Ethos Education

Zog: Can we tell a different story?

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Assembly Objective:

  • Can we tell a different story about the world? This assembly challenges stereotyping in fantasy stories and offers the biblical concept of peace as an alternative to conflict.

Film:

  • Zog (Entertainment One, 2018) certificate U, click here to buy the DVD online.

Bible:

Supporting Values Education:

  • Mutual Respect, Tolerance and Diversity: This assembly challenges stereotyping in fantasy stories. This hopefully should enable children to challenge stereotyping of themselves and others within a tolerant and diverse society.

OPENING ACTIVITY

Princess, Dragon or Knight? (Quiz)

  • Using slides from the Zog PowerPoint children have to identify which of the three characters traditionally performs/portrays each of the listed tasks/characteristics.

FILM CLIP

  • From Zog (Entertainment One, 2018) certificate U.
    • Start time: 00:19:40 (Zog is the last dragon standing after the fight training.)
    • End time: 00:24:33 (All the Year 5 dragons give a loud, resounding cheer.)
    • Clip length: 4 minutes and 53 seconds.
  • If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, instead say, ‘After fight training, Zog is the last dragon standing. Madame Dragon applauds his efforts. At that moment, a knight in armour appears and declares to the dragons that he has come to rescue Princess Pearl. Zog and the knight have a fight. Princess Pearl runs between them and stops the fight. She tells them that the world is already too full of cuts and burns and bumps. Instead of being a princess, Pearl wants to travel the world as a doctor, healing people. The knight decides that he wants to join her in her mission. He takes off his armour. Zog is sad. He does not want Pearl to leave. She suggests that Zog could join her and the knight as a dragon ambulance. Zog is thrilled by this idea as is Madame Dragon and all of Zog’s friends who give him a loud cheer.’

Scripted Talk

Download the Zog PowerPoint for use with this talk.

  • [PowerPoint slide 1]
    • Welcome everyone to our assembly this morning that is based on the film, Zog, which itself is based on the book by Julia Donaldson.
  • [PowerPoint slide 2]
    • The film and the book both feature three main characters – a dragon (Zog), a princess (Pearl) and a knight (Sir Gadabout). Dragons, princesses and knights feature in lots and lots of stories. In most of them, they each do the same thing and are very similar in character. Let’s play a quiz to see how well you know what each character is like and what sort of thing they do in this type of story.
  • [PowerPoint slide 3]
    • Our quiz is called ‘Princess, Dragon or Knight?’ I am going to show you a list of how characters act and the way that they are, and you have got to say whether you think I am talking about a princess, a dragon or a knight. Are you ready?
  • [PowerPoint slide 4-17]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight? quiz. After each answer is given, tell the children that the world of princesses, dragons and knights is a fantasy world. Things don’t always have to be the same. Princesses, dragons and knights can act differently.
  • [PowerPoint slide 18]
    • In the book and the film Zog, the princess, the dragon and the knight aren’t like how they are in other stories. Zog isn’t very good at being a dragon and, during his training, keeps injuring himself. Pearl isn’t very good at being a princess and wants to be a doctor instead. She helps Zog every time he gets injured and then agrees to be kidnapped by him in order to escape from the palace. She is much more happy taking care of all the dragons and other animals. But then, one day, a knight arrives. What do you think might happen? Do you think the knight will kill Zog and rescue Pearl like in other similar stories? Let’s see.
    • Play the clip from Zog (Entertainment One, 2018) certificate U.
      • Start time: 00:19:40 (Zog is the last dragon standing after fight training.)
      • End time: 00:24:33 (All the Year 5 dragons give a loud, resounding cheer.)
      • Clip length: 4 minutes and 53 seconds.
    • If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, instead say, ‘After fight training, Zog is the last dragon standing. Madame Dragon applauds his efforts. At that moment, a knight in armour appears and declares to the dragons that he has come to rescue Princess Pearl. Zog and the knight have a fight. Princess Pearl runs between them and stops the fight. She tells them that the world is already too full of cuts and burns and bumps. Instead of being a princess, Pearl wants to travel the world as a doctor, healing people. The knight decides that he wants to join her. He takes off his armour. Zog is sad. He does not want Pearl to leave. She suggests that Zog could join her and the knight as a dragon ambulance. Zog is thrilled by this idea as is Madame Dragon and all of Zog’s friends who give him a loud cheer.’
    • (Allow children time to reflect upon the clip. How does this turn of events in Zog differ from other similar stories featuring dragons, princesses and knights? Do the children prefer this ending?)
  • [PowerPoint slide 19]
    • Often, when we watch the news on television, it seems to tell the same story about the world. As Pearl says, the world seems already ‘too full of cuts and burns and bumps’. But what can we do about it? In the story, Pearl does something different from other princesses, she stops Zog and Sir Gadabout from fighting over her and becomes a peacemaker.
  • [PowerPoint slide 20]
    • This is what Jesus said about people who work to make peace. (Share the Bible quote with the children). None of us may be a princess (or a dragon or a knight) but we can all do a little bit to make the world a better place. If we see people fighting, we can tell them to stop. And if we see people are hurting, we can get them help. According to Jesus, if we do these things, we should be really happy because God will think of us as His children. And that’s a lot better than being a princess, or a dragon or a knight!

Headings and bullets

  • [PowerPoint slide 1]
    • Welcome.
  • [PowerPoint slide 2]
    • The dragon, the knight and the princess.
  • [PowerPoint slide 3]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Quiz.
  • [PowerPoint slide 4]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 1.
  • [PowerPoint slide 5]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 1 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 6]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 2.
  • [PowerPoint slide 7]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 2 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 8]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 3.
  • [PowerPoint slide 9]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 3 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 10]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 4.
  • [PowerPoint slide 11]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 4 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 12]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 5.
  • [PowerPoint slide 13]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 5 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 14]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 6.
  • [PowerPoint slide 15]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 6 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 16]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 7.
  • [PowerPoint slide 17]
    • Princess, Dragon or Knight: Question 7 Answer.
  • [PowerPoint slide 18]
    • Zog, Sir Gadabout and Princess Pearl.
  • [PowerPoint slide 19]
    • The Real World.
  • [PowerPoint slide 20]
    • Matthew 5:9.

Photo Copyright for Zog PowerPoint: Slide 1 Magic Light Pictures / Slide 2 and 18 BBC /  Slides 3-17 princess Pixabay.com, dragon Pixabay.com, knight Pixabay.com / Slide 19 man Pixabay.com, child Pixabay.com / Slide 20 iStockphoto.com

RESPOND

Reflection

  • Which character are you most like – a princess, a knight or a dragon?
  • How do you differ from a typical princess, knight or dragon?
  • What can you do to stop even more ‘cuts and burns and bumps’ being added to the world?
  • What do you think Jesus meant when he said people who worked for peace were like God’s children?
  • Pearl’s dream was to travel the world as a doctor making people better. What is your dream?

Prayer

  • Dear God, we thank you for our imaginations through which we can make up stories about things that are real and things that are not real. We thank you that in our imaginations, we can be anything and do anything that we want. Help us to use our imagination to dream about a world in which there is no fighting or pain. And, as we grow, help us to make this dream a reality by inspiring us to be peacemakers in our school, in our homes and in our neighbourhood. Amen.

YOU WILL NEED:

  • Zog PowerPoint.
  • Zog (Entertainment One, 2018) certificate U, click here to buy the DVD online.

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