The Rescue Dance

Learning intention:

We are learning to understand characters’ viewpoints based on their situations and experiences.

Success Criteria:

Compose a text about Alambee’s solo dance, which follows on from the end of the story.

Discuss the range of emotions Alambee experienced throughout the story, asking students for examples from the story to support their suggestions. These may include:

Emotion: Textual Evidence:
Fear Alambee hid from his mum in the tree and refused to dance in the festival as the thought of it made him shiver.

Admiration: He adored watching his mum dance in the island festivals.

Concern: He yelled out ‘Careful!’ and caught Nanna as she fell.

Pride: He felt a flutter of pride as he had looked out for Nanna, just as his mum had asked.

Panic: When Nanna fell to the ground, he didn’t know what to do as he crouched in the dark.

Calm: Story quote: “Then he knew what to do. ‘I’ll get Mum,’ he said calmly.

Determination: He tried different ways to get his mum’s attention and didn’t give up, even ignoring his fears and going on stage to join
the dance just to let Mum know Nanna was hurt.

Excitement: Story quote: “They want to know if you’ll do a little solo for them tomorrow. He’d never seen Mum with quite such a huge
grin. But his own smile was spreading too - from ear to ear, in fact. ‘Yessss!’ he shouted. Springing high in the air, he
did his best-ever front flip over Nanna’s good leg.”

Ask students if they can relate to Alambee’s experience and emotions in their own lives by posing questions such as:

Have you ever been fearful about performing something in front of people outside of your family? How did you deal with it?

Have you ever helped care for someone with an injury or had to seek help?

Have you faced a fear before and did the situation help you overcome it, or even embrace it?

Using their own understanding of Alambee’s experience and emotions, ask students to predict what will happen next, when Alambee does his solo. Do they think the excitement and his success at the island festival help him overcome his nerves? Will he feel anxious again as he prepares? Will he freeze in a moment of panic when he gets on the stage?

Students should then plan and write a narrative about this performance. Ask them to consider the emotions that Alambee may experience before, during and after this solo in their writing.

If time allows, willing students should share their stories in small groups or with the class.

Students discuss emotions experienced by the main character and give examples from the text.

Students make connections to themselves by giving examples of times they experienced the same emotions.

Students make predictions about what may happen next when Alambee does his solo.

Student’s write a narrative about Alambee’s solo.