Tiddalik the Frog Folktale Reading Lesson Plan
Teach How to Compare and Contrast Setting, Character, Plot
Apr 11, 2009
As part of a folktale theme unit or an Earth Day unit on water conservation, teachers can use different versions of the Australian Aboriginal folktale Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog to give primary students practice with comparing and contrasting the literary elements of character, setting, and plot.
Variations of Australian Folktale Tiddalik the Frog
To begin, primary teachers should share with students different versions of this Aboriginal tale from the Dreamtime. Teachers can read reviews of Tiddalik the Frog picture books and then pick from such choices as:
- What Made Tiddalik Laugh by Joanna Throughton [Peter Bedrick Books, 1977]
- Tiddalick the Frog by Susan Nunes [Atheneum, 1989]
- The Biggest Frog in Australia by Susan L. Roth [Simon & Schuster, 1996]
- Hey, Frog! by Piet Grobler [Front Street, 2002]
- Tiddalik the Frog by Anne Faundez [QEB Publishing, Inc., 2004]
"The Greedy Frog" in The Barefoot Book of Animal Tales retold by Naomi Adler [Barefoot Books, 1996] offers a good basic read-aloud version of Tiddalik the Frog to use as a standard version of the tale.
How to Identify Setting, Characters, and Plot in a Folktale
After reading several versions of this traditional Australian tale to primary students, teachers should work with students to answer the following questions about each version:
- Where and when does this story take place?
- What are three words or phrases that describe Tiddalik? (for example, huge, thirsty, greedy, grumpy, bored with others, not interested in others, etc.)
- Who else is in the story? (for example, kangaroo, wombat, bandicoot, lizard, emu, eels, etc.)
- How does Tiddalik (or the big frog) feel when he wakes up?
- What happens to the land and other animals after Tiddalik drinks all the water?
- What makes Tiddalik laugh?
- How does the story end?
How to Compare and Contrast Setting, Characters, and Plot in a Folktale
Once the teacher has recorded all this information, model for students how to use the answers to these questions to make comparisons and contrasts between the different versions of Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog. Then guide them in making their own comparisons and contrasts.
- To compare and contrast the settings of these folktales, the teacher could say, The settings of The Biggest Frog in Australia and Tiddalik the Frog are alike because they both take place in Australia during the Dreamtime. The settings of these two stories are different from the setting of Hey, Frog! because it takes place on the savannah.
- To compare the main characters of these folktales, the teacher could say, The main character of What Made Tiddalik Laugh and the main character of The Biggest Frog in Australia are alike because both frogs wake up very thirsty, but are not grumpy. The main characters of Tiddalik the Frog and Tiddalick the Frog are similar to each other but different from the first two frogs because they wake up thirsty and grumpy.
- To compare the plots of these folktales, the teacher can focus on a specific event and say, for example, The plots of Hey, Frog! and Tiddalick the Frog are the same because in both, the frog laughs because of eels. However, they are different because in Hey, Frog! the eels tickle Frog on purpose to make him laugh, while in Tiddalick the Frog, Tiddalick laughs at the sight of Noyang the eel accidentally tied in a double knot.
As a way of assessing that students have mastered the ability to make comparisons between the settings, characters, and plots of two versions of the same folktale, teachers can pass out Venn Diagrams to individual students, pairs, or small groups and have students identify the ways the settings, characters, and plots of two versions of Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog are alike and different. Teachers can have advanced students use their comparisons to write a sentence that sums up the main way the two versions are the same and different.
For an extension activity, teachers can use the story of Tiddalik and the effect his water hoarding had on his environment as the focus for an integrated reading and science water conservation lesson plan.
For another compare and contrast reading lesson to use as part of an elementary folktale unit, try a Pumpkin Folk Tale Reading Lesson Plan in which students compare and contrast two versions of a Bengali trickster tale.
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