Fairy tales in teaching English

Warming-Up


Week 1-3.
Even if you are familiar with the topic, we do advise you to read more about English and its potential for personal development . Any foreing language enriches us linguistically , socially, cultutaly and mentally. Works of the following authors might be  a bit difficult at first but, beleive us, they deserve the inicial effort of starting to read and watch :
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3ZfiDzE11I&t=17s

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH5VICk0xdo&t=926s 

3) https://www.wallstreetenglish.com/blog/new-study-reveals-english-language-learning-set-for-significant-growth/ 

We understand that this is a big deal of reading, so we give you a free hand to choose the bits of articles that you find the most useful , and appropriate for you. Please, also feel free to read other authors and sources! The more you know the better.

At the end of Week 3 you are going to write a small essay on what you have read and watched :
- 1.5 - 3 pages (Times New Roman, font size 12 pt);
- try to avoid retelling: include your own thoughts, ideas, associations;
- if possible, share your experience with other students (in a form of discussion, or by displaying the essays in the classroom, or leaving them in an accessible location).

Getting More Specific

Week 4-6.
At this point you are very likely to know about using faity-tales in teaching  a foreing language  and  you are eager to dwell. Of course, you can choose any faity-tales  but here is a hint:

it might be easier to compare fairy-tales of peoples/nations that are more or less closely related historically and culturally.

However, if you feel advanced in the topic, you are free to compare fairy-tales that seem to have no links at all (at the first sight). Such work might be challenging , but very  rewarding.
Again, this work might involve a lot of reading.

Hint: if you speak Russian, a series "Русские народные сказки" ( ООО "Издательство Алтей") might be useful.

         if you speak English , a series https://fairytalez.com/region/north-american/ and https://fairytalez.com/region/english/ might  be of interest.

         

While reading (or watching videos, or listenning to recordings):
- try to get rid of any bias! That is, look at the facts, not at the impression they make on you (in comparisson with your own culture). It will help you to
- see common features (eg. names, fabulae, descriptions, etc.), not only differences on the surface;
- if not strict and scholary, try at least to be more or less academic. This means, do not expect too much useful information from Disney\Russian  movies on fairy tales  and the like.

We strongly recommend you to make notes as soon as you come across some important piece of information, or some interesting thought occurs to you. The earlier you start drafting your final  paper with the set of the tasks on using fairy-tales in teaching a foreing language , the more accurate it will be.

Writing and Presenting

Week 7-8.
Now you should be ready to share your knowledge with the rest of the world.
First, go through your notes, edit your draft and compile the final version of your  paper. The basics rules for editing your paper that  we suggest are:
- you paper should be no less than 10 pages long (Times New Roman, font size 12 pt);
- the structure of your work should include an Introduction, a Comparisson section, and a Conclusion;
- your work should be original.

The thing to remember about the content of your work is that it is in no way limited! You may use any criteria for comparisson. If you find less in common than different between chosen fairy-tales  - it is also perfectly normal. The only rule is that all your conclusions should have a fair explanation.

Then, you should think about the way you are going to present your work. Most obvious visual tool is a PowerPoint presentation, but it does not mean you cannot opt for something else!
Another thing you should do at this level is compiling a shorter version of your task  paper so that it could be presented in no more than 20 minutes. 

Finally, you should share your results with other students and your teacher! Please, do not be shy. On the other hand,  be sensitive and polite to others: listen to them as attentively and positively as you would like to be listened to yourself.