“The Grandmother” and “Grandaunt Tiger”：Raising Children’s Awareness of Safety by Teaching Them Literature

Abstract

Little Red Riding Hood is one of the most popular fairy tales both in the Eastern countries and the Western countries, and there are lots of versions throughout the world. The Grandmother, the version from France, and Grandaunt Tiger, the version from China, are popular and comparable; besides, they both have the same educational implication for warning children not to talk to strangers when they are alone. As the outside world is dangerous and unimaginable; moreover, there are increasing numbers of criminal cases in Taiwan, it’s significant for adults to raise children’s awareness of security. According to Henderson & Malone (2012), one of the useful ways to teach children ethical messages is “case examples”. Using well-known fairy tales and apply them into teaching is a useful way for adults to counsel children. As a result, parents can warn children of safety by using the two fairy tales: The Grandmother and Grandaunt Tiger. In my study, I prove that literature really plays an important role in our lives, and it can be used as a good teaching technique when counseling children.

《小紅帽》是世界上廣為流傳的童話故事之一，在歐亞洲各地都有不同世紀流傳的不同版本，其中，在法國眾所皆知的傳說「外婆的故事」，和流傳於台灣與中國的民間故事「虎姑婆」，不僅在情節上非常的相似，故事也都蘊含著教育意義，讓孩童在閱讀後可以反思並從中學習。現今台灣的社會治安惡化，犯罪率有逐漸升高的趨勢，孩童不論是獨自在外或是獨自在家都可能身陷於危險之中，更因為多數孩童的心智尚未發展成熟，無法了解、應對外面險惡的世界，因此，提升孩童對於自身安全的警覺是相當重要的議題。根據研究顯示，教導孩童關於倫理觀念最有效的方法之一，是運用知名的故事並使他們置身於故事情節當中，讓他們思考並從中學習。因此，透過教導孩子「虎姑婆」和「外婆的故事」，讓他們想像自己是故事中的主角，會讓他們比較能夠了解到注意自身安全的重要性。透過研究，我說明了文學對於孩童的重要性，也證明了文學在孩童教育扮演著相當重要的角色。