Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

A new term means new topics and themes. One colleague is going to be looking at the Arabian Nights. Not an easy topic if you look beyond Aladdin and Sinbad.

The stories first came to prominence in the UK with the publication of Sir Richard Burton's translation in Victorian times. (Burton was a fascinating character and worthy of a blog on his own.) Burton's stories had to be privately published because of their erotic element, for more detail pop over to Wikipedia.

I'm going to look at what seems most appropriate for primary school children and in particular modern illustrated versions of well-known tales. I'll also suggest ideas for activities.

Illustrators
    Disney (unknown illustrators)
    (This is here to mark the strong contrast between Disney and the original versions of the
       stories and the rich illustrated history of these collected tales) 



Grolier (1996) ISBN 0-7172-8755-6

    Errol LeCain


Aladdin retold by A. Lang. Faber (1981) ISBN 0-571 11656 6

    Victor Ambrus

Tales from the Arabian Nights by J. Riordan Hamlyn (1983) ISBN 0 600 36693 6

If you're like me, then you might want to explore Michael Foreman, Stephen Lavis, David Wyatt, Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and others.

Activities
   Digital-storytelling
          (i) Write the 1002nd tale with a cliff-hanging, unresolved ending
         (ii) Illustrate the story
        (iii) Record the work:-
                 as a performance of the tale using green-screen technology
                 using 2Simple Publish, Create-a-Story or Create
                 using M/S Word, Publisher or PowerPoint
                 with Interactive Whiteboard Software
                 using Comic Life
   Other things
         2Simple Do-It_Yourself - make games
         Lego WeDo - Build and programme "Sailboat Storm" and "Flying Bird" to
              include in Sinbad's tale. Build and programme original ideas for other
              tales.
         Scratch - get stuck into some simple programming with Scratch such
              as animation and conversations.
         Mount a production for Christmas (though I find the thought totally
              overwhelming).