Rumblings of War...

Roylat: alright, what do we want sorted today?

Me: Before we get started, I believe the delegate from Kaliee wishes to say something.

Diamond: umm... I’m not ready for this I don’t wanna talk about it Sir!

Me: Go. On.

A good few minutes of goading and motivating until...

I'll let you hear it as I did! 

The shock and giddiness caused by this sudden announcement of course led a couple of children off topic, and made a few of them erupt into (quite evil sounding) laughter. I gently reminded the child in charge (Roylat) to keep her classmates in check. She decided to act on my advice by bellowing out

Roylat: PUT UP YIZZER HANDS IF YIZ NEED TA TALK!

(I love the word "yizzer". Fantastic stuff.)

Riane: Eh... I wanted to ask eh... Diamond why does she want war with eh... Terra Gaia?

Oooh! Such a hard hitting question! Why does she want war? Did Terra Gaia offend Kaliee? Is there two nations fighting over resources? Are Kaliee nobly defending the people of Terra Gaia from genicide? I'M ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT HERE!!!

Diamond: Uh, it wasn't my idea... It was Yesleks idea she uh...

I actually facepalmed straight away.

[General chatter of shock]

Roylat: Will yiz let her talk!

Diamond: Em...she had a bit of a problem with Marine and....

[Even more chatter!]

Roylat: Shh! Let Diamond talk!

Diamond: Ehm... Yeah, Yeslek had a problem with Marine. [Directly to Marine] I don't know why.

Roylat: If yiz don't have the ball, don't talk!
Hulk: I want to have the ball.
Roylat: Then put up your hand!
Diamon: Here.(Hands Hulk the ball)
Hulk: Right. Oooookaaaayyy.... I forget what I wanted to say. Oh yeah, I don't care what your reasons are, but why Terra Gaia? They're not strong, they're not rich... Whey not De'th? They're right beside you and have loads of magicite you can take... It doesn't make sense! So if youz [Kaliee] are going to declare war then youz [Terra Gaia] are going to have to run away!
Raine: [Ruler of the country De'th, whom Hulk just recommended Kaliee have a war against] Ehm, I think we should start working on the actual war.
Roylat: Okay, Ehm sir, can we make weapons?

There was yet another buzz of excitement, and I can't blame them. They're children, excitement is part of who they are. But this wasn't going in the direction I felt it had to. I steered the converstation back towards what it was meant to be about.

Me: Diamond, what did Terra Gaia do to you that you feel justifies declaring war.
Diamond: Yeslek said that she has some sort of problem with Marine.
Me: Okay... Could one of the delegates from Terra Gaia acutally say something? Girls, since war has been declared on you you've done nothing but laugh. In Bevelle, this is a really serious thing, people from and in your country are going to be killed if you can't stop this.
Eitak(From Terra Gaia): Okay... So Diamond, what is Yeslek's problem with Marine?
Diamond: Haven't got a clue.
Eibba: Then why did you agree to go to war?!
Diamond: Cause she was very angry and I thought she was going to kill me!
(Oh my! Sounds like we have a dictatorship forming!)
Naldo: Well then if she gets angry, you get angry too!
Riane: Well I think that if Marine and Yeslek have a problem they should sort it out themselves.
Roylat: So youz are having a war.. but why are yiz having a war?
Marine: I don't know they just want to fight me!
Roylat: Yeah but what did you do?

The children were a bit lost for thought here. I decided I needed to steer the conversation once more.

Me: Okay, show of hands here. If you understand and can clearly explain Kalliee's reasons for declaring war on Terra Gaia, raise your hand.
Hulk: Sir can I ask, where is Kalliee and Terra Gaia on the map?

Bit of a detour, but I felt it was an important one. Many of the children in my class are like me, a visual learner. I hopped over to the map and pointed out the two countries at war.

Hulk: But they're really far apart... it must be so awkward to get across those other countries and that ocean!

The children were really confused about Kalliee's motives, and to be perfectly honest, so was I! Diamond did say that it was Yeslek's idea, and it was because Marine did something that Yeslek didn't agree with, but seeing as Yeslek wasn't in we couldn't get much more out of her! This war talk was really exciting the kids and not only that, the kids were getting bored asking Diamond for her reason, and her reason not really being solid. So I decided to open up the conversation and ask...

Me: Right, what is the purpose of war?
Riane: The purpose of war is if someone stole from another... and then they start war...
Me: Okay so if one country steals from another, why do they do? Start a war, take back what was stolen and leave?
Riane:...No... coz they can't take it back.
Me: Okay, for example, Kaliee just declared war on Terra Gaia. What I want to know is, at what stage does Kaliee or Terra Gaia say to themselves "Yay we've won!" When does someone win a war?
Diamond: When everybody's killed?
Hulk: No it's after the other... after your opponent doesn't have any players left. When they have less players.
(This word players was slightly disturbing...)
Me: Less players?!
Hulk: No less people (PHEW!!)
Riane: No sir it's when... what do ya call it again? When you don't want to do it anymore... they stop they... SURRENDER!
Me: Right so war is when two countries...
All: Fight.
Me: ... until one country...
All: Surrenders.
Naural: Eh sir... can I speak now?

This is where things get very interesting!

Naural and Roylat run the nation of Candy Lab, and in the midst of this talk they decided to declare war on Tropical Land, one of the designated Superpowers! The reaction here was hilarious. "YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THAT!" and "You fools... you FOOLS!" being among the best quotes...

But then something happened that I really didn't expect... War just... ERUPTED. Candy Lab is fighting against Tropical Land, Davbie is taking on Siena, while the original war of Kaliee and Terra Gaia is still going on. Every country bar one is waging war...

So I decided to let them at it.

For homework, the children were given one simple task. They had to write a letter to the parents of fallen soldiers. I gave them this assignment with the hope they would really think about the horrors of war...

Meanwhile, as the children were moving furniture back after the lesson, Riane, the little swindler from before came up and whispered something to me.

Watch this space!

Always darkest before the dawn.

I was quite nervous getting ready for this week's drama lesson. After the absolute debacle that was my last drama lesson, my nervousness was well founded. I thought about my last drama lesson and realised that I had focused on the problems, the document, the elephant in the room. I took a step back and asked myself "What is the purpose of this project?" And decided to redirect my focus.

The entire point of this project is to push the children into real life situations, and get them to solve them. This project is developing their problem solving skills, NOT my ability to present a well written series of interlocking issues. 

So with that established; here we go. 

What Actually Happened. 

We started the same way I start every lesson, reminding the kiddles how the last lesson in drama went. As if to confirm my incompetence in teaching one child actually groaned and said "oh god, not those problems again!" Which only further convinced me that I was doing the right thing. I started off by putting the children sitting in a circle in the middle of the room.  As simple a step as that was, sitting in a circle will encourage them to listen and talk to each other far more. Add this to the fact that I purposely sat outside the circle to remove myself from the group, and the entire discussion will be totally theirs. 

I gave out the Crisis Document and  directed them to the content page. Here i asked the children to read the problems through and asked them to ask about ones they didn't understand. I kept these explanations short and clear. I didn't want to throw them off by just saying "read the document" like I did the previous week. 

Once the children had a basic understanding of the issues in the document, I asked them what they'd like to solve first. Unanimously the children decided to focus on Tsunamis(the problem being how do we predict them and defend from them). Clearly, they were going for the "cooler" of the problems.

Finally, I did the one thing that I felt could save the project. I handed control of the class to the children.

I chose two boys, who run the superpower Siena, to run the meeting. I gave them a speaking object, an orange ball, and reminded the class of the rules of speaking objects. This worked at first, but it started to hold the kiddles back from talking so I removed it altogether. It did serve one important cause though, and gave the Siena boys some power. It took a while for them to get started, and they gradually somehow drifted to talking about stopping deforestation, and that's where it REALLY kicked off. 

I recorded this conversation, and here it is transcribed.

The names I use are the names the children picked for their characters. Hulk and Greg are the two from Siena. 
Text in brackets like <this> are descriptions of anything going on that can't be heard. 
Italics are my own thoughts.


Riane: The government should just stop altogether cutting down trees but to make paper like eh write on... write on something else like leather or something. 

Leather is a pretty cool idea I must say!  
??: I'd still need paper.
Hulk: We are the Government.
Riane: I know, we'll write on leather or something else.
<"Roylat" had been waving her hand in the air for a while at this stage.>
Hulk: Okay. right whatever your name is down there... you... missy!
<Awkward silence.>
Roylat: Which one?! we're all missies!
<Laughter>
Hulk: You!
Roylat: Who's you?!
Everyone: Roylat!
This makes me laugh so much everytime.
<Some confusion and then...>
Hulk: Just just... whatever Roylat just go!
Roylat: Right. We need wood, we need paper and if we don't use trees how can we use wood and paper, how can we make chairs and tables
Hulk: That's why we're cutting down the trees!
Roylat: I'm saying we need to cut down the trees. 
Greg: Oh my god.
Eibba: We can't keep cutting them down because that's deforestation!
<lots of people talking over each other>
Yeslek: Alright. I'm the one with the best i-
Eibba: (using a real name) We don't talk when your talking!
Riane: Hulk just asked her to talk!
Yeslek: Right.... Why is everyone cutting down trees and causing deforestation. Why can't we just make things out of the same thing, but without using trees?
<confused silence>
Hulk: Okay... say that again, I have no idea what you said.
Yeslek: UGH! Right... Make things out of something that doesn't involve cutting down trees!
Hulk: Alright, you say what.
Yeslek: I came up with the idea, I don't know.
<laughter.>
Yeslek: Can't we just make an invention?!
Eibba: But we need trees to make an invention!
Hulk: Rolyat! Go on.
Roylat: Right. You should only cut one tree down every two weeks, and that will make it better.
Eibba: But that's deforestation!
Roylat: Yeah but ya need paper, ya need wood!
Eibba: But that causes deforestation.
Eolia: Then what can we use!?

Throughout the session, I coached the boys in leading the group: "We haven't heard from Sean... Mary's awfully quiet..." "What's Lucy's opinion?"  

There was one girl, Eolia as she is known in Bevelle, who was very quiet, and usually treats classroom discussions as something "Borin". For any non-teacher reading the blog you have heard of the teachers pet, you've heard of the messers, the difficult to teach and the difficult to control. But I can almost guarantee you haven't heard of Eolia, the one who "just doesn't care". This girl has such a negative attitude to school that everything I've done to get her excited about learning or interested in working has fallen flat on its face. She's quite impossible to work with. She doesn't even care about the Bevelle Project! Apart from today. I've been teaching this class since January 28th, and taught them all of last year. That last line "Then what can we use?!" is the FIRST TIME EVER Eolia has joined a classroom discussion willingly. So What I'm getting at here is "Bevelle works wonders"

Gradually discussion kept going in circles until Eolia herself asked someone to clarify what deforestation actually was. Riane offered to explain and defined it as "Cutting down a whole load of trees to use for wood and paper but not replacing them"

I pounced on this word. Replacing. That's what they needed to see. Replacing. I nudged Greg and told him to ask Riane to explain it again, and he caught onto the word "replacing". Straight away the whole class lit up! Of course! That's how we can keep using wood and paper! We'll just replace those that we cut down! 

Two children were chosen at random to write a law about deforestation, and the next drama lesson will start with the children signing it into law. They did it. 

Where Do We Go From Here?

Anywhere. They have finally figured out that they CAN solve these problems. It is possible, and they can do it by working together. The confidence boost they got from this will hopefully last for another few weeks, and theoretically this will be the catalyst of a whole onslaught of crisis averting!

Most Importantly...

Two things. 

The confidence boost that I recieved is invaluable. After last week I was convinced I had failed and had put too much pressure on their decade old shoulders. Turns out, they, no WE are going to be fine. 

Secondly; Eolia. I cannot emphasise enough how big a deal it is that she got involved. I don't care anymore if they solve no more problems or if the project fails. I got Eolia interested and involved. The project has succeeded in my eyes. 

Crisiss? Crises? Crisea?... Lots of Problems.

This is it. This is what the entire project has been building towards. The all hallowed, crazy important, slightly scary, Crisis Document. Now that's what I want to call it, but I have a feeling that the children will give it their own name, in the same way the "Resource Record" became the "Selling sheet" pretty darn quickly.

So, what IS the crisis document? Let's not forget that although this idea was partially inspired by gaming and ClassRealm, its primary inspiration came from John Hunter and his World Peace Game. I've watched and listened to John's TED talk countless times now I can actually quote parts of it. Hunter's describes his crisis document as a series "of interlocking problems so that if one thing changes everything else changes"

Hunter had fifty different problems for his World Peace Game. I have come up with a mere 25 so far, but I really worked on it so that every issue is thoroughly integrated with each other. For example: Global Warming can affect weather, specifically droughts in some areas and colder temperatures in others. The freezing cold/drought can cause a famine. One potential solution to famine is to create more farm land, and thus deforestation occurs.... which worsens Global Warming, which worsens weather, which worsens famine, which speeds up deforestation, which means no kid will grow up with a tree house. Ever.

I built this one when I was 10. You can't tell, but the wood is made of old pallets and the windows out of old feed bags. 

What Actually Happened

So you get the idea. This Crisis Document is important. This is the crux of everything. This is what all of the build-up has been about. It is finally time to unleash the children onto their world.

If I was to describe this lesson in two words?

Utter Failure.

If I was to describe this lesson in four words?

Complete and utter Failure.

To be fair it did start off quite well... The children became very excited when I took out the scrolls from the previous post, and they really enjoyed reading it. In fact one of the three boys (No that is not a typo, there are three boys in my class of fifteen.) read the scroll in a very cool accent. I asked would he let me record him to share here, and he agreed!




So all in all, it was off to a great start. I gave a short tour of the Crisis Document, but it was quick and not at all in depth. I said to the children to read through the document, and solve the problems contained within. Then I sat down, and said:

"You have seven weeks, and this week you have 45 minutes left. Your time starts now."

It was around here that I expected the children to read through, start rushing around, possibly have a fight or two(just a verbal one, I didn't want an Irish version of Battle Royale). I wanted them to feel overwhelmed, but with just enough of a hope of success that they would strive towards it. Instead I got this:

"But Sir where are the problems?"
"Is this what real politicians do? I don't like it"
"How do we answer the questions? Where ARE the questions?"
"Sir can you just tell us the answers?"
"I just don't GET it sir"

My heart broke. It turns out, they've been so indoctrinated to school they couldn't handle this at all. In school you always know exactly what an answer looks like and 'problem-solving' has clear questions and looks like this:

Strangely enough, the problems have nothing to do with an invasion of cycling aliens.

That blinkered view of "problems" has altered the children's thinking skills so much that they couldn't handle, or even attempt my Crisis Document.

This is the bit where I'd love to say "But it was okay, because Seán and Mary TOTALLY got it and explained it to everyone else and the end." But unfortunately no child got it, there was no-one to explain it, and I don't even have a Seán OR Mary in my class! (Something quite rare in Ireland.)

I was at a total loss. The children were at a total loss. The entire lesson, and point of the lesson, was at a loss. I did a complete 180 on the lesson and started reading through the document and tried to explain it, constantly explaining that the entire document was linked to itself. However, my lesson ran out of time and I then realised that the children were completely and utterly bored. Now usually I'm okay with that, I am a teacher, not an entertainer. Boredom happens sometimes, and sometimes it can not be avoided. But this was a drama lesson. This lesson was supposed to distract from the humdrum of everyday teaching, so why was I continuing.

It was during my first ever TP (Teaching Practice) that I learned an extremely useful and important lesson. When teaching, it is perfectly okay to just drop the lesson and move onto something completely different. When I was a student teacher, that seemed like a sin, or even a fail worthy offence, but now I know that the children's learning (and in the case of drama, enjoyment) is more important. So I moved onto Maths, and then PE and analysed what went wrong.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

First of all, I know that this is partially my fault. The document is too big, too difficult and just too intimidating. This is tough. As I see it, I have a few options.

• Read through the report with them in the next lesson, and try to chunk it down, encourage them to write notes on it etc. 
• Rewrite the document and try to make it even simpler.
• Tell them to put up with it and really push them to work it out themselves.

I have to figure out which one is best for the class. Should I allow them to rely on me? Should I say "tough luck, figure it out yourselves."

Its not easy!

Most Importantly...

I messed up. This lesson was a waste for the kiddles, but it really helped me. I wanted the children to learn independence, develop problem solving and learn how to invest time into a project. Instead, I have learned that there is such a thing as pushing them too far to be independent, that I have to directly teach problem solving skills, and that I can fail, and it's not that big a deal. 

Making Scrolls! - A photo Step by Step guide!

This is a step by step photo guide to making your own scrolls with a wax seal! I bought four wax sticks but only used half of one. I made eleven seals, two for practice, eight countries, and one for my own copy of the scroll to put up on the display.

PLEASE NOTE: Every single step is necessary to achieve the desired effect, you must not skip any step at all. Seriously.

Step 1: Type up a letter to all the Nations of the BCP (Bevelle Council of Peace)

Step 2: Roll up the letter and use a used toilet roll to keep it in shape.

Step 3: Get an auld Dominos Menu(no other menu or scrap of paper will suffice) to protect your table.  Light a tea light and hold your specially bought stick-o-wax over the flame to melt it.

Step 4: Find any old coin or badge to use as a stamp. Found this one in a little stand in George's Street Arcade.

Step 5: Realise that Step 2 makes no sense and put the toilet roll inside the paper. 

Step 6: Find out that Dexter is on and relocate to the sitting room.

Step 7: Try not to freak out when the wax gets all stringy.

Step 8: Roll up the page again, because you foolishly let go during Step 6.

Step 9: Repeat Step 3, but with the nice Cinnamon scented candle you bought on a whim before Christmas and never really bothered lighting.

Step 10: Rub the melted wax onto the joint in the paper.

Step 11: While the wax is still molten, firmly press the stamp  into the wax.

Step 12: "I'll hold it for a bit longer... just to make sure"

Step 13: There we go! Darn stamp wasn't very deep, so the design isn't too obvious, but it still looks very cool.

Step 14: Weep silently as the children rip it apart without a second thought.

Step 15: Laugh maniacally as you plan to hand out the next test this way to get revenge.

Next Blog post: Friday the 3rd of May!

So here's something you should check out...

Since August last year, I've been reading the blog of a friend of mine, Neil Sharpson. Neil has taken on a challenge that to me seemed insurmountable, but he really is making headway!

Neil has decided to watch, analyse, and review all of Walt Disney Studio's Animated films in chronological order. I have to admit, it is very nice to read Neil's blog and reminice about childhood films, while also laughing at Neil's observations and sub-plots. (That is, sub-plots of the blog, not the film.)

I'm jealous I didn't think of it first to be honest! Now, click and enjoy the adventures of...

The Unshaved Mouse!

Wait... how'd I get here? CURSE YOU HORNED KING!!!

 The caption of that picture makes sense once you click. I promise!

Buy! Sell! Bevelle!!!

What Actually Happened...

I know that I've said it a few times now, but I seriously cannot stop being amazed, excited and impressed by the children during these drama lessons.

This week, the children had to meet as representatives of their nations to establish trade routes.

In preparation, I made a "Resource Record" for each country. This sheet listed all the main resources that the countries needed. Keeping with the theme of fantasy and magic, I renamed some real world resources to names that were more in keeping with the theme. Coal, Mako (oil), Magicite (Plutonium) were the three main sources of fuel and energy. Meat, Fish and Fruit and Veg the main sources of food. Wood, Stone and Iron were the main construction materials, while Iron and Mythril (A magically charged metal) were used for manufacturing and for weapons production.The children also got a sheet that explained each resource, and in the case of the fuels, gave information on their effect on the environment.

On every sheet, each country were told how many tonnes of each material they needed, how much they had, and the recommended price they could buy/sell that resource for. Some countries had too much of some resources, some didn't have enough (or none at all!) meaning they had to source it from nearby countries. One really important note on the bottom of the sheet told the children that the prices on the sheet were merely recommended, and not set in stone. I briefly explained the simple maths involved, and set them loose.

A sample Resource Record sheet. These things were the bane of my life for a few hours.

 This one lesson took me so long to prepare. At first I was going to just assign random numbers to how many tonnes each group had, until I realised that if I did that it was possible that some of the

What followed just blew my mind.

At first there was an initial hesitation, where the children didn't really leave their seats, and just tried to deal with those beside them. Thankfully, this approach didn't work out at all and the children were forced to get up and walk.

The leaders of Candy Lab and Terra Gaia deep in thought.

I can't possibly comment on every single transaction, because of the sheer number of them! But I did manage to listen in, and help some of them. While helping I witnessed some amazing events. Here are a few!


My first highlight is of Jill and Sarah. Their country was only 10 tonnes short in fuel, and they needed to find some fast. Sarah really wanted to buy Magicite (Bevelle's equivalent to nuclear power)but Jill refused to saying "I'm not buying that and chancing poisoning someone or killing plants!" I followed the girls around the room watching them argue about using Magicite all while hunting a mere 10 tonnes of fuel. They were just about to give up when they spoke to the only country left and found 10 tonnes of coal. I didn't let the girls know that they had really dodged a bullet. They don't know that one of the first problems that Bevelle faces is an energy crisis!

My next highlight was Paula, who runs her country alone. This girl was in her element! The first thing she did was totally disregard the recommended prices, and bring all her prices up. When I asked her why she did this she simply shrugged and said "Someone will buy off me eventually and then I'll make more money! The girl had a natural gift in negotiating. She could get others to lower their prices and at the same time convince them to buy her wares at higher prices! At one stage I saw her buy some stone, something that I distinctly remembered giving her country enough of. I approached her and asked why she bought some stone (assuming she misread the sheet or had made a mistake) She then asked me not to be mad.

I swear she had this exact look in her eye.

I smiled and just asked her to tell me. "I bought stone now so that when the rest of the stone is sold I can sell the extra I have for an even bigger price... Is that okay?" I staggered back. Was she... She was! Without any prior knowledge of its existence, Paula was investing! Genius!

Another highlight was the barter system that cropped up very quickly. Children, particularly those who run the poorer nations, saw barter as a way to save actual cash. This will be something they'll hopefully remember while trying to solve the poverty issues of the world.

Gradually as the children were flitting around the classroom looking for something to buy a centre of trade began to develop. (Economists might be interested in this!) The two richer countries, who were also those that needed the most resources, gradually drew people in towards them until finally all 13 children (2 children were absent) were crowed around a table, talking over each other, calling out "who has any iron? I need iron!" It looked like a proper little stock exchange!

Like this; but kids.

 Finally, I settled the children down and asked them how they felt about that lesson, or what they learned. This was the response.

• I enjoyed going around the room and getting to talk and work things out.
• I was confused by the maths, but I didn't care. I just kept trying to figure it out because my country needed coal. (LOVE THIS ONE.)
• I loved making money! (need I say that this was Paula?)
• I felt like a proper business man!

So Where Do We Go From Here?

Onwards! Ah no, unfortunately I underestimated how long it would take for the children to get their work done. As a result, the children only got half of the resources they need. I'm okay with that to be honest, it means I have a week of respite to refine the Crisis Document. "What's the Crisis document?" I hear you ask! Well...

The Crisis Document is the summary of all of the issues and problems of Bevelle. These problems are that are complex, interlocked and must be solved for us to "win" the Bevelle Game. Homelessness, Energy shortage, Magicite (Nuclear) weaponry and power, poverty, famine, and even endangered species all feature. Wow, I'm putting a lot of pressure on these little guys!

Most Importantly...

The children are learning. They are engaged, enjoying themselves, and coming to creative solutions to serious and "adult" problems. I think that this may actually working!!!

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!!!