Pre-School: Teaching Social Skills Through Animation

Pre-School: Teaching Social Skills Through Animation
by Akira's Nightmare Animation Scriptwriting Lab
Animation Writers' Television Workshop

People might not agree with me, but the term "pre-school" is relatively new here in the Philippines. This "pre-school" trend, in my knowledge, only started in the middle and late 90's. So what is "pre-school"?

Pre-school may refer to an age group, a stage, educational approach or a structure. In the survey of the educational system and child care management, pre-school is fixed between the day care regiment and elementary education.

Pre-school, like the day care regiment, is a socio-economic function. As more and more mothers enter the workforce, the need to find a credible framework or system that will take care of their children increases. Thus, day care centers as well as pre-schools gradually created its own market and industry in this country.

Generally, the educational approach within pre-schools is anchored in the mixture of learning and play. Highly biased towards visually striking media, pre-school children thrive on repetition, melody and any actions that accompany it, rhythm & rhyme and funny & strange sounding sounds.

Materials, in terms of content, in this age group are always short, straightforward and simple stories in terms of narrative threads. Often, bedtime or fairytale varieties that have happy endings are popular and effective sources of content. Thus, characters are often, but there are exceptions, stereotypes in nature.

In terms of characteristics, the material has a well-defined beginning, middle and end. Usually, situations and events in the material are recognizable for the child. These situations or events reflect experiences in family or daily life. Considering that children at this age are not always able to distinguish fiction from reality, they have the tendency to interpret things literally. Thus, as stated before, an animation team must be cautious in creating materials that are highly familiar with the pre-school child.

Children at this stage often experience separation anxiety. This is brought about by the physical separation from the principal sources of love and security, their parents. Thus, materials should be sensitive in terms of tackling issues related to parental affection and security. Materials about children hurting other children, getting hurt and humiliation are some of the examples of contents that are not applicable for the pre-school audience.

Learning and play are important ingredients for a material that satisfy the needs or wants of the pre-school audience. Brushing one's teeth, taking a bath, going to the store and interacting with other kids are some of the potential sources for materials that positively reinforces the spirit of independence and encourages the development of social skills.

Akira's Nightmare
Animation Writers' Television Workshop
WRITING ANIMATION FOR PRE-SCHOOL MODULE A
SUMMER 2007
(CONTACT NUMBER 09215081060/6822404)


n Television : Type of Distribution
n Non Primetime: The Writer
n Pre-School: The Audience
n Types of Animated Media
n Educational : Genre of Animation
n Idea Development & Management
n Concept Development & Management
n Premise Development and Management
n Beat Outline Management and Development
n Television Script Management and Development
n Project Development & Management : Creating A Series

The workshop will have 5 sessions and the tuition fee is 5,500 pesos. If you are interested to join the laboratory, feel free to send e-mail to this address, akiras_nightmare@yahoo.com. Please indicate your name as well as mobile number or landline. Or visit the following related links: