Teaching Resources
How the Dragon was Made
Welcome to Scottish Opera’s new musical and theatrical experience designed for second level pupils.
How the Dragon Was Made is a learning project linked to a key date in the Chinese calendar: the Chinese New Year 2024! This will be the year of the Dragon.
Designed for one class of P6 or P7 pupils, How the Dragon Was Made aims to improve pupils’ comprehension of Mandarin vocabulary, as well as provide a creative opportunity for performance and an element of peer-to-peer learning. It includes online resources to facilitate a class of pupils to perform their own 20-minute musical show in class, which can be performed for Primary 1-3 classes in school but also families and other guests.
Project resources we provide
- A script, which includes the words of the songs, for your class to learn the words to the show.
- 7 audio files, for your class to listen to and learn the songs. You will also hear, at key points in these recordings, the voice of a tenor singer.
- A video with some simple ideas and actions for the pupils to copy when singing the songs. These videos are clearly marked, so you know which ones are for a particular character group, and which are for everyone to learn.
- An activity pack with a range of supplementary activities which can be used to enhance your pupils’ learning experience, including making individual masks to be used in the performance.
- 7 short animated films which should be projected onto the largest screen you have available – acting as a backdrop to the ‘live’ action performed by the pupils.
These are listed in sequence; so you simply press each number on your lap top at the point in the script – called a ‘cue’ – and the film will play at the right point in performance.
These films also include an adult male voice over, linking the story together – the voice of the Narrator.
Credits
Composer
Karen MacIver
Writer
Allan Dunn
Illustrator & Visual Arts Resource Designer
Iain Piercy
Stop Motion Graphics Editor
Viola Madau
Sound Engineer
Alan Penman
Singer
Shengzhi Ren
Activity Pack
Christine Defty
Children from Jordanhill Primary
Feargal Pettigrew, Katie McGawn, Jessica-MayPayne, Molly McLaughlin, Mhairi McCulloch and Sophie Fleming
Additional vocals
Daniel Przyborski
With thanks to
Richard Buchan and all at Jordanhill Primary School
Wendy Green, Calum Gibb, Hanshu Dong, and all at Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools
Kevin Burleigh at Gorbals Sounds
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