The Show
"On Tuesday Years 3-6 witnessed a fabulous German puppet play about the three little pigs. There was a change in the production, instead of the pigs being farmers the pigs were hip and liked to listen to techno which was first started in Germany."
... Michael, Year 5, St Peter's Anglican Primary School, Campbelltown, NSW
"Die drei kleinen Schweinchen was a great experience for the girls and boys to learn there German, we also got to sing the songs - one of them was called Brüderchen Komm Tanz Mit Mir."
... Year 5 student, St Peter's Anglican Primary School, Campbelltown, NSW
"I liked the way they arranged the set. I also liked the words they used. The puppets were very funny. The music was very upbeat. Last of all they were good letting us use their puppets."
... Brianna, Year 7 student, Norris Rd State School, Queensland
I loved the puppet show. It was fantastic. The puppets were so live like and the directors were great. I had a fab time. My favourite puppet was Hilde. She was cute.
... Belinda, Year 7 students, Norris Rd State School, Queensland
"I liked the part where the audience got to go up and be puppet masters and they got to speak German as the puppets' voices."
... Year 6 student, Norris Rd State School, Queensland
"The attractive and skilful presentation of such live material to students, especially when augmented with appropriate 'before' and 'after' language activities is a proven language acquisition motivation. In a world of increasing dominance of the virtual media, Ros's dedicated one-woman show is a valuable theatrical delight that I would like as many students as possible to experience."
... Marianne Blöcker, former German language advisor, Queensland LOTE Centre, Brisbane
"I wanted to thank you again for a wonderful performance. The children told me they thoroughly enjoyed it, especially der böse Wolf, the techno music and getting a chance to work the puppets."
... Sarah Wenke, German teacher, Bethany Lutheran College, Raceview, Brisbane
"The puppets are very colourful and stimulating. Since the puppets speak only German, the students have to engage fully and apply all the relevant strategies to construct meaning from the information supplied. The students are also encouraged to take risks, producing spontaneous language when using the puppets themselves. ... It has to be recognised as a successful and valuable variation to the LOTE programme."
... Klaus Neumeier, German teacher, Redland Bay State School, Redland Bay, Queensland
"Last Thursday, 286 excited students from 7 schools teaching German gathered at Tinana Hall to watch the story of The Three Little Pigs brilliantly set into a German landscape by Mana Puppets. ... The students had lots of fun joining in when the gigantic wolf was looking for the pigs amongst the audience. At the end some kids were puppeteers themselves leading the puppets behind the scene."
... Article for The Maryborough Herald, 13 April 2005, by Christine Lindner, German teacher, Albert State School, Maryborough, Queensland
"Mana Puppets' German language puppet show, Die drei kleinen Schweinchen, is a great and unique opportunity to assist German language teaching and learning in Queensland and a priceless resource for nearly all levels, both in Primary and High School. For senior students it provides a great opportunity to have the experience from the view of a puppet player and thus create their own little show for junior students of German, which my class 7 was keen to do. They were inspired by Ros' and Hugh's remarkable show and developed the story of the three little pigs further according to their own original and humorous ideas and had a lot of fun!"
... Ursula Kroker, German Teacher, Norris Road State School, Brisbane, Queensland
The learning materials:
"I thought that the follow-up stuff was fabulous ... They (the students) seemed to really enjoy them (the activities), and I felt that the language was very well reinforced through them."
... Julia Ruhl, German teacher, St Peter's Anglican Primary School, Campbelltown, NSW
"The follow-up materials were most useful in reinforcing their learning. The listening activities were understandable for all students from years 4-7. They loved the voices. The grade 4s made the wolf and pig masks, which they were excited about. We had some creative ideas with performing sections from the play. They presented their short plays in German to the rest of the class in German, which was also a rewarding experience for them."
... Sarah Wenke, German teacher, Bethany Lutheran College, Raceview, Brisbane
"The preparation and follow-up material have a lot of activities that students feel comfortable with, such as role play, vocabulary supported by marvellous pictures, word-searches, fill in the blanks, speech bubbles in comic style, comprehension and listening activities and creative writing exercises and above all, the songs! It led to the comment of students that they were proud to have understood about 75% of the show which motivated them to further pursue their German studies."
... Ursula Kroker, German Teacher, Norris Road State School, Brisbane, Queensland
"BLAZER TO THE RESCUE" - Fire Safety Show
1. Associate Professor John Lidstone, QUT (Queensland University of Technology). Research Report funded by Emergency Management Australia, February 2005:
"In observing the children at each performance of Blazer to the Rescue, two features stood out. Firstly, all children watched with rapt attention throughout and secondly, few, if any, children failed to respond to questions that were asked either by the puppeteer per se or as Blazer. They responded readily to questions about what they should do if their house were to catch fire and used a mixture of 'learned' responses such as 'Get Down Low and Go Go Go', or 'Stop Drop and Roll' and more generic responses such as 'We should get out of the house quickly' ..."
"The humour in the presentation - especially references to burned bottoms, bbq'd pork, undies in the oven or socks in the toaster - was particularly enjoyed ..."
"Puppetry presentations such as Blazer to the Rescue have huge potential for presenting and reinforcing safety messages including fire safety for children ..."
2. Commissioner Frank Pagano, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, May 2001:
"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your development of the Fire Safety Puppet Show, Blazer to the Rescue. The message provided is consistent with key messages delivered as part of the QFRS Fire Ed program and your presentation provides excellent reinforcement of these messages to children. Congratulations and best wishes in your new endeavour to make children safer throughout Queensland ..."
3.Rod Knight, Acting Manager, Staff Development, Professional Development Unit, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, November 2000:
"The overall production was very entertaining, delivering many valid fire safety messages to a young age group ... Ros, with her personal charm and sound educational background, maintained the attention of the children for the full duration. Ros has in-depth knowledge of fire prevention, having worked as an educational consultant to QFRS over a three-year period. As a consequence, she was confident in delivering the key fire safety messages ..."
4. Ross Ginns, Acting Regional Training Manager, North Coast Region, QFRS:
"I believe it is an excellent program, and, with further support, would enable QFRS to enhance our partnership with the community and espouse the fire safety message ..."
"THE THREE LITTLE PIGS IN AUSTRALIA" / "THREE LITTLE PIGS GO BUSH"
The Backpackers Down Under Show
and
PRESENTATION ON AUSTRALIA
Teachers from Realschule (High School) Lichtenau, Germany, May 2003:
"Thank you very much for coming to Realschule Lichtenau. You have given our students the opportunity to experience authentic English and to take a look at 'real Australians' and Australia. This will certainly have an effect. We're looking forward to your next German tour ..."
BACKPACKING DOWN UNDER
(Article from school magazine, Bredenbrief, Brede Gymnasium, Brakel, Westfalen, Germany, 2003)
By Edith von Boeselager, Head of English, Brakel Grammar School
It finally happened on 2 July 2003! Australian puppeteers, Ros and Hugh Childers from Mana Puppets, delighted Year 5 and 6 students with their puppet show, The Three Little Pigs in Australia. Hilde, Fritz and Peter, the three little backpacker pigs, conquered the hearts of the audience and conveyed to them a first impression of the continent "down under".
While Ros introduced the characters of Clarrie Crocodile; Lowitja, the Aboriginal ranger; Blossom the Possum and Kevin Koala; Hugh demonstrated how some traditional Aboriginal musical instruments sound and how to play them.
After the performance, some of the children were allowed to inspect the puppets which had been created with much love and attention to detail. The children were also able to work a puppet behind the set.
The following are excerpts from letters written to Hugh and Ros by Year 6 students:
Thanks for the puppet show. It was fantastic. I was happy to understand most of the words and now we know some information about Australia ...
The crocodile and the three pigs Fritz, Peter and Hilde were very good. The opossum with the Hip Hop song was great. I liked the crocodile that came to the audience ...
I liked the man with the chainsaw who cut the trees and locked the pigs up. Did you make the costumes yourself ...
Thank you that you came from Australia and even brought some things from the Aborigines ...
I hope you two will play another funny story in our school. You can even offer a course in puppetry in some schools. Much luck!
The Brede audience joined in singing with Ros and Hugh the following song from the show:
BACKPACKING DOWN UNDER
Refrain:
Dingo, didgeridoo,
Wombat, wallaroo,
Koala, kangaroo,
Kookaburra, cockatoo!
We packed our bags and got on the plane
To fly to a land where it doesn't always rain,
Where you see gum trees and billabongs
Go to barbecues and sing Aussie songs.
Australia is a land so vast
That to get very far, you need to travel fast.
In summer people like to go to the beach.
But swim between the flags! That's what lifesavers teach.
In the Aussie bush you must take care.
Look out for spiders and ticks in your hair!
Don't let flies in your mouth when you start to talk
And don't step on snakes when you go for a walk!
We packed our souvenirs and got on the plane
To fly back home where there's nearly always rain.
We've made Aussie friends and sung Aussie songs.
We'll keep sending emails long after we've gone.
© Mana Puppets 2003
11 Hogan Court,
Camp Mountain, Qld.,
Australia 4520.
Phone/Fax: +61(0)7 3289 2047
Mobile: 0413 816 789
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Today is Aug 28, 2008. Page last updated: Mar 21, 2008. |
