John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Lesson Plan: Writing Folktales
With this lesson plan, learners examine the American tradition of folk tales and tall tales, then write and illustrate their own original tale. Provides links to more information, an assessment rubric, extension ideas, and a list of...
Other
Native American Indian Legends: Origin of the Saguaro and Palo Verde Cacti: A Pi
A Native American Pima legend on how the saguaro and palo verde cacti came into existence. With links to other Native American legends, artwork, photographs, articles, and more.
Other
Pima Legend of the Flood on Superstition Mountain
English text of the Pima legend "The Flood on Superstition Mountain."
PBS
Mpr: The Meaning of Sioux Music and Song
This site from the Minnesota Public Radio provides the text of a 1915 article written by musician and self-trained anthropologist, Frances Densmore. Densmore spent years studying the music and culture of the Teton Sioux and other native...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Elements of Fables
This ArtsEdge unit on fables shows how to compare and contrast, read and write fables, and discuss the elements they contain. Has great links, definitions, and fable examples.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Native Voices
This unit features the rich oral tradition of Native Americans storytelling in various genres predating the introduction and influence of English writings, bringing three contemporary authors to light. RI.11-12.8 seminal U.S. texts,...
Read Works
Read Works: Oral Histories
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the importance of listening to and writing about people's life stories. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
PBS
Pbs: A World of Stories: The Beaded Bag
Kentucky-based storyteller Mary Hamilton tells a haunting tale set in Victorian times, about a man who gives a young lady a ride across the Ohio River to her home in Louisville. When she disappears, he learns that he has become part of a...
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: English Language Arts: Grade 3: The Stories Julian Tells
Third graders learn that stories and books are important for learning about themselves and others. This unit allows students to learn how storytelling can be a way to learn about other cultures, pass on family history and traditions, and...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
If you set out to do your own primary research with a tradition-bearer in your community, this guide will be very valuable. Get information about how to get the best results, along with an extensive list of possible questions for the...
University of Richmond
University of Richmond: Rewriting Ethnography
A literary review and criticism concerning the book "Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko. Analyzes the Laguna oral tradition and its presence in Silko's novel.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Medieval Sourcebook: Law of the Salian Franks
This site from the Medieval Sourcebook of the Fordham University provides an example of a Germanic law code taken from oral tradition and set down in writing.
Other
The Center for Story and Symbol: Mythos: Joseph Campbell's Mythic Journey
A biographical piece about the storyteller named Joseph Campbell. This piece was originally featured in New Perspectives Magazine in July 1994.
BBC
Bbc: The Story of Africa: Islam
This BBC series site charts the growth of Islam in Africa until the 1880s.
Broward Education Foundation
Broward Education Foundation: The Arts and Crafts of Storytelling [Pdf]
In the Arts and Crafts of Storytelling, American folk heroes come to life, help students expand their vocabulary and increase knowledge of figurative language. Students identify figurative language like similes, idioms and hyperboles....
Alberta Online Encyclopedia
Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Tus: Aboriginal Traditions and Knowledge
The TUS website examines the history and methodologies of land use by Aboriginal peoples. The Multimedia link is an excellent source of oral histories through interviews with elders as well as other knowledgeable people.
TESL Journal
The Internet Tesl Journal: Software Language Learning
A great article providing info and stats about the use of presentation software to enhance classroom leaning, specifically in ESL classrooms. Includes detailed comparisons to traditional presentation methods (oral, word processing) and...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: American Colonial Literature: Native American Myths
This lesson focuses on Native American myths including the creation myth "The Earth on Turtle's Back." It includes links to the above myth, a self-assessment quiz, and an assignment for a mini-report over a Native American tribe.
University of Victoria (Canada)
The U Vic Writer's Guide: Literary Term: Fable
The University of Victoria's English department gives a comprehensive definition of fables. Example included.
Topmarks Online
Topmarks Education: A Traditional Story: The Gingerbread Man
Read the traditional story of the Gingerbread Man who runs from the little old woman who made him, and from several other characters who want to eat him, until he comes across a fox who offers to help.
Other
Dandi Palmer: Salvation & the Devil Dancer
Click through the pages of this beautifully illustrated story book to read about a little girl who listens to her grandmother tell a story about two dancers and their performance at a carnival that ended up saving the whole village from...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Storytelling in Ritual and Performance in Bali
Balinese stories are continually told and retold. The Kayonan is the first and last puppet seen in the Balinese wayang shadow theater. As it dances, it symbolizes the living tradition of storytelling that deeply explains and entertains,...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Arts Edge: Lesson: Exploring Russian Folktales
Expand on your students' knowledge of storytelling with this lesson plan on Russian folktales. Provides several links to examples, assessment criteria, and a short list of other sources.
Other
Personal: Raven and the Man That Sits on the Tides
This is a Native American Raven tale from a Pacific Northwest tribe provided by Native American Storyteller, Barry McWilliams.