Fairy tales in class

 By Marikken S. Riis

Some of us grew up with a relationship with classical fairy tales, either as nighttime story or just for entertainment now and then. In recent years, the fairy tales have become a bigger part of the schooling, and therefore in this blog post I will share a way of using it in lessons.

Illustration by Quentin Blake  in Revolting Rhymes 

Most of the today's students know about the most famous fairytales due to either Walt Disney's adaptation or another form such as a book collection of fairy tales. Therefore, there will be very few pupils who know the original stories or first written stories, as I aim to Charles Perrault collection of fairy tales in the1690s.

A good start to becoming familiar with the story or re-capture its action is to read the same edition of the chosen fairy tale. You may read it out loud in the classroom or to have it as a homework for the lesson, depending on grades and time. A good way of securing the understanding of the plot, characters, themes and language in the fairy tale, is to communicate after reading it. Whether the fairy tales is new or repeated for the students, they will get a common foundation and understanding of the story.

  

When the pupils have the same knowledge about the chosen fairy tale, you could introduce them into fractured fairy tales. A fractured fairy tale is a rewritten fairy tale, often with an ironic twist and alters the story in unexpected ways. Roald Dahl is a well-known author of fractured fairy tales by his book Revolting Rhymes. The book contains re-written stories like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood with rhymes, catchy rhythms and great illustrations by Quentin Blake. The inspiration for this book led me to share two ways of using the stories in Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl in English lessons for 5-7 grade.

Illustration by Quentin Blake  in Revolting Rhymes 

For group work, you could as a teacher inspire the students to dramatize or create a radio play of one (or more) of the fractured fairy tales in   Revolting Rhymes. This could be a long-time project with focusing on the implementation of acting to scenography and costumes, or it could be for a lesson or two. Teamwork is a major part of this task, and the pupils will also stimulate the stories and practice their oral skills.

Do to its time consuming another example is writing tasks, which can be solved individual or in groups or pairs. The students can either write a diary post, an interview, an article or a prequel or a sequel for a chosen character in a fairy tale. As a teacher, you may determine the focus areas such as grammar, creativity, text structure and genre. The students will stimulate not only their writing skills but also their creativity and the ability to collaborate.

I have during this blog post enlighten two ways of using Revolting Rhymes in lessons for both individual and group work. I personal find it very creative and fun, which I believe the student do too.

Sources:
Roald Dahl (1982) -Revolting Rhymes - Penguin Toung Readers Group, 2009