Alien-Nation
Archives, November - December 1999

Alien-Nation

When we stand in the shoes on an alien we see the world in a new light.  Here are some fun lessons in point of view which may fit well into your extraterrestrial lesson plans for the new millennium.

K-2 Designing an Alien

If you were from another planet what would you look like? What would you eat? How would you think? Would you have 2 ears or twenty?  How many eyes would you have and where would they be located?  What special powers might your alien possess?

1)  Begin this lesson by reading this description of an alien.

He was 6feet tall and 5 feet wide.  He had eyes in his hands and 27 ears on his green forehead.  He could see the read five books at a time with his five eyes he had teeth that could smell food.

2)  Talk about what else an alien might have then design your own alien with the whole class on the board.  Remind students that the more questions they ask the more interesting the alien will become.

3)  Encourage students to design their own alien with a partner.  Draw and color a picture of the alien and then maybe write a story about her.

3-5  A New Planet

Begin this lesson by talking about the planet earth.   List details about this planet and all the things we know about it.   For example:

¾ of the planet is covered in oceans.

There are rain forests

Mountains

Trees

Rivers

Deserts

Prairies

Rain

Snow

Hail

Thunderstorms

Earthquakes

Hurricanes

Let your list grow with all the geography you know.   Compliment the class on all they have observed about the planet of their birth.   Then tell them that, as they expected, you are from another planet, a very different planet.  Would they like to know about your planet?

Stimulate questions by referring to the first list.

Example: Do you have hail on your planet?

Yes, it hails baseballs the sizes of hailstones?

After sufficient modeling the students pair up and create their own planets.

Give your planet a problem.  Planet earth has many problems.  Let’s list a few. Overpopulation  -   Acid Rain   -   Greenhouse effect  -   wars

Give your planet some problems

Create a story that takes place on your planet.

6-8  Alien Eyes see New Worlds

(adapted from The Reviser’s Toolbox. For more information or to order, click here)

In her book Earthlets, Jeane Willis describes a baby from an aliens point of view.  "Earthlet grandmothers make earthlet wrappers from the fuzz of sheep."  When we stand in the shoes of an alien our language changes and we have a chance to see the world with newborn eyes.  How would an alien describe your world?  For one thing, they would have the same points of reference.  When you say chair, I know it means a piece of furniture which you sit on.  If an alien saw someone sitting in a chair he might call it a people bender.  Below is a list of objects and events from our world.  Come up with alien language to describe it.

Toaster

Car

Interstate highway

Frig

Tv

Book

Now that you are warmed up, write a dispatch back home about what you have seen in this human world.  You may wish to focus your report by attending a specific event or describing a particular place.

May the farce be with you.

 12  The Hard Boiled Aliens and Tough Cookies

Detective Writer Raymond Chandler perfected the voice of tough alienation.  His novels like The Long Goodbye and The Big Sleep, look at the glitzy world of Southern California through the cynical eyes of Phillip Marlowe.  Chandler was a master of the staccato, hardboiled detective voice.  A recent fun example of this voice is in David Wisnewski’s hilarious picture book Tough Cookie, in which a tough cookie, who was once high up in the jar, now associates with the "crumbs" and lives in fear of "fingers" like the rest of them.

1) Read examples of hard boiled writing or watch a Bogart movie or two.  Notice how Chandler or Dashell Hammet describes the world around him.

Pay particular attention to the 40’s sexist dialogue "Give it to me straight, sister."

2) Now have your students send this detective into the future . For fun slip them into a setting which would contradict their basic tough cookie nature.  In other words, send Phillip Marlowe to a therapist or a men’s group, or a feminist rally.  Record observations in his famous voice.