Chico's Chips

 
Ali and Matty, two boys, first meet in hospital where they are convalescing in adjoining beds. They become friends. Ali’s Dad has a chip van while Matty’s Dad is a traveller who fixes old cars and deals in scrap metal. As Ali gets to know Matty, he begins to feel guilty that his parents objected to travellers being housed in their street. When calamity strikes Ali’s family with the theft of their chip van, it is Matty who saves the day. His Dad spots the chip van and several others in a local scrap yard. The local ‘baddy’ has been disposing of all the chip vans to make way for his new consortium of fast food vans. Matty brings Ali to the scrap yard to find the missing van. They find the van but just as it is on the point of being crushed. Matty is caught by the ‘baddies’ while Ali runs off to raise the alarm. The story ends happily and Ali’s parents quietly withdraw their letter of objection and Matty’s family move into the street.
 

 
travellers; tonsils; hard stands (sites where travellers can park their caravans); regulations; property; consortium; evidence; scrap metal; compensation.
 

 
Structure

Can the children remember how the drama began?

The writer used a device which is often used in films. She opened the drama with a scene from near the end of the story. A frightened boy is running breathlessly, looking for a phone box.

What effect does this have? It makes us, the audience, aware that some disaster happens in the story. This creates a sense of expectation and suspense which carries us through the more slow moving ‘set-up’ scenes.

Location

Ali and Matty are boys from very different backgrounds. The writer had to find a place for them to meet and spend some time together so that a friendship could be formed. She chose a hospital. Can the children think of anywhere else the boys might have met.
 

• When Matty tells Ali he’s a traveller, he fully expects Ali to have nothing more to do with him. He asks; "Is that the end of our conversation?"
• Discuss settled people’s attitudes to travellers.
• As Ali gets to know Matty, he feels increasingly guilty because his parents have written a letter objecting Travellers being housed in their street. Matty describes how his Gran has had pleurisy twice during the winter.
• Now the stage is set. We like and are interested in Matty, Ali and their families.
• It’s important for a writer to make the audience or reader interested in the main characters in a story. We’ve got to care what happens to them.
• Disaster strikes Ali’s family with the theft of their chip van. It’s the third chip van to be stolen that week. The police know who’s behind the thefts but haven’t the evidence to prove anything.
• Ali is so upset that he has a row with Matty over nothing and Matty leaves the hospital next morning before Ali has had time to make it up with him. It seems that Ali and Matty’s friendship is at an end.
• Then Matty turns up at the gates of Ali’s school and tells him he has news of the missing chip van. The two boys set off to find the chip van in a scrap yard where Matty’s Dad has spotted it. Matty talks his way into the scrap yard and they soon find the chip van buried beneath a mercedes and a volvo. They also spot the other two chip vans which have been reported stolen.
• The "Baddy" arrives in a big shiny car and they prepare to crush the chip van to hide any evidence. At that moment the pile of tyres, behind which the boys have taken refuge, begins to slide and their presence is discovered. Matty is caught by the ‘baddy’ and Ali runs off to raise the alarm.
• We’re now back at the scene which opened the drama…Ali running desperately looking for a phone box to call the police. All ends happily with the ‘Baddy’ being caught, Ali’s Dad getting compensation for his chip van and Matty’s family moving into the street.

 
Create a different ending for the story.

e.g. When Ali and the police arrive, the van has been crushed and Matty and the ‘Baddy’ are nowhere to be seen. The police won’t believe Ali’s story, so Ali sets out alone to rescue Matty.

Give the story a different twist.

e.g. Matty gets out of hospital and goes back to his hard-stand. There he sees Ali’s Dad’s chip van which has been stolen by another Traveller. His loyalties are divided. What does Matty do? It could turn out that the Traveller has bought the chip van in good faith from the ‘Baddy’ who stole it in the first place.
 

• Draw a number of simple pictures to illustrate the story.
• Draw a picture of the chip van buried under two cars in the scrap yard.
• Design the Joshua Tree image for the side of the chip van.

 
ENGLISH/LITERACY

Talking and Listening

Pupils should have opportunities for:

• listening and responding to live media presentations for a specific purpose and discussing these with the teacher.
• listening and responding to a range of fiction, including drama for example, discuss the behaviour and attitudes of a character in a story.

Writing

Writing will arise from a variety of experience and contexts, including: for example, drama, radio

Pupils should have opportunities to:

• Write in different forms and to develop control of the different conventions demanded by these forms.
• Their writing should include; stories creative and imaginative writing dialogues.

 
WORKSHEETS

 
Click on the arrow below to download the worksheet for this programme.