The slippery dip. The beach was crowded, BLM 13

Transcription

1 BLM 13 The slippery dip The beach was crowded, and the swimming pool glistened with bright wet creatures, and strange-looking animals were plopping about, and small creatures were climbing on them and falling off them, and squealing and shouting, and playing leap frog and all sorts of other games, and bigger creatures were walking about on the beach watching the fun.the big lights made the whole pool look like daylight. Mrs Bear, looking very fresh in a pale green dress all flounces from top to toe, and holding a pale green parasol over her fluffy ears, was walking along the jetty wall, where a very strong wire-netting protected the pool from sharks. Look at the horrid creatures, she said, pointing to a row of huge grey and brown sharks.they were gazing in greedily at the swimming pool, their great blunt noses pressed against the wire. Bib and Bub leaned over to see.they shuddered and drew back quickly. Mrs Bear walked on till they came to the Tread Wheel.There was a big crowd here watching the antics of the creatures who tried the wheel, and shrieking with laughter at the mishaps of the unlucky ones. Mrs Bear and Bib and Bub stood watching Mr Lizard, as he very skillfully danced on the wheel till it went too fast for him and he was thrown off into the water with a terrific splash. Everyone cried out, OH! and this was great fun. Presently Mrs Bear s attention was caught by a new wonder.at the middle of the jetty wall was the Slippery Dip; it was really a water shute.the creatures climbed up a long stairway to a high platform. Here they got into the shute, sat down, and went sliding and slipping down, up, over, and down again with a whirring rush till they flew off the end and went with a mighty splash into the water. Oh, dear, dear, said Mrs Bear. Isn t that too uprooting. Come along, we ll climb up and watch them going down. So they climbed up and up and up the high stairway till they came to the top and stood on the landing and looked down the long, smooth slide. Oh, dear, dear, cried Mrs Bear. However can they do it? I never could. Come along, Mum, said a loud voice 24

2 behind Mrs Bear. Here s your turn. Mrs Bear looked round.a large Penguin in very short bathers was pressing her gently forward. She pulled back, but he firmly held her in his flippers. Don t be nervous, he said. You ll enjoy it.there you are now; sit down. But I don t want to, cried Mrs Bear. I m not going to. I can t. Tut, tut, don t be frightened, said the Penguin. I ll give you a start. Now then, I ll sit behind you. Mrs Bear was very frightened. Oh, no, she cried. I don t want to; I won t. But Mr Penguin only smiled in a kindly way. Tut, tut, he said. You just hold on to me: you ll be all right. BLM 14 Everything happened very suddenly then. Bib and Bub jumped into the shute just as Mr Penguin gave a push, and down they all went, slithering up, down, up, over, and then down, down, down splash, splonk into the water. Poor Mrs Bear. She screamed all the way down till they reached the water and as it went over her head, her cries turned into bubbles.the sharks outside the fence laughed till their fins wagged. Presently they helped Mrs Bear out onto a raft, and she was almost deadibones with fright, and her lovely dress was ruined. They all had to go home in borrowed clothes. by May Gibbs from The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Harper Collins). 25

3 Teaching notes for Text form: Short story Medium: Book Field: Human behaviour Tenor: Varies according to narrator and dialogue Mode: Written OTHER RESOURCES Access to research material about May Gibbs and Manly Pool (Sydney). Access to a selection of books written by May Gibbs. Draft writing paper and drawing materials. INTRODUCING THE UNIT The Australian author, May Gibbs, wrote the worldwide acclaimed Gumnut stories which use animal characters with human qualities. Her stories introduced Australian elements at a time when many other Australian writers were still looking to England for their inspiration. LET S TALK ABOUT IT! Share an incident when you felt some kind of overwhelming fear of a physical environment, but yet you survived unscathed. Ask students to share their stories and discuss their feelings, especially the feeling of relief when the situation seems to return to normal. Encourage students to write words that describe their range of feelings. ORIENTATION Discuss the orientation with students, identifying how the main characters, the setting and time are established. Encourage students to consider how the reader is positioned in the story and discuss which character the reader is encouraged to like or dislike. Using this orientation as a model, encourage students to create their own orientation changing the location, setting or time. THE SETTING FOR A STORY Pictures of Manly Beach and Pool are available in some books about Manly and Sydney. Encourage students to identify aspects of the pictures such as the Tread Wheel, the water chute, and the rafts and pontoons in the middle of the pool. Discuss with students what life would have been like in those days. Encourage students to think about the historical setting of the pool as they begin to develop their story. ANIMAL CHARACTERS Discuss other stories students have read in which animals have been given human characteristics. Discuss why writers may choose to do this. Encourage them to think of humans who behave in this way. Encourage students to reread the story carefully in order to search for every hint that May Gibbs gives about the particular characteristics of each animal. Ask students to write a character description emphasising vivid and effective sentence structure. Encourage the use of a dictionary and thesaurus. Ask students to add an illustration that adds details to the description. CARTOON TIME Assist students to explore cartoons drawn by May Gibbs and to consider the context in which they were published. Compare these to more modern day cartoons pointing out aspects such as the use of captions and speech or thought balloons. Encourage students to consider the style of cartoon they will use to help them to characterise each animal so that the reader can see at a glance the type of person each one is. Explain to students that in visual texts the words should convey information that is not available in the visual elements. FOLLOW-UP/EXTENSION Have students research the life and works of May Gibbs, then write her life story in the style of her own writing. Groups could create a radio play based on the story. They will need to consider whether a narrator will be needed, and how the characters actions can be conveyed through voices and through sound effects. 26

4 Name Date Let s talk about it! Have you ever been frightened to do something, and then been coerced into doing it? Perhaps you were encouraged to ride a bike down a steep hill or climb a very tall tree? Talk with a partner about the experience. Describe what happened and how you felt. In the space below, write down some words to describe the feelings that you had in the situation. BLM 15 Orientation The description of the setting at Manly establishes where, when and who is involved in the story. Reread the opening two paragraphs of the story where May Gibbs establishes these aspects for the reader. Jot down in the space provided below the information about each of these aspects. Who Where When Now write a new orientation for the story, but change one of the aspects either who, where or when. NA 4.1 NSW 3.1 Communicates and interacts confidently for a range of purposes and a variety of audiences to express well developed, well organised ideas dealing with more challenging topics. NA 4.12b NSW 3.11 Uses a range of strategies to spell unfamiliar words. 27

5 BLM 16 Name Date The setting for a story The stimulus for May Gibbs setting for this story was probably Manly Beach in Sydney. The pool itself has been pulled down in recent years, but it once contained slides and wheels and pontoons. Visit the library to research Manly pool. Talk with a group about what life might have been like in Sydney at the time when the pool was open. Write a short story that is set at Manly pool. Use human characters in your story. Draft your story on rough paper and publish your final version in the space below. 28 NA 4.8b Working with peers is able to find information and resources for specific purposes. NA 4.12a NSW 3.10 Uses a range of strategies to plan, edit and proofread own writing.

6 Name Date Animal characters BLM 17 Some writers use animal characters to depict aspects of human behaviour. Many of May Gibbs stories were centred around animal characters. Reread the story. Talk with a small group about the characters in this story. Make a list of the key characters. Beside each character write words or phrases to describe their human qualities. Write a character description of one of the characters in the text. Select your words carefully to describe the animal and think about effective sentence structuring. Add an illustration to suit the description. NA 4.1 NSW 3.1 Communicates and interacts confidently for a range of purposes and a variety of audiences to express well developed, well organised ideas dealing with more challenging topics. NA 4.12b NSW 3.11 Uses a range of strategies to spell unfamiliar words. NSW 3.12 Writes using a fluent and legible style. 29

7 BLM 18 Name Date Cartoon time May Gibbs produced a weekly cartoon for various newspapers. The cartoon used words and pictures to tell short stories that were usually comic or which pointed to a moral. Do some research about her comic strips. Look closely at the number of frames and the style of illustration. Take particular notice of whether she used captions or speech balloons. Now turn this story into a comic strip. Use May Gibbs comics as a model, or else develop your own style for the comic strip. Decide whether you will use speech balloons or captions or both. Plan your cartoon on scrap paper. Publish your final version in the space below. 30 NA 4.5 NSW 3.5 Reads an extensive range of texts with fairly complex structures and features, justifying own interpretation of ideas, information and events in the response to themes and issues.