PAL Drama Lesson 5 and 6 - The Lonely Dragon

Lesson 1 out of 2

Level : Primary 2

Duration : 2 Hours, 2 lessons

Domain : Performing Arts – Drama

Lesson Title : THE LONELY DRAGON

Adapted from: The Toymaker’s Workshop and other tales, Jo Boulton and Judith Ackroyd, © 2004 David Fulton Publishers

Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK.

Prior knowledge and skills

Students should be able to:
1.  Recognise when the teacher is taking on a role
2.  Respond to the issues in the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher

Drama Objective/s

Students will be able to:

1)  Make:
• •Remain committed to the role-play by believing in the imaginary situation

2)  Respond:
• •In-role:
i.  Respond to the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher
• •Out-of-role :
i.  Respond to the issues in the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher

Value
• Care


SE Competency
• •Social Awareness

Specific Skill
• Able to discuss their initial assumptions/perceptions about people
• •Able to discuss how their initial assumptions about people have changed

Outcomes of SE Competency
Students will be able to:
• •Understand not to judge others by their initial assumptions/perceptions
• •Empathise with a person in need of help

Materials Required
• Pictures of mountain villages
• Drawing papers and colour pencils
• Tambourine / Bell

Synopsis for the lesson:

There is a cave halfway up the mountain where a dragon lives. The villagers who live at the bottom of mountain are not happy about the dragon and hide whenever they see him coming. One day they see him crying and decide to find out why he is so sad. The villagers get to know the dragon better and befriend him.

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LESSON 1
1 PHASE 1: SETTING THE CONTEXT

Teacher Narration:
At the bottom of the village, there was a river that flows from the tall mountain. 

The mountain was thick with trees. 

Halfway up the mountain was a cave and in the cave, there lived a dragon. 

No one ever went up the mountain to see him/her. 

In fact, he/she never ever had any visitors.

2 Discussion (leading in)

Ask the following,

 “If you were in a village,:

• •How do you think your village looks like?


• •Where is it located?


• •When you walk into this village, what are the
things you see?


• •Who are the people you find in your village?


• •What kind of work do the people in your village
do?


• To introduce the context for the drama.
• •To encourage
questioning skills.

MAKE
Pictures of mountain villages Source for
pictures of mountain villages to help trigger students’ imagination
if necessary.

3 Teacher asks:

• •Why  do  you  think  no  one  in  the  village  ever
visited the dragon?
[Responses may vary: Dragon would eat them; He/she  is  frightening;  He/she  has  big  claws  and might scratch them; He/she could set the houses on fire, etc.]

• •What do you think this *dragon looks like?
[Responses may vary: Scary; Frightening; Very fierce; Very unfriendly, etc]

• On a piece of paper, get the students to draw what the dragon might look like. Ask students to write down one or two words to describe the dragon. (Teacher may need to write some of these adjectives on the board)

• •When everyone has completed their drawing, ask the students to paste them on the wall for all to see the various interpretation of what a dragon looks like

• •Whatever the students suggest, emphasise that no one has ever seen the dragon do any of the bad things the villagers are worried about.



MAKE

Drawing paper and color pencils


*It is important for the lesson for students to imagine the dragon. Do not show them pictures or videos of one.

Close this part with the following Teacher Narration:
But you see, no one had seen the dragon do any of these  things,  but  they  were  always  afraid  he/she would.

4 PHASE 2: BUILDING BELIEF

• •Tell the children that the Dragon never comes too
close to the people but he/she will sometimes be seen flying overhead, watching them.

• •Inform the children that they would be producing
a few Freeze Frames of what they might see in the village on a typical day.

• •Ask the children to suggest ideas of what the
villagers might be doing on that day (e.g. picnic, playing games, etc.) and where they might be in the village.

• •Once everyone is ready, teacher to ask everyone
to present their freeze frames and remain still with the command, “Three, two, one, freeze!”.

• •Teacher  asks  the  following  questions  and  get
them to observe what their classmates are doing:

o What is happening in the picture?

o Who are the people in the village?

o What do you think they are doing?

o How do you think they are feeling? Why do you think they are feeling that way?

o What is in their minds?

• •Give the command, “Unfreeze” so that students
can relax.




• To build belief in roles
• To encourage imagination and use of descriptive language.


MAKE / PRESENT / RESPOND


5 The Dragon approaches

• •Teacher to ask the students to imagine how the
collective image would change if the dragon is seen flying towards them.

• •Instruct them to rehearse  the  transition  from  the  first  to  the second image.

• •Teacher to ask the children to think about the
following  as  they  construct  the  new  Freeze
Frame:

o How do you think they are feeling? 

o Why do you think they are feeling that way?

o What is in their mind?

o What do you think the dragon might do to
them?

• •Once  all  groups  are  ready  with  their  Freeze
Frames, teacher asks for every group to present their first Freeze Frame using the command, “Three, two, one, freeze”.

• •When the teacher claps, groups are to present
the second Freeze Frame they have created.

• •Teacher to facilitate the discussion on why their
Freeze Frames are different.



• •End the session with the following question:

o Is the Dragon really like that?

o Would you like to find out?



MAKE / PRESENT / RESPOND


END OF LESSON 1


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#2

Lesson 2 out of 2


Level : Primary 2

Duration : 2 Hours, 2 lessons

Domain : Performing Arts – Drama

Lesson Title : THE LONELY DRAGON

Adapted from: The Toymaker’s Workshop and other tales, Jo Boulton and Judith Ackroyd, © 2004 David Fulton Publishers

Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK.

Prior knowledge and skills

Students should be able to:
1.  Recognise when the teacher is taking on a role
2.  Respond to the issues in the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher

Drama Objective/s

Students will be able to:

1)  Make:
• •Remain committed to the role-play by believing in the imaginary situation

2)  Respond:
• •In-role:
i.  Respond to the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher
• •Out-of-role :
i.  Respond to the issues in the imaginary situation with their peers and the teacher



Value



• Care


SE Competency
• •Social Awareness

Specific Skill
• Able to discuss their initial assumptions/perceptions about people
• •Able to discuss how their initial assumptions about people have changed

Outcomes of SE Competency
Students will be able to:
• •Understand not to judge others by their initial assumptions/perceptions
• •Empathise with a person in need of help

Materials Required
• Brown scarf for teacher
• Drawing papers and colour pencils
• Tambourine / Bell


Synopsis for the lesson:

There is a cave halfway up the mountain where a dragon lives. The villagers who live at the bottom of mountain are not happy about the dragon and hide whenever they see him coming. One day they see him crying and decide to find out why he is so sad. The villagers get to know the dragon better and befriend him.




LESSON 2
1 Re-cap lesson 1:
• •Ask  students  to  show  their  drawings  of  the Dragon.
• •Ask them for their impression of the Dragon and write down what they say on the board.
• •Repeat steps 4 and 5 from lesson 1. (ie. re-enact typical day freeze frame and
when dragon appears freeze frame)

2 While  every  child  is  holding  their  gestures  and positions in their respective Freeze Frames (recreate the image that was created in the previous lesson),

teacher continues with the story with the following narration:

While everyone was busy suddenly in the distance they saw a dragon flying slowly towards them. 

As they stood looking at the dragon, 
they were utterly amazed to see tears rolling down his/her cheeks. 

He/she turned round and flew silently back to his/her cave.

With the children still in-role, ask the children the following:

• •What did you see just now?

• •How did the dragon look like?

• •Why was he/she crying?

• •What do you think you should do?


Teacher should encourage students’ discussion and elicit responses.

Objective is to lead them to want to visit the dragon to find out what was happening to him.

SE: Social awareness and Responsible decision making


3 PHASE      3:      DEEPENING      BELIEF/ADDING
COMPLICATION

Setting the scene: Teacher-in role

• •Inform the children that they would be climbing
the mountain to meet the dragon.

• •Teacher to set up a chair which will be the inside of the dragon’s cave.

• •Set the chair at the back of the room,
while the teacher and the students are on the other end.

• •The  teacher  points  to  chair  and  inform  the
students that the chair represents the inside of the cave.

• •Teacher, in-role as a villager, asks the children to
sit outside the cave as if they have just arrived after their climb up the mountain.

Narrate the following:

Teacher Narration:
After a difficult climb up the mountain, past rocks and streams, trees and bushes, the villagers arrived at the dragon’s cave. 

As they sat and waited they could hear a noise coming from inside the cave.



Material:  Brown cloth / scarf for the teacher



4 Teacher (in role as villager) to ask the students:

• •What is that noise, you think?!

• •I   am   scared.   Should   we   climb   down   the
mountain?

• •Should we be talking to the dragon?

• •Let’s call the dragon and see if he would want to
come out and talk to us.

• •Let’s call the dragon together.


Inform the children that the teacher would take the role of a dragon

once teacher puts on a brown cloth (or scarf) and sits on the chair.



To provide a challenging discussion  and  to encourage negotiation skills.

Encourage students to interact with the character.

MAKE /
RESPOND



5 Teacher then puts on the cloth over the shoulder and sits. 

Express unhappiness in the form of body language and facial expression. 

Teacher to ask and interact with the students in-role based on the following:

• •Hello, this is the first time I have visitors. Who are
you?

• •Please forgive me because the cave does not
have  any  furniture  or  anything  comfortable to host guests like you.

• •Is there something you wish to ask me?

• •Is there a reason why you are here today?

• •What stories have you heard about me?

PAL/SE:   Show empathy to someone  in need of help . To not judge someone  by their initial assumption


6 Invite responses from the children with regard their
thoughts about the dragon:

• •Oh dear. Is that how the rest of you also think of
me? Why?

• •I am always alone, you know. I have no friends. I
want  to  come  down  to  the  village  and  make friends with all of you.

• •I don’t even dare to do that because I am afraid
that all of you think that the rumours about me are true...

• •Why do people think that way of me when they
do not even know me? This is so unfair…



Teacher explains in role as the Dragon how lonely he/she is,

and how he/she has never eaten anyone and wants to make friends.

Explain how dragon can’t help that he/she is scary-looking

because it is the way he/she was born. 

Also, he/she actually breathes fire only when he/she laughs.

• •Can you please let me be your friend because I do not like to harm anyone?

• •But you know that I would breathe fire if I laugh 
and I don’t want to harm you. 
What can I do?

Encourage students to think of how they can help the dragon. 
One way is to direct them to suggest organising a party and the dragon would be invited to attend. 

Teacher may (out-of-role as the dragon) at

Encourage students to respond and build the conversation. 

Get students to acknowledge that it is wrong to misjudge others when they do not know them well.


RESPOND

Persist in staying in-role.

Teacher may come out of role at points to discuss on the role-play.  E.g Teacher may (out-of-role)   at some point express   doubt that the dragon would be accepted because of the fears and concerns   the villagers  would have.  some point express doubt whether the dragon would
be accepted because of the fears and concerns the villagers would have.


• •Okay, it seems that you have all gained my trust and I would want you to trust me too. I promise I am not going to hurt anyone.

• •I will join you at the party!

• •You should all go back to your village now before it gets dark.



7 PHASE 4: RESOLUTION

Ask the students to create a path down the mountain by forming two lines.

Tell them that the Dragon would be walking down the path and to imagine how he/she would be feeling as he/she walks slowly towards to village.

Teacher-in-Role as the dragon, invite the students to speak aloud about what the Dragon might be thinking and feeling:

• •I am frightened but I am sure I will be fine

• •I am excited.

• •I hope they are nice to me.

• •Maybe it’s a trick and they would kill me.

• •I hope I won’t breathe fire.

• •I hope I won’t knock anyone down with my tail.


As teacher arrives at the end of the path, turn around slowly and address the children as if they were villagers:

Hello everyone. Thank you for inviting me. Is there anything I can do to help?

Encourage the students to suggest possible activities that the dragon could do.



MAKE/ RESPOND


SE: To not judge someone   by their initial assumption



8 Teacher Narration:

The celebration went very well.

Everyone enjoyed it, especially the Dragon. 

From that day on, the people of the village stopped being afraid of the dragon because they knew him/her.  

Although he/she looks strange and different, he/she was really a friendly dragon after all.


In groups of 4-5, create Freeze Frames of moments of the villagers and the dragon spending time together. 
The students could think of a title (caption) for their Freeze Frame. 
Allow each group to present their Freeze Frame and the other groups to comment on it.



Discussion (reflection)
• •Why was the dragon lonely?

• •How did the villagers feel about him/her at the
beginning of the story?

• •What caused them to change their minds?


Closing activity
• •Give out students a piece of A4 paper.

• •Student to draw a portrait of the dragon now that
the villagers to invite him/her more regularly.

• •Conduct a gallery walk for the students to view the
others’ works.


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Drawing paper, colour pencils/ crayons
END OF LESSON 2