The Council of Bevelle meets for the first time.

What Actually Happened...

"Councillors of Bevelle,

I thank you deeply for the honour you have bestowed upon me. Even though I am very old, the kindness, and respect you have given to me by the world still surprises me. For those who do not know my face, you certainly know my name. I am An Séanfhear Niderb, otherwise known as Niderb the Ancient. Although you cannot tell by my looks, I was born long before any of the nations you are here to represent were even heard of. I cannot think of a better way to put my age, experience and love of all peoples of Bevelle to good use.

We all know full well that Bevelle is a world full of wonder, magic, and excitement; however, Bevelle is not without its troubles. Those troubles are what brought this Council together.I have been made aware that some Councillors did not have the chance to read my letter before they arrived here. These letters explained my position here. The leaders of the great nations of Siena and Tropical Land asked me to be the impartial advisor, facilitator and chairperson.

I hope that Bevelle will profit from these meetings, and deeply wish that all persons here will conduct themselves in a manner that would make themselves and their nations proud.

Now let us begin!"

The drama lesson this week has me even more excited then previous lessons. (Which, I didn't think was possible!) This week I finally got the action going and held the very first "Council of Bevelle". I asked the children to sit in a circle, and told them that this was going to be the first of many meetings of the "Council of Bevelle". Here we discussed what a council is, what the purpose of a council is, and what kind of people are on a council. In opening the official council meeting, I addressed the children as adults and more importantly, with humility. I needed them to feel and believe that they were mature, elected officials that held power and more importantly responsibility.

The power of the imagination really can be impressive, as I learned at the meeting. I asked the children to introduce themselves (in character) and talk about themselves. Each and every child impressed me with their introduction. Some wowed me by putting on generic "foreign" accents, speech impediments (vampires spoke with a lisp because of their teeth) and one girl even refused to speak. This girl just looked at me with a confused facial expression and shook her head every time I asked her a question. At first I thought maybe this girl had decided she was too old for this large scale game of make-believe. Other children were laughing at (what I thought was) my perceived loss of control and I have to say I felt a bit nervous. Could it be that the children didn't connect to the map of Bevelle as much as I had hoped?

But then, one child then asked the group "Does anyone know if they speak English in Terragaia?"(The country the girl's character was from.)Straight away, the children came back into character, asking each other if anyone could speak in this girls language. I was blown away. I think that the children had spent so much time developing the physical layout of Bevelle that it was simple to just become the characters. As if this wasn't enough, the same child that asked the first question just shouted over the noise "Hang on! I have an idea!" and turned to me. This girl had such belief in her character, her world and the characters of her peers she had drawn us all in. The entire class fell silent. (Much more quickly then if it had been ME silencing them I might add!) She turned to me and simply said "I'm sure Seanfhéar Niderb can speak her language, seeing as he's so old and has been everywhere!" I scooped up my jaw off the floor and turned to the Terragaian that caused this little kerfuffle. I just spouted some nonsense words and told the rest of the class that I was going to ask her if she understood English. This ingenious girl flashed me a smile and responded in similar nonsense to what I had said. I turned to the group and announced that she didn't speak English, but that I would work on a potion to help her learn English really quickly.

What really impressed me was how quickly and convincingly the kiddles developed the culture of Bevelle. Children just randomly said "Oh yeah and I'm cousin/brother/sister/friend to..." without any hesitation. Vampires in Bevelle are all brothers and sisters it transpired, and werewolves are very mysterious and rare. There is only one Alchemist on the planet, and she won't teach anyone how to perform alchemy. The country of Tropical Land is ruled by a monarchy, and the country of De'th is ruled by one dictator. Everyone in Candy Lab has lava for blood, which is useful considering it is covered in snow all year round. My character, Niderb (My surname backwards...) was refereced to much more than I intended. Whether I wanted to or not, I am now part of Bevelle and its history and culture.

We finished the first meeting with everyone standing up and shaking hands with one another (Although the werewolf and vampires avoided each other!) and as themselves the children played a small drama game.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

I need no further proof that the children believe that the world of Bevelle exists for them and has its own traits. The world that they have created has sucked all of us in and they are really starting to take control of the world. I think I can say that the creation step is officially finished!

Tune in next week to see what plans I am concocting over the Easter Break! I hope to create a dossier for every country, in a true "UN" style. Every country will get profiles on the other countries, a list of resources they have, and suggested prices they can sell them for. More importantly the children will also have to source which resources they need, and what countries have these things.

Most Importantly...

I now know that I can trust the children with this world we have created together. They will throw me at times, but the level of belief is so strong it seems that they will always help out.They will make the decisions, and keep each other in check while... hang on...oh god it's a teachers worst nightmare...

THE KIDS ARE IN CHARGE!!!