1. Sixth Grade Language Arts
Folklore
Sixth Grade Language Arts

2. What is Folklore? “It is a record of a society’s soul.”
Folklore is the traditions, customs, and
stories that are passed down within a
culture ORALLY (includes food, poems and songs).
“It is a record of a society’s soul.”
1. Keeps the past alive.
2. Teaches moral lessons about human behavior.
3. Reveals values of the society.
4.Shows characteristics of culture or geography.

3. Literary Terms
Personification- giving inanimate objects human-like characteristics
Hyperbole- exaggeration
Dialect- form of language spoken by a group of people of different regions
Universals themes- message about life understood by people of most cultures

4. We are going to study:
Fables
Folk Tales
Legends
Myths

5. What are fables? A brief story that illustrates human behavior
Often have animals as characters
Has a lesson called a “moral”
Purpose? (Why do your parents tell these to you?)
Examples?

6. What are folk tales?
Many times either animals or poor people are the characters, can be fairy tales or trickster tales.
Purpose? They are told for entertainment (happy endings, sad, scary, etc) or to communicate the shared ideals of a culture
Examples?

7. What are Legends?
Legends are stories about a real person or event in history.
Many times these stories are exaggerated for effect and usually star a heroic person.
Tall tales are one form of legends.
Purpose? (look at your first bit of notes)
Examples?

8. What are Myths? Myths are stories that
attempt to answer basic questions about the world, like the origin of the world, mysteries of nature, or social customs.
Often include gods, goddesses, and heroes.
Considered true by the tellers or used to be at one point in history.
Purpose?
Examples?

9. Quiz Yourself! Myth Fable Legend Trickster Tale Folk Tale
uses animal characters, simple folk or magic so are entertaining
based on a real person or event
usually has god and goddesses, explains about the world
one character uses its wits over the other more powerful character.
contains a lesson to be learned

10. The End!