Challenge Preparation Activities 2016 Years 3 and 4 Histheatrics Mine Over Matter What’s Your Angle I Witness Teams should organise a time to meet regularly. Teams will be able to do much of this preparation with little assistance. Teachers may choose to use some of the activities in the classroom. There will be practice workshops on the day of The Challenge. We advise that not everything in this handbook will be in The Challenge. Have fun with these activities! Challenge Number One His-theatrics! Activity 1: The Historical Events Time required: 2 hours approximately You'll need: Access to the internet, pens and paper. This activity involves your team researching the 10 historical events upon which this Challenge is based. • All 10 events must be researched, however only ONE will be used in the Challenge. • You might like to get each team member to research 2 or 3 events each and then share their findings with the team. • It's very important to research these historical events thoroughly, paying particular attention to the WHO, WHERE, WHEN and WHAT involved. Write down the 5 most important specific People involved, the Places and the main Events in each. • Take special note of what Accents might be used in this historical event. • You might like to put your information in a table similar to this: NOTE the size of the boxes is not an indication of the amount of information you will need to include. EVENT DATE PLACES (WHERE) PEOPLE INVOLVED (WHO) EVENTS (WHAT) ACCENT/S PRESENT (WHEN The Sinking of The Titanic http://www.historyofthetitanic.org/titanic-sinking.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_of_the_RMS_Titanic The Apollo 11 Moon Landing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11 The Discovery of Electricity http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0932440.html Cathy Freeman Wins Gold at the 2000 Olympics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Freeman The Invention of LEGO http://www.edinformatics.com/inventions_inventors/lego.htm Amelia Earhart’s Solo Flight Across America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart The Discovery of Gravity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation The Building of the Sydney Opera House https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House Hattie McDaniel Wins An Academy Award for Gone With The Wind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_McDaniel US Airways Flight 1549 lands on the Hudson River https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549 ©G.A.T.E.WAYS Publications Activity 2: What Are You Doing? Time required: 3 x 15 minute sessions You'll need: An open space like a large room or an outside area where you won't get distracted. This is an exercise which develops mime skills (doing activities without the actual objects involved being there) and which gets teams practising how to make and accept improvisational offers. • Teams form a line side by side, with an open performance space in front of them. • The first player in the line steps into that space and starts miming an activity. • As soon as the activity is clear, player 2 approaches player 1 and asks “What are you doing?” • The first player answers with an activity that has nothing to do with what he or she is actually doing. (E.g. if player 1 is cutting someone's hair, when asked what he or she is doing they might say "I`m reading the newspaper"). It's important to say something which involves some action/movement so that the next person has something to mime. • The first player moves to the end of the line, and the second player starts miming the activity stated by the previous player. • The third player from the line comes up to player 2, asks what he or she is doing, and so on. • Players can make sounds appropriate to the activity they are miming (e.g. if skydiving, the player might go “wheeee!” with their arms spread out). • Teams should play until everyone has had at least 5 or 6 goes. Players are encouraged to think on their feet (say the first thing that comes out) and mime as clearly as they can. TIP: When miming, try and imagine that the object you are pretending is there, actually IS there. E.g if you're miming eating an ice cream cone, imagine it in your hand, that it's your favourite flavour and that it's starting to melt! Making sounds as you mime an activity is fine. Some things to practise miming: Eating a sandwich Brushing your teeth Reading a book Flying a kite Washing a dog Riding a bike Activity 3: Accent Roller Coaster. Time required: Practising with clips – 20 minutes; Playing Accent Roller Coaster: 3 x 15 minute sessions You'll need: Access to the internet and an open space like a large room or an outside area where you won't get distracted. This is an exercise which develops improvisational team work and accent skills. • Teams must watch and practise accents with these clips first: o Audio file link o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k ; • The main accents to practise are: English varieties, American varieties, Russian, French, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish and Danish. These are demonstrated in order on the audio file. To play Accent Roller Coaster: • 3 people in the team are given a situation by the 4th member (eg. going to the shops) and then begin to act out that scene using actions and words. • Once the scene has begun the 4th member (the “caller”) will call out the accent that the performing team need to use in the scene. • The team must accept each accent that is given to them and immediately begin using it. • The players let the accent affect the scene as they progress the action. They continue to try to do each accent even though some will be harder than others. Have fun with it! • About 5-6 accents should be called out to each performing team as they act out their scene – all players must use each accent until the next one is called out. • Rotate until everyone has had a go as both performer and caller. TIPS: The best way to practise accents is to listen carefully to other accents and then practise them A LOT. Practice really does make perfect! Learning a couple of words from those languages can help too. Here are some words and slang terms which might be useful: English (upper class): Good afternoon, Goodness me, I do beg your pardon, I shall bid you good day sir (or ma'am) English (lower class): Blimey (wow), Dunno (I don't know), Cor (wow), I never (I didn't do it) American (southern): Howdy partner, I do declare, Hey there little lady, Giddy up cowboy! American (standard): Subway, Elevator, Ketchup, Taxi Cab, Air plane, Trash can, Pavement Russian: Moscow, Leningrad, Borsch (cold beetroot soup), Da (yes), Dasvidanya (goodbye) French: Bonjour (hello), Au revoir (good bye for now), Non (no), Oui (yes), Croissant, Baguette, Cafe German: Guten morgen (good morning), Guten Nacht (good night), Guten tag (good bye), Volkswagon, Ya (yes), Nein (no), Strudel, Bratwurst (sausage) Scottish: Laddie (boy), Lassie (girl), Wee (small), Kilt, Tartan, Haggis, Bairn (child) Irish: Away with you, Go on, To be sure, A whale of a time, Donkey's years Danish: Velkcommen! (Welcome!), Tak (thank you), Farvel (good bye), Copenhagen Italian: Bonjourno! (Good day) Ciao! (See you later), Bella (beautiful), Bellissimo (lovely) ©G.A.T.E.WAYS Publications The G.A.T.E.WAYS Challenge Years 3 and 4 Challenge Number 2: Mine Over Matter For the Teams The Scenario For the Teachers As a team of gemologists, The soon to be abandoned This G.A.T.E WAYS Challenge is mine on the south side of you will descend the mine designed to be the ultimate test Mishmash Mountain is shaft in search of the in team work and decision famous world-wide as it precious gemstones that making. have been left behind. Your reputedly contains rare and On the day of The Challenge team will use dynamite to beautiful gems stones. They teams will be asked to explore a blast the rock, expose the are highly sought after by jewellers whose clients number of tunnels. Although stones and bring them to include princes, presidents, there are 10 tunnels in total, the surface. shahs and celebrities. and each tunnel will have Then you will use jewellers’ However, the mining several gems hidden within, it is company, Diggin’ and expected that teams will only charts and instruments to identify and assess the Diggings, is in severe have time to answer about four values of your gems. financial crisis. The company or five ‘gem challenges’. CEO has absconded to the There is a hitch though. You Caribbean, emptying the Teams will be able to play to will have to solve a ‘gem company accounts! The their strengths They can choose challenge,’ to successfully liquidators have decided to the skill area they wish to work retrieve every gem. To open up the mine to on based on the colour of acquire a gem challenge you independent gemologists to chosen bundle of dynamite and must use a bundle of see what gemstones they can the level of difficulty based on dynamite to blast the rock uncover before the entrance the level of the mine shaft they to Mishmash Mountain is and each bundle can only be travel to. lit once. If your team cannot sealed forever. There’s a All gem challenges are related to solve the gem challenge, fortune for the taking!! a certain skill set in the areas of then you will move on mathematics and logic, without the stone.