Traditional Literature in a Nontraditional Way

What exactly is traditional literature and what does it include?

Traditional literature is the canon of tales, stories and poems of a people that have been passed down by word of mouth through many generations. Traditional literature includes folklore, myths and legends, folktales, fables and tall tales.

            The textbook poses the question: “Do you know the four most powerful words in the English Language?” and goes on to inform the reader that they are “Once upon a time.” These four words are internationally known to evoke strong feelings and images that help us remember a world where dreams come true and good always triumphs over evil. Who wouldn’t want this?

            As I was growing up, I loved traditional literature unless I knew it was traditional literature. If this doesn’t make sense to you then, please let me elaborate. There is something about traditional literature that makes it fun and exciting on its own but when you start explaining to kids that this stuff is old and their parents learned about it too, they begin to lose interest.

            Traditional literature is ever so popular because it satisfies our need to explain the natural world in absence of scientific information, it helps us with our need to articulate our fears and dreams in a way that makes them accessible and manageable, it helps us impose some order on the apparent random nature of life which in turn, helps us understand our place in the universe and last but certainly not least, it lets us satisfy our need to entertain each other as well as ourselves. As you can see, traditional literature is a powerful thing but can be a painful thing if it is presented to students in the wrong way.

            Thinking outside the box is the best way to teach traditional literature. Rather than telling students to sit down, take out their textbooks and read 100 pages before testing them on it, try to get inside their shoes. Be creative and let them be creative. Allow them to make plays and act out stories, let them write their own versions of stories and let them come up with new ways to learn about these old pieces of literature.

            Traditional literature helps students develop literary language and abstract and internal thinking. Students will generally be very responsive to traditional literature because of the things it represents. There is no need to force traditional literature upon students. If you find yourself doing this, try something new.