and/or Torres Strait Islander People/s examine the contexts of composing and responding, for example personal, social, cultural, historical and workplace contexts, and assess their effects on meaning in and through particular texts develop creative, informed and sustained interpretations of texts supported by close textual analysis (ACELR062) Draw a representing the rise and fall of action. Label the graph with events. Indicate the stages in the structure of the film’s storyline: orientation, rising action/complications, climax(es), resolution or denouement. The film focuses on Billy at the age of 11, but refers to earlier events and gives us a glimpse of later events. Draw a time line of his ‘life’ as represented in the film. On the time line indicate any life-changing events. Explain why, in your opinion, these events are life-changing. EN12-3 analyses and uses language forms, features and structures of texts and justifies their appropriateness for purpose, audience and context and explains effects on meaning Students: engage with complex texts through their language forms, features and structures to understand and appreciate the power of language to shape meaning understand and use language appropriately and effectively for particular purposes, for example making connections, Contextual understanding Students research the context of Billy Elliot by completing some or all of the following activities: Students find information the director, Stephen Daldry. Note that he was well known as a theatre director before he made Billy Elliot, his first film. Students consider whether his theatrical experience might have influenced his style as a filmmaker? Students think about: When was Billy Elliot released? When was it set? Why might Stephen Daldry have set the film in an earlier time? Are there any clues in The Guardian article, published not long after the film’s release, or in the Theater Talk interview? Students conduct research into the coal miners’ strike in Britain. When did it occur? Why were the miners striking? How did the Margaret Thatcher-led government deal with the strikes? Why was this an important time in British history? ‘The Hit Man’, news story by Andrew Pulver, The Guardian (Australian edition), 4 October 2000: ‘”Real Billy Elliot” is made university chancellor’, news story by Sean Coughlan, BBC News, 26 June 2012: ‘Stephen Daldry on Billy Elliot’, Theater Talk interview (10 January 2009), published on YouTube, 13 July 2015:
develop creative, informed and sustained interpretations of supported by close textual analysis (ACELR062) EN12-5 thinks imaginatively, creatively, interpretively, critically and discerningly to respond to and compose texts that include considered and detailed information, ideas and arguments Students: understand, assess and appreciate how different language features, text structures and stylistic choices can be used to represent different perspectives and attitudes assess own and others’ justifications, evidence and point of view (ACELR064) EN12-7 explains and evaluates the diverse ways can represent personal and public worlds Students: assess the impact of context on shaping the social, moral and ethical positions represented in texts Durham, near where Billy’s family lives, Billy says he has never been there. What do these funny, but also sad, acknowledgements show us about the adversity faced by children like Billy growing up in tough, working-class circumstances? The working class and middle class were clearly delineated in 1980s Britain. What differences in values between the classes are evident in the film? How does the film show us this clash of values? In what ways is Billy caught up in this clash of values? One adversity that Billy faces is the lack of communication in his family. Students find examples of communication breakdown between the three males. To what extent is this problem a product of working-class culture? To some extent Billy is successful in overcoming this adversity personally, but others, realistically, continue to struggle. Comment on the very emotional scene near the end of the film where his brother is saying ‘I’ll miss you’ after Billy boards the bus for London, but Billy is unable to hear what he is saying. Teacher divides the class into groups. Each group is given one set of the three question groups below. If there are six groups, the groups working on the same set of questions should focus on different scenes. After completing the task, each group reports back to the class. How does the film use particular techniques to present everyday adversity, like caring for his grandmother, in a way? What is the effect of representing this sort of adversity in this way? Refer to a particular scene in detail. How does the film use particular techniques to create sympathy for Billy grieving for the loss of his mother? How does the film show us that his mother’s death is a more significant adversity for Billy? Refer to a particular scene in detail.
understanding, interpretation, critical analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure Students: analyse and assess the ways language features, text structures and stylistic choices shape points of view and influence audiences (ACEEN024) and articulate criteria used to evaluate a text or its ideas develop deeper textual understanding that enhances enjoyment in composing and responding to a range of complex texts including those by and about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people/s explain how and why texts influence and position readers and viewers (ACEEN040) EN12-2 uses, evaluates and justifies processes, skills and knowledge required to effectively respond to and compose texts in different modes, media and technologies Students: Any discussion of asylum seekers and refugees should be done with mindful consideration of the students backgrounds and experiences Students to research and clarify their understanding of the terms, ‘asylum seekers’ and ‘refugees’. Teacher provides background information, eg the reasons people seek asylum, the number of refugees in the world today. Students identify on a world map the countries from where large numbers of refugees come and the countries that are hosting the largest numbers of refugees. Teacher asks students to consider the nature of the struggle with adversity experienced by many asylum seekers and refugees: war, famine and persecution in their own countries struggle to get to a place of asylum or refuge difficulties of adjusting to life in a new country. As a class, study the ‘Protecting our Borders’ page of the Australian Border Force section of the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection website. Students: read the statement on the ‘Protecting our Borders’ page. How is language used to reveal particular concerns and values in this statement? How does the statement deal with asylum seekers and refugees in particular? undertake a search on ‘asylum seekers’ and ‘refugees’ within the site. What kinds of information are presented for and about asylum seekers and refugees? Check out ‘stories’ in the menu. Is there any evidence of the struggle with adversity experienced by many asylum seekers and refugees? How is the website positioning us to respond to asylum seekers and refugees? Explore and explain how the site represents the struggle with adversity experienced by asylum seekers and refugees? What Border Force section of the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection website at Asylum Seeker Resource Centre website:
making connections with familiar texts analyse and evaluate text structures and language features of literary texts and make relevant thematic and intertextual connections with other texts EN12-8 explains and assesses cultural assumptions in texts and their effects on meaning Students: understand the contemporary application of Aboriginal protocols in the production of for the purpose of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property protection Synthesis (Assessment for learning) Students compare the ways in which Billy Elliot, the websites about asylum seekers and refugees and the Pearl Gibbs or Stan Grant speeches represent the struggle with adversity. Students can consider the following areas: What similarities and differences do you notice between the experiences of struggling with adversity represented in each text? What similarities and differences did you find in the ways in which the struggle with adversity is represented? To what extent can differences be explained by the different opportunities afforded by different and media? To what extent did you as audience contribute to the of these texts? Or did you feel your response was being effectively manipulated? Which text had the greatest impact on you? Explain your response. The information gathered from this task will assist the teacher in making judgements about the students’: understanding of the texts studied skills in synthesis to develop understanding of the specific human experience understanding of how meaning is shaped.
explain how various language features, for example figurative, grammatical and multimodal elements create particular effects in and use these for specific purposes EN12-3 analyses and uses language forms, features and structures of texts and justifies their appropriateness for purpose, audience and context and explains effects on meaning Students: engage with complex through their language forms, features and structures to understand and appreciate the power of language to shape meaning investigate and use specific vocabulary, including evaluative language, to express shades of meaning, feeling and opinion EN12-8 explains and assesses cultural assumptions in and their effects on meaning Students: What was Adut’s dream? Why did he not conceive this dream before his arrival in Australia as a 14-year-old refugee? How did he set about realising this dream? Who supported him? How did Adut’s struggle with adversity affect the way in which he pursued his dream? How does Adut think that his story of realising his dream can help other people? What was Adut’s purpose in making this speech? Evaluate how effectively Adut uses language to achieve this purpose. OR Students can explore other speeches such as the ones below for their ideas in relation to the pursuit of dreams and the ways that language has been used to do this. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Keynote Address at the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention, 1848 Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘I have a dream’, 1963 John F Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961 Jessie Street, ‘Is it to Be Back to the Kitchen?’, 1944 Indira Gandhi, ‘The True Liberation of 1980 Barack Inaugural Address, 2013 Malala Yousafzai, Speech at the Youth Takeover of the United Nations, 2013 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Keynote address at the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention,1848: Stanton speech King, Kennedy, Street and Gandhi speeches available through the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) website at: HSC English Prescriptions 2009-2014 speeches Barack Obama, Inaugural address, 2013: Barack Obama speech Malala Yousafzai, Speech at the Youth Takeover of the United Nations, 2013: Malala Yousafzai speech