Fabulous Filipino Folklore

Class description: Adults/teachers

Context and content: Audience has no prior knowledge of Filipino folklore. I want them
to get a taste of what it is and how it can be integrated in to the English classroom. Two
areas students have difficulty in are dialogue and creative writing. Assume that teachers
have already spent time explaining these two processes and Filipino folklore is a
supplement to these unit plans.

Objectives:
Recognize genres: legends/myths, proverbs, riddles, and folktales.
Recognize themes of folk literature.
Create dialogue based on myths.
Creative writing of own myth.

Materials needed: pens, markers (1 per group), poster board (one per group), 1 copy of
myths (the stories) and 1 copy of major themes (explanation) from
www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog , Twelve stamps book, 2 bags and slips of paper for “Whose
Folktale is it Anyway?” activity, proverbs handout (one per person), copies on disk of
today’s presentation (one per person), overheads of “overview” “two questions”
“themes” “Palay story,”

Activities and procedures:

Pre-activity (2 minutes):
Introduce self
Place “overview” on overhead projector.
Answer two questions
Question 1: Emphasize the size of this minority group so they get an idea of how
big the group actually is; need to incorporate more culture into the multicultural
classroom.
Question 2: The projected increase is huge, even in the next 20 years.

There are 4 main genres of Filipino folklore. They are: Proverbs, Riddles, Folktales, and
Legends/Myths. I’m going to try to get somewhat in depth about the legends/myths, but
we will go over a few quick examples of the others first.

Activity #1 (5-10 minutes): Pass around Proverbs handout as you speak: .One way to
unify our cultures in the classroom is to show how we think alike. I am passing out a list
of Proverbs from the Philippines. I want you to look at them and find an English-
equivalent adage. We will not be able to find similarities for all of the proverbs, but if
you can think of one, please shout out the number so we can all look at it and then you
tell us the adage you think is closest to its meaning.

Some of our stories are the same as well:

 Twelve Stories for Twelve Stamps anthology—Deer and Snail, Hermit Crab and
Turtle compared to Tortoise and Hare.

Activity #2 (5 minutes): Another genre of Filipino Folklore is Riddles. Riddles are used
to describe customs, thoughts, everyday life, and the native environment of the Filipinos.
Answering riddles is a native game of the mind common in the Philippines.
An example of an American riddle is:
What has a face and two hands but no mouth? A clock
An example of a Filipino riddle is:
What is overflowing with tears but without eyes/walking smoothly but without feet? A
ballpoint pen.
What is made of bone and skin and goes up flying? A kite
What is taller when sitting and shorter when standing? A dog

Activity #3 (5 minutes): The third genre is Folktales, which are signs or omens. These
are best likened to superstitious beliefs and like America, not everyone believes them.
They are not just about luck, but cover many different areas of life such as:
Wealth: A white butterfly is a sign of impending wealth.
Love: Engaged couples should not exchange pointed or sharp objects as
gifts, or this would lead to a broken engagement.
Animals: A cat wiping its face is a sign that a visitor is coming.)
Eating: If you choke briefly at mealtime, someone far away remembers you, or is talking
about you. To find out who that person could be, immediately ask for any number from
the people who are eating with you. The number that will match a letter in the alphabet
will be the first letter of the person's name who knows you and is the one who might have
remembered you.
Illness or Death: Going to bed with wet hair leads to blindness and insanity.

Activity #4 (10-15 minutes): The fourth and last genre is Myths(Legends):

I’m passing out an explanation of the main themes in Filipino folklore.
“A myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and man came to be in their
present form” (Dundes)(see mga alamat themes explained for cite). Assigning
supernatural origins to natural occurrences are a facet of understanding one’s culture.
Ask if they can name any such as Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan and Babe. We will
take turns reading them aloud. I will show each theme on the overhead and whoever has
that explanation should read it aloud.

Next, I’m going to read the story of Palay—A story about the most importance food
source in the Philippines--rice.

Transition into English classroom—how do we practice English skill building with

stories like this? Remember that these stories were passed down orally, so let’s construct
dialogue. Now that we know the main themes, it’s time to read a couple of stories.
Activity #5 (15 minutes): Get into groups of two or three and choose a story from the
copies that I have. Your group will form a dialogue and present it to the rest of the
participants.

Now that you’re comfortable with the themes and what folktales sound like, we’re going
to play a creative writing game called “Whose Folktale is it Anyway?”

Activity #6 (15-20 minutes). Remember those slips of paper you filled out earlier? Now
they are writing prompts for you to write a folktale around. You can do this by yourself
or in a group—doesn’t matter. I have poster board and markers so that you or your group
can present your folktale to everyone else. They can be as silly or serious as you like.

Extension ideas:
Costuming
Scene blocking