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Paper short abstract

This paper explores how Uzbek folklore about floods, droughts, and epidemics can be used in language classrooms to foster resilience, intercultural awareness, and critical thinking, showing how traditional narratives of catastrophe remain relevant in times of global crisis.

Paper long abstract

In Uzbek oral tradition, stories of natural catastrophe have long served as cultural tools for survival. Legends of rivers flooding entire valleys, proverbs born from drought years, and village accounts of epidemic loss not only explain disaster but also transmit moral lessons about resilience, solidarity, and human dependence on nature. Such narratives redefine what is “normal” in a crisis and embed the “natural” world within social memory.

This paper examines how these folkloric texts can be integrated into language education, particularly in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classrooms. For example, when students work with a proverb such as “The thirsty land teaches patience” or an epic passage describing famine migrations, they not only learn vocabulary and narrative structure but also reflect on the cultural strategies of coping with scarcity and uncertainty. Similarly, stories of epidemic outbreaks—often framed as trials of faith—become entry points for classroom discussions about vulnerability, adaptation, and community care.

Drawing on seven years of teaching practice, I argue that folklore-inspired pedagogy bridges cultural heritage with modern educational needs. It creates space for students to connect local histories of catastrophe with contemporary global crises, from climate change to pandemics. By engaging with disaster narratives, learners gain both linguistic skills and a deeper awareness of how storytelling sustains resilience. Ultimately, teaching such texts reminds us that narratives of catastrophe are not only about loss, but about the human capacity to endure and reimagine the future.