Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to show that fairy tales are effective educational tool that turns learning a foreign language into a educational fun activity. The research based on comparative study of Chinese and Russian fairy tales, the use of fairy tales in learning a foreign language.

Fairy tales are a product of ancient people's imagination and fantasy about the unexplainable surrounding things, the beginning of ancient people's ignorant thinking and the embodiment of ancient civilization. The tragic colors, sublime meanings and simple materialistic ideas expressed in ancient Russian and Chinese heroic myths have strong pedagogical significance to this day, especially in the process of foreign language teaching. The importance of folklore in educating international students can be considered an integral part of their second language learning and intercultural competence.

This paper is divided into four parts to discuss the role of Chinese and Russian heroic fairy tales in foreign language teaching. The first part introduces the background and significance of the study, its purpose and methods, as well as the current status; the second part is an exposition of fairy tales, including the concept of fairy tales, the characteristics and classification of Russian and Chinese fairy tales as well as the pedagogical role of fairy tales including its psychological, emotive and cognitive aspects; the third part discusses the pedagogical functions of Russian and Chinese fairy tales, such as the function of cultivating the aesthetic feeling of international students, as well as their ability to understand the social life of the country under study at that time period, etc. The fourth part is a case study of implementing heroic fairy tales into the teaching process.

The article suggests the practical recommendations and exercises for effective use fairy tales in teaching foreign languages. The methodology of applying fairy tales introduces increases students’ interest in the language under study, boosts their vocabulary, develops a feel for languages, creativity, and above all, helps form their intercultural competence.

Keywords:

Chinese, Russian, fairy tale, cultural differences, teaching foreign languages, intercultural competence.