International Folktales for English Language Learners

Ideal for the ESL classroom, International Folktales provides an opportunity for students to learn about the folktales told by different cultures around the world. The folktales in this volume span the globe and are both educational and entertaining. Readers will enjoy following the adventures of the Laotian trickster XiengMieng, discovering the profound lesson in the Pashtun tale "The Walnut and the Pumpkin," and appreciating the frights inspired by Latin American ghost La Llorona. Author and educator Nancy Harmon, co-founder of the nonprofit Center for Global Awareness, has collected these stories during years of teaching around the world.

Stories are arranged by linguistic complexity, starting with simpler sentence structures and moving on to more challenging syntax and vocabulary. Language awareness activities, comprehension questions, and vocabulary exercises allow students to test their learning and consider the stories in realms beyond the written page. Stories can be used for different levels, from beginning to high intermediate students. Regardless of the classroom, readers will discover newfound appreciation for human commonalities, and for intriguing cultural differences.

"Small school students just enjoy reading these stories. Older university students found them philosophic and life true. As a teacher I was glad to find the variety of activities that Nancy offers. Thus, all are happy." - Urunsa, a teacher in Kyrgyzstan.

This book is for adult learners, educators, and students. Illustrated.

Table of Contents

"The Dog and the Meat"
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
"The Tiger and the Mouse"
"The King and His Daughters"
"The Cobra"
"The Walnut and the Pumpkin"
"The Sound of Money"
"XiengMieng Tricks the King"
"The Great Rain"
"La Llorona"
"Stone Soup"

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Notă biografică

Nancy W. Harmon has been an educator for more than 30 years with a MA degree in multicultural education from University of New Mexico and certification in English and English as a Second Language. She has taught and developed curriculum in a variety of situations, including a community school on the Navajo reservation, teacher training for Peace Corps in Eritrea and Thailand, and an environmental management graduate program taught in English in Bangkok, Thailand. Most recently, she helped implement a nationally recognized service learning program at an innovative charter high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico.