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Teacher’s Resource Pack

Tessa Bide Presents  

Written by Tessa Bide and Yvonne Dobson  

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Contents Introduction Page 2

Overview of the story Page 2

About the Author (Tessa Bide) Page 2

About Yvonne Dobson (teacher) Page 2

Literacy activities Pages 4 - 5

Science/maths activities Pages 5

PHSE activities Page 6

Art & Design activities Page 6

Music and dance Page 6

Further information and contact details Page 7

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Introduction This resource pack has been designed to give you ideas to use the story of The Tap Dancing Mermaid as a starting point for a creative curriculum. It offers ideas to fuel the imagination and inspire children. The pack also gives an insight into the creation of an original story which forms the basis of this exciting production. Funded by Arts Council England, the show opened in September 2013 and has been touring the UK ever since. Alongside the production, the author, Tessa Bide, is available to visit schools and youth groups to facilitate workshops in the lead up to their trip to the theatre. The pack contains activities that use the story as a ‘hook’ for children’s learning and hopefully will encourage you to explore some ideas of your own. Three curriculum headings have been used to frame the activities: Literacy, PSHE and Art. Overview of the Story ‘Moon’ has had enough of listening to everybody else’s night-time stories; it’s time for him to tell a tale! It is Moon’s job to light the long dark nights on Earth and to conduct the Earth’s orchestra of seas, plants and animals. As a reward for this eternal work, Moon receives one wish as a thank you from the universe every 1000 turns around the Earth. He also brightens up his endless nights by watching a young tap dancer called Marina Skippett... Marina creeps out of her house at night to tap dance on the boardwalk with the sounds of the sea as her metronome. She can’t tap dance at home anymore since her evil, tractor-sized Aunty (in the show a formidable, moustached puppet made from a rather lurid lampshade!) banned it, threatening to feed Marina’s dinners to the dog! Marina talks to the moon because she can’t talk to her Aunty. She doesn’t know that he is listening to every word, unable to answer her questions and laugh at her jokes. Then, one magical night, Marina discovers a young merman, Leo, swimming in the sea – he has travelled for weeks to see what that amazing sound is! Marina and Leo become great friends and their friendship blossoms every night. Every night, that is, until her Aunty discovers her secret night time outings and locks her in her wardrobe never to be free again. Moon must help her escape! He enlists the help of a friendly seagull who swoops in and hilariously steals the Aunty’s hair! Marina escapes and runs down to the sea, chased by her enraged, bald Aunty. Leo saves her, pulls her into the water and transforms her into a mermaid to be safe from her Aunty forever. Life is magical under the sea but Marina is miserable – she will not be able to tap dance ever again! Moon can’t bear Marina’s sadness and uses his next wish to enable her to walk on land every time he is full in the sky. The story ends happily with Marina tapping away one night a month, Moon smiling down at her.

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About the Author Tessa Bide is a Bristol-based performer, writer and producer who grew up in South-West Dorset, by the sea. She trained with renowned children’s theatre company Stuff and Nonsense, during which time she toured the UK performing in ‘The Elves and The Shoemaker’, ‘The Enormous Turnip’ and Niki McCretton’s one woman show ‘Muttnik: The First Dog In Space’. Her skills as a solo performer were enjoyed by sold-out audiences across the UK and Tessa was branded a ‘truly amazing one woman powerhouse’ by Jessica Currie (Guide 2 Bristol). In January 2011 she started writing The Tap Dancing Mermaid and left Stuff and Nonsense later that year to start making it into a show. Tessa likes to combine puppetry, dance, physical theatre, music and comedy to make enchanting and innovative productions that are enjoyed equally across the generations. The Tap Dancing Mermaid was her first devised solo production and was awarded Arts Council England funding in August 2013 to develop it before touring the UK from September 2013. Tessa has also made a two-hander show in a custom-built bell tent called Arnold’s Big Adventure and she is currently developing a new show for Christmas 2015: The Festive Fable of The Melody Makers. Tessa also teaches and facilitates workshops for all ages. She is a trained Arts Award Advisor and often uses her workshops with children to test new ideas and gain feedback from her target audience. About Yvonne Dobson Yvonne is a Primary School Teacher of over 18 years experience who teaches a creative curriculum, using a topic or event as a ‘hook’ to encourage children’s learning across a range of subjects.

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‘Pearl  Harbor’  by  Jacek  Yerka  www.amazingincredible.com/show/59-­‐the-­‐fantasy-­‐worlds-­‐

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Activities to support learning in literacy Library/bookshop Visit Many libraries are keen for school groups to visit them and will read a text to your group. You could ask about stories set under the sea or in other worlds. Contact your local library to set up a visit. Talk for Writing

1. Read the story to the children and develop gestures (in the style of Pie Corbett) that will aid their memory and help them to retell the story. For more information on the Pie Corbett approach, see www.talk4writing.co.uk/about

2. Encourage the children to respond on a personal level to the story. Ask open-ended questions for example:

• ‘Tell me what you thought/felt about...’ • ‘What came into your mind when I read...’ • ‘Have you come across anything like this before?’

3. Extend their responses and encourage critique with questions such as: • ‘What lead you to think that?’ • ‘Can you extend/’unpack’ that idea for us?’

4. ‘Hotseat’ the principal characters (Marina, Moon, Leo and Aunty) at different points in the story. 5. ‘Freeze Framing’ – organise small groups to act out scenes from the story. Say ‘Freeze!’ and

ask the class how the characters are feeling, or what they are thinking, at that moment. 6. Conscience Alley – arrange the children in 2 rows facing each other, each row will be ‘pro’ or

‘anti’ a specific decision. One child should walk down the aisle and be persuaded one way or another. For example, Marina is deciding whether or not to turn into a mermaid. Marina walks through the ‘alley’ and the two rows will try to persuade her why it is a good or bad idea.

Visual Literacy 1. Use clips from films set in fantasy worlds (E.g. Finding Nemo or Wall:E) or use clips found on

The Literacy Shed (www.literacyshed.com/the-fantasy-shed.html). • Split the class into groups with each group focusing on a different aspect of the film (e.g.

light/shade, music, camera angle, movement, the passage of time etc) – teach them to ‘read a film’. Groups to feed back what they observed.

2. Use stills of fantasy worlds for children (Google ‘Fantasy Worlds’) to describe using prepositions, e.g. behind, within, under.

Writing opportunities

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1. Ask the children to write an alternative ending to the story. Will they make it a happy or a sad ending? Ask them why they chose that ending.

2. ‘Gingerbread’ the characters – ask the children to write what they believe the character is like ‘on the inside’ and ‘outside’ of a character

3. Ask the children to describe the setting at different points in the story. E.g.: • On the boardwalk in the moonlight • In the wardrobe • Under the sea

4. Write news articles about different elements of the story. E.g.: • ‘Strange Sights on the Boardwalk’ • ‘Local girl goes missing’ • ‘New mermaid in town’ (News report from the mer-world about Marina joining them)

5. Write a diary for the main characters – Moon, Marina, Leo and Aunty. 6. Explore writing from the points of view of inanimate objects. Tessa was inspired to write from

The Moon’s perspective by reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a fictional story set in Germany during WWII written by Death. What else might like to tell their story? The Tap Shoes? The Wardrobe? The Sun?

7. Tell the children that a new mythical creature has been found under the sea. They must describe it for a scientific journal I.e. where it lives, what it eats, how it behaves, who discovered it etc. (They can then draw or make it, see ‘Art and Design’)

8. In the story, Marina learns some new words from Leo’s underwater world. Can the children remember any and what they mean? E.g.:

• Sphore = the world • Draggles = humans • Mertle = baby mermaid • Wishstar = lucky golden starfish the mer-people use for good luck

Can the children think of any of their own? Maybe for what the mer-people eat or wear?

Activities to support learning in Science/Maths 1. In the story, Moon says his two jobs are to light up the nights and to be ‘The Grand Conductor’ of

the tides and the animals. Break this down and explore what this means. I.e. • How does the moon light up the sky? • Why does the moon’s shape appear to change? • What is the relationship between the moon’s cycles and the measurement of time on Earth? • Does the moon affect animals and people? How?

And for older children: • Discuss the effects of the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth’s tidal system.

2. In mer-world, the mer-people have made their homes from all of the discarded rubbish humans have thrown into the sea. Explore this environmental issue:

• What can happen if we throw rubbish into the sea? How can it affect the eco-system? • Research where in the world has the worst pollution • How can we stop this from happening in the future? What does ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’

mean? • Make a poster to try and stop people from polluting the sea.

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Activities to support learning in PSHE 1. Link the story to bullying:

• Is Aunty a bully? • Why do you think this? • How do you think this makes Marina feel? • What do you think Marina should do about her Aunty being like this?

2. Relationships: • Marina talks to Moon because she doesn’t feel like she has anyone else to talk to. Why is it

important we have people to talk to about our problems? • Who do you have to talk to? • Moon feels like he can’t help Marina because he can’t talk back. Have you ever felt like you

don’t know how to help someone? What can we do when we feel like this? 3. Marina had always wanted to be a tap dancer and it was the only path she could see herself going

down. Do you have hopes and dreams of what you want to do in the future? How do you think you will achieve them? If our dreams don’t work out, how can we deal with this?

Activities to support learning in Art and Design 1. Ask the children to make mixed media collages of the underwater world or the scene with Marina

tap dancing on the boardwalk. 2. Draw the mythical sea creatures you invented earlier (in literacy) 3. Make puppets of the main characters or the mythical creatures you invented earlier – Tessa can

help lead a puppet-making workshop. 4. Make some ‘junk mer-houses’ out of discarded rubbish you bring in from home. Activities to support learning in Music and Dance 1. Tessa can send you some of the music from the show. These tracks were written for the show and

are used in specific moments in the story. Listen to these tracks and ask the children: • What sounds can you hear? • Which instruments can you hear? • What emotion does the song feel – is it happy? Exciting? Sad? • At which point in the story could you image this track playing? • Which song can you imagine Marina tap-dancing to? Why?

2. In the story, Moon says that Marina uses the waves crashing on the shore as her ‘metronome’. What is a metronome? Is there one in school you could show the class?

3. Tap dance is all about rhythm. What is rhythm? Send a simple hand clap around the circle and get it gradually more complex. (This could lead onto rhythmic games such as ‘Who Stole The Cookie From The Cookie Jar’)

4. Can any of the children tap dance? Can they teach the rest of the class some tap dance moves? 5. Tap dancing doesn’t just use feet; it can use hand claps, slaps and noises made with the dancer’s

mouth. Make up your own rhythm using as many different parts of your body as you can. Can you make any sounds that no one else in the class can?  

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Other information Public funding from Arts Council England supported the creation of this pack. Credits from the show: Written, devised and performed by Tessa Bide Moon narration: Adam Fuller Designer and set builder: Marta Gemma Puppet maker: Sarah Dicks Music Composer: Matt Huxley Sound Design: Gwen Scott Poster Artwork: Lydia Davies Poster Title Artwork: Emily Faulkner Thanks also to: Yvonne Dobson For further information about The Tap Dancing Mermaid contact: Tessa Bide tessabide@gmail.com 07983611194 www.tessabide.com