FOLK TALES FROM EUROPE AND THE FIVE THEMES

Preview of Main Ideas

Europe is only a small continent compared to Asia or Africa, and yet tens of thousands of folk tales and legends have been collected from the many nations found in this small patch on the globe. Many geographical features like mountains, rivers, lochs, highlands, and dark forests have provided the setting for these tales. Many can be traced to actual places that we can visit today. Looking closely at these tails we discover many clues about the culture of these countries including their dress, language, food, holidays, entertainment, religion, and values. The Five Themes of Geography provide a structure for successfully exploring the human and physical geography of different countries in Europe through literature in a whole-language classroom.

Connection with the Curriculum

This activity may be used in Social Studies or Geography classes. Other subject areas that overlap are Language Arts and Art.

Teaching Level: Grades 3-6.

Objectives Classification Outline (Also see objectives classification matrix below.)

Objective #1: The student will read folk tales from Europe in order to appreciate the differences in cultural and physical geography of these countries.

Essential Element: Places and Regions.

Standard #6: How culture and experience influence peoples perception of places and regions.

Knowledge Statement #2: Ways in which different people perceive places and regions.

Skill Set #1: Asking geographic questions.

Skill #1: Ask geographic questions about places in books.

Theme: Place. Human-Environment Interaction.

Objective #2: Students will use the Five Themes of Geography as a framework to organize and report on information acquired from folk tales and research materials.

Essential Element: Human Systems.

Standard #10: Understand the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of earth’s cultural mosaics.

Knowledge Statement #2: Understand how patterns of culture vary across earth’s surface.

Skill Set #3: Organize geographic information.

Skill #2: Construct graphs, tables, or diagrams to display geographic information.

Theme: Place.

1. Collections of folk tales.
2. Reference and resource materials.
3. Five Theme chart.
4. Question worksheet.
5. Paper.
6. Art supplies.

1. The teacher selects several folk tales representing different countries in Europe. The titles can be written on slips of paper and chosen at random from a hat. Each student may get a different tale, or students can be paired for an assigned tale. The number will depend on the size of the class. (A list of suggested tales is included with handouts.)
2. Students or pairs are instructed to read their tales at least twice. The first time is for an overall appreciation of the story. The second reading should be done in conjunction with filling out the Five Theme chart. (Simple phrases or one word answers are acceptable.)

1. Since the tales may not be enough to adequately gain all the needed information on the country represented by the tale, reference materials should be utilized to answer more completely questions about the representative country. (Question sheet included in handouts.)
2. Students will now take their Five Theme charts of notes and question worksheet to create a report of knowledge gained about their country. A short summary of their folk tale and a creative illustration should be included.

1. Students will now display their reports and pictures on a bulletin board surrounding a large outline map of Europe. The countries represented by the folk tales could be colored and string or ribbon can connect the reports to the matching countries.

1. Storytelling is a tradition in many cultures. Some tales have been handed down from one generation to the next without ever being written down. Listening to stories read aloud can really make a difference where you can give characters different voices to match the mood of your story. You can capture this special quality by making an audio tape of one of the class’s favorite tales.
2. Students can make "mini-books" or "big books" re-telling one of the tales.
3. In most folk tales, good always overcomes evil. Read a folk tale or a fairy tale and write a different ending.
4. Put on a puppet show or play to dramatize one or more of these tales.
5. See videos or travelogues on the countries studied.
6. The Grimm brothers, who wrote many of our favorite fairytales, grew up in a small village in Germany. They lived very near the scary forest described in Hansel and Gretel and not far from Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. In fact, many of their ideas came from places that really exist in Central Germany. Many of these places can be seen on a route which is popular with tourists called The Fairy Tale Road. Use a map to follow this route.

1. Class discussion that compares the different physical and cultural elements in tales.
2. Written reports and illustrations.
3. Self evaluation and teacher evaluation form to be filled out at end of unit. (See handouts.)

SUGGESTED LIST

1. England – Robin Hood - This legendary English outlaw was known to steal from the rich to give to the poor. He lived in Sherwood Forest with a band of followers known as his Merry Men.
2. Norway – The Apples of Youth – The Vikings, who were war-like, seafaring people, raided places across most of western and southern Europe often settling in the lands they had conquered. They would tell stories about their heroes and gods called Norse legends.
3. France – The Grey Palfrey – Towards the end of the Middle Ages, life in Europe became a little less grim. The Black Death had come and gone, and feuds seemed old-fashioned. Young people began to feel like there should be more to marriage than property contracts with talk of love and happiness. Minstrels told the romantic tales that were the forerunners of our modern novels.
4. Ireland – How Fin Found Bran – Ireland was never conquered by the Roman legions and its Celtic traditions survived intact. The Irish have always been good storytellers. Fin was a great hero and there are many stories about his battles and daring deeds.
5. Denmark – Beowulf – The centuries that followed the withdrawal of the Roman armies from Northern Europe were known as the Dark Ages. Many kingdoms fought among themselves. Beowulf is the story of just such a hero.
6. Greece – Perseus the Hero – Greece is a small country of mountains and islands lying in the south-east corner of Europe. According to legend, the gods lived on Mount Olympus. They married, quarreled, and suffered from jealousy just as humans do. They were also always interfering in human affairs.
7. Romania – The Best Teacher – Romania in Eastern Europe, has beautiful mountains and forests. In the old days gypsies roamed the countryside and dashing noblemen rode their fine horses into battle. The Romanian people have a great sense of fun and many of their folk tales are full of laughter.
8. England – The Sword in the Stone – The Britain’s were probably the first people to tell stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and eventually they became popular all over Europe. Historians think that Arthur was not a king, but a successful war chief who lived and fought at the time of the first Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain.
9. Spain – The Fisherman and the Rich Moor – The great landmass of Spain stretches south from the rest of Europe to within sight of the northern coast of Africa. Much of Spanish history is concerned with conflicts between the Moors of Africa and the Kings and Queens of Spain.
10. Germany – The Legend of the Lorelei – The Rhine River is one of the great waterways of Europe. It flows through Switzerland, Germany and then across the lowlands of Holland into the North Sea. Mountains, forests and castles line its route, and dark melancholy legends are told about those who lived on it banks.
11. Wales, Cornwall – The Lost Islands – Parts of the coastland in the west of Britain are sinking. In several places, at a particularly low tide, stumps of old forests and remains of ancient villages can be seen sticking up out of the sea. People say that if you sit on the seashore and listen, you can hear the old church bells tolling as they rock to and fro with the tide.
12. Italy – St. Mark and the Saving of Venice – Venice is an ancient Italian merchant city. Built on low islands in a lagoon and scarcely above sea level, it is in constant danger from storms blowing in from the Adriatic Sea.
13. England – The Pedlar of Swaffham – This story dates from the Middle Ages when London Bridge was lined on both sides with shops and houses. The legendary pedlar is commemorated in Swaffham’s town sign and there is a carved statue of him inside the church.
14. Scotland – The Laird’s Lass and the Gobba’s Son – Scotland has a wide variety of tales including legends more like myths about the supernatural. Some that start out as amusing ballads or the cottage tale which somebody made up to amuse folks gathering around the fire on long winter’s evenings. This is a Sgeulachdan or wedding tale. It pokes fun at the lass who insists on getting her own way.

Taken From Folk Tales and Fables of Europe
Robert Ingden and Barbara Hayes
Chelsea House Publishers
ISBN 0-7910-0256-2

FOLK TALES AND THE FIVE THEMES

Directions: Read the folk tale assigned by your teacher to learn more about a country in Europe. Answer the questions below by researching the country, using at least two sources of information. Your partner should use one source and you should use another. Later you will compare and combine the information you have both found.

LOCATION

Name of Country: ___________________________________________________________________________

Name, Longitude/Latitude of Capital City: ___________________________________________________________

Distance in miles and cardinal directions (s) traveled to get to the country from your home town: ___________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

PLACE

Climate: ___________________________________________________________________________________

Prominent physical features in the country: ___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Prominent race of people who live in the country: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Animals and plants found in the country: ___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Customs, religions, occupations, language, clothing, holidays: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

Crops/Livestock raised, resources mined and/or harvested: __________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Environmental problems/solutions that exist in the country: ______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Prominent housing style in the country and why this type of house is practical:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

MOVEMENT

Popular means of transportation in the country: ______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Popular modes of communication: ______________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Exports: __________________________________________________________________________________

Imports:   ___________________________________________________________________________________

 REGIONS

(The theme of regions is a review of all the other themes, giving us a way to compare and contrast places around the world). Ways in which the country is similar to your own country and to others in Europe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Student’s Name ____________________________________________ Date _____________________

Self-Evaluation

I learned the following things about the countries I studied ______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I made   ___________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The best piece of writing I did was ________________________________________________________________

because ____________________________________________________________________________________

Of all the things I read, my favorite was   ___________________________________________________________

I liked it because   ____________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The hardest part of the unit was   _________________________________________________________________

because   ___________________________________________________________________________________

I helped the unit be a success because I ____________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

My favorite activity was ________________________________________________________________________

because ____________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Evaluation

Group participation ___________________________________________________________________________

Reading progress _____________________________________________________________________________

Writing progress (content area, creative writing, assigned writing) _________________________________________

Oral Communication ___________________________________________________________________________

Return to European Lesson Plans Table of Contents

Return to IGA Home Page