The Earthquake film was then shown; the children loved it. They found the early bits with the boxes falling on Badu's head particularly hilarious, and were glued to the whole adventure. These are children who live in a high-risk earthquake area; while they are very nervous about earthquakes striking and have heard many bad stories, it didn't appear to stop their enjoyment of the film at all.

In The Classroom

In September 2007, two of the core No Strings puppetry team, Ron Binion and Amanda Maddock (see bios below), conducted a highly successful three-day workshop in Sanur, Indonosia, to teach local facilitators basic hand puppetry skills.
The 26 facilitators taking part were made up of staff from our local partners, IDEP and JRS, and associates, who were already working in DRR (disaster risk reduction) management and peace advocacy, and the films were provided to them as a core educational tool. 
No Strings also provided a number of hand puppets for permanent use by the facilitating teams. The purpose of using hand puppets is multi-fold, and includes:

Adding additional fun and theatre to the educational session, with the aim of making it (and the educational content) more memorable for children.

Providing facilitators with a strong and proven focus to hold children's attention.

Creating a natural transition from watching the film to classroom discussions / exercises.

Helping to encourage children to share what they have learnt with members of their family / friends.

Introducing aspects of creative thinking to the ways staff work and motivating them to investigate other areas in which their own ideas may be introduced. This aspect of the training programme proved hugely successful with many facilitators coming up with new and innovative ways of using the materials.

Children were shown the Earthquake film at a nearby school, after first being sent off in groups to complete a crossword puzzle devised by IDEP to test their knowledge. 

Back in the classroom, the children were then greeted by two newly-trained facilitators with puppets. The class was attentive, but there was also a lot of laughter going on and the children really enjoyed themselves. They then sang songs about earthquakes to the tune of Frere Jacques, and were each given a second worksheet, a multiple choice which again checked their knowledge.

Using the hand puppets, the facilitators carried out a detailed Q&A after the film, with a number of children coming to the front of the class to help fill in a large-scale version of the crossword and multiple choice they had worked on previously. The exercise showed a considerable leap in understanding and knowledge.

Amanda Maddock.

Amanda Maddock is a professional puppeteer who works in both theatre and television.  She has been a principal performer for The Book of Pooh, Bear in the Big Blue House, Lazy Town, and The Magic Tent, and has worked as a puppet assistant on Between the Lions and Sesame Street.  She has trained at the Sandglass Puppetry Institute, the Eugene O'Neill Puppetry Conference, and the University of Connecticut's Puppetry Program.  Amanda holds a degree in theatre from Skidmore College and resides in New York City.

Puppeteer Training Facilitator Bios:

Ronald Binion

Ronald Binion has been a puppet artist working in New York for over ten years. He has worked on numerous network television shows as well as created his own works of puppet theatre. He has been the head puppeteer on the Comedy Central show Crank Yankers, and the Nickelodeon show Lazy Town. He has been nominated for an Emmy award for his work on the Disney Channel show The Book of Pooh, and the Nickelodeon show Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. Ron spent five years as a puppet designer and builder at the Jim Henson Company, and four years a resident puppeteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Ga.
Last year, Ron led an ensemble as the invited guest artist at the Eugene O'Neill Puppetry Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.