THIS IS A ROALD DAHL EVENT, FOR THE PARTICIPANTS AND BY THE PARTICIPANTS!
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS AND DETAILED TOPICS GIVEN BELOW!
To register, please email
sonali.and.sharanya@gmail.com
(Please note - 'joining' on Facebook is not counted as registering! Thank you.)
STEP BY STEP:
1. Choose a book, from the list of 11 books given.
2. Scroll down till you find the topics based on the book you have chosen.
3. Read through those topics.
There are several topics, to ensure everyone gets something they like!
4. Pick ONE topic.
5. Work on that topic. All preparation and work to be done in advance, by you.
6. Come to Atta Galatta on Jan 10, to present your chosen topic.
7. Your time limit is three minutes, for the presentation.
8. There is no age-limit. Anyone, of any age, can participate.
Event for Roald Dahl fans of all ages, based on the following books:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Danny the Champion of the World
James and the Giant Peach
Matilda
The BFG
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Magic Finger
Esio Trot
George's Marvellous Medicine
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Participants choose one or more books, and work on one or more of the topics given below:
These topics are guidelines. You may interpret them creatively. Where it
is not mentioned how exactly a topic is to be dealt with, it means you
may use your own discretion on this – speak or draw or act or sing or
write a poem.
You may work on any of the topics either
A. individually,
B. in pairs or
C. in groups (three or more, no maximum number, friends, family ... anyone can be in a group.)
Any topic in any category could be individual, pair, or group – it’s the participants’ choice.
Note - participants are to work on the topics in advance. On the day,
each individual/pair/group will only get up to three minutes for
presentation.
The time-limit for any presentation is three minutes maximum.
Remember to use the resources available to you in an imaginative way –
please don’t spend a lot of money on your presentations! Use the things
you have at home, like old newspapers, to make props or costumes!
TOPICS:
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
BOARD GAMES / PHYSICAL GAMES
CCF-1 Make a board game based on SNAKES AND LADDERS, depicting feelings
of the various characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
A good event/feeling causes a rise (like a ladder) and a bad
event/feeling causes a drop (like a snake). The extent of the rise or
fall depends on the intensity of the feeling.
CCF-2 Make a board game based on MONOPOLY containing the different areas
and rooms of the chocolate factory. You could include aspects like the
chocolate river, the great glass elevator and so on. How would these
rooms be traded? What would give them additional value?
CCF-3 Make a board game based on LUDO, where five different children reach the finish at various times, and get a golden ticket.
CCF-4 Make a physical game like MUSICAL CHAIRS where various children
get eliminated as they behave badly at the Chocolate Factory.
CCF-5 Make a game like a JIGSAW PUZZLE to show how Charlie nibbled at the chocolate bar he usually got on his birthday.
SET IT TO MUSIC – Hum and mime the action
For the various topics, you need to understand the pace and feeling of
the action, and set the music accordingly. Where does the music become
louder/softer/faster/slower/silent and so on?
For the presentation, you could hum the music, and mime the actions with the music.
(Ref – like some of the scenes in Mr. Bean or Charlie Chaplin – action to music.)
CCF-6 a. Mr. Bucket’s job at the toothpaste factory, at the beginning of
the day, in the middle of the day and at the end of the day when he is
more tired. Mime what Mr. Bucket would be doing and hum along with it.
Remember, he was very hard-working.
b. Mr. Bucket shovelling snow, to keep his family from starving.
CCF-7 Charlie’s birthday chocolate (earlier years) – receiving it, keeping it, peeping at it, nibbling it.
ART / POSTER / GREETING CARD – Creative words and drawings, to be held up and explained.
CCF-8 Make a poster announcing the Golden Tickets.
CCF-9 Imagine that Mr. Wonka had not gone to Loompaland, but instead put
up a poster to ask for workers who were not spies, who loved chocolate
and who were willing to learn from him and work with him. What would the
poster have been like?
CCF – 10 If you were an artist at the chocolate factory, what wrappers
would you design for the various types of chocolate created by Mr.
Wonka?
CCF – 11 a. Make greeting cards for those who did not find a golden
ticket to convey the message ‘Sorry for your disappointment.’ Use your
own creative words and pictures.
b. Make a greeting card to the Oompa Loompa who needed a lawn mower to cut his beard.
CCF – 12 Draw a map of the chocolate factory.
SPEAKING
CCF – 13 If you were a sports commentator how would you describe each
of the four children and their parents’ plight? You could have expert
commentators also.
CCF – 14 Do you think Veruca Salt got the golden ticket in an unfair manner? Discuss why or why not.
CCF – 15 ‘The behaviour of children is the complete responsibility of the parents.’ Agree or disagree? Discuss.
CCF – 16 ‘Family togetherness is the most important thing in the
world.’ Discuss using various characters from Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory as examples.
CCF – 17 Violet Beauregarde had a chewing gum craze and Mike Teavee had a
television craze. What is the craze of the current generation and how
harmful is it?
CCF – 18 Mr. Wonka is often very rude, to both adults and children. What is your opinion about this?
CCF – 19 – Was it a good idea for Mr. Wonka to give out the golden
tickets? If Charlie hadn’t found one and another spoilt child had, Mr.
Wonka would’ve had no suitable candidate at the end. What other method
could he have used?
CCF – 20 Write a newspaper report about the visit to the chocolate factory.
CCF – 21 Imagine the other four children’s future.
GENERAL (interpret in any way)
CCF – 22 Imagine your favourite festival. Now imagine that your family
has ordered sweets for this festival from Mr. Willy Wonka. These sweets
should be based on the traditional sweets, but have Mr.Willy Wonka’s
clever ideas added to them. You may take the help of any adults to work
on them.
CCF – 23 Celebrate your birthday at Charlie’s Chocolate Factory.
CCF – 24 What if you had found a golden ticket? Roald Dahl brings out
the strengths and weaknesses of the children as they tour the factory.
Which of your characteristics would be brought out by a visit to the
factory? What song would the Oompa Loompas sing about you?
CCF – 25 If the Oompa Loompas made up a song about Mr. Bucket, who
worked in a toothpaste factory and then shovelled snow in the streets,
what would the song be like? Sing it for us with actions.
CCF – 26 Imagine that you are Birbal or Tenali Raman. How would you determine which workers are spies at the chocolate factory?
CCF – 27 Your own creative chocolate, with your own recipes!
CCF – 28 Imagine eating only chocolate and being paid your wages in chocolate. Is it a good thing after all?
CCF – 29 Imagine that you are a chocolate bar, and have just been packed
– and a Golden Ticket has been packed along with you. What conversation
do you have with the Golden Ticket? What do both of you feel? Speech or
acting or cartoon or song or poem.
CCF – 30 Every time the bed is talked about, it is described as being
too big to get through doors. How was it brought in to the house, at the
beginning, then? Explain.
CCF – 31 Is television an advantage or a disadvantage? Bring out your opinion through a speech or acting or cartoon.
CCF – 32 Act out or draw the reactions of the eight parents whose
children suffered for their misbehaviour at the chocolate factory. Do
the reactions of the fathers differ from the reactions of the mothers?
CCF – 33 What would it be like to work with Mr. Willy Wonka? He would
have some positive and some negative characteristics as a boss.
CCF – 34 Have you or anyone you know pretended to be deaf to avoid answering an uncomfortable question like Mr. Wonka?
CCF – 35 What song would the Oompa Loompas sing about the machine that was to detect Golden Tickets, and went wrong?
OOMPA LOOMPA SONGS
(COMBINED WITH OTHER BOOKS)
COM – 36 What song would the Oompa Loompas sing about any of the following:
COM – 36 a. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda’s parents
COM – 36 b. Mrs. Trunchbull, Matilda’s Headmistress
COM – 36 c. Victor Hazell, Danny’s enemy
COM – 36 d. The nine man-eating giants in the BFG
COM – 36 e. George’s grandma
COM – 36 f. Captain Lancaster, who caned Danny
COM – 36 g. The robber, in ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’.
COM – 36 h. The Gregg Family, in ‘The Magic Finger’.
CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
CGE – 201 Set to music and mime the battle with the Knids.
CGE – 202 Act out the battle with the Knids, but this time, imagine that
Matilda was with Mr. Wonka, Charlie and the family in the elevator.
IND – 203 If President Gilligrass were to visit Bangalore and see the
state of the traffic and the state of the garbage dumps in the city,
what would he invent?
CGE – 204 Make a poster advertising the Space Hotel.
CGE – 205 Make a creative ‘get well soon’ card for the Knid.
CGE – 206 Draw cartoons of the elevator linking to various animals.
CGE – 207 Is the Space Hotel wasteful expenditure, or is it progress?
CGE – 208 Roald Dahl has been quite rude about how administrators (like
the President and others) are chosen. What do you think about this?
CGE – 209 The elevator is an innocent object and everyone in it is
innocent. Yet, people suspect the worst about it. What does this show
about human nature?
CGE – 210 Set to music and mime the ascent in to the orbit.
CGE – 211 Mr. Willy Wonka says the pills to make one younger are too
valuable to waste on himself – yet he gives them away to the three old
people, who squander them. Do you think Wonka should have kept some for
himself?
IND – 212 Imagine that Charlie’s grandmother had grown very old, and
lived through various historic moments, in India. What would she have
seen / experienced as she became young again? (Like she saw the
assassination of Lincoln and other events in American history.)
COM – 213 In both, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and The BFG,
the heads of the armed forces want to shoot instead of thinking of a
peaceable solution to the elevator or the giant problem. Discuss why
people are so trigger happy instead of thoughtful.
THE BFG
BFG – 301 Imagine what your neighbourhood would look like at exactly midnight.
BFG – 302 Sophie says that nobody would worry about her disappearance.
Act out the scene at the orphanage, the morning after the BFG has taken
her away.
BFG – 303 When Sophie first saw the BFG, she didn’t know what he was
doing. Imagine that he hadn’t been blowing dreams for the children. What
other explanation could there be for his behaviour?
BFG – 304 Act out the dream about being a famous writer, with everyone’s nose stuck in the book you’ve written.
BFG – 305 Set any of these to music, and mime them:
For the various topics, you need to understand the pace and feeling of
the action, and set the music accordingly. Where does the music become
louder/softer/faster/slower/silent and so on?
For the presentation, you could hum the music, and mime the actions with the music.
(Ref – like some of the scenes in Mr. Bean or Charlie Chaplin – action to music.)
BFG – 305 A. Sophie’s first glimpse of the BFG.
BFG – 305 B. Good or bad dreams.
BFG – 305 C. Mixing the dream.
BFG – 305 D. The preparation for and Serving of Breakfast at the Palace
BFG – 305 E. The Helicopter Journey (Coming or going or both)
BFG – 306 What if the BFG had not taken Sophie away? Would she have told
anyone about him, at the orphanage? Would they have believed her? What
would have happened then?
BFG – 307 Write a letter to the BFG asking him to visit you with a dream.
BFG – 308 What would ants chattering sound like? What would the music from the stars sound like?
BFG – 309 The BFG is his own person – he does not do things he does not
believe in, just to fit in with the other giants. Talk about the
importance of being true to yourself and keeping your individuality.
BFG – 310 Do you agree with the BFG, that if humans can make rules that
suit themselves and K*ll animals for food, then giants can make rules
to suit themselves, and K*ll humans for food?
BFG – 311 Why are the rocks blue in giant country?
BFG – 312 Why didn’t the BFG hear Sophie’s heartbeat when she was in the
snozzcumber and Bloodbottler was in the cave? Give one or more
explanations.
BFG – 313 Was Sophie pretending that she liked the way the BFG spoke, to
make him feel good, or did she really like the way he spoke?
BFG – 314 They passed many different countries. Draw the new countries
and/or act out what was happening in the countries they were passing.
BFG – 315 Imagine the process the BFG went through, to teach himself to
write. Now, explain that process to us. You could speak, make a poster
or act.
BFG – 316 The BFG says that he has had to get used to the fact that the
giants eat people every day, and stop worrying about it because he feels
he cannot do anything. Are there things you feel you’d like to solve
and cannot because you are helpless? How do you think these things could
be solved?
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
FOX – 401 How does Dahl bring out the connection between what we eat and
who we are, by mentioning the farmers’ diets? What do you think about
healthy food making for a happy person?
FOX – 402 Draw a maze or a map depicting the fox’s hole, the three farms and the homes of the other animals mentioned.
FOX – 403 How does the story bring out the importance of determination?
FOX – 404 Draw the various expressions of the fox, as the story
progresses and he goes through various situations and responds to them.
The challenge is to get AS MANY expressions as you can.
FOX – 405 Make a game like crosses-and-noughts, showing the strategy of the fox.
FOX – 406 Tell or act out this story from the point of view of one of the 108 men who were guarding the hillside.
FOX – 407 Set any part of the story to music, and mime the action as you hum.
FOX – 408 Mabel said she had been promised the tail, and then her
mistress promised her the head. The hunting of the fox was a joint
effort, of the three farmers. Would the others have let Mabel have the
head, had the fox been hunted?
FOX – 409 Without teamwork, there can be no progress. How does this story depict the importance of teamwork?
COM – 410 There are adults who think that Roald Dahl’s books are not good for children. What would you say to these adults?
ESIO TROT
ETR – 501 Mr. Hoppy had dreamt of getting Mrs. Silver’s attention by
rescuing her from thugs, or something big and great like that. What
finally worked involved a small creature like a tortoise. Discuss how
big dreams are sometimes realised in small ways.
ETR – 502 What if Alfie had been able to speak?
ETR – 503 What would Alfie have dreamt of, while hibernating for a long time?
ETR – 504 Imagine that Mrs. Silver had written a letter to the giant
tortoises, to ask them the secret of their large size. What would she
have written? How would they have responded?
ETR – 505 What if Mrs. Silver’s pet had been a snake?
ETR – 506 How would you construct a model of Alfie using Lego? How would you make him grow, slowly, to double the size?
ETR – 507 Mr. Hoppy made up the magic words. Suppose these had turned
out to be real magic, without his knowledge – what would have happened
when Mrs. Silver recited them?
ETR – 508 There are many toys, like the Matryoshka Nesting Doll from
Russia, which are smaller and smaller models of the same doll fitting in
to each other. Draw / make with craft paper a similar ‘Esio Trot’ toy.
ETR – 509 Set any part of this story to music and mime it.
GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE
GMED – 601 Was George lucky, to live on a farm?
GMED – 602 If you had to invent a marvellous medicine, what would your recipe have been?
GMED – 603 Dahl says that most grandmothers are kind and loving. Tell us something about your grandmother.
COM – 604 If Miss Trunchbull and George’s grandma were to have a shouting match, who would win?
COM – 605 Roald Dahl often writes about women as being mean or wicked.
Do you think this influences how children think about women?
GMED – 606 George’s grandma was the most troublesome thing in his life,
and she disappeared. Do our real troubles disappear like that?
GMED – 607 What are all the uses that George’s medicine could be put
to? For example, if it were put on a dinosaur fossil, would the dinosaur
come to life?
GMED – 608 George thinks that medicine should make people nicer. Imagine
a ‘Make nice medicine’. What would the recipe be? What would the
effects be?
COM – 609 Charlie’s grandma and George’s grandma both disappear.
Charlie’s grandma returns, George’s grandma does not return. What if
Charlie and George were to have a conversation about grandmas?
GMED – 610 Think of the card-game, Rummy. Now, imagine the different
ingredients of George’s medicine, and how they could be drawn on cards,
to make a game like Rummy.
GMED – 611 Think of the game Carrom, or of the game Snooker. Now create a
game where the ingredients of the medicine are carrom counters or
snooker-balls, each going into a pocket as it gets added to the
medicine.
THE GIRAFFE AND THE PELLY AND ME
GPM – 701 What would the sweet shop of your dreams be loaded with?
GPM – 702 Instead of a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey, what if the shop
had been occupied by a porcupine, a hippo and a lizard? What job would
this team have been good at? How would they have done it? Think of the
pelican’s beak and the giraffe’s neck. How would their bodies be
modified for the job? (You could also have three other animals of your
choice if you like.)
GPM – 703 Instead of window-cleaning, suppose the giraffe, the pelican
and the monkey had run a barber shop. How would they have gone about
doing this work?
GPM – 704 Why is it good to use ‘kindness and hope’ while washing windows?
IND – 705 Imagine the window-cleaning team in India. How would they
clean the Taj Mahal? The Vidhan Soudha? What would they think about
India?
COM – 706 Imagine the giraffe, the pelican and the monkey meeting the
BFG and helping him clean the windows of the big house the queen had
made for him.
GPM 707 – You are a reporter for the newspaper. How would you report the
incident of the theft of the jewels, and the capture of the thief?
DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
DCW – 801 Danny had never really known his mother, and was very happy
being brought up by his father. Do you think he was unlucky, that he
didn’t have a mother?
DCW – 802 Draw the workshop and filling station.
DCW – 803 Talk about eye-smiling as compared to mouth-smiling.
DCW – 804 Danny’s father talks about how a car engine is a marvellous
invention. What are some other great inventions, that we take for
granted today?
DCW – 805 Is it true that children’s toys today are rubbish, like Danny
says, and simple everyday implements make better toys? Why do you think
parents and children spend so much money on toys these days?
DCW – 806 Do you agree with Danny’s father, about sending Danny to school later than other children? Why or why not?
DCW – 807 Imagine that Danny had written a letter or message and
attached it to the fire balloon. To whom would he have written? What
would he have written?
DCW – 808 Imagine that your neighbours have seen the fire balloon and think it is a flying saucer. What would they do?
DCW – 809 Imagine that Danny is grown up and has children of his own. Would he tell them about poaching? Act out the scene.
DCW – 810 Mr. Victor Hazell had a pit dug on his own property, to
protect the pheasants he had brought up. Was he wrong to do this? Why or
why not?
DCW – 811 Danny seems to be a very independent boy, and his father
encourages this independence. He does not allow Danny to go to the
Doctor’s house while he is in hospital himself. Is it good for young
children to be very independent?
DCW – 812 Choreograph the whole poaching episode as a dance.
DCW – 813 These days, most of the food we eat is refined and comes out
of packets. What are the advantages of eating food directly the way it
is grown, like Danny ate the apples?
DCW – 814 Using the punishment meted out to Danny and Sidney as an
example, talk about good and bad methods of keeping discipline in
schools. What sort of punishment did Danny and Sidney actually deserve,
if any? Was Danny right, in stopping his father from complaining to
Captain Lancaster?
DCW – 815 Danny says that if his father had been in a good school, he
may have become a naturalist. Discuss how schools today encourage the
students’ various talents.
COM – 816 How would Sergeant Samways have dealt with Miss Trunchbull, Matilda’s headmistress?
DCW – 817 Overall, would you say that this book has a disappointing ending, or a happy ending?
COM – 818 Several of Roald Dahl’s stories contain references to how
humans are cruel to animals. Even in India, poaching is rampant and many
animals die in illegal pet shops. What should the government do about
this situation?
DCW – 819 When Danny’s father goes out poaching and falls in to the pit,
Danny rescues him because he knows that his father would never have
gone back on a promise. Discuss why it is important to keep our promises
to people.
DCW – 820 When Danny was about to give Mr. Victor Hazell petrol, Mr.
Hazell was rude to him, and this angered Danny’s father. Have you come
across similar instances in India, of people being rude to children?
Talk about these instances and how those children and their parents
might have felt.
IND – 821 “It was beginning to look as though just about everybody in
the entire district was in on this poaching lark.” Think of the movie
Lagaan, and how the team came and stood by Bhuvan. Do a similar scene
for all the people who were friends of Danny and his father during the
poaching episode. What game would this poaching-team play, against Mr.
Victor Hazell and his keepers?
DCW – 822 Danny turned a disadvantage into an advantage, by using the
sleeping pills to poach the pheasants. His father’s broken ankle was a
disadvantage, using the pills was a good idea. Have there been times in
your life when you turned a disadvantage to an advantage? Tell us about
it.
DCW – 823 How would the poaching-night have unfolded, from the point of
view of the keepers? What would have happened at the actual shooting
party, with all the famous people? How would Mr. Hazell have dealt with
the keepers afterwards? Act it out.
COM – 824 Matilda’s father broke the law, by selling stolen cars and
lying about mileage and the condition of the car. Danny’s father also
broke the law, by poaching. Explain why we dislike Matilda’s father and
feel he should be punished, while we like Danny’s father and feel he
should not be punished. If you had been a judge in a court, would you
have punished Danny’s father?
COM – 825 Many of Dahl’s stories are about children who could be
considered lucky or unlucky, depending on your point of view. According
to you, which of these is the luckiest, and why?
a. Matilda
b. James
c. Danny
d. Charlie
e. Sophie
MATILDA
MAT – 901 What do you think about Roald Dahl’s opening remarks, about parents and teachers, and their views of children?
MAT – 902 What if your neighbour was about to buy a car from Mr. Wormwood? What would you do in such a situation?
MAT – 903 If you had met Matilda in the library, and she had asked you
to recommend a book for her to read, what would you have done?
MAT – 904 Create a game in which the students have to dodge various traps and tricks thought up by Miss Trunchbull.
MAT – 905 Make a poster of ‘rules’ for the students of Crunchem Hall.
MAT – 906 Draw two cartoons of Amanda Thripp – one before her haircut,
and the other after. (Remember, she probably cut her hair herself.)
MAT – 907 Act out the scene between Amanda Thripp and her parents, and
Bruce Bogtrotter and his parents, when they returned home after being
punished by the Trunchbull.
MAT – 908 Put a tune to Bruce Bogtrotter’s cake-eating episode, and act
it out in mime. Remember to include Bruce, the other children, the cook
and Miss Trunchbull – and what they were feeling at various times.
MAT – 909 Do you agree with Nigel Hicks’s behaviour, during Miss Trunchbull’s first lesson in Matilda’s class?
MAT – 910 Do you think Lavender told Matilda about the newt, later? What
would their conversation have been like? In Lavender’s place, would you
have owned up to the Trunchbull about the newt? What would you have
done with the newt, afterwards?
MAT – 911 If Miss Honey met Mrs. Phelps, what sort of conversation would
they have, about Matilda? What if Miss Honey had taken Mrs. Phelps to
Miss Trunchbull with her?
MAT – 912 Matilda confides a huge secret in Miss Honey, and Miss Honey
confides a deep secret in Matilda. Whom do you confide your deepest
secrets in, and why?
MAT – 913 When we really feel deeply about something, we get the courage
to act on it. Miss Honey went to Miss Trunchbull in spite of all her
fears, to speak to her about Matilda. Have you ever needed to work up
your courage, to speak up for something you believed in?
IND – 914 Matilda’s parents don’t believe in ‘book-reading’, though her
father has a successful business. In India, there are lower-middle-class
families, in which the parents and children face great hardships to
educate the children. Tell us something about these Indian families.
MAT – 915 What do you remember of your very first day of nursery school?
MAT – 916 Draw the scene Hortensia describes – of the Trunchbull being
the Prince of Darkness and the students being the gallant army.
MAT – 917 What really happened with Miss Trunchbull’s cake? Did Bruce
take it or was he being framed? What if there had been a court-room
scene about this?
MAT –918 Imagine that Matilda’s father suspected her of playing the
pranks on the family and hired a lawyer to fight a court case against
her. Act out the courtroom scene. Would the judge have thought that the
pranks were dangerous? Would the judge have found Matilda guilty, based
on the evidence?
MAT – 919 What does reading help us to do?
MAT – 920 At Miss Honey’s house Matilda brought water from a well. Are
there any old customs that your parents or grandparents are familiar
with which you know nothing about? Find out from them and tell us.
MAT – 921 How would Matilda have explained to Mrs. Phelps the book she could not return because her father tore it?
MAT – 922 Matilda plays one prank against the whole family and two
pranks against her father. Why doesn’t she play any pranks against her
mother?
MAT – 923 Matilda says that she does not need a calculator because the
human brain is better than a machine. What are the other things the
brain does better than a machine?
IND – 924 Matilda’s parents favoured their son and neglected Matilda. Discuss this with reference to Indian girls.
MAT – 925 Write a limerick.
MAT – 926 Explain how Miss Trunchbull got the job of Headmistress.
MAT – 927 Imagine that you were one of the children in Miss Honey’s
class on Matilda’s first day at school and during Miss Trunchbull’s
first lesson. Explain what you saw and how you felt.
MAT – 928 When Miss Honey talked back to Mr. Wormwood, he was surprised
because nobody had ever defied him before. Imagine the scene in his car
showroom, with all the workers kowtowing to him. Now, imagine what they
must be saying about him behind his back.
MAT – 929 During Miss Honey’s visit to the Wormwood residence, she
cannot speak to Matilda’s parents properly due to the TV. Is electronic
entertainment reducing human interaction in today’s world?
MAT – 930 Make ‘get well soon’ cards for the children hurt by Miss Trunchbull.
THE MAGIC FINGER
MFIN – 1001 “ ... if any of you are wondering if Mrs. Winter is quite
all right again now the answer is No. And she never will be.” Imagine
what this means, about Mrs. Winter, who had grown a cat’s tail and
whiskers because of the Magic Finger.
MFIN – 1002 We take many things for granted, like eating apples using
our hands. What other everyday tasks would it be difficult to perform,
if we had wings instead of hands?
MFIN – 1003 Imagine that the duck who answered the phone could speak
English, and act out the phone conversation between the girl and the
duck.
MFIN – 1004 Make wings out of newspaper (as your costumes) and perform
any of the scenes in the book. You could choreograph the scene as a
dance, to music, if you like.
MFIN – 1005 What if the Greggs had been hunting tigers or hippopotamuses, instead of ducks?
MFIN – 1006 Even when they were so upset, the Greggs managed to be
grateful for the nest they had. Discuss the importance of gratitude in a
difficult situation.
COM – 1007 How is the Magic Finger similar to Matilda’s magic brain and eye power? How is it different?
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
JGP – 1101 What if James had not dropped the bag that the little man had given him?
JGP – 1102 Imagine that one of James’s aunts was nice, and the other one
was mean. Write a story or a poem or make a cartoon or a skit.
JGP – 1103 If you had to add TWO more creatures to travel on the peach,
along with James and the creatures Dahl mentions, which would those
creatures be? What would their characteristics be, and how would they
help during the various adventures on board the peach?
IND – 1104 What if the peach had landed in India? Which monument would
it have landed on? How would Indian people have responded?
JGP – 1105 The Cloud Men make a rainbow. Explain any other natural phenomena that they might be responsible for.
JGP – 1106 Set any part of the story to music and mime it.
JGP – 1107 Does the Centipede’s constant donning and removing of his
shoes remind you of any game or any dance step? Demonstrate how.
JGP – 1108 According to you, who is the bravest character in this story? Why?
JGP – 1109 What if it had been a coconut instead of a peach?
COM – 1110 Imagine that you are James. You can choose one of the
following to accompany you on the peach. Whom do you choose, and why?
Matilda, Miss Honey, Mr. Hoppy, Mrs. Hoppy, Danny, Danny’s father,
Sergeant Samways, George, Mr. Fox, The BFG, The Queen of England.
INDIANISING DAHL
IND – 1201 Imagine Birbal (of Akbar and Birbal) or Tenali Raman dealing with any of the following situations.
Write a story or act it out.
IND – 1201 a. In Crunchem Hall, against Miss Trunchbull.
IND – 1201 b. Against the Knids in outer space.
IND – 1201 c. Against the nine man-eating giants.
IND – 1201 d. Against George’s strange grandmother.
IND – 1201 e. Against the Greggs in ‘The Magic Finger’.
IND – 1202 IND – If any of the following were to visit India and be part
of any INDIAN FESTIVAL of your choice, how would that Indian festival
be celebrated? Write a story or act it out.
IND – 1202 a. Willy Wonka
IND – 1202 b. Danny’s father and Danny
IND – 1202 c. The giraffe, pelican and monkey
IND – 1202 d. Matilda and Miss Honey
LEARNING FROM DAHL
Which of Dahl’s stories remind us of (any one of) these proverbs?
Bring out how, through a speech, a poem, a song, a skit or a drawing.
PRO – 1301 “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
PRO – 1302 “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
PRO – 1303 “Two heads are better than one.”
PRO – 1304 “United we stand, divided we fall.”
PRO – 1305 “A stitch in time saves nine.”
PRO – 1306 “A friend in need, is a friend indeed.”
PRO – 1307 “Look before you leap.”
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sonali.and.sharanya@gmail.com. Thanks!
