Lesson plan:

Dad Twist and Bronson both have women problems in this episode. This episode has quite a complicated narrative based around three issues:

• Dad has promised to make an ice statue of Mr Gribble but then learns Mr Gribble will use the statue in his election campaign which Dad does not support;
• Bronson has agreed to allow his cousin to share his room but then learns that his cousin is a girl and objects;
• Bronson is infatuated with Dad's statue of the ice maiden.

Identifying subplots

As a whole class

View the first few scenes in Ice Maiden. Generating expectations about a text is a necessary strategy in understanding a text and part of the pleasure of reading and viewing. It is through prediction and expectation that the reader/viewer establishes frames of reference and understandings of genre.

Class discussion

After viewing the first few scenes ask students to identify the three sub-plots and predict how they might be resolved.

View the whole episode

After viewing the entire episode discuss whether the resolutions were expected or unexpected and why. Identify the strategies which students used in generating expectations. Many of their expectations will have been based on previous experiences of the series (generic knowledge). Draw attention to this as an important reading and viewing strategy with all texts.

Exploring satire

As a whole class

This episode is useful for examining satire - the art of making something look ridiculous for a serious purpose. The colloquial term for satire is 'send-up' and is probably one with which many students would be familiar. There are three main ways of satirising a subject:

• parody- funny exaggeration
• irony - when superficial praise is used to reveal faults
• sarcasm - bitter criticism.

Introduce the concept of satire by looking at caricatures in newspaper cartoons (especially political cartoons). Examine the ways in which the cartoonist ridicules the subject's personality traits, physical features and the situations in which they are involved. Draw
a comparison between the way a newspaper satirises a politician and the way Dad Twist's ice statue of Mr Gribble satirises Mr Gribble.

Extension activity

This can be extended to look at the way the episode as a whole satirises politicians. Teach the concept of satire and ask students to identify the serious points Dad is making about Mr Gribble with the ice statue. Discuss what other aspects of the behaviour of politicians the audience is invited to laugh at in the show.