D is for Dahl

By Chelsea Klaassen

One of my favourite children’s authors is Roald Dahl because of his absurd and creative stories about brave and extraordinary children. When I was an English teaching assistant in a Dutch primary school I created a lesson series about Roald Dahl, which I would like to share with you. This lesson series is great for an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) class, but can also be used in any class.

What you will need:

• D is for Dahl workbook  
• A computer, a projector and access to YouTube
• Pens, pencils and colouring pencils
• Space to perform
  

Lesson 1

The aim of Lesson 1 is to introduce Roald Dahl the author. This is especially important when the children you are teaching are not British, because they might not know that much about Dahl and his work.

For Activity A, I have made a PowerPoint about Roald Dahl’s life. You can find a lot of information about the man online. You can use my questions or make up your own. The answers for my questions are: F(alse), F, F, T(rue), F, T, T, T, F, F, T, T, T, F, F.
 
Activity B, C and E can easily be done by the children without a lot of help. You can allow them to work in pairs if you like.

For activity D you can use a YouTube video in which the poem is read out loud:

Lesson 2

The aim of the second lesson is to learn more about the characters and to learn about adjectives.

Activity C can be done without any extra help. Exercise B is an exercise about adjectives and in my workbook I have used Dutch adjectives because I was teaching Dutch children. You can change this into an exercise in the language of your choice or maybe and exercise about synonyms.

For activity A you need two descriptions of characters. You can write these yourself or you can use mine:

The Witches

A witch is always a woman. When you meet a witch she is always wearing gloves.  A witch doesn’t have finger-nails. She has got claws instead. They also don’t have toes. 
Another weird thing about them is that they don’t have hair. She is as bald as a boiled egg.  
Also, a witch has very big nose-holes. And I am not ready yet. A witch also has eyes that change colour and her spit is blue. Scary, isn’t it?

BFG

The BFG, also known as the big friendly giant is very big. He is much bigger than a normal person. He is wearing a long coat and holding a suitcase and a trumpet. His face looks funny and wrinkly. His nose is as sharp as a knife and his ears are very big. His eyes are also big but they look friendly. The BFG is not mean.

Lesson 3

For the first activity you can use this YouTube video of the Oompa Loompa song: 

For the second part of lesson 3 you will need this video in which the poem 'Little Red Riding Hood' is read out loud:

Important: In order not to give away the ending (which is important for the rest of the lesson series!) you need to stop the video at 2.33 minutes.

Lesson 4 and 5

For these two lessons you just need the poem up to ‘I am going to eat you anyway’, which can be found in the workbook.

The children will use lesson 4 to learn the sentences and to practice their individual endings. Each child (there are groups of three) will be one of the characters from the poem. Make sure to tell them that all of them need to be and say something in the play.

The first 10-15 minutes of lesson 5 (depending on how many groups you have) can be the final practice time before the rest of the lesson is used to perform the play. If you really want to make something special out of it you can encourage the children to bring or make their own costumes and props.

Download Chelsea's 'D is for Dahl' Workbook here

I hope you will have fun teaching about Roald Dahl and his wonderful worlds!

After her teacher training Chelsea Klaassen studied Children's Literature at Reading University to learn more about the wonderful worlds of children's books. After her degree she decided to start a blog on which she posts creative reading and writing ideas and exercises for teachers, parents and carers to use. You can find her blog here. Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @Chelseamorag1.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

My Favourite Childhood Books

By Adam West

Such is the list of my childhood favourites it’s really quite tough choosing a winner from the pack. From early memories of my mum doing all the characters in different voices in Winnie The Pooh, to loving the beautifully detailed illustrations of Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge series, I could happily write a whole book on the topic. But I think the books you treasure the most are the first ones you read by yourself. For me, like so many, they were written by Roald Dahl.

His genius, like that of his modern day contemporary, the equally revered J. K. Rowling, was to create worlds of sheer fantasy that suck the young reader in, completely immersing them in the tale. Where they differ is that Roald Dahl was able to abandon one world and reveal another time and again. Reeling some off in my mind now (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, Matilda, Danny - Champion of The World), I realise another similarity with Rowling; all these titles and more have been plundered by the film industry, thirsty for the kind of ready-made fantasy world only the fertile mind of a creative writer can bring to life.

Roald didn’t have the kind of happy childhood I was fortunate enough to enjoy, and his books are pure escapism; heaven for a young, over-active imagination. Perhaps he found it cathartic, perhaps his goal was to provide escape for kids having a tough time like he did. Whatever, he left behind an incredible body of work which is still loved internationally today and speaks to the child in all of us.


The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Amber Shares Her First Memories of Reading

By Amber Hodson

My first memories of learning to read involved many pop-up books. I can’t remember exactly what they consisted of but I do vaguely remember colourful aliens and starlit backgrounds. At primary school my love of books heightened soon after the installation of a small library which was tucked away in a small side room. Hundreds of children’s books adorned the shelves and once a week we would all pick a book and read from it.

I have many books which I could quite confidently place under the title of ‘Best Books According to Amber’, but if I had to choose only one I’d go with Roald Dahl’s The BFG. A truly remarkable tale written by an amazing children’s author. The BFG was one of the first ‘major’ books I managed to read by myself from beginning to end.

The story of Sophie and the Big Friendly Giant captured my imagination like no other, especially at an age where my fantasy worlds clashed with reality. What if there are giants that visit humans when the world is sleeping? What if there are such things as snozzcumbers?

Since then my love for the written word has followed me into adult life. Whilst I don’t often venture into book stores for a physical copy of the latest novel, I do find myself browsing the Kindle Book Store for hidden treasures and deals. My fond memories of reading as a child have stayed with me all these years and I’m not afraid to admit that I still find myself reaching for Beatrix Potter, J. K. Rowling or Roald Dahl books in a bid to turn back the clock.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Schnozzcumbers...

I'm in the bogthumping Whalley Range! M16 8BE


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With love x