Teacher s Resource: Twigson in Trouble

Transcription

1 Teacher s Resource: Twigson in Trouble For Early Years, Levels 1 & 2 Created by James Miller Discovery Film Festival: Sat 19 October - Sun 3 November 2013 discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Dundee Contemporary Arts 2013 With support from DCA Cinema and DCA Community & Education Team

2 Introduction Discovery Learning Resources give you exciting classroom activities to enhance Curriculum for Excellence delivery. They are created by classroom teachers and education professionals. Each resource aims to: Support and extend working with film in the classroom Help prepare teachers for a class visit to a Discovery Film Festival film and to extend the impact of that visit for delivery of CfE Develop confidence in Moving Image Education approaches and working with 21st Century Literacy /moving image texts Each resource is free and available to download from resources or via the Discovery Film Festival area on GLOW, which can be found within the Dundee 21st Century Literacy Group. We do hope that you find this useful and enjoy your cinema experience with us, - Discovery Film Festival team 01 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

3 Twigson in Trouble (Knerten I knipe) Dir. Arild Østin Ommundsen Norway / 1h12m Synopsis Twigson in Trouble is the third film based on the characters of Norwegian children s author Anne-Cath Vestly. This time round we see Junior and his best friend Twigson (a wise cracking twig) move to a new town and a fresh start. Junior isn t the best at making friends, but he and Twigson manage to become wrapped up in the goings on of their new hometown almost immediately including a scooter riding postman, a policeman with questionable habits and a surprise package in the form of an abandoned baby. On top of all this, Twigson has just become a father to a bouncing baby twig who is just as vocal as his dad! Discovery Film Festival brought you the first two Twigson films in previous years and now they complete the trilogy. It acts as a nice conclusion to Junior s story as he grows up in 60s Norway; however it can be enjoyed just as much if this is your first chance to follow the adventures of a boy and his imaginary friend. 02 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

4 Before the Film The children may never have seen a subtitled foreign language film before so it might be an idea to discuss this. Perhaps locate Norway on a map of Europe/Google Earth and ask what the children know about it. As this is a sequel, you might want to see if you can get hold of a copy of the original film (Twigson/Knerten) or the sequel (Twigson Ties the Knot/Knerten gifter seg), although the film can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of the story or characters. Watch the trailer without subtitles: Discussion points Where is the car going at the beginning of the trailer? Who are the twig people? Who are the humans that we see in the trailer? What are they doing? Junior, mum, dad, big brother, a policeman, a baby etc. What has the boy lost? He s lost Twigson but he s shouting Knerten because that s Twigson s Norwegian name. What do we think the film is about? What kind of film do we think it is: Funny? Serious? Sad? Scary? Adventure? Mystery? Romance? Now watch the trailer with English subtitles. Maybe some of the children s predictions will be correct! 03 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

5 Activity 1 Use the trailers as stimulus for a story or storyboard for what you think the film might be about. Look at the clues the trailer gave: The family are moving to a new town. Junior and Twigson pledge to never play with anybody else- why? Will Twigson make a good dad? Who is the lady with the axe and what is she chopping? How does Twigson go missing? Where is he? Why is there a baby all alone on the bench? Will the baby be reunited with his family? As I listen or watch, I can identify and discuss the purpose, key words and main ideas of the text, and use this information for a specific purpose. LIT1-04a I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to and asking different kinds of questions. LIT1-07a Activity 2 Using craft materials, create a character inspired by Twigson for use in later activities; lollipop sticks could make a Stickson, art straws a Strawson, a wooden spoon might be Spoonson etc. or indeed, use twigs to make your own Twigson- MacTwigson? You might want to make a peg doll for your Twigson. There are lots of websites to give tips and ideas like Children will create one each, but make sure you have a class one too. Take him to see the film if you want! Make sure you invent a personality for him! I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects using a variety of materials. EXA0-02a I have the opportunity to choose and explore a range of media and technologies to create images and objects, discovering their effects and suitability for specific tasks. EXA1-02a 04 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

6 After the Film Discussion points Is the film set in modern day? How do we know? (The clothes, the cars, the house, the modern haircut etc.) Why is Dad worried about Junior at the start of the film? (He s worried that Junior isn t making any new friends.) All the kids are out playing in the street. Compare children s pastimes nowadays to what would have been available to Junior. Post and postman appear to have the same meaning in Norwegian. Are there any other examples the children can remember where the Norwegian sounded like English? (One example might be Where are you? ) Why do you think Junior and Twigson refuse Ivar s help moving the crate from the post office? Junior sells his plums at a market. Have children been to a farmers market before? How are they different to shops like Asda or Tesco? Discuss where people got their shopping from in the 60s. Junior leaves his house without letting anybody know on more than one occasion during the movie. Should he be doing this? Why? Junior takes the baby home when he finds it on the bench. Should he have done this? What would you have done? It s never said exactly why Mini-Mom abandons her baby, although suggestions are given. Why do you think she did this? Why would Mum not want the police called about the Surprise Package? What would happen if she did? Is the only reason that Junior draws on Phillips poster that he needs a big bit of paper? Have your brothers or sisters ever taken your stuff without permission? What happened? Why did Ivar take down the poster? (He didn t want anyone finding Twigson, he wanted to keep him as a friend, he doesn t have any other friends.) The policeman is played as a comedy character. Why do you think the film does this? Junior hides the Surprise Package (baby) when he thinks the policeman is after them. Was this the right thing to do? What could have happened? 05 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

7 Ivar s mum turned out not to be a crazy axe murderer. Were there any other characters who at first seemed one way, but turned out another? (The doctor turned out to be quite silly, the policeman wasn t scary at all - he was a bit of a buffoon etc.) At the table at the end of the film, Ivar takes himself off outside. Why do you think he does this? (He s shy, doesn t make friends easily etc.) Why is it important that Junior ignores Twigson and goes to speak to Ivar anyway? It shows that Junior is ready to make a real friend - although he s not ready to give Twigson up just yet! As I listen or watch, I can identify and discuss the purpose, key words and main ideas of the text, and use this information for a specific purpose. LIT1-04a I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to and asking different kinds of questions. LIT1-07a 06 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

8 Activity 3 The characters in the film are very well created. We learn quite a bit about them even if they are only in a couple of scenes. Choose one of the characters from the film. Draw a detailed picture of them in the centre of a page. Around your illustration, write as many adjectives as you can that describe that character. Your adjectives can be written any way you want - curly letters, bubble writing, 3D words and can describe looks, personality, feelings etc. I can share my thoughts about structure, characters and/or setting, recognise the writer s message and relate it to my own experiences, and comment on the effective choice of words and other features. ENG1-19a Activity 4 When Twigson goes missing, Junior makes a poster. Imagine your own Twigson character has gone missing. Create a missing person poster for them. Your poster should have a detailed picture of your missing friend. You will need to include details about what your character looks like, but also what their personality is like as well. Don t forget to include contact details and a reward! Remember the Norwegian currency has 100 øre in a krone (kr). As an extension, children might script and film a television appeal. By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in a logical sequence and use words which will be interesting and/or useful for others. LIT1-26a Activity 5 Ivar has a brilliant tree house in his garden with gadgets a plenty! Design a tree house for yourself and your twig friend, to include anything you want! Label your diagram. Models of the treehouse could be made with old shoe boxes, or lollipop sticks glued together. Ivar built many gadgets, including a pulley system to send and receive things from the ground and a defence mechanism against intruders. See if you can build some gadgets into your treehouse. This activity could be completed individually, but would also suit a Co-operative Learning group, where each group member is in charge of a different part of the tree house. Through discovery and imagination, I can develop and use problem-solving strategies to construct models. TCH1-14a 07 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk

9 Evaluating this resource We hope that you found this resource useful and appropriate. Please do send us film reviews, letters from your pupils, documentation of classwork and your feedback by ing Would you make a good Discovery Film Festival Case Study? We are seeking a number of simple Case Studies in how teachers have used or are using Discovery films in the classroom across Curriculum for Excellence and across the Levels. Any case studies that we develop would be intended for presentation on GLOW, the Creativity Portal and on Discovery Film Festival websites. We have a simple template to be completed and are keen to have classwork and documentation included. If you would like to be a Discovery Case Study please sarah.derrick@dca.org.uk 08 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk