lunes, 10 de diciembre de 2012

Folk tales different countries



Turkish Folk Tales "Keloğlan" and "Nasreddin Hodja"
“Lazarillo de Tormes”
Main characters
Keloğlan and Nasreddin Hodja
Lázaro González Pérez
Similarities


·           Both are poor.
·          Happy endings
·          Stories end with a marriage.
·          Reflect the poverty in more or less the same time ( sixteen- seventeen century)
Differences


  •   Both are poor, although Lazarillo was a child and Keloğlan was a teenager.

  •  Keloğlan was more innocent than Lazarillo, because in the first story someone tries to cheat him, and in the second case, the child is who cheats people to eat something.

  •   In the Turkish story, Keloğlan wants a lot of money because he would like that his mum lives in better conditions. But, in the Spanish tale, Lázaro steals and cheats people in order to himself surviving.
  • The first tale is more suitable for children than the second one, because the second it is a novel that talks about many aspects, but there is some version for children.
  •   Children will find motivating and funny the first tale because the story talks about a treasure. On the other hand, the second tale children could find motivating and to be curious about the story, because the main character is a child.
 Values/ Moral issues

  •    Children can learn the family values in Turkey, and the relation between  mother and son.
  •   Also, it is reflected respect among old and young people.

  •   They can learn that the happiness should be inside you, not because of money.
  •   They can know aspects about the culture in Spain in the sixteen century ( routine life, different jobs, several towns and cities).
 Personal comments ( what we think about the tale)
 I think it is good that the story talks about a treasure, because some way it develops children imagination; but in other side,  maybe the story should have more real aspects.
It is fascinating because children can read many adventures that Lázaro lives in the several cities , with different masters, and how his life is changing.  But there is a drawback, because children could find hard to read or even understand what is going on in the story.
Also, this story is more suitable for older children than the Turkish tale.



Keloğlan


Nasreddin Hodja

3 comentarios:

  1. Very interesting

    I have a short question: How do you relate it to Iben Jensen? Is it the "Analytical model"?

    Now you have tried to look for similarities and differences. Do you have some ideas for activities the pupils could do in connection with these fairy tales?

    ResponderEliminar
  2. Yes, somehow that can be related with “Analytical model” from Iben Jensen. We developed our awareness about other culture through fairy tales. In this case, we worked on four analytical tools:

    Cultural-self understanding, because I was talking about the fairy tale from my own country, I had to know what aspects of my culture are treated there, what places are mentioned, or for example what was going on in that time ( Spain in the sixteen century). That is very important to know because at the moment ( for example telling a fairy tale) you have to explain to someone some aspects about your own culture, you have to consider what aspects are relevant and those are not.

    Cultural pre-understanding. As Iben Jensen said: “ Pre-understanding is a way of understanding a phenomenon until one obtains more knowledge about a subject”. In this case, I didn’t know too much about Turkish culture, just that they are Muslims so they actually have different customs.
    This point is unavoidable because everybody has a own thinking way.

    Position of experience. When you have read the tale, you can understand some aspects of Turkish culture, such as family values , relation between young and old people, etc.

    The fourth tool : cultural fix-point .We may say that there is some implicit issues that children can discuss, for example the relation among young and old people. In the Turkish tale there is respect devoted from young to old people. Nevertheless , in the Spanish tale, that is not explicit or clear that Lázaro respects their masters, but it is because he was in circumstances of poverty and famine.

    Obviously, we can not generalize that difference because in Spain there is also respect for old people, but as teachers we can work with that difference between these two tales specifically.

    Some activities that children can do:
    - Write how could be the life of Lázaro and Keloğlan in the future.
    - An activity after reading could be preparing a short play where children have to perform the different stories. They can dress costumes to seem like them.
    - An activity before reading could be showing to children picture of the main characters of tales , and asking them what they could imagine what will happen in the story. That is a good way of developing children imagination, and warm-up the reading task.

    ResponderEliminar
  3. Very interesting the comparison between a turkish and a spanish folk tale, I think that children will like them because the main character in the spanish story is a child like themselves, so it will be easier to imagine and the teenager in the turkish story is not so difficult to imagine either. Thank you Ana for a nice article.

    ResponderEliminar