Musical Theatre: Unit 28:"Storytelling as Performance&Unit 17: Developing Voice for the Actor"

                                   Refugee Stories


Purpose of the assignment is to teach practical researching , writing , proofreading , ending , work shopping, performing, vocalizations, and storytelling techniques. This is the second half of a pair of assignments that will fulfil, in, in full, the grading criteria set forth above.

Deadline for this assignment is 11 Feb 2016.

Scenario of this assignment:
David Cameron , the prime minister of Britain, has acknowledged the need to support those individuals displaced by the war in Syria. He has committed to the intake of 10,000 refugees and has set up camps in several boroughs including Waltham Forest. To pacify , initiate, and inform the masses, Mr Cameron has asked for local area Sixth Forms to create performance pieces that emphasize British Values and the British way of life using the unique experiences of the refugees as a way to convey them. Leyton Sixth Form is on exception, and have been asked to put together five 10 min entertaining stories that initiate the refugees of British life; inform them of our customs; and exemplify all those values we hold near and dear whilst relating to the refuges unique experiences. The refugees will be of varying ages and English will not be their first language.

Task 1a: Group research:
In task 1 we have to in groups conduct comprehensive research into the source material used for a story. Include any and all research in our digital scrapbook.

First research I did about British Values:

                                        British values

British values-Through their provision of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural learning (SMSC) all independent and state-maintained schools have a duty to 'actively promote' the fundamental British Values of:

- Democracy

- The rule of law

- Individual liberty

- Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

Go-Givers is based on the premise that children deserve space within the safe environment of the classroom, to explore ideas, develop a sense of identity and form opinions.

We provide children with opportunities to gain an understanding of the values we share, and start equipping them with the knowledge and skills to think for themselves, to challenge and debate.

I took this information from: www.gogivers.org

Schools must promote British values, says UK Government

As of November 2014, schools must now promote British values.

Advice from the DfE is to do so through SMSC, though Ofsted will assess it through the curriculum too.

In its press release on 27 November 2014, the Department for Education told all schools to promote 'British values' and produced advice for doing so through SMSC.

Ofsted wants to see a school ethos and climate that promotes 'British values' at every level. Inspectors will assess 'British values' through SMSC, the curriculum and school leadership.

And Ofsted now pays a lot of attention to SMSC when deciding whether your school is 'outstanding', 'inadequate' or somewhere in between.

(Although this website is concerned mainly with primary and secondary education, the British values and Prevent agendas affect early year’s provision too. This page on childcare.co.uk explains how British values and Prevent requirements affect child-minders and early year’s providers.)

How must we teach it?

 Advice from the Department for Education is that British values should be promoted through SMSC.

For maintained schools, this is set out in Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC.

For independent schools, free schools and academies, it is set out in improving the SMSC development of pupils in independent schools.

(Oddly, the DfE makes no mention of the statutory citizenship curriculum; it's as though ministers have completely forgotten they have a subject purpose-built for making sense of such things already.)

What must be taught?

The advice here is basically the same for maintained schools ('state' schools) and independent schools (private schools, academies and free schools):

•Enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence

•enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England

•encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely

•enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England

•further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation for and respect for their own and other cultures

•encourage respect for other people, and

•encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

The only difference for independent schools is in the penultimate paragraph, which now includes them in requirements regarding the Equality Act's protected characteristics:

•encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010.

How will it be assessed?

In its revised Framework for school inspection, Ofsted is clear that schools will struggle to get a decent rating if they fail to deliver good SMSC, which now includes 'British values'.

 Ofsted added 'British values' explicitly to the Social strand of SMSC in its School inspection handbook 2014:

'The social development of pupils is shown by their: •acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; the pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.'

In that incarnation, the Schools Inspection Handbook stated explicitly that school leaders must also demonstrate that they were addressing British values through the curriculum. However, this has changed in the School Inspection Handbook from September 2015:

'Inspectors will consider:

'Inspectors should consider how well leadership and management ensure that the curriculum: •how the school prepares pupils positively for life in modern Britain and promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.'

•actively promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.'

 School Inspection Handbook for September 2015, paragraph 138 School Inspection Handbook 2014, paragraph 152

Confusingly, there is a slightly different definition of the last point elsewhere in the current document (at paragraph 135): 'mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs,' which omits 'those without faith'.

Citizenship has it covered

While teaching 'British values' may seem a tall order, never fear: schools have the tools to cover much of it already.

School leaders often overlook the citizenship curriculum, but it's still there for schools (there's even a GCSE and A level in it) and it was purpose-built for exactly this sort of exploration and learning.

Citizenship education underpins much of SMSC. For example, exploring human rights and our political and legal systems through the taught citizenship curriculum goes a long way to learning 'the difference between right and wrong' and 'the consequences of behaviour'.

Resources for discussing values in the classroom

Many teachers are unsure how to approach values teaching. And many worry about discussing the controversial issues that may arise when exploring values. This is understandable, particularly now the Government's Prevent agenda has put a duty on schools to monitor and report on potential extremism (in force from 1 July 2015).

We have a few resources to help teachers explore values appropriately and fairly, and to develop strategies for responding to controversial events.

I took this information from: www.doingsmsc.org.uk

Here I'm posting one example which we thought that we are going to you for our performance:

 

For most Syrians escape from the country against the atrocities of the civil war does not mean the end of their struggle for survival. Some countries still face a dramatic situation, especially with winter. It is not surprising: in the Lebanon resident of more than one million. 

Today, the problem of lack of food, clothing, hygiene products, in view of the coming winter - the lack of stoves, blankets and shelter, affects 3.2 million Syrians who have had to flee the country in search of a safer place. In Syria, they had houses, cars, ran their own businesses. Today, although the dream of returning to the country is not possible because of the situation in it. 

Anis (less than 30) and his 24-year-old wife Sabbah travelled from Syria to Lebanon three weeks ago. A young couple waiting a child lives in a garage with roughly adapted to the apartment. Cool, moist, without heating, with a makeshift bathroom, wall-mounted faucet and a suspended sink, performing the role of the kitchen. It's the only place where you can quickly find shelter. They only had what they were able to take in the suitcase when leaving their hometown subsequently destroyed by the rebels, ISIS fighters and the government army. They entered Lebanon legally, but only because they took pity on them, due to illness of employees in international organisations, it helped Sabbah to cross the border, which is before the borders from Syrian government closed a few weeks ago.  Shelter for refugees is the first need in a new place far from home. Then only the refugees are concerned about the food, and further health or medication. They are seeking help from international organisations, but also local communities. Today, Lebanon has almost 1.2 million refugees at 4 million citizens of this country. In many places, especially at the border, the number of refugees exceeds the number of inhabitants. Despite the difficult situation for all, the Lebanese first reached out to Syria's neighbors, the war drove them from their homeland. Although they are poor, people feed, borrow money or allow borrowing in stores. But not everyone is so lucky.
To get the money to pay debts and rent, Mariah and Abdallah along with their four children were forced to sell part of the food company they got in the framework of humanitarian aid, at prices much lower than its value. Yes, Mariah devoted a cash to pay the rent, buying school supplies and clothing for children. A modest amount is not enough to satisfy even the most modest needs. Abdallah cannot work, because Mariah was forced to sell his shoes and jacket. 

Information I took from Polish website: www.politykaglobalna.pl

Task1b: Individual Suitability Reports:

In this task we have to record ours individual reactions to the research  and describe, explain , and analyse each piece of research's suitability.


Task2: Creations:

In task 2 we have to create a story in our groups, based on ours sources material, showing complete control over style and structure with flair and imagination and showing complete awareness of the needs of the target audience. Documental evidence should be also saved in our digital scrapbook.

Here I'm posting our choice which we will be performing this Thursday:

Gay Syrian refugee couple build a new future in UK

Gay men are never out of the closet in Syria’ ’17 years old beaten up by his friends for being gay’ ‘Gay couple killed for being gay’ -wrote Jamal and Said once in their magazine. ‘It is also common there for families to try to “fix” their gay children through “therapy” and torture.’ After the article was out they were both fired from the magazine job. ‘Do you think that everyone should be tolerated for who they are? – This question was heard by loads of Syrian residents and was asked by Jamal and Said local journalists from Syria. Most of the people said yes straight away but when the other question was asked it turned out that all of the Syrian people actually should say no. ‘So it is okay to be gay and live in Syria then?’ ‘That’s disgusting! How could you even ask that? That’s against our religion.’ ‘Not at all! Are you gay? If so, you should be killed!’ ‘You must be kidding me.’ ‘Well I am gay and I will stand for my rights to live normally!’ SIRENS it wasn’t long till police came to arrest Jamal and Said. But what did they do to get arrested? ‘- get off me! Leave me alone!’ ‘- what did I do be arrested?’ They were beaten up by police men so badly that they couldn’t stand up without help. After they got beaten up they closed them in prison cell. ‘I don’t know why we even bothered to try to convince these people to change their opinions about us’ – said Jamal ‘What are you even saying? We can’t give up like this. We have the right to live.’ – answered Said. Two weeks passed by Jamal and Said had their case considered in court of justice. ‘I swear that evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR BEING GAY the judge decided that they should stay in prison for trying to make people tolerate being gay.

‘I can’t believe this, we have to do something…’ – said Said ‘What do you want to do huh? It was your idea to start all of it! ‘’Let’s stop hiding, we can’t live like this blah, blah’’ now look at us!’ – screamed Jamal ‘So you say we should have kept hiding and stay quiet? And this is not only my fault! You agreed to do this. And you know what? I don’t regret it. Someone had to speak for gay people in Syria!” ‘Yeah? And why us?’ ‘Because we are journalists!’ – He suddenly vomits and has a high fever ‘Oh my god Said. What happened to you – puts his hand on his forehead – you are burning! Help! – Jamal screams for help Ambulance takes them to the hospital. Said has his blood tasted. He has the results in his hand. He opens them. HIV POSITIVE the hospital refused to give him the treatment as it was very expensive. They both remained silent as police men took them back to prison. ‘Said it’s going to be okay…’ He doesn’t answer. Before going to sleep he Said washes his teeth, Jamal is already asleep. Said looks into the mirror breaks it and quickly cuts his veins and falls to the floor. Jamal wakes immediately and screams for help. ‘Said wake up’ – Jamal cries – ‘you can’t do that to me’ ‘Heeelp!’ SIRENS they took him back to the hospital. But they didn’t let Jamal come with them. He stayed in prison not knowing whether he will see his lover again.

We have decided to move to London, UK. Jamal was worried about the anti-retroviral medication, he promised to himself that he must stay healthy. After the help from the doctor, he could focus more on other things like learning the language (English). Said was a little bit jealous about his partner because he was learning the language faster than he was. In order for us to get a job we had to attend English classes 5 times a week and only after finishing the course we would have a chance of getting a job in this country. Our additional work was writing articles online- so far unpaid.

Jamal said: ‘Our personal life has changed, we met new people that we became friends with, although it was difficult to build trust these people accepted us very quickly and allowed us to not feel left out.’

They both love berlin for being welcoming and an easy place to be openly gay ‘it is so different to Lebanon and Syria’ said Jamal. ‘In Lebanon there are two gay clubs, but it “being gay” is illegal’

Right now they are focusing abut building their future as well as finish their studies at the university in England. ‘I am also interested in becoming involved with one of the political parties here’ says Said. ‘We were activists in Syria and we were involved in the protests in early 2011, around the time when the conflict broke out’.

‘I want to work with other refugees who come to Berlin’ says Jamal. ‘I am a refugee so I know what they need. It would be great to be able to help others in the way that I have been helped.’

'Most Syrians who arrive here have psychological problems because of what happened to them’ adds Said. ‘They feel that they’ve lost everything: friends, family, jobs- their life.’

Jamal says some refugees hide their sexual orientation or HIV status because they are afraid. ‘And if they hide, they don’t get help. We could help translate for people dealing with sensitive issues. Imagine if I wasn’t open about my health issues- it would be a disaster.’

Overall, being resettled has given them the chance to start rebuilding the life they were forced to live behind in Syria. ‘We want to start working, be independent, and have good jobs and a salary’ Jamal and Said said. ‘That’s what we’re used to.’

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

Information based on true story, took from: www.amnesty.org

Here I'm pasting our script :

Gay Syrian refugee couple build a new future in UK

Marta:

Marta is typing text on typewriter)

Gay men are never out of the closet in Syria.

Daria:

(I’m also typing text on typewriter)

‘17 years old beaten up by his friends for being gay’

Mata:

(The same thing)

‘Gay couple killed for being gay’ -wrote Jamal and Said once in their magazine.

Daria:

(Still the same thing)

‘It is also common there for families to try to “fix” their gay children through “therapy” and torture.’

(Marta is still typing, I just talk)

After the article was out they were both fired from the magazine job.

Marta/Daria

(We both stand up-scene with journalist)

Marta:

‘Do you think that everyone should be tolerated for who they are? – This question was heard by loads of Syrian residents and was asked by Jamal and Said local journalists from Syria.

Daria:

Most of the people said yes straight away but when the other question was asked it turned out that all of the Syrian people actually should say no.

Marta:

‘So it is okay to be gay and live in Syria then?’

Dara:

‘That’s disgusting! How could you even ask that? That’s against our religion.’

Marta:

‘Not at all! Are you gay? If so, you should be killed!’

Daria:

 ‘You must be kidding me.’

Marta/Daria:

(We talk together)

 ‘Well I am gay and I will stand for my rights to live normally!’

(We do together sound of sirens)

(SIRENS)

Marta:

It wasn’t long till police came to arrest. But what did they do to get arrested?

 ‘- Get off me!

Daria:

 Leave me alone!’

Marta:

‘- What did I do be arrested?’

Daria:

(I stand up from the floor and I talk to audience)

 They were beaten up by police men so badly that they couldn’t stand up without help.

Marta:

(Marta stand up and talk to audience as well)

 After they got beaten up they closed them in prison cell.

(We go to prison)

 ‘I don’t know why we even bothered to try to convince these people to change their opinions about us’.

Daria:

(Scene in prison)

‘What are you even saying? We can’t give up like this. We have the right to live.’

Marta:

(Scene in court of justice)

Two weeks passed by Jamal and Said had their case considered in court of justice.

(Clap with the hands)

Marta/Daria:

(We talk together)

‘I swear that evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR BEING GAY?!

 

Daria:

The judge decided that they should stay in prison for trying to make people tolerate being gay.

Daria:

(Scene in prison)

‘I can’t believe this, we have to do something’.

Marta:

 ‘What do you want to do huh? It was your idea to start all of it! ‘’Let’s stop hiding, we can’t live like this blah, blah’’ now look at us!’ (– screamed Jamal)

Daria:

‘So you say we should have kept hiding and stay quiet? And this is not only my fault! You agreed to do this. And you know what? I don’t regret it. Someone had to speak for gay people in Syria!”

Marta:

 ‘Yeah? And why us?’

Daria:

 ‘Because we are journalists!’

Marta:

‘He suddenly vomits and has a high fever ‘Oh my god Said. What happened to you – puts his hand on his forehead – you are burning! Help! – Jamal screams for help Ambulance takes them to the hospital.

(Marta is carry me on the chairs- hospital scene)

Said has his blood tasted. He has the results in his hand. He opens them.

Marta/Daria:

(We talk together)

‘HIV POSITIVE’

The hospital refused to give him the treatment as it was very expensive.

Daria:

They both remained silent as police men took them back to prison.

Marta:

(Prison scene)

‘Said it’s going to be okay…’ He doesn’t answer.

Daria:

Before going to sleep he Said washes his teeth, Jamal is already asleep. Said looks into the mirror breaks it and quickly cuts his veins and falls to the floor.

Marta:

Jamal wakes immediately and screams for help. ‘Said wake up’ – (Jamal cries) – ‘you can’t do that to me’ ‘Heeelp!’

Marta/Daria

(We do together sirens sound)

 ‘SIRENS’

They took him back to the hospital. But they didn’t let Jamal come with them. He stayed in prison not knowing whether he will see his lover again.

…New life, new beginning…

Daria:

We have decided to move to London, Great Britain. Jamal was worried about the anti-retroviral medication, he promised to himself that Said must stay healthy.

Marta:

After the help from the doctor, Jamal could focus more on other things like learning the language (English). Said was a little bit jealous about his partner because he was learning the language faster than he was.

Daria:

In order for us to get a job we had to attend English classes 5 times a week and only after finishing the course we would have a chance of getting a job in this country. Our additional work was writing articles online- so far unpaid.

Marta:

Jamal said: ‘Our personal life has changed, we met new people that we became friends with, although it was difficult to build trust these people accepted us very quickly and allowed us to not feel left out.’

Daria:

They both love London for being welcoming and an easy place to be openly gay.

Marta:

‘It is so different to Lebanon and Syria’ said Jamal. ‘In Lebanon there are two gay clubs, but it “being gay” is illegal’.

Right now they are focusing abut building their future as well as finish their studies at the university in UK.

Daria:

‘I am also interested in becoming involved with one of the political parties here’ (says Said). ‘We were activists in Syria and we were involved in the protests in early 2011, around the time when the conflict broke out’.

Marta:

‘I want to work with other refugees who come to Berlin’ (says Jamal). ‘I am a refugee so I know what they need. It would be great to be able to help others in the way that I have been helped.’

Daria:

‘Most Syrians who arrive here have psychological problems because of what happened to them’ adds Said. ‘They feel that they’ve lost everything: friends, family, jobs- their life.’

Marta:

Jamal says some refugees hide their sexual orientation or HIV status because they are afraid. ‘And if they hide, they don’t get help. We could help translate for people dealing with sensitive issues. Imagine if my partner wasn’t open about his health issues- it would be a disaster.’

Daria:

Overall, being resettled has given them the chance to start rebuilding the life they were forced to live behind in Syria.

Marta/Daria:

(We talk this together)

‘We want to start working, be independent, and have good jobs and a salary’ (Jamal and Said said). ‘That’s what we’re used to.’

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

Information based on true story, took from: www.amnesty.org

*Here also I'm pasting some information from UT about Syria refugees:

Task3: Performance:

In task 3 ,in ours performances we have to demonstrate: full control over storytelling techniques, with complete consistency and confidence; communicates the story showing complete awareness of how the style is suited to the target audience. Also we have to demonstrate a comprehensive and fully appropriate application of vocal technique in performance, with confidence, ease and fluency. This all should be saved on digital scrapbook.

General comments:
I think that will be another great performance, I cant wait to perform this. More information about my thoughts on this subject you will find on video which I will applaud this week.