PROMOTING LEARNING IN EARLY YEARS USING FOLKTALES IN CLASSROOM

Buzome Chukwuemeke & Iweribor V.N.

Department of Early Childhood Care & Education

College of Education, Agbor

Email: ebuzome2013@yahoo.com

Abstract: This paper attempts to explore the importance of using folktale in teaching infant and promoting learning in early years.  It has been observed that most of the children in their early year classes in Nigeria are unable to develop learning skills.  When conventional method of teaching is used in teaching infants, it  only consider  the child as young adult as teaching are carried out without recourse to the tender age of the child, which against the pedagogical process.  This is why the use of folklores/folktales becomes necessary at the child’s early years in order to achieve curricular objectives. This has contributed to the recently observed negative transfer of knowledge that pupils exhibits as they transits from one school level to the other. Nothing compares with proper foundation in teaching the child how to learn well and be ready for the academic life ahead. This paper also examined the concept of folktale as an effective tool in teaching and learning by infant in the early years; it discusses the correct attitudes to be instilled in the child that would facilitate learning readiness; it identify the role of folktales in building reading-readiness, creating interest and building children vocabulary skills in their early years.  Finally it concluded with the recommendations that would aid learning in their early years by eliminating baroness, monotony and promote the needed motivation to learn.