Lesson plan:

Like many episodes of Sky Trackers this one maintains audience interest by having a number of plot lines: those related to the personal lives of the characters and that related to a particular social issue.

Through discussion identify the different plot lines and the questions which viewers want to know the answers to. For example:

• The parents: will the romance develop?
• Nikki and Mike: Will they overcome their fighting?
• The issue: What is the problem at Pelican Point? What is wrong with the penguins? How will it be solved?

Analyse the message of the film

This episode leaves open the question of responsibility for the oil slick. Ask students to suggest why the oil slick occurred. Was it deliberate? Was it thoughtlessness? Was it an accident? Does it matter what the reason was in terms of the message of this episode?

Discuss the concept of theme: the ideas which a text asks us to consider. This episode is superficially about the damage which an oil slick causes to penguins and the way in which people working together can overcome this problem. What other situations could the message of the program be applied to?