ELEMENTARY AGES 6 – 12

Teachers' Course 5: “Presents from Heaven”

Objectives: at the end of the coursestudents should be able to:

Revise the sound of letters /U/ /u/ /V/ /v/ /W/ /w/ /X/ /x/ /Y/ /y/ and /Z/ /z/ correctly. Name some words that begin with U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Pronounce some words that have the sound U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Describe feelings Telling age Talking about food Umbrella

Play the drama story of "Presents from Heaven" written to celebrate theASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Community.

Use vocabulary correctly. Have fun. Prepare for next class.

And have more fun acting another play. Upside down

Materials required: mp3 player, speaker, recorder (if you want to make anaudio recording), microphone, printable flashcards, Wall chart of Alphabet.

START WITH THE WHOLE CLASS

Preparation - Warm up Song and Warm up Review.

Unicorn

Sing the Shape song:

Teacher "I'm a square, I have 4 sides "(twice)Children: "We are squares, we have 4 sides,1,2,3,4, we are squares"Teacher: "I'm a circle, I go round and round" (twice) Shape Song Shape Song Children: "We are circles, we go round and round, round and round, round and round we are circles."Teacher: "I'm a triangle, I have three sides" (twice}Children: "We are triangles, we have 3 sides, 1,2,3, we are triangles"Teacher: "We are shapes, you see us everywhere (twice)Children: "We are shapes, just look around, just look around we areeverywhere" - and repeat as desired.

Sing the Jingle Bell Song

“Jingle Bells, Jingle BellsJingle all the wayOh, what fun it is to ride Jingle Bells

In a one horse open sleigh”Note: In the play there is a reindeer instead of a horse.

Memory Game:

Form the students into groups. Give each group a flashcard from this website. Tell the students theletter for each flashcard, A, B, C, etc. Tell them to memorise. Then read out the letter for each flashcard. The first group to show the flashcard gets a point. The winning group has most points.

Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia

Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam

Get the children to memorise which flag is for which country. Also help them to memorise words beginning with U or with u in the words.

Which is which – upside-down, run, umbrella, United States, bun, umbrella?

Describe feelings.

Happy, laughing, sad, crying, angry, surprised, hungry. Get the students to make faces and gestures to express these feelings. Make up sentences with the students like: “I am happy”, “she is laughing”, “ you are sad”, “we are crying”, “they are angry”, etc.

2. Presentation

Introduce /U/ /u/ /V/ /v/ /W/ /w/ /X/ /x/ /Y/ /y/ and /Z/ /z/ Clarify word meaning: Umbrella, upside-down, unicorn, USA, bun, run.

Clarify word meaning: Vet, vine, village, violin, volcano.

Clarify word meaning: Waterfall, wasp, windmill, waist, watch.

Clarify word meaning: xray, xylophone, fox, six.

Clarify word meaning: Yoyo, yarn, yogurt, yacht, yak.

Clarify word meaning: Zebra, zoo, zombie, zip, zero.

Bring two volunteers to the front of the classroom. Present the letter words. Teacher says each flashcard's name with facial expression and

body language. Teacher encourages them to imitate her body language and facial expression. Divide the students into two. Let each group say the words and then write the

words.

Give the students flash cards with pictures and words: run, flag, umbrella, bun,etc.

Show the children how to mime these flashcards using movement and sound - for example waving a flag, eating a bun, running on the spot, etc.

You can also get each child to choose a partner and arrange her/him in positions and moving them - for example coming down by parachute, swimming like a dolphin, etc.

Get a pair of students to demonstrate to the class. Let them take it in turns to do this. Get the students participating as soon as possible.

The students can look at their flashcards to guess the answer. They can ask questions for a "yes" or "no" answer. They can also write the words.

Food. Ask the students what food they like.

Apple Cake Egg Ice cream Honey

Orange juice Jelly Nuts Rice Cheese

Get them to ask each other: “Are you hungry?” “Yes” “What do you like to eat?” “I like icecream” “I like cheese” “Are you thirsty?” “No ““What do you like to drink?” “I like juice” , etc. Get them to name as many foods and drinks as they can.

Age. Get them to ask each other how old they are. “How old are you?” “What is your age?”“I'm eight”, “I'm seven years old”, etc.

3. Practice

Making the drama story, "Presents from Heaven", a play to celebrate thecoming together of the ASEAN community.

There are 19 speaking parts! And plenty of extras. And plenty to prepare. It should be creative and a lot of fun.

This play can suit a large class - or many parts can be doubled or trebled for asmaller class.

Because many of the parts are very small students should be able to learn their speeches It is very important that they listen out for their 'cues, the speeches just

before theirs. It is also important that they think ahead and pass the microphone in time to

the to the next speaker They will also need to learn when exactly to bring on the cut-outs and props. The narrators can help to guide them. Who want to be the narrators? Who wants to be one or two children from each of the 10 countries. They can always be in

pairs a boy and a girl, each arriving with the flags of their countries. Who want to be Mr and Mrs Santa and the Reindeer? Who want to be the dolphins? Who would like to help with the costumes? Something to convey each

national dress? Mr and Mrs Santa, the reindeer and the dolphins? Who will prepare the flags to wave? - or children could wear them

round their necks, leaving hand free to hold microphone and otherthings they have to do.

Who would like to make or collect the props? Lots of balloon toconvey one large ballon and a cut out to convey the basket carrying -or ratter being carried on stage by - five children - or ten if in nationalpairs

You could find a trolley that on one side would be Santa's sleigh andon the other the boat pulled by dolphins.

Who would like to help with the Jingle bells music? Or find Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, or the ASEAN song?

4. Production

Drama has rehearsal and performance and is a good way for the children to cooperate, become confident have fun and learn English.

Teacher carefully works out where and when each student should move into position and leave room for other students as they arrive.

Work out how the Santa's sleigh arrives pulled by the reindeer - and if the other side represents the dolphins' boat then after the Santas leave, turn it round off stage

Have fun with Angel and Chi arriving and bumping into each by parachute - which might in fact be umbrellas.

Remember the last five - or ten children arrive in the hot air balloons basket - this will need careful organising.

Listen to the play reading to help with pronunciation.

Play Reading

The Drama Script

Encourage the the children to improvise and modify. This should give them confidence and spontaneity.

You can copy and print the flashcards and the script for the students.

ACTORS (19)

BOYS GIRLS BOYS OR GIRLS

Somchai (Thai) Ying (Thai) Narrator 1

Sovann (Cambodian) Mrs Santa Narrator 2

Mr Santa Angel (Filipino) Reindeer

Rio (Indonesian) Chi (Vietnamese) Dolphin 1

Tin Tut (Myanmar) Dewi (Brunei) Dolphin 2

Amir (Malaysian) Fann Wong (Singapore) Dolphin 3

Anani (Lao)

A SMALL GIRL AND A SMALL BOY, WEARING THAI NATIONALDRESS, ARE IN A PRETTY GARDEN WITH TREES AND FLOWERS.THEY ARE WAVING THAI FLAGS THAT THEY THEN PUT IN A TREE.AT THE SIDE OF THE STAGE STAND TWO NARRATORS WHO READ(OR PRETEND TO READ) FROM STORY BOOKS.

NARRATOR 1: Somchai and Ying are in the same class and they want to have friends from all the Asean countries.

SOMCHAI:

YING:

SOMCHAI:

I bet you don't know all the Asean Countries do you?There are ten of them.

Let me try. They are Thailand. . . .

That's easy.

YING: (SHE COUNTS ON HER FINGERS) . . . and Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia.

SOMCHAI: Wow! Well done! How can we get to know children from each of them?

YING:

SOMCHAI:

YING:

Perhaps one day you and I will marry one of them.

Don't be silly. We're too young to talk about that.

Anyway how can we meet them?

SOMCHAI:

NARRATOR 2:

YING:

Mr and MRS SANTA andTHE REINDEER:

SOMCHAI and YING

MRS SANTA

MR SANTA

SOMCHAI

YING

SOMCHAI

MR SANTA

MRS SANTA

SOVANN

YING:

SOVANN;

MR SANTA

MRS SANTA

I know. Let's ask Mr and Mrs Santa to help us.

They arrive through the sky in the Santas' sleigh pulled by a red nosed reindeer.

Look here they come!

WE HEAR THE JINGLE BELL MUSIC. AND THEN SANTA AND MRSSANTA AND THE RED NOSED REINDEER ARRIVE WITH A CUT OUT SLEIGH. SANTA GIVES A MERRY WAVE.

Hello children

Hello. Where have you come from.

We've been around the world five times.

Giving presents

Wow!

But we don't want presents.

We want friends.

(LAUGHS) Very Good! We've got one for you already.

(CALLS) Sovann!

(SOVANN A BOY FROM CAMBODIA WAVING A CAMBODIAN FLAG APPEARS OUT OF THE SLEIGH)

Sue-saw-day.

What does that mean?

It's the Khmer for hello.

He didn't want a present.

Instead he wanted to travel.

SANTA

MRS SANTA

REINDEER

SANTA

MRS SANTA, SANTA AND THE REINDEER

YING

Well we must be on our way again

Would you like us to send you more friends?

I shall very tired going round the world again.

Never mind. We' ll find other ways to send them to you.

Good bye (AND OFF THEY FLY)

(TO SOVANN) What does you name, Sovann, mean?

SOVANN:

SOMCHAI:

It means like gold.

Can you give me some?

SOVANN: No . I am very poor. But we can be friends.

SOVANN PUTS HIS FLAG IN A TREE. THEN TWO GIRLS: CHI (WEARING VIETNAMESENATIONAL DRESS) AND ANGEL (WEARINGPHILIPPINES NATIONAL DRESS) APPEAR WITHPARACHUTES. THEY TOO ARE WAVING THEIRFLAGS. THEY KEEP BUMPING INTO EACH OTHER.

NARRATOR 1:

NARRATOR 2:

NARRATOR 1:

While this was happening Mrs Santa sent two girls down by parachute.

They were Chi from Vietnam and Angel from the Philippines.

They were quarrelling; because they kept bumping into each other.

CHI BUMPS INTO ANGEL

ANGEL:

CHI:

ANGEL:

NARRATOR 2:

Stop that!

I can't help it. It's the wind.

(BUMPING INTO CHI) I don't believe you.

THEY NARROWLY MISS YING

They nearly landed on Ying's head. But Ying said

YING: Sawatdee kha. Hey, let's hold hands and be friends.

ANGEL: Kumusta.

CHI:

NARRATOR 1:

Chao.

THEY JOIN HANDS AND DANCE TO MUSIC: "JINGLE BELLS" OR "THE ASEAN WAY". DURING THE DANCE THEY PUT THEIR FLAGS IN TREES. SOVANN AND SOMCHAI JOIN IN THE DANCE.

WHILE THIS IS HAPPENING THREE CHILDRENDRESSED AS DOLPHINS PULL A CUT-OUTBOAT WITH RIO IN IT. RIO ALSO WEARSNATIONAL DRESS AND WAVES HIS FLAG.

Then a boy called Rio arrived from Indonesia.

NARRATOR 2:

NARRATOR 1:

He sailed across sea then up the Chao Praya River intoBangkok (or to another place - or up the Mekong toanother place - up to you)

He came in a boat pulled by Dolphins that the Santas hadgiven him.

SOMCHAI, VERY EXCITED, RUNS TO GREET HIM. RIO HAS THE INDONESIAN FLAG.

SOMCHAI: Sawatdee khrap.

RIO: Apa kabar. Would you like to play with the dolphins?

SOMCHAI: Wowee! Yes please.

ANGEL :

DOLPHIN 1:

Can I play too? I love fish.

And I love humans

CHI:

DOLPHIN 2:

I've always wanted to ride a dolphin.

Come on then.

SOVANN:

DOLPHIN 3:

Me too. Dolphins are very clever.

Jump on our backs

(THE CHILDREN JUMP ON THE DOLPHINS' BACKS AND RIDE 'PIGGY BACK ROUND THE STAGE)

YING: Yippee!

THEY ALL SING AND DANCE WITH THE DOLPHINS. AND RIO PUTSHIS FLAG IN A TREE.

WHILE THIS IS HAPPENING THE BIGGEST OF THE CUT-OUTS APPEARS.IT IS A HOT AIR BALLON WITH FIVE CHILDREN IN IT.

THEY WAVE THE FLAGS OF THEIR COUNTRIES:

THEY ARE TIN TUT FROM MYANMAR,

DEWI FROM BRUNEI, FANN WONG FROM SINGAPORE, ANANI FROM LAOS AND AMIR FROM MALAYSIA.

NARRATOR 2:

NARRATOR 1:

NARRATOR 2:

NARRATOR 1:

TIN TUT:

Then the last five children all arrived together.

They landed in a hot air balloon.

They each said hello in their own language.

They were a boy from Myanmar called Tin Tut.

Min-ga-la-ba.

YING:

NARRATOR 2:

DEWI:

NARRATOR 1

Sawatdee kha

A girl from Brunei called Dewi

Hai.

A girl from Singapore called Fann Wong, who spoke Chinese.

FANN WONG:

NARRATOR 2:

ANANI:

NARRATOR 1:

Ni hao.

A girl from Laos called Anani - which means orange tree.

Sabaidi

And a boy from Malaysia called Amir.

AMIR:

SOVANN:

ANGEL:

CHI:

Hello.

Isn't that funny? We've all dropped down from heaven.

But Rio arrived by boat pulled by dolphins.

So? Dolphins are heavenly creatures.

ALL THE CHILDREN AND THE DOLPHINS CRY: "YES" AND LAUGH. ANGEL JOINS IN AND SHOUTS "YES" LOUDEST OF ALL.

DEWI:

ANANI:

AMIR:

What about Ying and Somchai? They were already here.

They came from heaven too.

Yes. We all came from heaven before we were born.

FANN WONG:

SOVANN:

REINDEER:

TIN TUT:

REINDEER:

AMIR:

ANANI:

ANGEL:

Yes even the grown ups.

MR AND MRS SANTA AND THE REINDEER RE-APPEAR

Including Mr and Mrs Santa

Don't forget me

Are you a grown up?

Of course I am

Okay. You too

And all our families and friends

They came from heaven too.

SHE GESTURES TO THE AUDIENCE AND SO DO THE REST OF THE CHILDREN AND THEY CRY: "YES"

THEN THE CHILDREN SING AND DANCE TOGETHER AND PUT MORE FLAGS IN THE TREES. THIS CAN BE IMPROVISED. THEN THEY TURN TO THE AUDIENCE AND SAY TOGETHER:

ALL THE CHILDREN:

When - we - grow - up - all - the - peoples - of - ASEAN - will - be - happy - together.

THEN THEY CLAP THE AUDIENCE AND - HOPEFULLY - THE AUDIENCE CLAPS BACK.

THE CURTAIN DROPS

Rewards and Homework

The teacher gives them rewards, perhaps an English through Drama certificate. For their homework they can write a sentence about each of the Asean countries. Perhaps

their parents can help them.

Or they can draw pictures of the Santas and their sleigh or Angel and Chi arriving by parachute, or dolphins pulling a boat or ten children arriving by hot air balloon.

You can submit your pictures to the English through Drama website.

If you wish the best pictures will go on the website.

If you wish we shall add your name and / or country.

(but your privacy will be guaranteed if you wish)

You can submit your sentences about the ASEAN countries to the English through Drama website.

If you wish the most inspiring sentences will go on the website.

If you wish we shall add your name and / or country.

(but your privacy will be guaranteed if you wish)

FREE BONUS And for the best list or sentences we shall send you and your

teacher the whole of the script and production advice of "Snow-White", "Sleeping

Beauty" or "The Ugly Duckling", so that now you can produce and perform

another full length play.

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