Lesson Plans Colour Whos who

WHO’S WHO? Year Group/Key Stage

KS 2, Year Groups 3 - 6

Curriculum Links

English – Speaking & Listening, Drama

Length of Session

One class session

Key Vocabulary

Characters / guess / hot-seating / roles

Introduction This exercise introduces ‘hot-seating’ which is an established method used by actors to explore a character, but with a twist! The group can rediscover and connect with the characters from The Voyages of Sinbad through this fun exercise.

Lesson Aims To encourage pupils to •

Explore acting techniques, being ‘in character’ and role play

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Use speaking and listening skills

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Explore unseen aspects of characters from the show and learn about creating back stories and personal histories to enhance their creative writing skills

Activities The group are settled as one audience for this exercise with one child chosen or picked from volunteers to be the actor each time. From a list of the characters from the play, either the child chooses their own or the teacher does or one is picked at random ‘from a hat’. The rest of the group do not know which character has been picked. At this point the actor should think about what voice their character might use, if they have a different way of moving, any physical mannerisms or sayings they may repeat.

The actor then sits in front of the group who are then allowed to ask questions of them until they determine who they are. There are a few restrictions for the group; Limit the number of questions that the group can ask to try and reveal the characters identity. Also it is important to encourage the group ask about things that are not specific to the story but are more general for example, what are your favourite foods / TV show / pastimes, where did they go to school etc… This way the actor can enjoy creating these aspects of the character and the group are encouraged to think about them in a wider sense.

If the identity of the character is revealed quickly the exercise can be continued so that both group and actor can enjoy exploring the character more consciously and explore reason and understanding.

Extended Activities •

The group could extend the questions to other characters who were not in the play but who might be represented. The more creative the better. Examples of these could be:

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Sinbad’s mum or dad

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Captain Koura’s cleaner

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The giant’s dentist

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The whale’s personal trainer

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The Genie’s teacher

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Princess daughter’s best friend

The exercise could also be used to explore empathy with historical figures from recent studies or people from factual events.