Lesson plan:

Humor in narrative

This episode of Round the Twist is useful for studying some of the ways in which humor is created in both written and visual narratives. Humor in narratives often arises when the creators of texts depart from audience's normal expectations. In this episode some of the humor arises from the fact that Santa Claws is in many ways the complete opposite of people's normal conceptions of Father Christmas.

Pre viewing

Before viewing Santa Claws ask students to write a description of Father Christmas that includes reference both to his appearance and personality.

As a whole class

View Santa Claws. After viewing discuss the way in which Santa Claws, the character in this episode, differs from students' conceptions. As a class draw up a table which allows students to make a point by point comparison showing how the producers have played around with the conventions for humorous effect.

Individual activity

Allow students to create their own humorous character by playing with the conventions associated with another well-known character, such as the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy. They could do this in writing, as a drawing or dramatically.

Narrative construction in film: time

Santa Claws is also useful for building up students' understanding that apparently simple stories actually have fairly complex constructions. This episode consists of flashbacks, flash forwards and jumps in time.

As a whole class

Draw up a timeline which shows the way in which the story is constructed, showing movements in time.

Editing: transitions

Television, like film, uses particular shot conventions so that viewers understand that there is a transition from one scene to another. Often, a close-up of an object is used. The particular object acts as a cue to the nature of the next scene and close-ups are used because they do not require the audience to take in too much information at once, thus easing the transition. In this episode, a close-up of the bell ringing signals the transition from class time to play time. A close-up of a chocolate wheel spinning signals the transition from the Twist home to the fete.

As a whole class

Play part of the episode again, asking students to note the transition shots used and discuss the choice of shots. Ask students to complete the table by filling in the transition shots that could be used to cue the movement in a number of different given scenes.