The Tulip Touch

Anne Fine’s The Tulip Touch focuses on the bizarre and increasingly disturbed behaviour of Tulip, a young girl with no friends and a violent home life. This scheme of work is aimed largely at year 9 although it may be appropriate for the end of year 8. It uses the text as a starting point for devised work as well as using extracts from the text itself for students to work on and use to create their own pieces.

It is not intended that students will read or study the whole text; rather that they will be given a summary of the story and that the teacher will supply all the other information or sections of script they require when necessary. As a teacher, you will obviously need to have read the text and it would be helpful, although not essential, to be familiar with the novel.

Each session is based on lessons of an hour but the timings are flexible and if something is met with great enthusiasm then it can be extended; many of the main activities could lend themselves to assessed work.

Learning objectives

• To use tableaux and improvisation to explore ideas about the setting of the play
• To use the script and improvisation to explore the characters’ first meeting. To explore how to communicate meaning without words
• To use the script and improvisation to explore the characters’ first meeting. To explore how to communicate meaning without words
• To use monologue and ensemble work to devise a scene
• To use monologue and ensemble work to devise a scene
• To use discussion of the play’s themes to inform the writing and performance of a monologue
• To perform a monologue from Tulip’s point of view, offering insight into the characters’ feelings and motivation

Number of lessons: 7