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The Nightingale Philippe Muyl, 100 Mins, China/France, 2013

Education Resource

Arrietty Education Resource

Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 94mins, Japan, 2010

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ARRIETTY

Education Resource

Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 94mins, Japan, 2010

This is a story about the Clock family, 10 centimetre-tall people who live in the

recesses of a suburban home unbeknownst to the people that live there. Arrietty

Clock and her parents remain hidden from view, only to venture beyond the

floorboards to ‘borrow’ from the house's inhabitants when the coast is clear. When

Shawn comes to stay in the house, he discovers Arrietty, and a secret friendship

blossoms.

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Reflect on your visit to ACMI

• What was the most special thing about going to the Australian Centre for

the Moving Image?

• What new things did you see/learn/experience?

• What did you already know about or had done before?

• What did you see/learn/experience that surprised you?

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Initial response to the animation

• Did you enjoy the animation? Why? How did they make you feel?

• What was your favourite moment? Why was it special?

• Which parts made you laugh?

• Which character was your favourite? Why?

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What did you notice and what can you remember?

• What things did you see that Arrietty and her family had borrowed from the

human world?

• Why do they need to hide?

• What has happened to other Borrowers? Why is the world such a

dangerous place for the Borrowers?

• What do the people who live in the house think about the Borrowers? Why?

• Why is Hara so cruel to the Borrowers?

• How important is the friendship between Arrietty and Shawn? Why do they

become such good friends?

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Imagine you are a borrower

• Have the students ever lost anything and wondered what happened to it?

• What kind of things would you borrow and why?

• What is the difference between borrowing and stealing?

• Do they think the borrowers are borrowing or stealing?

• Arrietty and her family find new uses for things that might otherwise be

discarded. What are some of the lessons they can teach us about using

resources more sustainably?

• What are some of the things you waste or consider to be rubbish in your

school, classroom or home that could be reused for a different purpose?

Make a list of things and explain how they can be reused.

• Work out how big Arrietty and her family would be and draw them. Cut

them out and place them around the classroom so that students get a

better idea about the perspective from which the family views the world.

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Friendship

• Friends look after us and keep us safe and are also great to play and have

fun with. Which character would you most like to have as a friend?

• Share with the person next to you, a time when a friend looked after you

and kept you safe.

• Rules are made to keep us safe. Sometimes when we are with our friends

we forget to do the right thing. When does this happen in Arrietty?

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The Borrowers. By Mary Norton

Choose some key passages to read.

• Has anyone ever heard an adult complaining about losing a sock from a

pair of socks?

• Try drawing what the various things in the description of Arrietty’s house

look like. Students will enjoy imagining stamps used as paintings and a

chest of drawers made out of matchboxes.

• What could Arrietty and her family take from the classroom to use? How

would they use these items in their world? (For example, pencil sharpening

could be used as fuel for their fire and an eraser could be a mattress.

Create the World Of Arrietty

• Using full body photos of students, cut the students from the photos and

place them amongst objects within the school or classroom.

• Use the student cut- outs to create a photo story about classroom

Borrowers.

• Create a diorama using the cut-outs. Ask students to find and bring in small

objects that can be used to create a world in miniature.