Lesson video

Hello, my name is Molly and welcome to our drama lesson today on giants.

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

Cultures around the world have their own stories that they have told for hundreds and thousands of years.

So some of these stories are still told today.

I wish we could explore all of these stories together but there are just too many so we are going to look at a few and some of them you may have even heard before.

So today, we are going to delve into the world of giants.

Some of you may have read about some giants in books or seen them on television or on films. Can you have a think about how many giants you can remember? Pause this video so that you can have a go.

In this lesson today, you're going to need a lot of space and some cushions or some pillows.

All will be revealed later.

Here is how today's session is going to look.

So first of all, we're going to start off with a warmup.

Then we're going to share the story of The Giant's Causeway.

And you're going to help me act that story out.

Then you are going to have a chance to create your very own giants and then to finish off the session today, I will ask you a question to see what we have learnt.

Here are your keywords for today.

Rivals: a person or thing competing with another, to win.

Recreate: to make something again.

And script, the written text of a play, film or a broadcast.

Fabulous, now we are ready for our drama lesson today.

But before we start, we must have a bit of a warmup, okay? Today we're going to be looking at the story of The Giant's Causeway, a story from Ireland.

Before we do, I think it's going to be a good idea to really get an idea of how a giant might see the world.

So firstly, I would like you to make yourself as small as you possibly can and then very, very slowly, you are going to grow to be as big as you possibly can.

Think about spreading out your arms and your legs.

You might even want to go on your tiptoes, okay? So please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Great, it's quite amazing how big we can actually make our bodies, isn't it? So now we are going to do this exercise again but once you've grown as big as you possibly can, you're going to walk around the room as your fully grown giant, thinking about how giants walk, how big are their feet, how heavy are their footsteps, okay? So please, pause the video whilst you have a go.

Great.

So now we are going to use our imaginations.

When you have grown to become your giant and you are walking around, I would like you to imagine you've grown so big that your head has burst through the roof of your house and you can see the place that you live from a really, really great height.

So what can you see? Can you see the roads? Can you see the shops? Can you see the park? Please pause the video whilst you have a go at this improvisation, looking at what you can see as your head has burst through the roof.

Wow, you can see a lot from up there, can't you? And for our last warmup exercise, now that you have grown to become a giant and you are so high in the sky looking over everything, I would like you to use your voice but it's your giant's voice.

So you're going to tell me exactly what you can see from up there.

So let's think about how a giant's voice might sound.

Will it be loud or quiet? High or low? Slow or fast? So starting from the moment you are very, very, very small, growing to become a giant using your whole body, imagining that you are bursting through your roof, are standing above everything, please tell me what you can see using your giant's voice.

So please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Finn McCool was a giant who lived a very quiet life on the Northern Irish coast.

But there were rivals.

Other giants like Benandonner who lived in Scotland.

Finn they should battle and then laid down the Giant's Causeway so they could meet and do battle.

This is the Giant's Causeway.

Can you see all of those unusual shaped rocks? That must have taken a lot of lifting.

What I would like you to do now using cushions or pillows, you are going to create your very own Giant's Causeway.

But we need to use our imaginations to pretend that A, those cushions or pillows you're going to use to build your causeway are as heavy as the rocks that Finn McCool will have used.

And B, you are still a giant so you won't be able to move as easily because your body is so large.

So please pause the video while you collect your cushions and pillows and create your very own Giant's Causeway.

After Finn had built the Causeway, he travelled across the rocks and saw his rival Benandonner in the distance.

He then realised his rival was much bigger, taller and stronger than he first appeared from across the water.

Finn decided that he didn't want to fight Benandonner anymore and so he ran home as fast as he could.

I would now like you to recreate this scene.

So you have laid some of the stone path to reach your rival in Scotland but then you see him and how much bigger and stronger he is and you panic and then you run away.

So please pause the video so that you can recreate that scene.

Finn returned home after running away from the Scottish giant.

He really wished he hadn't suggested a battle with Benandonner.

Benandonner was on his way over to Ireland, having seen Finn turn around and run back the way he came.

His wife came up with a wonderful plan when he returned home.

That Finn would dress up as a baby and they would put him in their son's cot.

His wife thought if Benandonner assumed the baby was Finn's child, then he would be petrified to see the actual size of Finn McCool.

So they covered him in blankets.

So what I'm going to ask you to do is to disguise yourself as a baby.

So how might you do this? With a blanket, might you act like a baby and try and fool the Scottish giant? So please pause the video whilst you disguise yourself.

Oh, excellent, what a fabulous disguise, well done.

Suddenly, there is a huge bang at the door.

"Where's Finn?" Benandonner demanded.

"I want a battle with him now." Finn's wife opened the door.

"Finn's out herding the cows at the moment.

Why don't you come inside and have a cup of tea whilst you wait for him." Benandonner sat by the fire warming his hands and drinking his tea, waiting for Finn to return.

Suddenly, Benandonner heard a noise from next door.

"He's hiding in there." He lept to his feet, clenched his fists and pushed open the door, expecting to find Finn but it seemed like Finn wasn't there.

Here is a script.

The writing in brackets you do not say.

These are your stage directions.

So this is what the script wants you to act out.

And the writing in bold with the character's name before, that's the part that you say.

"I knew there was someone in there!" Remember what Finn's plan was.

So what do you think Benandonner has walked in to find? Please pause the video whilst you have a go acting out this section of the script.

Fantastic work.

Yes, instead, Benandonner saw a giant baby in a cot.

Benandonner paused.

He looked at the baby and he looked at its mother.

He looked at the baby and looked at its mother several times and then his face went very pale.

He gulped and immediately noticed how huge Finn's baby was.

And he thought to himself if Finn's baby is this big, just how big must Finn be? He ran out of the house and home he went across the Causeway, tearing it out behind him to make sure that Finn wouldn't be able to find his way across.

As you know, Finn's wife was there and witnessed the whole thing.

You are now going to pretend that you are Finn's wife, okay? And your friend has come round for a cup of tea and you are going to tell them about Benandonner, the Scottish giant that paid you a visit last week and exactly what happened.

So please pause the video whilst you have a go.

Here we are back to the script.

You might be able to see I have added a couple more sentences to our script so we can finish acting out the story.

So I have added the moment that Benandonner realises how huge Finn's baby is, okay? So now he's thinking how big must Finn be? And then he gulps, running out of the house, tearing up the Causeway behind him to stop Finn ever visiting Scotland again.

So I would like you to act this story out, also remembering the last sentence, tearing up the Causeway after him.

So you'll have to do the same with the causeway you have created with your cushions, okay? Please pause the video so that you can act out this section of the script.

Great work, thanks for helping me act out that story of The Giant's Causeway.

Now it's time of you to create your own giant.

So if you want to use some parts of the story that will have been told today, then you can, absolutely, of course.

Or you can create your own giant from scratch.

So you're going to create a short improvisation about what a giant's day might usually look like, from the moment they wake up to the moment that they go to sleep.

So here are some things in the bubbles that I would like you to think about when you create your giant.

So number one, waking up, okay? How does your giant wake up? Is it suddenly, does it stretch? Is it very slowly, okay? Number two, sound.

So what sound does your giant make? Think about the sounds that your giant might make if it's angry, if it's happy, if it's sad, is it's excited, okay? Number three, a trait.

So a trait is a special feature, so something special about your giant.

So does it walk bent over? Does it make noises constantly? Does it blink a lot? Okay.

Number four, hunting, okay? How does your giant hunt for food? Does he eat things in the wildlife because I don't think a giant can fit in a supermarket unless it ripped the roof off, of course, would it? And number five, okay? The body, how will you use your body.

So I'd like you to think about your body being really, really heavy and really, really big.

So I don't think you'll be able to move too quickly but you will be able to move far, okay? So you can now please pause the video so that you can have a go at creating your very own giant.

Brilliant work today, everyone.

I have really enjoyed today's lesson.

So I'm going to finish off today's lesson with a bit of a question.

So where did Finn McCool come from? Option one, the coast of Northern Ireland? Option two, Wales.

Option three, the Isle of Man.

So where did Finn McCool come from? The coast of Northern Ireland, Wales or the Isle of Man? That is correct.

It is the coast of Ireland.

Well done.

Now, you can share your work with Oak National and if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.