Ti-Jean, a children's play by Peter Cumming

Ti-Jean
by Peter Cumming

Educational Follow-up Ideas For Teachers

Background

The Stories: Ti-Jean (Petit Jean) is the hero of many of the folktales of French Canada. The English equivalent of Ti-Jean is "Jack" as in Jack and the Beanstalk or Jack the Giant Killer. The stories were originally brought from France, but it was in La Nouvelle France where they really flourished.

The Play: The play combines elements from several of the Ti-Jean stories found in Québecois, Acadien, and Franco-Ontarien sources. The play is written by Peter Cumming and was first produced by Youtheatre, Montréal, in 1981, under the direction of the author.

Discussion

If you were the new King, what would you do in the Kingdom?

Do you have older brothers and sisters? What do you do when you get up in the morning with them? How did Ti-Jean feel when his brothers told him to do his work?

How did each of the three brothers treat the cat when she had the trap on her leg? (Reading suggestion: "The Good Samaritan").

How did the cat turn into a Princess? What made the witch's spell wear off?

What was your favourite part of the play? .Why? Scariest? Saddest? Most exciting?

What will happen after the play to: Ti-Jean and the Princess? Cordon-vert and Marie? Cordon-bleu and Quatrine? King Louis?

How did Ti-Jean get to be King?

If you wanted to quit being King, what three tests would you make up to find a new King?

Reading

(K-8) Try reading other folktales from French Canada such as Legends of Québec: From the Land of the Golden Dog by Hazel Boswell or Baptiste Larocque: Legends of French Canada by Paul A. Wallace.
(K-8) For an extensive bibliography of French Canadian folktales, see Edith Fowke's Folklore of French Canada.
(K-4) The National Film Board has several Ti-Jean filmstrips and films. (Unfortunately, they are dated and not very good). Primary students might enjoy the one about Ti-Jean in the lumber camp.
(K-8) The NFB also distributes CBC's excellent 30-minute colour film "The Princess of Tomboso." Jacques, the hero, is Ti-Jean by a slightly different name; his older brothers have different names also.
(4-8) The Ti-Jean stories may be a source for the American Paul Bunyan stories (Ti-Jean...Bon-Jean...Bunyan). Read a Paul Bunyan story and a Ti-Jean story. How is Ti-Jean different from Paul Bunyan?

Writing

(4-8) Write a sequel (story, play, puppet show) to the Ti-Jean play. Tell what each of the characters in the play is up to.
(4-8) Write the story of another adventure Ti-Jean might have. Remember--Ti-Jean is always the youngest, he's usually poor and he has to use his wits to solve his problems.
(4-8) The teacher writes almost impossible tasks on pieces of paper; students write story of how Ti-Jean (and the Princess) overcome the obstacles.
(4-8) How many stories can you name for each of these: 1) Animal Transformation Stories (i.e. Cat to Princess); 2) Giant Stories; 3) Youngest Son stories.
(K-3) Primary–what an ideal time for Language Experience pictures and stories!
(4-8)Can you write some more rhymes for the Giant? Here's one of his rhymes from the play:

Art

(K-3) Draw and colour a picture of your favourite part of the play.

(K-3) Make a giant out of modelling clay. A Unicorn.

(4-8) Research the traditional Québecois designs of the ceintures flechées (the sash belts worn by the men in the play). Weave one? Draw a design of your own. Paint one.

(4-8) The banners used in the set of the play were made of fabric appliquéd to make a picture. Make a mural of 17th century New France using either coloured paper (sticky paper?) or coloured fabric and glue.

(4-8) Research unicorns. Draw and colour one.

(4-8) Draw a costume sketch for a very unusual giant. After you've finished yours, look through books to find as many different giant pictures as you can.

(For the very ambitious) Build a gigueux de bois (a "limber-jack") like Ti-Jean's. Use dowel and plywood. Joints can be made from wooden pegs or from metal screw eyes. Make him a dancing board and make him dance.

Social Studies

(4-8) Research life in New France in the l7th and l8th centuries. (Don't forget to look at the artists' pictures about those times--James Cockburn, Kreighoff, C.W. Jeffreys).
(4-8) Draw pictures of the different types of clothing people were wearing at that time.
(4-8) Make models of the kinds of buildings Ti-Jean would have seen in his village in rural Québec.
(4-8) Compare what Ti-Jean's life would have been like with what yours is like--work, school, church, transportation, size of families, communication, recreation, etc.

Mathematics

(4-6) Can you do your 450 times table? Match your wits with Cordon-bleu's girl, Quatrine.

Music

(K-8) Find as many records of Québec fiddle music as you can. Listen, clap, stamp your feet, dance.
(K-8) Find a fast piece of fiddle music. Stop and start the music, pretending it's the giant's fiddle that's playing. When the music plays, dance as wildly as you can; when the music stops, stop as quickly as you can.

Dance

(K-8) Square dance.
(K-8) Step dance.
(4-8)What can you find out about folk dances in early Québec? About the "handkerchief dance," the "chicken scratch," the "plunging dance"? Try doing them!

Creative Drama

(K-6)In the play, the King would play some music to "freeze" the brothers. Try freezing. Have the children make wild movements and when the teacher claps hands, all freeze. Try to surprise them and see how quickly they can freeze.

(K-6)Take turns being King. Everybody else invent problems that you want the King to solve. The King must be fair and must tell the people with the problems what to do about it.

(4-8)In a group of six, improvise and script a new scene for the play Ti-Jean. (See the attached form to help you structure your scene.)

For a slide show from the play, click here