Legends in
Language Teaching and Culture Learning
By
Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano
Sunday,
September 21, 2014
Twitter:
@jonacuso
Post
147
At some point in our lives, especially
when we were children or we became parents, folktales and legends were part of
our daily bedtime stories. As a kid, we probably enjoyed listening to an adult recounting
an old tale that was probably transmitted by a distant relative or that was
heard in another town or far-away place. As parents, we probably used these
stories to amuse our kids and prepare them for sleeping and to somehow teach
them something that was encoded in the story, some sort of moral or hidden
teaching, which is part of our children’s enculturation.
Since legends and folktales are part
of a culture’s folklore, “folklore constantly reinforces cultural lessons” (Samovar,
Porter, & McDaniel 2010). And folklore can be spotted in a great variety of
settings within society; it can be witnessed in school, at home, etc. As
proposed by many language teachers, legends can be used to reinforce students’
four skills; we can have students respond to a story in writing or by giving a
short presentation. If the instructor is an experienced storyteller, folktales
can be used to practice listening comprehension and why not, some
interpretation of the facts provided in the story. Reading is indeed another option
to teach the language but the culture synchronously.
As suggested by Rodriguez (quoted by
Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel 2010), “Folktales are not only regarded as some
of the best keepers of our language and cultural memories, they are also
helpers in the process of socialization.” Through this process of socialization
and/or enculturation, we the culture outsiders, along with our students, can
get to see what a culture labels as important, irrelevant, funny, ironic,
sarcastic, etc. All these can be taught to language students in class to be
better fit to interact with the target culture, and even with any other culture
the learners are bound to encounter in their future. This, depending on the
level of the students, can become a great asset in their work-readiness
training.
But if we were dealing with children
rather than adult learners, Rabbidge & Lorenzutti (2013) point out
extensive reading, which can no doubt be applied to folktale and/or legend
reading as part of the English class, “benefits the development of speaking,
listening, and writing languages skills, as well as involuntary acquisition of
vocabulary.”
No matter what the level of students
could be, legends, folktales, and the like are great sources of enculturation
patterns that can be taught to students so they can better understand the
target culture. These stories have benefits that go beyond the mere
comprehension of the story, benefits that are intrinsically related to language
development and cultural understanding. Legends and folktales can indeed be
great sources for teaching in the EFL classroom along with the teaching of
cultural tolerance.
Rabbidge,
M. & Lorensutti, N. (2013). Teaching Story without Struggle: Using Graded
Readers and Their Audio Packs in the EFL Classroom. English Teaching Forum,
2013, Number 3 [28-35]. Retrieved from http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/51_3_6_rabbidge_lorenzutti.pdf
Samovar,
L., Porter, R., & McDaniel, E. (2010). Communication between Cultures. Boston:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning
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An example of Central American legends that
could be used in a school teaching scenario is one coming from the Maya Quichés
in Guatemala called Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
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