(figure available in print form)
SAMPLE SCRIPT: When Cultures Collide
Time
: The Present
Plot Synopsis
: Action begins on an Alien Space/Time Ship. The ship runs out of fuel. Three groups of aliens head off to Earth in three small exploratory vessels in search of fuel. Each group is lead by a high ranking alien official. One group goes to Puerto Rico, another to Russia, and the third to Ghana. They are able to learn languages quickly, but they do not fully comprehend everything they see and hear. They become intrigued by the people and ask questions. They share stories, songs, dances and other customs. The leader of the aliens can meet the leader of each culture. Each group collects the energy from emotions released by the people they visit in their fuel collectors. (This idea is based on the thought that feelings and emotions are something that is shared by every culture, regardless of differences—I would discuss this with students, and see if they had an idea they liked better.) As the aliens collect emotion they also begin to speak with more emotion.
Characters
: (Only a sampling of some of the possible characters. It is best not to get bogged down with long segments of drama with only a few characters interacting. The play is built around group scenes.)
ALIEN SHIP
Entire 4th Grade:
Aztecala-alien leader
Leader 2
Leader 3
Leader 4
Pozxter-wise person
Captain of Ship
Time Expert
Space Expert
Artist, Dancer
Food Grower
Doctor
PUERTO RICO
One First Grade:
Current Leader of Puerto Rico
Group of story-tellers:JUAN BOBO
One Third Grade:
A group of singers
Other possible parts:
A family going to an open air market
Group of dancers
Group of workers
RUSSIA
One Second Grade:
Group of storytellers: BABA YAGA
One Third Grade
Current Leader of Russia
A group of dancers
Other possible parts:
A family
A group of collective farmers
GHANA
One First Grade
Current Leader of Ghana
A group of story-tellers: ANANSE
One Second Grade:
A family buying goods in market
Other possible parts:
Group of farmers
Group of dancers
Group of miners
(In order to condense this sample script within the unit, I have single spaced. When creating the script for teachers and students there should be spaces between the parts of the different characters.)
(All ALIEN characters MUST speak without emotion!)
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AZTECALA: How much further can we go, Captain?
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CAPTAIN: Queen Aztecala, the fuel is almost empty! We must refuel.
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TIME EXPERT: I am the time expert and I know that we have 31 seconds of fuel remaining!
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SPACE EXPERT: I am the space expert and I know that we can travel another 1 million miles in 31 seconds!
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AZTECALA: What can we do, oh POZXTER the WISE?
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POZXTER: My built-in computer shows that we can find fuel on that planet. (Points outside spaceship. A slide of Earth can be projected on a screen for the audience to see.) It is called Earth by the people who live there. We will have to search for fuel.
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LEADER 1: Remember we must not harm one thing or we will lose our space driver’s license.
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LEADER 2: Even though we will be invisible, if our power goes, we will become visible. We must look like these earthlings if we are to not frighten them. LEADER 3: POZXTER, can you get us some pictures of these earthlings on our screen?
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(Various pictures of people in the different classes are shown on the screen. The aliens are frightened by how scary they are.)
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LEADER 1: Lucky that we saw them in advance. They are very scary.
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AZTECALA: Scientists—please make us look like the Earthlings.
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SCIENTIST 1: Are you sure you want to do this? ARTIST: Maybe it is better to run out of fuel!
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POZXTER: There!! (Pozxter lifts his arms; special sound effects; most of the students take off “ugly” alien masks and costumes—they are transformed into Earthlings. They continue to wear something which identifies them as “aliens”, i.e., green pointed hats, silver shirts, big red dots on the back of their costumes, etc.) Remember with those “hats” on you will not be visible. You will go to different places on the planet. Gather as much information as you can while you are there.
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BOOK WRITER: Oh yes! I will write a book on this planet Earth.
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CAPTAIN: We will take three small ships and travel to . . .
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POZXTER: Just make sure you stay on land. Much of this planet is covered with water—and you know how dangerous that is for us!
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FOOD GROWER: My great grandmother said her sister fell into a pond on a purple planet! She just disappeared! I would never touch water.
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AZTECALA: Of course no one would be stupid enough to touch water! Let’s go! (The issue of not touching water is filled with tension and could be developed to heighten dramatic tension.)
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POZXTER: Everyone! Pick up a fuel collector on your way onto the ship. Keep your fuel collector on at all times! When they are full return to the ship!
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NARRATOR: (Can be one person at a microphone, a small group, or entire class doing choral speaking.) The three groups of aliens traveled in their small ships to three different places on the planet Earth. One group landed in a small town on the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Another group landed in the outskirts of Moscow in Russia. The third group landed in Ghana in a small village near the city of Tamale. Let us go to Africa and find out how this group is doing. (During this talk, slides of maps are projected on the screen so the audience can see where the space ships land. If a camera is available students or teachers can make the slides, using slide film, and maps from books or the large maps usually found in classrooms.)
(The aliens have landed outside an elementary school in Ghana. All students are in school uniforms and the teacher is teaching the class in English, the official language of Ghana.)
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Leader 1: Look! They are all wearing the same costumes, like us!
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Leader 2: Our clothes are not costumes!
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Teacher: One group has created a play based on the Ananse story,
Why Spiders Live in Dark Corners
. Now we will watch them act it out.
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GRADE ONE: DRAMATIZE ANANSE STORY.(See Lesson Plan #1 for this project.)
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ALIEN 1: That will be a good one to tell back on the ship.
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ALIEN 2: Who would have thought that was the reason why spiders live in dark corners.
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ALIEN 3: That Ananse Spider is a real trickster.
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LEADER 1: Look at our fuel collectors. We collected a lot of fuel already. Look over there.
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ALIEN 1: It looks like they are exchanging goods. Listen! Sounds like a good place to bring our fuel collectors!
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GRADE TWO: DRAMATIZE MARKET SCENE (Improvise—See Drama Bibliography)
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NARRATOR: The aliens filled their fuel collectors and made their way back to their space ship. Let us go to the group in Russia.
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GRADE THREE: DANCE THE TROIKA (See Lesson Plan #3)
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GRADE TWO: DRAMATIZE STORY OF BABA YAGA (See Lesson Plan #1)
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NARRATOR: The aliens filled their fuel collectors and made their way back to their space ship. Let us go to the group in Puerto Rico.
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GRADE THREE: SING A PUERTO RICAN SONG LIKE COQUI (The Little Frog) (Contact Kay Hill at Bilingual/Foreign Language Department)
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GRADE ONE: DRAMATIZE A JUAN BOBO STORY (See Lesson Plan #1)
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NARRATOR: The aliens filled their fuel collectors and made their way back to their space ship. Let us return now to the Alien’s ship.
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AZTECALA: We’ve done it! We have collected feelings from the people on Earth and have enough fuel for another billion megacenturies!
