This short presentation was designed to provide my students at Inglés Integrado II with basic tools to write a folktale

1. M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

2. 1. Think of, and make a list of the characters you
want to include. Folktales are generally
associated to local customs, traditions and
culture. Ex. The farmer, the fisher, the miner, the
king, the queen, the maid, etc.
2. Fairy tales are; somehow; a fight between values
and anti-values. Think of a person (or people)
who might represent this antagonism. E.g. The
farmer’s brother, the greedy prime minister, the
evil fisher’s wife, someone’s step-sister, etc.
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

3. The moral…
3. Think of a moral you would like to teach.
* Folktales have been told for centuries in order to
transmit a moral (generally a virtue, a positive
teaching or, a value.)
For example: love prevails, misers won’t be happy,
greedy people are punished, fairness and humbleness
are always rewarded, forgiveness is the key to
happiness, etc.
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

4. Brainstorming, shop listing, mapping, cognitive
islands and other pre-writing exercises, can help
you to define important events in your story.
Ex.
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

5. The setting…
5. Provide yourself with a list of places where
your story is going to take place. Folktales
frequently take place in real places (the
forest, the farm, the castle, a village, a garden,
the meallows, etc.)
6. Now, events in your story might happen in a
specific time order. Relate the places you
have written to specific periods of time.
Ex. The forest------at night, the castle----next
day. M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

6. Writing
7. Once you have your ideas properly listed is
time to organize them and add some content.
Start by writing simple sentences. Remember
that most sentences follow this pattern:
subject + verb + complement
(direct, indirect, place, time…)
E.g. The fisherman captured a gold fish
from the lake that very morning.
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

7. Once you have several sentences start adding
details…
Ex. The old fisherman captured a small gold
fish from the waters of the lake….
And more details…
The old but brave fisherman captured a very
small gold fish from the dangerous waters of
the dark lake…
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

8. Organizing your ideas…
Put sentences in order (time sequenced),
then polish ideas and add extra information
to support your writing.
. One sunny morning, the humble fisherman
took his old boat and went fishing.
After many hours of hard work, the old but
persistent fisherman captured a very small
gold fish from the dangerous and deep
waters of the dark lake…
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

9. Editing
Editing is the process in which other text
corrections are made.
For example verb tense agreement, subject
-verb agreement, adjective-subject
agreement, declinations, spelling,
punctuation, etc.
You can also add what your characters
thought or said…
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

10. So… The Fisherman and the Gold Fish
One sunny morning, the humble fisherman took
his old boat and went fishing.
-What a beautiful morning!- He exclaimed.
After many hours of hard work, the old but
persistent fisherman had captured nothing but a crab
and a pair of old boots.
Finally, something hit his line. It was only a very
small gold fish who lived in the dangerous and deep
waters of the dark lake…
-Well, he thought, my kids will love to have this gold
fish as a pet…
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.

11. The End…
Remember to provide a proper ending to
your story. This ending must reflect the
moral you tried to teach…
Want to try it?...
M.A. Vianey Martín Núñez A. Universidad
Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.