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CONTACT
 
Birgit Bach
Tornhøjvej 57
DK-8260 VIBY J.
Denmark
tlf.: +45 86 28 93 75
mobil: +45 20 65 76 67
Mail: bb@bibak.dk



Scarless Tom And His Scary Mom

About the Author

Story Example

Musical Example

Song Examples

 

 

‘Scarless Tom And His Scary Mom’
(demo-edition)

is the English version of the original
‘Sørøver Søren og hans skrækkelige mor’.
It is a children’s package consisting of
a reader, a songbook, two CD recordings
and a musical with a choice of
three different endings.
Each element relates to the story
‘Scarless Tom And His Scary Mom’,
a tale of a notorious pirate captain
who is forced to take his domineering mother
along on a voyage of plunder.

The entire package was released in Denmark in 2002,
sponsored in part by the Danish Ministry of Education
and was very well-received by reviewers
in educational as well as theatrical circles.

The target group for the Scarless package is
children aged 6-12 and their parents, teachers and caregivers.

The musical has already been performed
a great many times in Denmark,
usually by children between 12 and 13,
but it can also be performed by a high school
or professional actors.
The length of the play is about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

The musical CD is a playback CD specially made for the musical.

The reader tells the story of the musical in words,
including each of the three endings.
It can be used in the classroom
and may be read by children from the age of about nine.

An English demo book of the reader
including the 15 songs
has been made up
and consists of 190 A5 pages.

The songbook contains the score and 15 songs
- all song texts from the musical, plus some extra songs
and additional verses to some of the musical songs.

The vocal CD contains the 15 songs from the songbook.
All songs have been translated
but an English-language recording has not yet been made.

The Scarless Tom package provides children with
a unique opportunity to listen, read, sing and act out
a very humorous story.
Because of the three different endings,
it can also stimulate children to imagine and create
their own, fourth ending.
And the choice of endings makes it possible
to let an audience choose which ending they want to see.

‘Scarless Tom and his Scary Mom’ represents
a truly original combination
of education and entertainment.


Birgit Bach

 

Hi!
Who am I?
Someone with lots of
different interests and talents
primarily dealing with communication,
language, children and creativity –
and mostly working with:

Teaching.
Lecturing
Writing books
and songs.
Publishing.

I graduated as teacher in 1978.
Spent the next seven years
travelling round the world
half of the year
and working at home
as a substitute teacher
the rest of the time.

I settled down in 1985,
got myself a job
in a government school
primarily teaching
foreign children to speak Danish.

Developed a special teaching method
using drama, songs, dances
and language games
as an important part
of the language training.

Wrote children songs,
educational books
and children stories
parallel to the teaching,
but having two children myself,
a steady job
and a husband working abroad
most of the year
limited my time for writing.

Nonetheless

in 1988 ‘Sjove sange for søløver’
a children's songbook and a tape
was published by Forlaget LEA.

In 1998 ‘Æbletræet og andre historier’
an educational packet consisting of
a reader, an exercise book,
a teacher’s book including copy sheets
and two tapes with songs, the stories
and listening exercises
was published by Haases Forlag.

In 2000 The Danish Ministry of Education
commissioned me to make educational material
for foreign children (age 12 – 16).
Along with three other teachers
I made ‘Her og der og alle vegne’.

In 2001 ’Læg krop til sproget’
was published by Forlaget Lea.
The book was based on my experiences
with drama, songs, dances etc.
in language training
and contained lots of ideas
for this kind of teaching.

In 2002- 2003
‘Sørøver Søren og hans skrækkelige mor’,
two readers
(same story, but the one written as an easy reader),
a songbook, two musicals
(a long and a short version),
a vocal cd, a singback cd and a musical cd
was published by Bibak Books,
my own publishing company.

In 2004 ‘Georg Snapper’
a story (and songs) about a gecko
I got friendly with
while living in Sri Lanka
was published by Bibak Books.

In 2005 ‘Scarless Tom And His Scary Mom’,
the translation of ‘Sørøver Søren …’
was made into a demo book.

The same year
I made the educational material
‘Kan du tale dansk?’
for The Ministry for Refugees,
Immigrants and Integration.

In 2010 Ballehage strandhaiku - a photo- and haiku- poetrybook about the changing seasons at a Danish beach was published by Bibak Books.

In 2011 Braband stihaiku - another photo- and haiku- poetrybook about the changing seasons around a Danish lake was published by Bibak Books.

In 2012 I was one of the contributors from The Haiku Group of the Danish Authors' Society who contributed to the anthology "Danish Haiku Today - 2012" - published by Forlaget Ravnerock.

In 2013 I contributed to a Hans Christian Andersen inspired haiku anthology, "Der er et herligt land - det kaldes poesien", written by members of The Haiku Group of the Danish Authors' Society, and published by Forlaget Ravnerock.

Over the last few years
I have also written a couple of articles
for UFE, an educational magazine
and translated RadaR, a radio play,
from English to Danish
for Sonokids.

Life after school

From July 1995 to April 1997
I lived in Sri Lanka
with my family.
This gave me a good insight
into a foreign culture
as well as inspiration for new stories.
One of them was ‘Georg Snapper’.

In August 1997
I was back in school again,
but in 2001 I got the chance
to take three years leave
from my old teacher job.

Meanwhile
life had got too interesting
to return to school
permanently,
so I quit my job as senior teacher,
waving goodbye to the security
and the pension
and founded my publishing company,
Bibak Books
with the intention of
publishing my own stories.


Workshops and Courses

From 1995 to 2006
I have made workshops
and given lectures
on how to teach foreign children Danish –
especially using drama, songs
and language games
as teaching tools.

My lectures have mostly taken place
at Danish educational universities
but also at a conference
held by the Ministry of Education.

From 2003 to 2012 I have given exchange students Danish courses
at Aarhus University, Aarhus School of Business and LaerDansk
using drama, songs, dances etc
as an important part of the lessons.

I have been giving foreign engineers and other academics courses
in Danish language, culture and mentality.

I have also taught
Danish to young, criminal immigrants