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This week: Dahl-icious things for writers to ponder Edited by: THANKful Sonali LOVES DAD  
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| I share some topics for a Roald Dahl event, that worked really well with pre-teens! Hope they give some new insights in to reading and writing, for you. |
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Dear Readers,
Recently, I got the students of Grade 7 to independently work on and present an event based on books by Roald Dahl. The event included creating and explaining various art-and-craft projects, and performing or speaking. Working on the event gave me a lot of insights into critical reading (and, therefore, in to writing as well), and I share some of the topics with you.
THE BFG
BFG – 1 Imagine what your neighbourhood would look like at exactly midnight.
BFG – 2 Sophie says that nobody would worry about her disappearance. Act out the scene at the orphanage, the morning after the BFG has taken her away.
BFG – 3 When Sophie first saw the BFG, she didn’t know what he was doing. Imagine that he hadn’t been blowing dreams for the children. What other explanation could there be for his behaviour?
BFG – 4 Act out the dream about being a famous writer, with everyone’s nose stuck in the book you’ve written.
BFG – 5 Set any of these to music, and mime them:
For the various topics, you need to understand the pace and feeling of the action, and set the music accordingly. Where does the music become louder/softer/faster/slower/silent and so on?
For the presentation, you could hum the music, and mime the actions with the music.
(Ref – like some of the scenes in Mr. Bean or Charlie Chaplin – action to music.)
BFG – 5 A. Sophie’s first glimpse of the BFG.
BFG – 5 B. Good or bad dreams.
BFG – 5 C. Mixing the dream.
BFG – 5 D. The preparation for and Serving of Breakfast at the Palace
BFG – 5 E. The Helicopter Journey (Coming or going or both)
BFG – 6 What if the BFG had not taken Sophie away? Would she have told anyone about him, at the orphanage? Would they have believed her? What would have happened then?
BFG – 7 Write a letter to the BFG asking him to visit you with a dream.
BFG – 8 What would ants chattering sound like? What would the music from the stars sound like?
BFG – 9The BFG is his own person – he does not do things he does not believe in, just to fit in with the other giants. Talk about the importance of being true to yourself and keeping your individuality.
BFG – 10 Do you agree with the BFG, that if humans can make rules that suit themselves and kill animals for food, then giants can make rules to suit themselves, and kill humans for food?
BFG – 11 Why are the rocks blue in giant country?
BFG – 12 Why didn’t the BFG hear Sophie’s heartbeat when she was in the snozzcumber and Bloodbottler was in the cave? Give one or more explanations.
BFG – 13 Was Sophie pretending that she liked the way the BFG spoke, to make him feel good, or did she really like the way he spoke?
BFG – 14 They passed many different countries. Draw the new countries and/or act out what was happening in the countries they were passing.
BFG – 15 Imagine the process the BFG went through, to teach himself to write. Now, explain that process to us. You could speak, make a poster or act.
BFG – 16 The BFG says that he has had to get used to the fact that the giants eat people every day, and stop worrying about it because he feels he cannot do anything. Are there things you feel you’d like to solve and cannot because you are helpless? How do you think these things could be solved?
GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE
GMED – 1 Was George lucky, to live on a farm?
GMED – 2 If you had to invent a marvellous medicine, what would your recipe have been?
GMED – 3 Dahl says that most grandmothers are kind and loving. Tell us something about your grandmother.
COM – 4 If Miss Trunchbull (from ‘Matilda’) and George’s grandma were to have a shouting match, who would win?
COM – 5 Roald Dahl often writes about women as being mean or wicked. Do you think this influences how children think about women? (Examples - 'Matilda' and 'The Witches'.)
GMED – 6 George’s grandma was the most troublesome thing in his life, and she disappeared. Do our real troubles disappear like that?
GMED – 7 What are all the uses that George’s medicine could be put to? For example, if it were put on a dinosaur fossil, would the dinosaur come to life?
GMED – 8 George thinks that medicine should make people nicer. Imagine a ‘Make nice medicine’. What would the recipe be? What would the effects be?
COM – 9 Charlie’s grandma and George’s grandma both disappear. Charlie’s grandma returns, George’s grandma does not return. What if Charlie and George were to have a conversation about grandmas? (Ref: 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator'.)
GMED –10 Think of the card-game, Rummy. Now, imagine the different ingredients of George’s medicine, and how they could be drawn on cards, to make a game like Rummy.
THE GIRAFFE AND THE PELLY AND ME
GPM – 1 What would the sweet shop of your dreams be loaded with?
GPM – 2 Instead of a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey, what if the shop had been occupied by a porcupine, a hippo and a lizard? What job would this team have been good at? How would they have done it? Think of the pelican’s beak and the giraffe’s neck. How would their bodies be modified for the job? (You could also have three other animals of your choice if you like.)
GPM – 3 Instead of window-cleaning, suppose the giraffe, the pelican and the monkey had run a barber shop. How would they have gone about doing this work?
GPM – 4 Why is it good to use ‘kindness and hope’ while washing windows?
COM – 5 Imagine the giraffe, the pelican and the monkey meeting the BFG and helping him clean the windows of the big house the queen had made for him. (Ref: 'The BFG'.)
GPM 6 – You are a reporter for the newspaper. How would you report the incident of the theft of the jewels, and the capture of the thief?
DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
DCW – 1 Danny had never really known his mother, and was very happy being brought up by his father. Do you think he was unlucky, that he didn’t have a mother?
DCW – 2 Draw the workshop and filling station.
DCW – 3 Talk about eye-smiling as compared to mouth-smiling. Demonstrate.
DCW – 4 Danny’s father talks about how a car engine is a marvellous invention. What are some other great inventions, that we take for granted today?
DCW – 5 Is it true that children’s toys today are rubbish, like Danny says, and simple everyday implements make better toys? Why do you think parents and children spend so much money on toys these days?
DCW – 6 Do you agree with Danny’s father, about sending Danny to school later than other children? Why or why not?
DCW – 7 Imagine that Danny had written a letter or message and attached it to the fire balloon. To whom would he have written? What would he have written?
DCW – 8 Imagine that your neighbours have seen the fire balloon and think it is a flying saucer. What would they do?
DCW – 9 Imagine that Danny is grown up and has children of his own. Would he tell them about poaching? Act out the scene.
DCW –10 Mr. Victor Hazell had a pit dug on his own property, to protect the pheasants he had brought up. Was he wrong to do this? Why or why not?
DCW –11 Danny seems to be a very independent boy, and his father encourages this independence. He does not allow Danny to go to the Doctor’s house while he is in hospital himself. Is it good for young children to be very independent?
DCW –12 Choreograph the whole poaching episode as a dance.
DCW –13 These days, most of the food we eat is refined and comes out of packets. What are the advantages of eating food directly the way it is grown, like Danny ate the apples?
DCW –14 Using the punishment meted out to Danny and Sidney as an example, talk about good and bad methods of keeping discipline in schools. What sort of punishment did Danny and Sidney actually deserve, if any? Was Danny right, in stopping his father from complaining to Captain Lancaster?
DCW – 815 Danny says that if his father had been in a good school, he may have become a naturalist. Discuss how schools today encourage the students’ various talents.
COM –16 How would Sergeant Samways have dealt with Miss Trunchbull, Matilda’s headmistress? (Ref: 'Matilda'.)
DCW –17 Overall, would you say that this book has a disappointing ending, or a happy ending?
COM –18 Several of Roald Dahl’s stories contain references to how humans are cruel to animals. In many countries, poaching is rampant and many animals die in illegal pet shops. What should the government do about this situation?
DCW –19 When Danny’s father goes out poaching and falls in to the pit, Danny rescues him because he knows that his father would never have gone back on a promise. Discuss why it is important to keep our promises to people.
DCW –20 When Danny was about to give Mr. Victor Hazell petrol, Mr. Hazell was rude to him, and this angered Danny’s father. Have you come across similar instances in India, of people being rude to children? Talk about these instances and how those children and their parents might have felt.
DCW – 21 “It was beginning to look as though just about everybody in the entire district was in on this poaching lark.” Do a flash-mob of poachers.
DCW –22 Danny turned a disadvantage into an advantage, by using the sleeping pills to poach the pheasants. His father’s broken ankle was a disadvantage, using the pills was a good idea. Have there been times in your life when you turned a disadvantage to an advantage? Tell us about it.
DCW –23 How would the poaching-night have unfolded, from the point of view of the keepers? What would have happened at the actual shooting party, with all the famous people? How would Mr. Hazell have dealt with the keepers afterwards? Act it out.
COM –24 Matilda’s father broke the law, by selling stolen cars and lying about mileage and the condition of the car. Danny’s father also broke the law, by poaching. Explain why we dislike Matilda’s father and feel he should be punished, while we like Danny’s father and feel he should not be punished. If you had been a judge in a court, would you have punished Danny’s father? (Ref: 'Matilda'.)
COM –25 Many of Dahl’s stories are about children who could be considered lucky or unlucky, depending on your point of view. According to you, which of these is the luckiest, and why?
a. Matilda ... 'Matilda'
b. James ... 'James and the Giant Peach'
c. Danny ... 'Danny the Champion of the World'
d. Charlie ... 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator."
e. Sophie ... 'The BFG'.
Well, dear reader, hope this helped you to think about plot, character, point of view, movement, issues, descriptions ... and a whole bunch of other things that writers need to keep in mind!
Thanks for reading!
Sonali
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Drama: February 25, 2015 Issue [#6840]
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