The Tickle Trunk Players
Teacher’s Guide for “Look What the Chinook Blew in and Other
Canuck Conundrums”
Curriculum Connections:
-Social Studies:
Symbols of Canada, culture of Canada, landforms and bodies of water in BC and Canada,
Canadian identity, immigration.
Resources and Research Prior to Visit:
Versions of a selection of stories used in or related to the play can be found:
- http://www.kerala.ca/legends1.html (the story of Kitchekewana and how
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Giant’s Tomb Island was formed)
When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean by Jan
Andrews (Groundwood Books 2011)
Try reading other folktales from French Canada such as Legends of Québec:
From the Land of the Golden Dog by Hazel Boswell or Baptiste Larocque:
Legends of French Canada by Paul A. Wallace.
For an extensive bibliography of French Canadian folktales, see Edith Fowke's
Folklore of French Canada.
The National Film Board has several Ti-Jean filmstrips and films. Primary
students might enjoy the one about Ti-Jean in the lumber camp.
The NFB also distributes CBC's excellent 30-minute colour film "The Princess of
Tomboso." Jacques, the hero, is Ti-Jean by a slightly different name; his older
brothers have different names also.
The Ti-Jean stories may be a source for the American Paul Bunyan stories (TiJean...Bon-Jean...Bunyan). Read a Paul Bunyan story and a Ti-Jean story. How is
Ti-Jean different from Paul Bunyan?
Let's Call it Canada: Amazing Stories of Canadian Place Names, by Susan
Hughes (Maple Tree Press)
Find as many records of Québec and Maritime fiddle music as you can. Listen,
clap, stamp your feet, dance. Suggestions: Anything from Great Big Sea and
perhaps some of the music of Gilles Vigneault.
Deepening Understanding Using Drama/Storytelling Games:
Story Blank:
This is a great game to introduce vocabulary, story elements, to develop voice, to develop
teamwork and respect and simply to have fun with storytelling.
After reading several of the stories with your students from the above site and doing
some research as to the importance of oral storytelling as well as perhaps listing some of
the story settings, characters and place names on chart paper or the board, try this fun and
interactive game! It may also help to review some of the elements of a story such as what
is included in the beginning, middle and end of a story for younger students.
You will need a team of 4-5 students. One student will be the ‘lead’ storyteller or
narrator. This person will tell the majority of the on the spot made up story. Whenever
this person raises their arms and looks at the other players, the players contribute, by
raising their hands and being selected by the teller, an idea or word to the story that the
teller is telling. The teller than has to incorporate that word into the story and find a way
to make the story make sense. This pattern is repeated until the storyteller finishes
his/her story.
On the other hand, you can also use this game to create nonsense stories. For younger
grades, it is often helpful if the teacher is lead storyteller and the students provide ideas
for the story.
A variation of this game could be done as a story review. After a story is read or shared,
in groups, the students could use this game to retell it as accurately as possible.
Pop-Up Story:
This fun and energetic drama activity enhances student’s connection to stories and can be
used as a tool to make predictions and to visualize what is happening in the plot.
Note: You will need some space in the room for this activity and it is suitable for all
ages. When demonstrating, reinforce for students the importance of using their bodies in
drama to help tell the story. By this, I mean be aware of extending the body, using
expression on faces and using different levels in presentation (not all students should be
on a low level for instance, it is more visually and dramatically appealing to have some
on a medium and high level as well)
To prepare for this activity (which can be done in smaller groups or as a whole class),
read or assign one of the stories from the above site to the students. The teacher or
students can break the story down, deciding which scenes would be the best to dramatize.
1 or more of the students can be the storyteller(s). The rest of the team crouches down
while the story is being told (either read or recounted). When the storyteller says, “And
this is what it looked like…” and mimics turning a page, the rest of the team pops up as if
in a pop-up story book and freezes in a pose depicting that part of the story.
An extension of this is called “Speaking in Role”. When the students are in their freeze,
the teacher or storyteller can tap them and they can speak as if they were their character
and reveal how they are feeling/reacting to the scene.
This can be repeated until the story is complete. Alternatively, the story can be stopped
at any time and the group can be asked to make a pop-up scene that shows what they
think will happen next.
Walk Across Canada
Once again this builds confidence in the idea that we can all do it! It simplifies drama to
activities that most of us do everyday. Using a rhythmic drumbeat, have students walk around
the room, normally at first. When you bang three times, they freeze. This activity is done in
silence and there is no physical contact. Research can be done initially about the geographic
areas of Canada and what it would have been like to travel before the Last Spike was
hammered. Have students imagine they are voyageurs travelling across the nation from coast
to coast. How does their movement change as they move down the St. Lawrence River, cross
the Canadian Shield, travel across the Prairies and climb and descend the Rocky Mountains?
How do weather changes affect their movement? As you drum, call out the directives and
inform students as to how they need to imagine adjusting their movements.
News Report
Have students research one of the stories as if it had really happened and perhaps do a news
story on it or interview one of the characters. Have them take digital photographs that
enhance/support their stories or video record a short clip depicting interviews or ‘live’ scenes.
Create a news studio in your classroom and share your presentations using the speakers/hosts,
digital still photography and live interviews/on scene reporting.
Additional Extensions: (After the Visit)
• Research life in New France and other areas of Canada in the l7th and l8th centuries.
(Don't forget to look at the artists' pictures about those times--James Cockburn,
Kreighoff, C.W. Jeffreys).
• Draw pictures of the different types of clothing people were wearing at that time.
• Make models of the kinds of buildings Ti-Jean would have seen in his village in rural
Québec.
• Compare what Ti-Jean's life would have been like with what yours is like--work,
school, church, transportation, size of families, communication, recreation, etc.