Cultural Preservation in the Digital Age: The Future of Indigenous Folktales and Legends

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Innovations in second language teaching are essential for sustaining students’ interest and motivation in the classroom. This paper presents an innovative project that integrates the reading of folktales from the Semai, an indigenous people of Malaysia, into ESL learning to enhance both linguistic skills and cultural awareness. The project involved 30 diploma students enrolled in a proficiency class, where reading is a key component of the syllabus. Students were introduced to ghost stories from The Myths of Semai, which they were required to read, comprehend, and respond to personally. As part of the project, students retold these stories by creating animated videos, utilizing storyboards to dramatize the tales and video editing apps to compile the storyboards into completed animations. These videos were then presented in class and uploaded to YouTube, making them accessible to a wider audience of ESL learners. In addition to the video creation, students were asked to write reflective journals detailing their learning experiences with the Semai folktales. The reflections were systematically analysed to identify emerging themes, revealing the profound impact of this innovative approach on students’ engagement and learning outcomes. The findings suggest that incorporating indigenous stories into ESL curricula can significantly enhance cross-cultural awareness and foster acceptance of diverse traditions. This approach not only strengthens language skills but also enriches students’ understanding of cultural diversity. Future research could further explore the application of such methods across various educational contexts and among different learner groups.