Introduction:

    Imagine that you are a famous explorer who has just returned from some far corner of the globe-- a vast desert, a mighty mountain range, the uncharted expanses of the ocean, and so on.  On your voyage, you came upon a previously undiscovered civilization living here on Earth!  Now that you have returned from your journey, you must now present your discovery to the rest of the world.  What was this fantastic civilization like?  What myths and stories did they tell?

Task:

    Imagine a civilization that has never been discovered by the rest of the world until now.  Create a PowerPoint presentation about this civilization and, most importantly, its myths that could be presented as evidence of your discovery.  Remember, your primary goal is to explain the myths of this culture and how they reflect the way that the culture lives.

Process:

1.    Decide what kind of culture you have 'found'.  You might want to consider:

• Where does this culture live?
• How is it that we've never discovered them before?
• How do they live their daily lives?
• How do they survive?  Get their food?  Water?
• What does this culture believe in?  Who are their gods/goddesses?  What are their myths?

• They live somewhere ON EARTH.
• They are HUMAN.
• They are STILL ALIVE TODAY.
• They have had NO CONTACT with the rest of the world until now.

• A cover slide with a title, your name, and your class period
• Background info on how you found the culture and what they are like (1-2 slides)
• Information on AT LEAST five gods/goddesses worshipped by the culture (3-4 slides)
• A summary of the CREATION MYTH of the culture (1-2 slides)
• A summary of a MYTHIC HERO of the culture (1 slide)
• A summary of a MYTHIC MONSTER of the culture (1 slide)
• A summary of the HEROIC MYTH involving the hero and monster (1-2 slides)
• A summary of a NATURE MYTH of the culture (1-2 slides)
• A CONCLUSION explaining what you learned from the culture (1 slide)
• A CREDITS slide listing web pages from which you took graphics (1 slide)

4.    Your presentation will be graded on the following:

• Is it complete?  Is every slide represented?
• Is it detailed?  Have you offered enough information to create a picture of the culture?
• Is it edited?  Have you paragraphed, spell-checked, and edited as appropriate?
• Is it logical?  Do your myths reflect the culture?  Does the culture make sense?
• Is it creative?  Have you taken the time to make your presentation unique?

Resources:

Elfwood.com
(A LARGE collection of fantasy graphics)

Mythman.com
(A reminder of basic Greek/Roman mythology to give you ideas)

Conclusion:

    Now that you have finished your presentation, consider the folktales and myths that exist in cultures around the world today.  These stories do not occur by accident; each one reflects the unique culture that created it.  The beliefs and values of our civilizations are represented in the stories that we tell, just as the myths of your 'undiscovered' culture represented their beliefs and values.