated, dependent on praise
and reinforcement from significant others. Meanwhile, pupils who are from cultures that
emphasize individualism, assertiveness, personal initiative, and material well-being (Vietnam,
Japan, United States) tend to be analytical, competitive, impersonal, and task-oriented (Jones,
1985). Although it is imperative that students be considered on an individual basis, students will
(to varying degrees) tend to be more like one category than the other.
Thus, curriculum must contain specific instructions on how to deal with the differences in these
approaches. Grouping socially oriented children with children who are task-oriented and
impersonal allows the teacher to confront, explore, and celebrate difference. Curriculum must
highlight the importance of combining children with social-oriented and children with taskoriented.
One of the way to use the curriculum properly lies in the hands of a teacher. An accomplished
teacher should be able to create projects for a group of students from different backgrounds that
will require students to work together, therefore allowing each student to be an important part of
the group and learn information through the interaction of the group. Lesson plans that can do
this and interest students will become invaluable for teachers to possess as the need for
teachers to become culturally fluent continues to grow.
Thus, we can say that multicultural curriculum is a must in any education curriculum. Banks
(1991) suggested a parallel view that multicultural education is, holistically, an integral part of
the total curriculum

Banks, J. A. (1991). A rationale for ethnic pluralism and multicultural education. In Curriculum
guidelines for multicultural education, ed. NCSS task force on ethnic studies curriculum
guidelines. Silver Spring, MD: National Council for Social Studies.

Jones, C. M. (1985, February). Practical Applications of Multicultural Communication Theory in

the Classroom Setting. Typed version of speech given at the Annual Meeting of The Western
Speech Communication Association (Fresno, CA, Feb. 16-19).

Conclusion
Schools administrators, teachers, and pupils need to know the advantages of using
multicultural folktales in class. It is important to note that multicultural education should not be
implemented merely as a way for students to learn about their own culture, but rather as a way
for them to learn about a variety of cultures. Race or gender segregated schools whose
curriculum and pedagogy only teach the history and culture of their own group do not promote
educational inequality. A multicultural education, which includes the use of multicultural folktales,
that promotes educational equality should be inclusive and teach about the history and culture
for all cultural groups. Hence, pupils will feel comfortable with their cultural background and
essentially themselves.

This has to do with the organization of the classroom and the development of lesson plans.
When grouping students, teachers should put students from differing backgrounds together. The
term "differing backgrounds" refers to (in general) two types of students from two different
learning styles. Students who are from a socialized culture that prioritizes group achievement,
cooperation, obedience, and respect toward authority tend to be externally motivated,
dependent on praise and reinforcement from significant others, and more responsive to a
socially oriented curriculum