HEAR MY VOICE BY PUPILS FROM ST TIMOTHY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL & ST ANDREW’S HIGH SCHOOL
INTRODUCTION During the 2018/2019 academic year, pupils from Saint Timothy’s Primary School and Saint Andrew’s Secondary School have been working together on Hear My Voice, a drama and storytelling project that is run by staff from the Citizens Theatre. Initially we worked in separate groups, in the Bosco Room at St. Andrew’s and The Orchard Room at St. Timothy’s but after a few months we started to work together. During the project we have been writing some stories, playing games, creating still images but most importantly we have been talking, interacting and making new friends. This book contains photographs, stories and examples of the sort of thing we would do during our sessions with the Citizens Theatre. We really hope you enjoy looking at it! Ellise (St. Andrew’s Secondary School)
MIA’S EXPERIENCE Hi, I’m Mia and I go to St. Andrew’s Secondary School in Carntyne. For the last eight months I have been working with the Citizens Theatre on the Hear My Voice project. At first I thought we weren’t going to do very much, I thought we would only be doing drama in the Bosco Room at St. Andrew’s but we actually did so much more. For the first few months we worked with Carly who introduced us to different creative writing and drama activities. After that we went to work with P7 and P1/2 from St. Timothy’s. We played games and wrote stories with them which we then acted out together. I particularly liked it when we played games, my favourite game was Bears Around The Honeypot which I led during one of our sessions. It was good taking part because we’ve met new friends and got to know more people. I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to come up with ideas for the session and put them into action. I also got to know other people in my year group at St. Andrew’s who I hadn’t spoken to before. It was a good project to be part of and I really don’t want it to end!
JULIA’S HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES & POSE GAME During the project the S1 and P7 pupils spent time inventing games to play at our joint sessions. I invented the game called Head Shoulders, Knees and Pose. This game was good at helping stretch and warm up for the session. First to play the game you must find a space in the room on your own. The leader of the game will ask to clap twice, then point at the head of someone else in the room. Next you clap twice again, then point at some ones shoulders. Then you clap twice again then point at some ones knees. You must point at a different person each time. Next you clap twice again then point at toes of someone else then clap five times, then jump into a very funky pose. I enjoyed leading this game, I was a bit worried at first that I would give the instructions in the wrong order but I did it well and the group liked playing it. The pupils playing created really funky poses which is your favourite?
WHAT’S YOUR STORY? During the Hear My Voice project the S1 and P7 pupils were trained as story facilitators. This involved introducing the pupils to the Dragonfly Storytelling Technique, a technique which requires the pupils to first listen to a story created by a younger pupil and write it down verbatim. As the group became more familiar with this technique the pupils’ stories became more detailed and contained more action.
WHICH EMOJI ARE YOU? At the beginning of each session we would play a game to check in with everyone and get a sense of how each person was feeling. To play the Emoji Check In we placed various emoji pictures in different areas throughout the room. We then asked each person playing to stand next to the emoji that they felt most reflected how they were feeling today. Once in place each person had to try and recreate their selected emoji with their own face.
WRAPPED UP PARCELS During one of our joint sessions, the pupils were put into small groups. Each group was given a parcel with a label attached. On the label was a clue of the parcels’ contents, written by the S1 pupils. The pupils worked together and tried to guess what was inside. Once we opened up the parcel pupils were asked to: - List three people who might use this object - List three places where this object might be found or used - Think of a word or a sound related to this object The objects discovered included a trophy, a key, map and a fan. The pupils then used their chosen person, place and sound to create imaginative stories.
THE FOUR PIRATES
Written by Julia, Robert and Barbarae Once upon a time, there were four wonderful pirates Teale, Meale, Reale and Peale. One day they found a map so they started their adventure to find treasure. As they were searching they found Sandy Dandy Island and it was very sandy! The pirates searched high and low but they had no luck. They were about to leave but then Teale found one golden coin, then Meale found another, then Reale found another but Peale managed to find the treasure chest. It was full of gold and treasure.
GOING FOR GOLD
Written by Ellise, Coby and Reece Once upon a time Andy Murray lost his tennis racket. Before long he realised it was nowhere to be seen. He searched over, under, around and even in his Mum’s house but still it was no where to be seen. Then he went home and figured out that he must have left it at practice! He went to Wembley but on his way his car broke down and he had to push it the rest of the way there. On his way the worry was building and his stress turned into panic about his game. By the time he go there his tennis racket was waiting for him in lost property. He went out to practice but his racket didn’t feel the same. He got called out to play and it was hit after hit. After all his winning matches were over he was given a golden trophy. He could hear the crowd cheering.
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BODY MAPS To complete this the P7 and S1 pupils split into pairs and were given a long sheet of paper each. Each person took a turn at lying down while their partner drew around their outline with a big pen being careful not to get too close! Carly then asked us to add some extra detail and things that are particular about each person. We added our favourite foods, places we want to visit, things we care about and the things we worry about. We then shared our maps with the group. This activity helped us get to know each other a little better which made us bond as a group.
SAYING LOVELY THINGS Duing our final session each pupil was given an envelope which contained two slips of paper with the names’ of two people in the group. We were then asked to write a secret message for those people. Once our messages were written we attached them to a washing line where everyone could see what nice things that we had said about each other.
IS A VERY SMILEY PERSON. I WISH I HAD SPOKEN TO HER MORE
HAS GREAT GLASSES. SHE IS MY FRIEND AND WE ARE QUITE SIMILAR
IS ENERGETIC, ACTIVE AND HAPPY
...IS KIND AND BEAUTIFUL. SHE IS VERY CUTE AND WEARS REALLY NICE SHOES
...IS NICE TO EVERYONE. SHE IS REALLY GOOD AT HELPING EVERYONE ...IS SPORTY AND REALLY NICE. HE IS GOOD AT PLAYING FOOTBALL ...IS A GOOD FRIEND, HE IS CUTE AND HAS A GOOD IMAGINATION
...IS GOOD AT TELLING FUNNY STORIES AND IS GOOD AT ACTING
...IS REALLY FUNNY, MAKES ME LAUGH AND IS ALWAYS VERY KIND ...DOES NOT STAY INSIDE, HE COMES OUT TO PLAY WITH US AND IS FUNNY
... HAS LOTS OF ENERGY AND HAS REALLY GOOD DANCE MOVES
...MAKES ME LAUGH AND CAN DO HANDSTANDS. SHE IS VERY PRETTY ...IS VERY FUNNY AND VERY KIND TO ME. HE MAKES ME LAUGH, I LOVE HIM
COPY CATS During one of our joint sessions we played a mirroring game. Firstly, we selected a partner and found a space in the room. Then each person took a turn at being the leader and made slow movements which their partner had to mirror. It was important that we watched our partner very carefully when doing this so that our movements were the same. Some people have quite a hectic life so this exercise was good for calming and focusing everyone.
WHAT’S FOR DINNER? P7 pupils from St.Timothy’s decided to open their own restaurant for the day. Pupils created their own menus based on their favourite foods and took on the roles of waiter, chef and restaurant customers in comical improvisations.
WHAT’S THE TIME MR. BEAR? During sessions in the Bosco Room, S1 pupils enjoyed creating their own games and adding fun twists to games that they already knew how to play. Connor and Andrew created a game called What’ s The Time Mr. Bear? The game features Mr. Bear, a brown bear who is feeling hungry, and a shoal of fish who are trying to avoid being eaten by him! Connor and Andrew did a great job explaining rules and leading the game and the other pupils enjoyed playing it.
THE SENSORY GUESSING GAME During this activity the P1/2 pupils had to smell, touch or taste what was in different boxes. The pupils had to think of words to describe the items in the boxes. They then had to guess what these mystery items were. There were coffee beans to smell, pomegranate seeds to taste, and sandpaper and cotton wool to touch.
A TRIP TO THE THEATRE The P1/2 pupils visited the Tramway Theatre to see a Christmas play called HUMBUG. It was a story based on the Charles Dickens classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL. This play was created specially for children aged 3-6 years. The pupils had such a good time watching and interacting with the actors on stage. It was a special day for everyone.
The S1 and P7 pupils had the opportunity to attend the Citizens Theatre’s production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Tramway Theatre. The group especially enjoyed the puppets used during the production and ice cream at the interval.
OUR PAL WEE ANDREW St. Andrew’s pupil Andrew introduced the St. Timothy’s pupils to his best friend – Wee Andrew. The two Andrews have lots in common, they both have red hair, love to drink Irn Bru, like to help people and have never fallen out. During our joint sessions Big Andrew shared stories they had written about exciting adventures that they had been on together.
MY PLACE, MY SPACE For this exercise St. Andrew’s pupils looked at examples of maps of different areas in Glasgow. Each person then created their own map of somewhere they knew really well and marked out key buildings, places of importance and areas where memorable events had occured. Pupils then shared their maps with the group. This exercise encouraged the group to share a little about their own experiences and memories.
ANGELA’S GOLDEN BOX The P1/2 group were shown Angela’s magic golden box. Inside it were lots of secret objects. One pupil at a time volunteered to look inside the box. They then had to give clues about the secret object to the other group members. They had to describe the colour, shape, size and its use. The other pupils tried to guess what it was, based on the clues. It was lots of fun and all the pupils enjoyed playing the game.
THE WHITE BEAR Written and Illustrated by Juliabarae Once upon a time there was a girl and a boy. They were called Alice and Jack. Then one day they went to the forest to collect berries. Then it started to get dark‌ and quiet.. the two children came across a bear, a big white bear. They saw that the big bear was very hot, so hot it had started to sweat. The boy and the girl took the bear to a river to cool down. In the morning the bear helped the children get home.
WHAT I LOVE & HATE The P7s and S1s were asked to think about what they love and what they hate. Pupils then listed these on post-it notes and shared them with the group and went on to explain why they felt this way.
THE MAGICAL KEY Written by Mia, Andrew, Lucas, Kyle and Robert
Once upon a time, Santa was a young boy and he found a set of keys. He picked them up and a voice said, “You will be Santa from now on�. Then Santa went to Santa College where he learnt how to make toys, drink milk and stay up late. The teacher told young Santa that if he works very hard he will magically turn into an old man. Young Santa works very hard and passes all his exams, then suddenly his beard grows all the way down to his knees. As a prize for getting the best marks in his class Santa wins his very own sledge and gets to pick a reindeer!
THE PRINCESS AND THEAFAIRY THE BOY WITH DREAM Written by Barbarae
The Prince and the Princess was with a small fairy. Also, they got a baby and a dog. The dog was called Fly. The dog jumped on the pretty angel to get clean. After they were done they found a big pretty stone. The Prince and the Princess named the other dogs Sousy, Halo and Rainbow Dash. Then there was a big bear that was called Terminis. But then a wolf came and ate the fairy. The end.
THE BOY WITH A DREAM Written by Robert
The boy wanted to be the best footballer in the world but he had never kicked a ball before. Everyone would make fun of him and say “you are a toe poker�. Then one day, he trained so hard all by himself. While practising he was spotted by a football scout. Then the Partick Thistle game was on TV and he played. He went back to school and everyone thought he was the best footballer ever!
THANK YOU PUPILS We hope you have enjoyed taking part in this project. We have certainly enjoyed working with you all. During the project you have made some new friends, visited a different school and some of you have visited the Citizens Theatre at Tramway. This project is called HEAR MY VOICE and we hope that over the past few months you have been encouraged to use your voices, to express your feelings and opinions and to share your wonderful creativity with others. We hope you choose to keep this book and show it to those who are close to you so that they too can see all the wonderful activities you have done over the past few months. We’d like to thank Melissa Keelan, Michelle Robinson and Katrina McDonnell for allowing us to work with you, Charlie and Mrs Gormley for taking part in our sessions with such enthusiasm, all the class teachers at both schools for allowing us to take you out of your classes for the sessions and finally YOU for being so willing to join in with all the crazy things we suggested. We’ve loved working with you! We’d also like to thank our funders ‘The Ragdoll Foundation’ and ‘The Gannochy Trust’. Without their support this project would not have been able to happen. Carly and Angela (Citizens Theatre)
OUR MANIFESTO
Written by Andrew, Connor, Ellise, Lucy and Mia
We all love someone Seeing my friends makes me happy Take me out to visit new places Take me out I said! Please get off your phoneLook at us when we’re talking And always give me space This is my space bubble Please help me and listen But stop butting in Never bully or hurt me Treat me how you would like to be treated Respect is best policy It is very important that you Stay out of my bedroom And always remember my opinion is important