When is it a good idea to be a bad ventriloquist?

The answer is—wait for it: when you are working with teens, especially challenged and challenging teens.

I am Penelope Torribio, known to many as Mrs. T. I am a behavior transformation specialist, founder of 1 World Education, and creator of THINK LIKE A WRITER, THE CONNECTED CLASSROOM, and what I call DIVERSION/DISTRATION EDUCATION.

DIVERSION/DISTRATION EDUCATION. means you know what you are teaching your students, but you place the emphasis elsewhere, distracting and relaxing them. Ventriloquism is perfect for this. If you read the rest of this page, I am sure you will agree.

Let me tell you a story of how I got into ventriloquism. I had used puppetry for many years, but I had not ventured into ventriloquism. Before I tell you the story of how this happened, I just want to say that ventriloquism does not require the very human-like and expensive figures used by people like Edgar Bergen. Many ventriloquists, even famous ventriloquist use soft puppets, often animal puppets, rather than the more complicated figures.

Ventriloquism is not defined by its dummies; it is defined by the conversation between a ventriloquist and his or her dummy. Many ventriloquists use animals or soft puppets, rather than the more complicated and expensive human-like figures, such as Edgar Bergen.

But the simple vent figure was not my path. On the day I was hired as a teacher at the residential school, I was told I had $ 2,000 for my puppetry class. However, there was a catch. I had to spend the $2000 by the very next day. It seems the money had an expiration date.

Today I could spend that money in a few minutes. But in those days, businesses, including puppet sales, were just getting online. By accident, or providence, I discovered a ventriloquist figure on the internet for $2000.

In fact, there were two figures, a boy and a girl dummy.  I bought the boy for the school with their money, and the girl for myself. It dawned on me that I had to learn ventriloquism, since all my puppetry money had been spent on a ventriloquist figure. entire puppetry money on a vent figure.

These figures were full pro. They had eyebrows that raised, eyes that opened and shut, and eyeballs that moved from left to right. Of course, the mouth moved, and the head moved sideways, up and down, and if necessary, could completely turned around.

I walked into my first class armed with the boy dummy and books and tapes by Maher on how to become a ventriloquist. I added a little frosting on the cake by informing my students that if they did a good job at learning ventriloquism and learned to write a successful sketch, they could make $2,000 an hour.  Then, I told them that I had lied. It was really $2,000 for 15 minutes, plus transportation, hotel and food. My students were definitely interested.

I had recently attended a conference where a ventriloquist performed between speakers. I suggested the students read up-to-date business principles and then write a comedic script based on these.

It turns out that as the teacher, I was set up to fail. I would demonstrate my ventriloquism skills, and the boys would all say that I was moving my lips. I denied it. But secretly I knew they were right. I had learned that the younger you start your ventriloquism journey, the better you are at talking without moving your lips.

The boys loved the ventriloquist figure, and they loved being better ventriloquists than their teacher. But one thing I was better at was scriptwriting. They needed me. They also needed a little help with puppet manipulations and character and voice development. We became THE CONNECTED CLASSROOM.

Ventriloquism turned out to be a wonderful teaching tool, and I began to expand my behavioral objectives.

Determining the character of the vent figure is a powerful way to talk about feelings and emotions.

In working with challenged and challenging students, I discovered that many of my students had never had a childhood. if they reach their teen with out a childhood, they must skate the border between being considered childlike and taking on the seriousness of adulthood. Puppetry could give some of this playfulness back to them.

These are just a few of the emotions that a vent figure might take on: playful, grouchy, resentful, dumb, lonely, nervous, confident, bold, bored, made, sad, silly, sick, weak, strong, and energetic. Instead of dealing of the emotions of the students, we could put it on the shoulders of the vent figure.

In developing the character of the ventriloquist figure, we had to study how these emotions could be conveyed through facial expressions, body/head/face movements, and vocal expression. and how these are often universal expressions of emotions.

Here are things that I learned over the years.

Students who do not know how to talk—hit. They need to be able to read emotional characteristic, and be sensitive to their own.

Students who do not know how to express feelings—throw things.

Students who feel they are unrecognized, I call them ghost children, are frequently the most dangerous.

Students who can not read or who misread the faces and
feelings of others are lonely, maybe angry.

Students who are having fun while learning are less likely to act out.

Students who are recognized for their gifts and talents, or led to them, may change the world.

Many of our greatest thinkers recognize the importance of humor, laughter, and playfulness. Puppets have the ability to help because they can be serious and/or funny.

” Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.” – Jakob Smirnoff¹

“Laughter is an instant vacation.” – Milton Ber

“I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never more brave than when we do that.” – Linda Ellerbee

“There is little success where there is little laughter.” – Andrew Carnegie

“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.” – Jean Houston

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” – Victor Borge

“A person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” – Shirley MacClain

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.” – Khalil Gibran

“Laughter is one of the best medicines around for relieving stress and for creating a more healthy spirit. And, one of the greatest aspects is that it is totally free and can be done by anyone.” – Byron Pulsifer

“I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something bearable, even hopeful.” – Bob Hope

“When you lose your laugh you lose your footing.” – Ken Kesey

“You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh – it’s as simple as that.” – Jay Leno

“Daily laughter has been shown to elevate our moods, promote creativity and give us more energy.” – Robin Sharma

“When we feel joyful, euphoric, happy, we are more open to life, more capable of seeing things clearly and handling daily tensions.” – Leo F. Buscaglia

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” – Charles Dickens

“Laughter can bring a new perspective.” – Christopher Durang

“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.” – Eileen Caddy

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” – Robert Frost

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.” – Norman Cousins

“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.” – L.M. Montgomery

“Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine.” – George Gordon Byron

“Laughter is poison to fear.” – George R.R. Martin

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.” – Erma Bombeck

Puppetry, including ventriloquism, is a great tool for humor.

Students using Mrs. T’s , Blue vent figure.

Classroom exercise
Blue is blue, he’s blue, and his name is Blue. He feels sad because he’s blue.
Buggsy sings him a song about being Blue, because he is blue too.

Blue is the color of the blue sky.
Blue is the color of the sea.
Blue is the color of blueberries,
And blue is the color of me.

Blue is the color of bluebirds flying high
high above the trees.

And blue is the color of mommy and
daddy, and blue is the color of me.

Are you still here? If you are, put your finger over your closed mouth.
Sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
If you can do this without moving your lips,
Then you are on your way to becoming a
ventriloquist!

Sample ventriloquist scripts are on the 1 World Education Free Resource Page.