Year 10-13 students studying Modern Languages were invited to attend a symposium on Folklore, Fables and Fairytales at NLCS on Tuesday 10th October, which fitted perfectly with our annual Week of Languages. There was an interdisciplinary forum enabling all students interested in literature and the arts to celebrate the rich tradition of stories that shaped societies through the ages. There were breakout talks on English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and Russian literature, as well as on links to music, and all enjoyed the inspiring panel discussion that concluded a well-planned event.

Here’s Year 10 Giuliana’s report on the symposium:

I was very pleased to find out that I was selected to attend the MFL Symposium about Fables, Fairy Tales and Folklore at North London Collegiate during the NHEHS Week of Languages.

I knew I wanted to experience what it would be like to hear all of the inspiring talks about peoples’ views about different fables, fairy tales and folklore from all over the world. Despite there being a long journey to the destination, it was definitely worth it as we were immediately welcomed by the Head of Modern Foreign Languages of North London Collegiate, Ms Adèle Venter. After this there was the first introductory talk by a lady called Marie Matina from the University of Oxford, who gave an insightful view on “Mermaid Myths across Oceans and Eras.” After the compelling stories about Mermaids throughout history and multiple different languages we were free to go to any talk we wanted to. Some examples of talks that were available were about Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends, Tales of Africana as well as Italo Calvino’s Italian Folklore. One thing about this symposium I really enjoyed was the fact that all of the talks given were on completely different topics.

One of the talks featured the traditional German children’s book called “Struwwelpeter,” written by a famous German writer, Heinrich Hoffman. There are ten illustrated rhymed tales, mainly aimed at children. Despite this book being published very long ago in 1845, it is still a family favourite for a large number of German-speaking families and is incredibly popular for young children. This book teaches young children about the disastrous consequences of misbehaviour as well as giving up bad habits. However, this is done in a very exaggerated way, for example talking about how the Sissorman will come and cut off your thumbs if you suck them. “Der Struwwelpeter” is one of the earliest books for children that combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, and is considered a precursor to modern day comic books. This is because all of these stories are written in lively rhymes with cartoonish illustrations. This talk about “Struwwelpeter” made me realise how Germany has been inspired to create comic books by a book that was made so long ago. I really enjoyed this talk and learning about the history of German comics, especially as it was held entirely in German and I was amazed to realise that I understood most of it!

Thank you to North London Collegiate for hosting a fantastic symposium.