Program Description

TALES OF IRELAND is a brief  fun look at the Emerald Isle through music, dance, poetry, and stories.  The  program includes: a trip through the Irish countryside, shamrock country; a visit to the Blarney castle; a visit with the wee fairy folk;  a visit with the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick; and a tale of the Irish folk hero, Finn McCoul, his wife Oonagh, and the Giant Culcullin.  Expect to learn an Irish jig, some Irish limericks, hear a story or two, and hear a famous Irish blessing to send you on your way at the conclusion of the program. 

   Artist Bio

Cathy Kaemmerlen, professional actress, dancer, and storyteller, is known for her variety of characters, one-woman shows, and for her rapport with audiences.  A performer and “creator of shows” since she can remember, she has toured in schools coast to coast, since receiving a BA in English/elementary education from UNC-Charlotte, and a MFA in dance performance/choreography/theatre at the University of Wisconsin.  She tours through Young Audiences of Atlanta, the Georgia and South Carolina Touring Arts Rosters, Fulton County SAP, and has received numerous grants and honors, including Outstanding New Interpreter for her region with the National Association of Interpreters.

    Background on Art Form

Telling stories is an oral tradition, dating back to when mankind first developed a language or form of communication.  Storytelling is a universal way of passing down information to be saved and remembered for generations to come.  It is an interactive art form in which the storytellers’ passion for the story, material, and information, is passed on to the audience, who sorts through, interprets, stores, and synthesizes what is heard.

Prepare:

Teachers, please read this to your students.

Today we are going to have a program by actress storyteller Cathy Kaemmerlen who is taking us on a trip to Ireland, the Emerald Isle. We'll visit the Blarney Castle where tourists kiss the Blarney Stone and get the gift of blarney.  Perhaps we'll find out what blarney is. We'll visit the land of the wee fairy folk and hear a story or a limerick or two.  We might hear a tale of the Irish national folk hero, Finn McCoul or hear how St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland. Then we'll go to an Irish storytelling festival and decide which story our storyteller should take to the contest. She'll send us on our way with a famous Irish Blessing.

Warm Up Questions to set the stage for engaging students:

Why do you think the Irish are such good storytellers? What exactly is blarney?
Where is Ireland located?
What is Ireland most famous for?
Can you think of some examples of how the Irish have influenced our own culture?
Do you know any Irish stories?
Why do you think Ireland is called the Emerald Isle?

Vocabulary to look at before and after:

shamrock: a clover composed of three heart shaped leaves that grows wild in Ireland
leprechaun:one of the Irish fairy folk, a trickster who serves as shoemaker to all the elves and fights to keep the greedy humans away from his hidden pot of gold
fairy folk:  the wee folk of Ireland who live in forests and consist of fairies, leprechauns, banshee, pooka
blarney:  the gift of gab or talk
limerick:  a five line poem with the fifth line being the punch line of aa,bb,a form
broulian:  weed similar to our ragweed

Warm Up Questions for meeting the Georgia Performance Standards for "Listening/Speaking/Viewing":

Describe the perfect audience.
What are some of our class rules for being good listeners?
How do we show someone we appreciater their visit to our school or classroom?
How does being part of an audience help make you a good citizen?
What are some examples of bad audience behavior or attitudes?
How does a negative audience member effect your enjoyment of a show or performance?
How would this make the performer feel?
How do we want the performer to feel when they leave our school or classroom?

Reflect:

--Locate Ireland on the globe or on a world map and talk about the   influence of the Irish culture on ours.
--Discuss what a limerick is: a five line poem in which lines 1,2,   and 5 rhyme and lines 3 and 4 rhyme:
   There once was a Bishop of Meath
   Who sat down on his set of false teeth.
   Said he with a start,
   "Oh, Lord, bless me heart!
   I've bitten me'self underneath!"
--Make up your own limericks and write them in giant cut out shamrocks.
--Discuss the difference between a shamrock and a clover.
--Find out who St. Patrick was; why we celebrate his birthday and   why there are parades on March 17th; read some of the legends and   stories about his life.
--Find out more about snakes.
--Discuss the "wee fairy folk" of Ireland:
  fairies, elves, leprechauns, pooka (who take the form of animals and can see into the future), the banshee (who howl before       someone dies).
--Make up an Irish blessing and give it to someone as a good luck present on St. Patrick's Day.
         example of one in the show:
    May the road rise to meet you,
    May the wind be always at your back,
    May the sun shine warm upon your face,
    The rain fall gently upon your fields,
    And may God hold you in the hollow of his hand
    Until we meet again.
--Write your own version of why there are no snakes in Ireland.

Resources:

ST. PATRICK'S DAY  by Gail Gibbons
SHAMROCKS, HARPS, AND SHILLELAGHS by Edna Barth
JOYS OF IRISH HUMOR by Henry D. Spalding
ST. PATRICK AND THE SNAKES by Patricia Egan
SNAKES:  A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION by Merrin F. Roberts
LEPRECHAUNS NEVER LIE by Lorna Balian
PATRICK, PATRON SAINT OF IRELAND by Tomie de Paola

Music:  check out the Chieftains, Enya, Patrick Ball, anything with Celtic in the title.