Around the World with Bessy

Part One - Europe.

Sing along with/without Bessy using the full mix/accompaniment tracks.
Play along with/without Bessy on classroom/other instruments.
Explore the traditional fiddle tunes and try dancing a ceilidh dance or trad folk dance.
Create your own dance in this style.
Discuss the nursery rhymes used. What is the story behind London Bridge? Translate Frère Jacques? Sing it in a round starting with two parts then four parts. What other rounds do you know?
Discuss the symphony orchestra. Explore the different instrument families and identify which instruments belong to each family.
Discuss opera. A story told in song. Try having a conversation by only singing the words and phrases. Use classroom and other instruments to have the same conversation, conveying your emotions without speaking.

Draw pictures of the scenes that the music creates whilst listening to the music.
What colours do you see?
Make models of the instruments.
Draw your favourite character. Make a calendar, greetings card or poster featuring your favourite character. Send into our Gallery
Design a poster to advertise a concert.
Download our colouring in sheets the Shop

Create your own class/school/group show:

The show is virtually a live performance of the book. Create your own class/school/group version as a narration, playing and/or singing the music using the tracks from the book and projections of your own images.
Make the book into a play where the children act out the characters using dialogue as well as narration.

Discuss the foreign languages used.
Discuss accents of each language and how English sounds when spoken by someone from a foreign country. Try writing some of the phrases down phonetically in English to sound like a particular accent.
Write about your own travel adventure either as human you or you as a musical instrument or animal or fantastical creature. Short story, poem or song.
Reading aloud in class.
Reading to self followed by a class quiz.

Track Bessy’s journey on a map/globe.
Discuss each country’s history/customs/traditions/national traits/ capital cities.
Identify famous people from each country.
Identifier a popular product from each country.
If Henri hadn’t been available, what other ways could Bessy have travelled whilst in mainland Europe?
What would be the most eco-friendly way to make Bessy’s journey?

How many miles might Bessy have travelled in total on her journey?
Discuss currency. What is the rate of exchange from £ to Euros at the moment? What was the currency in each country before the Euro?
How much fuel did Henri need? Henri is fuelled by eco friendly magic dust. The dust costs 5 abracadabras per litre and it takes 50 litres of it to fill Henri. How many abracadabras is that? How many would be used on each leg of the journey and how much on the trip remembering he goes to Leipzig to collect Violette and home the most direct route from there?
What road signs would Bessy and Henri encounter? What are the national speed limits in each of the countries Henri encountered? What is the national speed limit here?
Discuss miles and kilometres.

Record your own stories and songs using GarageBand or other software. Add in drum beats/guitar chords/sound effects.
Make a journey planner of Bessy and Henri’s journeys on the computer.
Make a Powerpoint presentation of own stories and pictures.
Explore Bessy’s website and download the challenges and competitions.

Discuss healthy eating. Bessy starts her day usually with a bowl of healthy crotchets and quavers. What do you start the day with? Why is a healthy breakfast so important? What does breakfast actually mean?
Discuss loneliness and how you could help someone. Bessy missed her friends sometimes and sometimes felt a bit lonely. Her friends had made her a playlist of her favourite tunes to travel with and cheer her up when she needed. This was very kind and thoughtful of her friends. What would you do to cheer up your friend if they felt sad, lonely or homesick?
Discuss inclusion. Violette was aware that Bessy didn’t understand a lot of the French language. She knows that music is an international language so she and her friends taught Bessy some of their songs to include her in the group. How could you make a newcomer to your group feel welcome? Imagine how you would feel if you were the newcomer. If they didn’t speak much English and you didn’t speak their language how, would you communicate? What would you and your group learn from your new friend? Friendship is a two way street we learn from each other.
Discuss emotions created by the text and by music. Which is most powerful to you? What features of the music make you feel certain emotions. Why does this music make you feel happy, sad, energised or sleepy? How do you think “Sweet Dreams” makes Prozio Bernardo feel. How does this differ from how Bessy feels? Why might this be?