Lesson plan:

Genre

The narrative in this episode has many similarities with the genre of fairy stories / traditional tales, particularily the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Noting the way in which a text draws on and varies traditional storylines is an important reading strategy and one which can increase understanding, appreciation and pleasure.

As a whole class

Before viewing read, tell or review the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and ask students to look for the similarities between Little Black Balls and the fairy story.

View Little Black Balls then list the similarities identified by the students.

Narrative structure

Class discussion

Extend the discussion to include the ways the writers have varied the story to fit in with the Round the Twist setting, characters and continuing narratives. As a starting point identify the 'constants' in the Round the Twist stories, for example, same major characters in every episode, identical settings, continuous relationships - Dad/Miss James, Pete/Fiona, Pete vs Junior Gribble and so on. Explain that any television series will have production limitations, that is, events that simply cannot happen because of the requirements of the television time slot for which it is intended, the ongoing story and/or the budget.

Give students a copy of this Guide to Writers (adapted from actual instructions given to writers of the old Bonanza series).

Discuss the possible reasons behind each of these instructions to the writers.

Individual activity

Ask students to prepare a 'List of Instructions to Writers for Round the Twist'. Compare their lists and ask students to justify the reasons for their rules.

Acting

View Little Black Balls

The dinner scene early in the episode provides the opportunity to study non-verbal language as a great deal about characters' thoughts and feelings are conveyed even though very little is said. Non-verbal language includes facial expression, gesture, stance, movement and costumes.

Replay the sequence asking students to focus on expressions and gestures and to consider what they convey.

Individual activity

After viewing, ask students to imagine they are one of the characters and to write down the thoughts going through their mind during the dinner. If appropriate this scene could be compared to the family dinner scene in Just Friends from the Winners series which also makes effective use of non-verbal communication.

Group activity

Students could also design and produce a mini-play which depends entirely on non-verbal language to convey characters' thoughts and feelings, eg. a party; a crowd watching a sports match; people watching traffic on a road and there is an accident, etc.

Film language

Class discussion

The dream sequence provides the opportunity to study how film language works. Replay the sequence and discuss how the idea that this is a dream is conveyed. Points to note include the use of a wide angle lens (an unnatural view of the scene), camera tilts (ie the camera is at an angle to the horizontal), the use of extreme close-ups, colour and lighting.