Santa for his constant annual gift-giving, beyond the glass of milk and cookies (or sherry and mince pie) discreetly left by the living room fireplace. Surely all the millions of gifts given by him worldwide, mythologically, deserve something more whole-hearted in the way of a thank-you? It's pay-back time. The Earth and all who inhabit the Earth are the beneficiaries. Santa Claus isn't going to go away any time soon. By


making the most of his all-giving nature, we strengthen the reason to always embrace the power of Christmas magic in our hearts. As always, there's choice in how we see and inter- pret it. There is a growing awareness of the power of story. It's


accepted that story can trace its roots to the original oral tra- dition, keeping the intergenerational alive and evolving. The power of story is verifiable through personal experience. We remember the heroes and heroines — those celebrities — of childhood stories. The brain is wired for story. Tell something as a story, rather than a list of facts, and it goes deep. The emotional brain — the limbic brain — is fully engaged, pro- viding a holistic experience. The modern world is crying out for a new story with a bit


of old magic in it.


EcoSanta-mine: the pantomime I once had the wonderful and truly magical experience of giving an idea, cold, to a class of 15-year-olds and watching it take fire. Creative inspiration is an extraordinarily power- ful force. When young hearts and minds are captured, it's a no-limits scenario — for them, anyway! The following EcoSanta initiative presupposes that the


students have access to an audience of young children, who will love watching this performance. Before detailing the steps to creating a pantomime story,


it must be emphasised that the more informal and invita- tional the atmosphere created by the teacher at the start of this process, the more successful the results will likely be. The first three of the following points can be worked through in a single hour's session. After that, to be prescriptive is counter-productive. A musical play I wrote resulted in two very different school performances. For the first school, it became a whole term's work involving maths, music, drama, costume-making, and set-building, and with fully-developed main characters. For the second school, it was a static produc- tion centred around the songs, with little attempt at dramati- sation. These very different treatments reflect the skills of the teacher, available time, and, of course, the students' abilities and talents.


• First, ask students for their ideas for an EcoSanta panto- mime story, with humour leading. Take it seriously, noting all their suggestions, even the crazier ones. This approach is in tune with the Accelerated Learning principle of stu- dents taking charge of their own learning process. What may surface are previously unknown student talents.


• Augment their ideas with the EcoSanta High Value Profile and the resource list (available at the end of this article). This includes a story about How Santa Became EcoSanta (see sidebar), which could be adapted for pantomime. This


How Santa Became EcoSanta (plot)


1. Santa notices the ocean garbage patches while delivering Christmas presents from his sleigh.


2. Back at the North Pole, Rudolph (in traditional animal-helper role) makes it clear to Santa that it's his responsibility to do something about it.


3. At first, Santa is reluctant to interfere, adopting the “What can I, one person, do about it?” attitude.


4. Rudolph ups the ante, insisting Santa reconsider.


5. Santa finally agrees to head up the initiative to clean up the planet by asking children to help him do the job.


Note: The tension between Rudolph and Santa is a place of humorous potential, as are the ingenious ways the reindeer prevail upon Santa to persuade him to fully co-operate in a planetary clean-up.


Green Teacher 122


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