Folklore

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Folklore
Sixth Grade Language Arts
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What is Folklore?

• 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 societys 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.

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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

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We are going to study

• Fables
• Folk Tales
• Legends
• Myths

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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Quiz Yourself!

1. Myth
2. Fable
3. Legend
4. Trickster Tale
5. Folk Tale

1. uses animal characters, simple folk or magic so
   are entertaining
2. based on a real person or event
3. usually has god and goddesses, explains about the
   world
4. one character uses its wits over the other more
   powerful character.
5. contains a lesson to be learned

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The End!