Lesson video

Hello, I am Molly, and welcome to today's lesson on dragons, very exciting.

So in this unit, we are going to be exploring stories that are told all across the world.

So cultures around the world have their own stories that they have been telling for hundreds and thousands of years.

And some of these stories are still told today.

I mean, I wish we could explore all these stories together but there are way too many.

So we are just going to take a look at a few.

And some of them, you may well have actually heard before.

In today's lesson, you are going to need some space.

So make sure that it's nice and safe.

You're not going anywhere that you're going to bump your head.

There's nothing on the floor, okay? And here is how today's lesson is going to look.

So, we're going to start off with a warmup, and then we are going to explore some of the stories told about dragons across the world.

You are then going to create an improvisation, creating your own dragon, using different parts of the stories that we have heard in our lesson today.

And then to finish our session, we have got a question to see what we have learned today, okay? Here are our key words for today, myth.

They are ancient stories used to explain the natural world.

Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something that is not planned beforehand.

And a scenario, a description of what could possibly happen.

Please take this opportunity now to make sure that you have got enough room and enough space and that it is safe, okay? Please pause the video so that you can do that.

Fabulous.

Now we are ready for our drama lesson but before we start, we must warm up.

So as you know, during this lesson, we are going to be exploring the stories about dragons told across the world.

So, I think it would be good idea if we have a think about where those dragons came from.

So, dragons are thought to have hatched from eggs.

So today, we are going on our very own dragon egg hunt.

So in a moment, we are going to go on a bit of an adventure.

We are going to need our imaginations for this exercise, okay.

So you need the right clothes, you need a coach, you need some wellies.

Then you are going to imagine that you are walking through a wooded area.

You can decide what kind of time of day it is.

It might be sunny, it might be nighttime.

It might be during the day, it might be raining.

You are going to go to this wood and search for a dragon's egg.

And a friend of yours has told you, is the best place to find them, okay? Then after while searching under leaves and in the trees, you find an egg.

How does that make you feel? Are you excited? A little bit scared? How big is it? What colour is it? Is it heavy? You have now got to be so careful with this dragon's egg because it is so precious.

So precious.

You have to get it back through the wood and get it back home to get it wrapped in a blanket to keep it warm, okay? So you're going to mind this improvisation right from the moment of getting your wellies on and your coats, going into the woodland seeing what's the weather like, you can decide all that.

You can decide what conditions you are looking for this dragon's egg in, you find it.

What does it look like? Is it heavy? What's its colour, okay? So like I said, you are going to mime this improvisation.

So miming means that you're going to perform it without any words, okay? So are you ready to go on your dragon hunt adventure? Okay, please pause the video while you have a go.

Wow, you we're delicate there, okay.

This time you are going to imagine you're going with one of your friends, the friend that told you about where to find the dragon's eggs.

So you are no longer miming, okay? You're going to be acting using your voices.

You're going to go in separate ways, you and your friend, okay? You're going to go in separate ways.

So when you find it, you will need to call over to your friend, okay? And you'll need to tell them exactly what it looks like, the size, the weight, et cetera.

And think about how will you react to finding this dragon's egg, okay? So always having that conversation with your imaginary friend that's come with you on the trip, okay? These things that you found, these dragons, they're really, really, rare, okay? Really special.

So again, you're going to have to carry the dragon's egg back with you, with your friend very, very carefully.

But this time, it's very, very hot, very, very hot.

It's too hot to hold.

So, how are you going to manage that? Please pause the video so that you can have a go.

Very good.

So one last little exercise before we start our main part of the session.

You are now going to become a dragon's egg, and then it's going to hatch, okay? Here are a couple of things to think about during your improvisation.

So how slowly does the egg hatch, okay? How long have you been curled up in the egg for? How long will it take you to stretch out from that very tiny thing that was in that egg for quite a long time? How long will it take you to fully stretch out? Think about, how are you actually going to get out of the egg shell because you can't really just pop out of it, okay? Think about how you're going to get out of that egg shell.

Also, what noise are you going to make once you've hatched from your egg? Okay? This will be your own personal dragon's call.

So once you've fully hatched, I would like you to come up with a really fabulous, ridiculous name for your dragon and introduce yourself, okay? So have a think about you might want to change your voice for this, okay? 'Cause you're going to be playing a different character.

So we start from the egg.

How do we hatch, okay? How do we get out of our egg? How long have you been curled up in there for, all right? Then we hatch, okay? How long does it take us to grow and get out of the egg, okay? How long does it take us to really stretch our bodies and get us out the egg, right? Then think about our personal dragons call, okay? This is your own personal call 'cause no one else would make a call just like yours, nobody.

So this is your own personal call.

Then you're going to give your dragon a voice and a name, okay? So you're going to give the name.

And when you say your dragon's name, you're going to say in your dragon's voice as well, okay? So you are really creating your own dragon, okay? Brilliant.

So you have one minute to do this and perform your egg hatching improvisation.

So it's not five seconds long.

I want you to really think about how long it takes to hatch, okay? So please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Great hatching, fabulous work.

Now, we are going to have a look at some stories of dragons told all across the world.

So this here is the Ninki-Nanka.

So just like the bogeyman, the Ninki-Nanka is thought to have begun life as a story to scare children into better behaviour, okay? So if a child is naughty in West Africa, they could be threatened by being eaten by the Ninki-Nanka, whose name literally translates as dragon devil.

So if they don't change their ways, the Ninki-Nanka will get them.

Yet as all folk stories, the Ninki-Nanka has evolved and changed with all sorts of tales and descriptions now associated with the mythical creature.

What most tales agree on, however, is that this is a very big and very fierce animal.

And habiting with swamps of Gambia.

Descriptions of the Ninki-Nanka commonly say that it has a giraffe neck, a horse's head, and a crocodile body.

The beast is said to be over 150 foot long and very, very fierce.

So now we are going to physically become this dragon.

So that means we are going to think about our bodies.

This isn't going to be easy, okay? As you can see, we've got a lot to think about.

We've got the head, okay? Its very, very, very long neck, and the fact that it moves like a crocodile.

So let's firstly, think about those animals separately, okay? So how does a horse's head move? How would a horse move its head? Does it make slow or quick movements? What does it do when it neighs? Does it throw its head back when it neighs? And a giraffe's neck, how do they use their necks, okay? When they're getting food, does it move? Does it sway from side to side or they use it quite quick.

And lastly crocodiles, let's have a think about how crocodiles lie and how do they move.

So, you are now going to try and create the Ninki-Nanka with your bodies, okay? You're also going to use your voice to create a sound that you think this dragon might make, just like you did when you were creating your other dragon.

So what do you think this Ninki-Nanka's sound or voice might be like.

It knows what this sound this dragon makes.

So it can be as wild as you think, okay? So please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Oh, I got a little question for you here.

So the Ninki-Nanka is said to have a crocodile head.

Is that true? Or is that false? Indeed, it is false.

The Ninki-Nanka is said to have a giraffe's neck, a horse's head, and a crocodile's body.

Well done.

This here is the "Mester Stoor Worm." And the tale comes from an Island called Orkney off the coast of Scotland.

The stoor worm's disgusting breath was poisonous to any living thing.

And he destroyed ships like eggshells.

With his massive forked tongue, he could sweep entire cities into the sea, or crush the largest castle and suck every living thing into his gaping mouth.

Whenever the store worm lay his head near a kingdom, it was expected that the people of the land were at threat of being eaten.

Every Saturday at sunrise, the stoor worm would wake, open its humongous mouth, and yawn nine times.

He would then demand a meal of seven young children.

The unfortunate people of this land soon grew tired of giving up their children.

So they took the advice of an old wizard.

This wizard said to the folks that if the the king's daughter were fed to the worm, he would leave and trouble them no more.

Not wanting to lose his daughter, the king offered the entire kingdom to any brave warrior who killed the mester stoor worm.

An unlikely hero emerged by the name of Assay Pathol, the farm boy who killed the dragon by guiding a ship into the dragon's stomach.

There, Assay Pathol applied burning soil to the dragon's liver, which eventually caused an explosion.

That forever rid the world of the mester stoor worm.

According to the legend, the dead beast did bring about a positive change for the dragon's scattered teeth created the Orkney Islands.

So now we know a little bit more about the mester stoor worm So I would like you to reenact the stoor worm's daily routine, like how we have a routine at school or sometimes we have a timetable.

This is what the stoor worm does every morning.

He would wake up, yawn nine times and no doubt, breathe his horrible breath over the people of the kingdom.

Yuck.

This time I'd like you to give him a voice.

How will your dragon sound? Is their voice low or high, soft or raspy, quiet or loud? What will your dragon say? I would like you to tell me about your routine in role as the mester stoor worm.

What children might you hunt? Why do you yawn nine times? Please pause the video whilst you become the character of the mester stoor worm.

Now it's time to create your own dragon.

Now, if you want to use some of the parts of the stories that we've been told already, then you can absolutely or you can create your dragon from scratch.

So you are going to create a short improvisation about what a dragon's day would usually look like.

So, from the moment it wakes up to the moment it goes to sleep.

So here are a few things I would like to think about whilst you create your dragon.

So first of all, waking up, okay? Does it wake up suddenly? Is it lazy? What does it do when it wakes up? Does it stretch, okay? Secondly, sound.

So what sound does your dragon make? What sound does it make when it's angry? When it's happy? When it's sad, okay? What is its sound? Next of all, its trait.

So a trait is like a special feature or something special that it does that's quite different to anything else.

So does it sneeze quite a lot? Does it walk on one leg? Does it make little noises constantly? So what's going to be special about your dragon? Next up is hunting.

So how does your dragon hunt for food, okay? Think of something really, really special.

Lastly, body.

How will you use your body? I'd like you to think of two animals qualities that you can use to create your dragon physically, okay? Physically means how it uses its body.

So just like the Ninki-Nanka was made of lots of different animals.

So it was made of a horse, a giraffe and a crocodile.

So what two animals are you going to use to bring together to create your dragon? Okay? So please pause the video so that you can have a go at creating your very own dragon.

So here we have a question.

What is a myth? Is a myth, number one, a true story? Number two, a story to explain the natural world or option three, a story with only four people in it.

What do you think the correct answer to that is? Correct, a story to explain the natural world.

Well done.

Now, you can of course share your work with Oak.

So if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearwithOak.