valuable values through fables
TRANSCRIPT
AUTHORS:Ana Claudia Montes Holenweger
María Inés Rossi Colombo
Valuable Values
Through Fables
Objectives:To show another way in which teachers can transmit values in the classroom.To analyze a tool to build upon students’ social skills.To provide teaching tips for using fables.To share a strategy that offers flexibility regarding planning and class-time.
Our purpose…People’s attitudes
How has education at home and at school changed?How are students’ behaviors different? Are we part of a more impolite and disrespectful society?Has there been a change in values throughout the past decades? If so, how?
Is there anything we can do as educators?
VALUES
RESPECT
HONESTY
KINDNESS
Treat those who are good with goodness, and
also treat those who are not good with
goodness. Thus, goodness is
attained.-Lao Tzu
PERSEVERANCE
Why fables?Fables are used to impart cultural values from one generation to the next.
Why fables?They are perfect vehicles for moral education.
MORAL EDUCATION
Why fables?These stories help reinforce good behavior and teach survival skills.
Why fables?Fables offer teachers flexibility to be applied with different techniques.
Why fables?They promote critical as well as creative thinking.
Why fables?They are an excellent tool to foster students’ awareness of their social skills.
Fables background“Aesop’s Fables”: Stories with a moral dating back at least 2,300 years. Stories that have been passed down for generations that have taught different values and morals. Stories like “The Hare and the Tortoise” and “The Boy who Cried Wolf”, are timeless and have not outlived their usefulness.
How can we use fables to transmit values in
the English classroom?
LET’S GETHANDS ON!!
Sample Activity:(for an advanced level)
What is a fable? What is a moral?
Warm-up: Answer the following questions in groups, then share your ideas with the audience.
A fable is a short story, in prose or verse, that features animals,
mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are
given human qualities, and that illustrates a moral lesson, which may
at the end be expressed explicitly.
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a
story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or
viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly
encapsulated in a maxim.
Task 1: Look at the picture and predict the title and what the fable will be about:
A mother crab, sitting next to her friend the frog, was watching her baby crab walking along the sand.
“Oh, how awkwardly my son walks. His sideways walk is so graceless and unbecoming.”The mother crab called her baby crab over to her. “Son, please, you’re embarrassing me, don’t
walk like that, it’s so much more refined to walk straight forward.”The little crab tried his best to follow his mother’s instructions, but he could not seem to get his
legs to walk straight ahead.After a frustrating day of trying, he went back to his mother.
“Mother, I have tried to start walking straight ahead, but I just can’t seem to do it. Could you please show me how it’s done?”
The mother crab crawled out of her hole and put one foot in front of the other, but no matter how hard she tried, the only direction that she could go was sideways.
She sighed and scuttled over to her baby crab. “Maybe sideways isn’t so bad…” and off they scurried, as sideways as sideways could be.
Source: Storywise, http://storywise.com.sg/storytelling/story-the-crab-and-its-mother
The Crab and its Mother
The Crab and its Mother
Character Plot SettingExample Character
TraitsExample Characteristics
of cultureExample Characteristics
of cultureMotherCrab Baby Crab
Superficial, vain
Mother embarrassed by her son’s walk
Shallow society
Everybody walks straight
Discriminating
Moral:
Task 3: Complete the following analysis in groups and infer the moral of the fable.
Source: Language Arts and Social Studies, Lesson 9, http://www.bcpss.org/bbcswebdav/institution/CURRICULUM/SOCIAL%20STUDIES%20CURRICULUM/Reginald%20F.%20Lewis%20Museum%20An%20African%20American%20Journey%20Lessons/Lesson_9.pdf
The Crab and its Mother“Example is better
than precept”
1.What does the moral mean?
2.Do you agree with it? 3.Can you think of an
example that happened to you?
NOW LET’S SHARE OTHER WAYS IN WHICH FABLES
MAY BE USED IN AN ENGLISH CLASSROOM
BasicIntermediateAdvanced
FOR ALL LEVELS!!!
Other teaching tips…
READING
Reading comprehension
Jigsaw reading……
Other teaching tips…
LISTENING
Listening comprehension
Fill in the gaps
….
Other teaching tips…
WRITINGCreative
writing
Interactive writing
Writing plays
…
Other teaching tips…
SPEAKING Class discussions
Role plays
…
Another experience with an Intermediate
level
The Lion and the
Mouse The fox and the
crow
EVALUATION STAGE
Feedback from students
FABLES FEEDBACK FORMNAME: AGE:1. Did you enjoy working with fables?
2. What are some of the values that you’ve learned through those activities? Respect Friendship Sympathy Honesty Hard-work Others:_____________________3. Do you believe you can apply the morals you learned in your every-day life? Why?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Their answers:Do you believe you can apply the morals you learned in your every-
day life? Why?• Age 14 (male): “I don’t think it is an
option, it is an obligation in order to have a better society.”
• Age 15 (male): “Yes, because fables teach a moral, and morals should be applied in our lives.”
• Age 15 (male): “Yes, because we learn a lot with the morals and I believe that it is necessary.”
• Age 23 (male): “Yes, I do, because it is a way you can teach someone different morals.”
• Age 14 (female): “Yes, because it is easier to relate to others.”
• Age 15 (female): “Sometimes I can apply them, but in some situations it’s very hard to apply them because I’m not always thinking about how to be a person full of values, but I try.”
Adapted from: Intermediate level
Some reflectionsThrough this process we have observed that students enjoy working with fables.It’s hard to perceive an immediate change in attitudes. However, when different situations come up, students remember morals and quote them. Even though this is a very long process, we are confident that educating in values has positive effects.
And remember…
“SLOW AND STEADYWINS THE RACE”
Thank you very much!
Ana Claudia Montes Holenweger [email protected]
María Inés Rossi [email protected]