About Mana Puppets

Ros and Hugh Childers, the founders of Mana Puppets, believe strongly in the power of puppets to provide an educational message, to entertain and to cross cultural, age and class boundaries. Puppetry has been proven to be a valuable tool in language teaching because puppets provide multi-sensory experiences through language skills, folklore, music and storytelling {Akerman, Brooklyn College School of Education, 2003}.

Since 1999, Ros and Hugh have been performing their German language puppet show, Die drei kleinen Schweinchen, for primary and secondary students learning German in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. They have completed three successful tours assisted by the Goethe-Institut and have performed at language in-services at the Queensland LOTE Centre and at the 2003 Goethe-Institut Summer School. Mana Puppets have also made two very successful tours to Germany with their Australian-themed English language puppet show. Now they have developed the same show in French.

The Show

The Three Little Pigs, Claude, Fifi and Pierre, are amusing, colourful characters, who dance to techno music and wear reverse baseball caps in a modern version of the traditional story. The show is performed live with original music and songs and students are encouraged to participate actively. Simple, yet idiomatic language is used and there is considerable repetition of words and phrases. A variety of puppet styles and an imaginative, multi-level set are featured. After the performance, Ros, a teacher with over twenty years teaching experience in language education, uses the puppets in an interaction segment. Students are encouraged to practise the language as the puppets speak only French. A unique incentive to language learning is an opportunity to participate by working a puppet behind the set.

Audience

Primary and lower Secondary school students. Ros and Hugh are Blue Card holders and have insurance.

Numbers

Audience size depends on venue. Please discuss with us your requirements regarding numbers.

Venue

A hall or similar large indoor venue is preferred, but outdoor covered areas may be suitable. An area of 6 metres wide by 4 metres deep is required for the set and to allow space for interaction. Access to a power point is essential.

Length

Schedule 55 minutes: 35-minute puppet play followed by a 20-minute (approx.) interaction. We require an hour and a half to set up and 45 minutes to dismantle the set.

Cost

For Brisbane and Ipswich metropolitan areas, the cost per student is $5.50 including GST. A minimum charge of $550.00 including GST applies for 100 or fewer students per performance. For the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, the charge is $5.75 per student. Smaller schools are encouraged to combine with other schools to maximise numbers. The charge for other areas will be negotiated.

Learning Materials

Learning materials are provided at an additional cost of $30 (incl. postage) per school. They include: script, preparation worksheets, two songs on CD and follow-up classroom activities (the latter supplied on the day of the performance)

* Download Les Trois Petits Cochons brochure

LE TROIS PETITS COCHONS

A Resource for French Language Teaching

Written by Ros Childers
Illustrated by Alixe Dique

PRIMARY SCHOOL FRENCH TEACHERS

Are you looking for something different to use in your French lessons?

This entertaining and educational resource will help your students engage with the French language.

"Fresh, funky, fun!

TRIALLED BY LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Students are entranced by the lively, quirky and endearing cartoon-style illustrations.

They can easily relate to the pigs wearing baseball caps and dancing to dance party music.

WRITTEN BY A LANGUAGE TEACHER

FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM RESOURCE

This resource book in .pdf format can be used in a variety of ways:

as overhead transparencies presenting the story in total or in segments;
as printed out booklets for students to read;
as worksheets with "blanked out" speech bubbles that can be filled in with student constructed dialogue;
as preparation for role-plays, theatrical pieces or student produced puppet plays.

NB: This resource is intended for reproduction in quantities sufficient for the purchaser's classroom use. Permission is hereby granted to the purchaser to produce each page in quantities suitable for non-commercial classroom use.

CONTEXT FOR LEARNING

Fairy tales provide excellent materials for teachers to motivate young learners, who are already familiar with them and are always fascinated by the archetypal characters and timeless stories. This makes it much easier for you to present vocabulary and language structures in a way to which your students can relate.

FLEXIBLE RESOURCE

This resource may be used in a "stand alone" way, or as a very effective accompaniment to a performance of the French language puppet show, Les Trois Petits Cochons, by Mana Puppets.