Fairy Tales and Storytelling Instead of Boring Lessons!

How to use fairy tales in foreign language classes?

What can be done to ensure that the desire to learn a foreign language does not fade, but instead continues to grow? Motivation is the foundation of all human activity, including learning. The search for new ways to stimulate students’ educational engagement leads to completely unexpected teaching methods—one of which can be the educational fairy tale. In this article, we will show you how to use good old fairy tales in foreign language classes, including lessons with adults!

Fairy tales as a great motivator

Foreign language teachers often treat fairy tales merely as supplementary material, intended mainly for younger learners. However, fairy tales are an exceptionally valuable teaching resource. Short, humorous, and rich in language, they provide excellent material for vocabulary, grammar, and syntax practice—useful for learners at any level.

Empathy toward the characters, interest in the plot, and memorable imagery help learners of all ages and proficiency levels absorb difficult grammar material more quickly and easily. The short length of the story keeps listeners engaged right up to the happy ending.

Using fairy tales in lessons engages even weaker learners, who are more willing to participate without fear of making mistakes. Fairy tales spark curiosity, and curiosity becomes a powerful motivator for learning—making the entire process much easier.

A fairy tale as the foundation of a lesson

A fairy tale provides an accessible insight into real-life phenomena and can convey information in a simple and visual way. Dialogues in fairy tales ensure the necessary repetition of language material, thanks to their narrative structure. Their undeniable advantages include authenticity, richness of content, concentration of language forms, and strong emotional impact on learners. For these reasons, fairy tales can form the core content of a lesson.

Storytelling – a success method in business

It is worth noting that storytelling in foreign language classes—combined with continuous questioning—is particularly suited to adult learners, who usually have their own opinions on various topics.

The storytelling method, widely used in the business world today, is ideal for groups focused on learning business language. By choosing the right story, a teacher can explore topics ranging from staff management to product promotion. The act of communication during such a lesson creates a sense of success for learners, generating positive emotions related to the topic and increasing motivation for further language learning activities.

Fairy tales – how to work with the text?

During most language lessons, learners listen to or read texts. Guiding questions related to the topic can stimulate interest in a text-based task. The teacher may show illustrations connected to the story and ask learners about their associations when looking at a particular image. The purpose of these guiding questions is not to check comprehension, but to highlight key moments in the text.

The most important question, however, is: “Did you like this story?” Giving learners space to express their opinions increases motivation. In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, learners can freely and enthusiastically discuss the topic. Fairy tales offer a wide range of discussion themes, thereby developing speaking skills.

What tasks can be created based on a fairy tale?

It is no coincidence that authentic fairy tale texts are often used as examples in grammar textbooks. So, what types of exercises can be designed around fairy tales in foreign language classes?

1. First, any discussion topic can be presented in the form of role-play. The teacher can ask learners to imagine themselves as the characters and speak from their perspective.
2. Narration and dialogue are key language elements in storytelling. The teacher can ask learners to notice the use of present tense in dialogue and past tense in narration. Word order in narrative, negative, and interrogative sentences can also be reinforced using examples from fairy tales.
3. Writing should not be neglected: inventing alternative endings, creating new stories based on prompts, answering the question “What would happen if…?” Such tasks effectively develop writing skills.
4. Writing exercises can also help learners analyze comparative and superlative forms of adjectives or the use of synonyms and antonyms (for example, through contrasting characters).

Choosing fairy tales for the classroom

How should you choose a fairy tale for a lesson? First and foremost, consider the learners’ level. It is also possible to use adapted versions of fairy tales. However, returning to the roots—folklore—is often the best option. Folk tales provide learners with cultural insight into the nation whose language they are studying.

Well-known stories such as “Little Red Riding Hood” or “Cinderella” can also be used, allowing learners to read familiar texts in a foreign language.

Fairy tales in Russian – example exercises

In Russian language lessons, one can refer to Pushkin’s fairy tales or choose a story from Alexander Afanasyev’s collection. If selecting a folk tale, the teacher should adapt it by removing archaic language.

Let us take the well-known Russian fairy tale “Каша из топора” (Porridge from an Axe). After removing all archaic words from the text, the teacher can focus on creating exercises based on this story.

Exercise 1. We revise the topic of perfective and imperfective verbs, of which there are plenty in this fairy tale: стучать – постучать, кормить – накормить, готовить – приготовить, ставить – поставить, etc. It is enough to extract them from the text and ask learners to form aspectual pairs.

Exercise 2. The next grammar task may involve practicing the accusative case. Learners can be given slips of paper with sentences from the text in which nouns are placed in brackets: “Солдат взял (топор). Он попросил (мука). Солдат приготовил (каша)”, etc.

Exercise 3. Another task may involve describing the personalities of the main characters—in this story, the hostess and the soldier. This exercise would be useful for revising adjectives. The hostess – жадная, старая; the soldier – находчивый, веселый, etc.

Exercise 4. Write the following words from the fairy tale on the board: “каша, котелок, вода, соль, масло”, then ask learners to describe the process of cooking the porridge. This exercise can also be completed using the imperative mood.

7 reasons to read fairy tales in foreign language classes

1. Fairy tales are suitable for learners of all ages and levels.
2. They stimulate motivation and interest.
3. They help consolidate previously acquired knowledge.
4. They develop interaction and communication skills.
5. Stories allow the brain to “visualize” content, making grammar structures easier to remember.
6. The language of fairy tales contributes to the development of linguistic culture.
7. Fairy tale texts provide a foundation for further discussion, as they often contain universal morals and themes.

In this way, fairy tales facilitate foreign language learning through creativity and communication among learners. The teacher, in turn, accomplishes language objectives aimed at motivating students and achieving specific language goals.

Thus, in an educational fairy tale, repetition is combined with novelty in speech situations, eliminating monotony and ensuring that every learner remains active and engaged. We therefore encourage you to enrich your teaching toolkit with fairy tales and legends—present in every cultural tradition!