Materials for the lesson

–              Teacher’s bell

–              A crown prince

–              A fabric

–              School bags

–              hats

Layout of the classroom

 Teachers should better use the theatre class action on stage or on empty space.

Phase 1

In the first phase the lesson takes place in the classroom in a traditional way. The teacher at this stage, reads a particular text from the novel “The little prince” and explains the students that they must play some scenes from the book using gestures and facials. The aim of this lesson is to teach children to interpret gestures and gimmicks in order to communicate with other people. The students have the opportunity to learn  different kind of communication methods. People many times are forced to communicate with other people from different cultures who speak a foreign language. In this case they use many gestures. Then the teacher presents the scenario in which the pupils are invited to take action. They will be divided in four groups. The 1^st group consists of the prince and three friends of him. This will be the group that will visit the different places and will try to get in touch with local people. The 2^nd group will be the local people of Greece who work in a tavern. The teacher explains the details about this freestyle performance and explains that Greek people use their hands very much in order to express themselves and to communicate better. For these reasons they use specific expressions. The important thing in this action is to represent these expressions as better as they can. For example, how they will represent the expression ‘’I’m hungry like a wolf’’ (I’m starving) or “could you put me a finger of wine in my glass” (very little amount of wine) or ‘’I want to lick my fingers” or “my drool run from my mouth’’ (so delicious) or ‘’beard’’ (a lie) and so many other expressions. The 3^rd group will be a small company of children playing soccer in a park who communicate between them using metaphoric expressions. The 4^th group will be a family which  uses the same code of communication.  The teacher encourages students to concentrate and to find funny expressions in order to communicate with the little prince.

Phase 2

Teacher’s bell rings and the first group starts the action. The little prince with his friends wear the school bags and go up to the stage of the theater. Then they are met with the tavernas staff who try to serve and to understand the prince and his company. They are very hungry and have been bothering because they can’t communicate. It is necessary to find codes of communication.

 Teacher’s bell rings again and action freezes. At this point the second group starts playing with expressions like ‘’ ’I’m hungry like a wolf’’ (I’m starving) or “could you put me a finger of wine in my glass” ( very little amount of wine) or ‘’I want to lick my fingers” or “my drool run out from my mouth’’ ( so delicious) or ‘’ we eat with gold spoons’’ (reach) or ‘’I make a salad’’ (I make  mistakes). They should play pantomime and find as many expressions as they can.

Teacher’s bell rings again and actions freeze again.

Phase 3

In the 3^rd phase the teacher introduces the new condition. The little prince and his company visit a small company of children who play soccer. At this point the teacher asks the 3rd group to improvise and interpret in its own way expressions like «we made a hole in the water” (  a failure) or ‘’you are a black cat ‘’ ( bad luck) or “ I raise my hands up” ( I have great difficulties with something) or “I cross my hand” ( I can’t do anything) and they should interact  with the little prince and his friends in order to play together.

 Teacher’s bell rings again and the group starts in the same way using gestures, face facials and metaphoric expressions. The students try to communicate with the little prince. They should refresh their mind from real football game to get inspiration and to have fun.

 Teacher’s bell rings again and actions freeze again.

Phase 4

In the 3^rd phase the teacher asks from the kids of the 4^th group to play under the same way a scene between the family’s members or using again some no typical expressions. For example, “Are you kidding me (Which means that someone is joking you) or “pull my hair” (it means cannot stand) or “I will cut my veins” (it means It drives me crazy) and etc.

Teacher’s bell rings again and the group starts the same way using gestures and face facials. The students try to communicate with the little prince while having fun and being creative.

 Teacher’s bell rings again and actions freezes.