Lesson video

This unit covers topics such as migration, seeking asylum, leaving home and being a refugee.

If these are sensitive topics for you, we recommend checking with an adult before starting this lesson or completing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

Hello, and welcome to today's drama lesson with me, Mrs. Mears.

This is lesson three of four, the journey in our topic of migration.

Throughout today's lesson, we will be in role as a family in pursuit of a dream.

We will actively consider perilous and challenging scenarios that help us engage and empathise with our characters.

In this lesson, you will need some space to work in, so make sure your floor is clear.

You have space to the side to move around and you've got space above your head for standing up.

You'll also need to something like a backpack or a similar bag that you can take around with you on our journey and you're going to need a pen and paper or something to write with.

So if you need to pause the video to go and get those things ready, do so now.

Great, our lesson today is four-fold.

Our first activity is going to be an instruction game.

We're then going to move on to look at our expectations of the journey itself.

Then we're going to experience the journey together and finally, you are going to perform an abstract, nightmare journey yourself.

Our key words today are, thought tracking, which is when we speak our thoughts aloud, physical theatre which is when we use our body to become objects or scenery, so anything that the body cannot really be.

We're then going to be looking at still images, which are static pictures that we make by freezing the action, which we sometimes called a freeze frame or by imagining and then devising them.

We're then going to look at abstract drama.

Now abstract drama is non-realistic drama.

It isn't real, okay.

So this is a performance which can be symbolic or representative.

It often highlights the emotions and feelings that we have, doesn't necessarily create a linear story.

If you don't understand it fully yet, don't worry because once we start engaging with our abstract drama piece, you'll understand it in a much more detail.

Okay, I now need you up on your feet for this first activity, which is an instruction game.

So I'm going to be really, really clear in my instructions and I want you to join in with me.

So my first two instructions are really, really simple.

They are start and stop.

So when I say start, I want you start walking around the room and when I say stop, I want you to stop.

You need to use all the space available to you.

I'm going to be facing forward but I need you using all of your space.

Okay, start, stop, start, stop.

I'm going to add in two more rules now.

When I say jump, I want you to jump.

When I say clap, I need you to clap.

Okay, start, clap, clap, jump, start, stop, clap, clap, jump, go and stop.

Well done, we're now going to start adding in more and more rules.

I'm not going to explain them as we go along.

I need you to simply use your initiative and go for it.

Okay, start, run, start running around that room.

That's it and stop, run, stop, jump, clap, duck, run, duck, run, jump, run, start walking, run, clap, clap, jump, clap, run, duck, hide, hide somewhere.

And run and walk and tyre, really, really tired.

Think about the slow motion that you're going to use for tyre, that's great.

And clap, jump, clap, jump, jump, clap, jump, jump, clap, run and stop.

Okay, now I need you to actively create a freeze frame on the count of five.

So what we're going to do here is I'm going to say a word and you need to show me that with your body in any way you want.

So this is going to be more of an abstract, still image or abstract freeze frame if you were.

So, we're going to begin with the instruction journey.

But when I shout out a word that is an emotion or a feeling, you are going to stop, I'm going to give you a countdown of five seconds, and you are going to create that emotion or feeling or saying with your body in the best way that you can.

Don't worry if it feels weird because it probably will.

Are you ready? Start, stop, run, jump, clap, run, panic.

Five, four, three, two, one, and freeze and run.

Run again, well done.

And clap, clap, jump, clap, duck, run, stop, excitement, five, three, two, one, freeze.

Jump, jump, stress.

Five, four, three, two, one, freeze.

Great and jump, jump, clap, run, run faster and freeze.

Hungry, five, four, three, two, one, freeze.

And now make that freeze frame even bigger, even more hunger in five, four, three, two, one, freeze.

Excellent and clap, clap, jump, clap, prepared.

Five, four, three, two, one, freeze.

And relax, give yourself a shake out.

Well done, that was a great warm up for you.

And hopefully you thinking a bit more about abstract emotions, which will help with our final piece.

Let's move on, okay, we're going to now look at our expectations of the journey that we need to take part in.

So if you remember, we have been thinking about the idea that some sort of disaster is on its way.

Maybe it's war, maybe it's a fire.

Maybe it is some other kind of disaster, like an earthquake or a volcano erupting, or there's a great big flood coming our way but there's something dangerous that's heading our way.

That means that we have to leave our homes together as a family.

Okay, so let's begin to think about the journey that we're going to go on.

Now, this image that we've drawn for you is based on an image of el tren de la muerte, also known as La Bestia.

So this is a train that travels throughout South America.

And it is used by many, many immigrants to help them travel really long distances.

It's called, el tren de la muerte, which means the train of death.

This is because many, many people don't make it alive throughout this journey.

You find lots of stops along the journey, people who've fallen off, who've lost a leg or an arm, it's incredibly treacherous and incredibly dangerous but some of these people leaving are doing so because they feel that even with those dangers, this is the best option for them.

So what I want you to do right now is to pick one of the people in the picture that you feel resonates most with you.

Maybe it's someone who you can't see their face because we haven't drawn everybody's face for you.

Maybe it's someone who is very much in the distance and you can only see part of their body maybe or maybe it's someone nearer the front, where you can see a lot more of their faces.

There's a woman really clearly at the front and there's a man on the phone and there's another man standing with his orange jacket.

So these are people who we can get more of an idea as to what it is that they may be feeling, but pick someone that you feel resonates with you and stick with that person.

I would like you to give that person a name, decide what name they might have.

I also want you to decide what it is that they are leaving behind them.

Maybe they are leaving a war situation.

Maybe they are leaving a very angry, dangerous family situation or they're leaving behind dangerous people, maybe they are leaving behind a place where they just can't get a job and they have been unsuccessful in getting money and providing for their family.

Maybe they are leaving because there's been an earthquake and their home's destroyed.

What's the reason? You decide and stick to that decision.

So give them a really clear name and a reason why they are leaving and think about what it is that they hope to get when they get to their destination.

Do they want safety, do they want money? Do they want to see a family that I've been missing? What is it that they are hoping to get once they reach their destination? And this is the drama activity that I would like you to do now.

And you can pause the video now while you have a go at it.

I would like you to create that person, using your body in a still image.

We could call it a freeze frame, but it's a still image.

So you're going to create the position that the person's in, so think about where your arms are, where your head and think about the facial expressions.

Even if you can't see them on the picture, you need to really think about what facial expressions are hidden from you.

And you're going to recreate that with your body.

You are also going to deliver a thought track.

Now a thought track, as we've said before, is when you say your thoughts out loud.

So some sentence starters that might help you might be, I worry, I wonder, I wish, I hope, what if, if only, so think about what your thought track might be.

Pause the video now, feel free to do so, and create your still image and your thought track.

Great, let's move on because another way that you can travel from one country to another is by boat.

Now this is a picture that shows really clearly some people's faces, they are very, very crowded as you can see, just as we were on the train, there are lots and lots of people in this very small boat.

So think about all of these people here.

Is there anyone in these images that you think really resonates with you? Maybe it's one of the very, very young children that you can see.

Maybe it's that man in the middle of this hat who seems to be kind of quite controlled.

It might be the lady at the back with her hand up, who's she waving to? There's another lady who's kind of holding onto a stick on the side.

Maybe it's someone holding one of their babies.

Who is it that you feel most kind of drawn to? Choose the person and give them a name.

Again, think about what it is that they are escaping from.

Once you've decided that, what I want you to do again, is to recreate this person as a still image and give them a thought track.

If you'd like to pause the video now, you can give that a go.

Well done, we're going to move on again to our next method of travel, which is walking.

Now, we can see here, this is a picture of people from a very, very dry land.

You can see the floor, we've got no grass in this area and they're walking towards quite a lot of grassy area.

So maybe they are escaping something like a famine.

Maybe they are escaping a drought, which is when you don't have enough rainfall.

And if you live in a village rather than a city or a town, you need rain for your water supply, in order to live.

So maybe they're escaping for a reason like that.

I want you to have a think about which person you're drawn to.

Maybe it's the lady who's carrying her baby.

Maybe it's someone who appears to be on one of the donkeys, maybe it's the man at the front leading the donkeys.

What's his situation, is he leading these people? Has he told them all to leave.

Maybe all of their lives are in his hands.

Think about what person are you drawn to the most? Give them a name, decide on their reason for leaving.

Decide on what it is that they are seeking when they get to their destination.

Okay, and then what I want you to do again, is to recreate them as a still image and give them a thought track.

Again, you might think about saying something like, I worry.

I wonder, I wish, I hope, I want.

So pause the video now if you need to do that.

Brilliant, now our final method of transport, we are not going to explore in the same way.

And method of transport is by lorry.

Okay, now you may know already about some of the journeys that people make by lorry when they come into a new country.

These journeys are often incredibly dangerous.

Sometimes the lorry drivers themselves, who might be taking anything from one country to another, they don't know that someone is on their lorry.

Sometimes they do know, okay.

Either way, obviously, by taking someone by lorry and hiding them in your lorry, what this is something that is illegal and it's something that is incredibly dangerous.

Some people hide inside the lorries themselves.

Some people hide underneath the lorries.

Can you imagine, as you're travelling along a road, hiding underneath a lorry.

Some people tied near the wheels themselves and hold on for dear life above the wheel, for hours and hours on end.

So this can be an incredibly dangerous situation.

So I'd like you to create two rumours.

The first rumour is going to be something that you've heard about the lorry driver themselves.

So think about something that could be scandalous that lorry driver has taken loads and loads of immigrants across, and he doesn't care about their lives at all.

In fact, all he cares about is the money that the people give him.

Maybe the rumour is something completely over the top.

That lorry driver is a right weirdo.

All he does all the time is fetch and carry people across the border.

He doesn't have a life, that's all he does.

Maybe your rumour is something that is full of danger.

That lorry driver I've heard, is really awful.

People say he's a murderer.

maybe your rumour is something that sounds like it's true.

That lorry driver's a right idiot.

He won't even notice if you sneak onto his lorry, he doesn't care.

He doesn't seem to understand that it even gets him in trouble.

All he does is listen to music in his cab.

I'm telling you, that's the lorry you want to get on.

So think about the rumour that you want to have for your lorry driver.

Pause the video now, while you try that out now.

Great, we now need to move on to our second rumour.

And this rumour is, again, it can be scandalous, over the top or true, or it could be dangerous.

And I would like you to think about a rumour that people might say about the immigrants who travel by the lorry.

So maybe it's to do with where they go in the lorry, maybe it's to do with how many people in the lorry, maybe it's to do with the fumes that they breathe in.

As they have to take this journey.

Maybe it's to do with the fact that they might suffocate inside this lorry.

Maybe it's a rumour about how easy it is to travel by lorry.

It's up to you, pause the video now while you have a go at that.

Brilliant, so now that we've had a think about that, how do you feel about the journey that you're about to go on? Are you excited, are you nervous, are you scared? Why do you think people take these risks? Because people do, loads of people.

This isn't something that is incredibly rare.

It might be something that is incredibly rare for me.

And some of you watching and some of your families and friends, but many, many people around take these risks.

What do you think about that? We are now going to be experiencing the journey together.

I am going to be in role with you as we go on our journey.

So get yourselves up and ready to have a go.

Okay, so we're going to make our journey all the way to Germany now from our country.

So grab your backpack and put it on if you haven't already.

And let's start walking to the train station.

It's quite a hard journey but you're excited and you're feeling great about it.

You get to this train station and it's really busy, buzzing with people everywhere.

Think about what you can see, all the different sites of people excited.

What can you hear? Maybe crying, maybe laughter.

What can you smell? Maybe someone's body odour.

Maybe it's a smell of some flowers nearby.

Dad's gone off to go and get a train ticket.

Think about how you feel.

And I want you to deliver a thought track that starts with, I wish, in three, two, one.

Brilliant, and we're really excited until dad comes back and he wasn't able to get us the train tickets, not even one.

And this is where we know we have to make a decision because we discussed this before.

If we can't get a ticket, we're going to have to go in the cargo hold.

So we'd go up to the cargo hold and we see if we can get on and we can, but mom can't.

So this is a moment where I'm going to get you in a moment to pause this video, because you need to say goodbye to mom.

Think about how you're going to do it.

Is it a high five, is it see you later aligator, is it, I love you so much, make sure you phone.

What is it? How are you going to say goodbye to mom? A cuddle, are you going to kiss her? How is this going to work? So pause your video now while you interact with mom and deliver some dialogue, think about what you are going to say.

It might possibly be your last words to mom face to face.

Okay, so you've said goodbye to mom.

Now you've got all the way up onto the coal.

And as you sit down, you gash your leg and it's really painful and it really starts to hurt.

And you start to ask anyone if they have a plaster but the train moves and suddenly, I'm sitting down and you're on this coal and you're moving.

You're trying to wave goodbye to mom, you can barely see her now and it's moving.

And it's really fast, so feel how fast it is.

Maybe you need to take your backpack off to give yourself some comfort maybe.

Maybe you sit on it, maybe you're going to lie down on it.

How are you going to work with your backpack? And you're going really, really fast now.

And it's feeling quite dangerous.

Your sister's scared, but dad's holding her hand so it's fine.

Okay, and we're moving and we're really, really tired and we're really cold and we just don't want it.

And this is lasting so long that it's now nighttime.

It's dark, it's freezing.

How are you feeling about this? What do you think might happen? And I want you to deliver now a thought track that begins with, I wonder, in three, two, one, okay.

And we eventually fall asleep but we're still moving and it's not a great, deep sleep.

And then we're woken up because dad pokes us on the shoulder and says, we're here.

We're at the port, so you grab your backpack.

You put it back on as quickly as possible.

you've got to dash out before anyone sees you and you get arrested and get down, down that ladder.

Okay, help your sister, even though your leg's really hurting you.

And now we need to find a boat because we need to travel across to Europe, that's where Germany is.

So you're looking around you.

Haven't got a visa, you can't get on a boat legally.

You're going to have to go into one of these smaller fishing boats and you're going to have to pay someone quite a lot of money.

Now dad comes back and he tells us that he's been able to secure a place for us but he doesn't have enough money for all four of you.

Someone's going to have to stay behind.

And he decided that that someone is granddad, because granddad can take care of himself but he can't take care of you and your sister.

And you need someone to look after you.

So grandad's got off.

He said his goodbyes and you've got onto your boat.

So get yourself onto this real, wobbly boat.

You don't have a life jacket and it makes you really, really scared.

But dad says not to worry because he can swim and he will be here to protect you.

So you hold hands with your sister and you hold hands with your dad and the engine starts.

And it's really fast, you didn't realise how fast the motorboat was, and as you are going, you're jumping up and down, it's your bottom is crushing on this boat.

And it really hurts.

And every so often there's a great, big wave and you're up and you crash down.

And it really starts to hurt.

And the waves are splashing in your face and you're wet and you're freezing and you don't have a life jacket.

It's becoming really scary.

And you're on this boat for hours and hours and hours until the engine stopped.

Now you're just floating nowhere at sea.

And all you can do at this moment is wait.

And I want you to give me a thought track now.

Beginning with I worry, in three, two, one.

Okay, and it starts to get to night time.

And it's really dark, your sister's really scared.

You're going to squeeze her hand.

There's something in the distance, it's dark but you can see it.

You can just about make it out.

It's a great big ship.

So you all start to wave, these great big waves, as big as you can.

And eventually, this great big ship slows down and it sends out some great big things so that it can rescue you.

And you've managed to get on board of this great big ship and you were finally safe and eventually it takes you to land.

And when you get onto land, you realise you're in some sort of refugee camp.

You're a refugee, you've seen this on television but you never thought you would be one of those people.

And you're in line for a queue for some food because luckily, someone's making you food.

You haven't eaten for days now.

So you get this food and it's hot, smell it.

It smells really strange, but you're so hungry you're going to eat it anyway.

So think about what it tastes like.

It's going to be definitely a strange taste to you.

Maybe it will be slightly slimier or saltier or sweeter than you're used to, but you eat all of it.

And now, dad's come up to you.

We're going to get to Germany.

We're going to get into a lorry, we're going to get inside a lorry, he's already made a decision.

We're not going to be sneaking underneath a lorry or anything dangerous.

We're going inside a lorry, but it does take three days.

And we're not going to be able to have any food or drink in there.

We're not going to be able to move much.

Probably won't even be able to sit down and we won't have any access to a toilet.

So you decide that although this is going to happen, it's a sacrifice you have to make.

So you get into this lorry with your family and you start to move.

And as you're moving, I want you to feel all your body aching and it's really, really achy.

You feel this lorry going fast, going side to side and you feel weak on your feet but fainting isn't even an option because there's no space to fall onto the floor.

Even if you wanted to, even if your knees buckle.

So you're standing there and you're on this lorry and it's going for three days and you feel your fingers and your hands and your arms and your shoulders and your back and your legs and your toes and your ankles and your chin and your head, everything hurts.

And suddenly, the doors open, the light comes in and you are in Germany.

So think, did you have an emotional reaction to this exercise? Maybe there was one part of the exercise in particular that really grabbed you.

Maybe it was when you were on a particular transport or maybe it was when you were saying a particular thought track.

Could you label this emotion? Can you give it a name? And what part of the journey was the most intense? And why was that? What was it that made it maybe the most gruelling or the most full of intensity for you? Okay, now we are going to do something slightly more abstract, and this is going to be much more you coming up with your ideas rather than doing what I'm asking you to do.

Brilliant, so we're going to do all the writing exercise.

So this is the one where we need our pen and our paper.

So grab your pen and paper, and you are going to need to write down some words that come into your mind when you think about a perilous journey.

We've just been on our journey.

So hopefully you've got lots of words in mind for that already.

So only use words or phrases, but please don't use sentences and give yourself two to three minutes to do that.

Now I just did it before in about two minutes and I came up with all of these words.

You may have many, many more.

You may have less, two to three minutes.

Don't talk, just write down all the words and phrases that come to mind when you think about your perilous journey.

Pause the video now whilst you do that.

Okay, so well done on your writing.

For the next activity, what you need to do with that writing is you need to choose your four favourite words or phrases.

Now the four that I chose were achy, panic, claustrophobic and hope.

And once you've chosen your four words, you're going to do something like this.

Okay, so now you've seen me have a go at that.

It's your turn.

I would like you to rehearse abstract nightmare journey using your four words.

So I would like you to start in a different way to me.

I'd like you to start almost as if you are asleep, maybe you're in a bed, maybe you're standing up with your hands showing me that you're asleep and then you need to state really clearly, I must go.

I then want you to create the four words as still images and you're going to hold them for five seconds each.

And I want you to move in a stylized way.

And I want you to end up back asleep.

I ended up back saying, I must go, but I would like you to do it slightly differently.

I want you to go back to sleep and then wake violently.

I think it's going to be more of a nightmare if we show you actually being sleep at the beginning, showing all of this and then going back to sleep and then being awake again, as if you've just had this nightmare.

So, please pause the video now, while you rehearse this for yourself, brilliant.

Now I'd like you to have a go at that yourself but this time with the music in the background.

So I'm going to play it for you in a moment.

So you may need to get everything ready in your room and you might want to pause the video whilst you get things ready, make sure that if you are holding these still images for five seconds, you should have time to do the whole thing.

But if you do finish early, stay frozen until the music finishes.

If you'd like for someone to come and watch you, feel free to invite an adult in as the music is playing, maybe you want them to film you.

Maybe you would like to film yourself.

So if you do need to do that, get that already right now.

Okay, I am going to have the screen completely blank whilst you have a go at doing this to the music.

Well done, brilliant job.

Come back to the screen if you need to just relax and get yourself ready now.

So you've done a great job today.

So I want you to reflect now on how your nightmare performance reflected the emotions of a migrant taking the journey to another country.

Do you feel really that connected to some of the work that we did with our previous exercise where we did the journey together? Did you prefer performing, which one did you prefer? The sensory journey that we did together where I had the background behind me, or the abstract journey where we looked solely at those emotions, why? what was it that made you prefer that activity? So well done, you've done all four steps of the lesson today.

You've done a brilliant job.

Now I'm ending with our big question.

So in the case of a war or a natural disaster, like a hurricane or an earthquake or fire or flood, is it easier to stay in your home or travel across the world? An alternative question might be, is it harder to stay or to travel? Why is that? What makes something easier or harder? So well done today.

So if you would like to share your work with Oak National, ask your parent or carer to tag @OakNational or #LearnwithOak in their Twitter account.

Well done for today, our last lesson is coming up.

I really hope you can join because it's quite an exciting, fun-packed lesson.

Take care, goodbye.