reflect on and evaluate personal responses to and those of others EAL12-1B communicates information, ideas and opinions in a range of familiar and unfamiliar personal, social and academic contexts Students: participate in a range of rehearsed and impromptu interactions EAL12-7 integrates understanding of the diverse ways texts can represent personal and public worlds Students: respond to and compose which make connections between personal and public worlds EAL12-8 analyses and evaluates cultural references and perspectives in texts and examines their effects on meaning Students: generalise about the effects of language experiences and culture on responding to and composing texts EAL12-9 reflects on, assesses and monitors own learning and refines individual and collaborative processes as an independent learner View the SBS news story about a Zimbabwean language school in Perth which children attend on weekends. Think, pair, share activity – Students consider the following questions: What is your first language (‘mother tongue’)? What is your home language? Is it the same as your language? Do you have more than one home language? How many languages do you understand? How many do you speak? When did you learning English? Why did you begin learning English? How did you learn it? What you consider to be your dominant language? Which language do you think in? Which language do you dream in? In what situations do you use your home language(s) and in what situations do you use English? Why? In pairs (or groups of three), students describe their language backgrounds and English language learning experiences to one another. Students introduce their partner to a larger group or the whole class by describing their language background(s) and English language learning experiences. Factors to consider when choosing partners include: language background (eg partnering students from the same or similar language backgrounds or from different language backgrounds) gender friendship groups student motivation changing or maintaining pairings or groupings SBS World News story ‘Learning parents' language helps keep culture alive’, See the guide on ‘Think Pair Share’ produced by the Learning Experience Design unit of the NSW Department of Education,
familiar and unfamiliar personal, social and academic contexts Students: use stress, rhythm, pitch and intonation for particular effects EAL12-5 thinks imaginatively, creatively, interpretively and critically to respond to, represent and evaluate complex ideas, information and arguments in a wide range of texts Students: examine how narrative point(s) of view are used to convey ideas, attitudes and values in literary texts and how arguments are presented in nonfiction texts EAL12-7 integrates understanding of the diverse ways texts can represent personal and public worlds Students: analyse and experiment with ways of transforming experience into texts for different purposes, audiences and contexts respond to and compose texts which make connections between personal and public worlds EAL12-8 analyses and evaluates cultural references and perspectives First Nations People native people Mi'kmag systemic discrimination humanity Students then respond to the video considering the following questions: Context: What historical situation does the poem refer to? What are the personal, social, cultural and political contexts of the poem? Significance: Even though the poem was first published in 1978 and relates to the poet’s experiences at Shubenacadie Indian Residential School during the 1940s, it still has the power to speak to people today. Why was the poem transformed into a musical composition? How does the poem relate to First Nations Peoples’ experiences in Canada and elsewhere over the past century? What is the legacy of Rita Joe’s poem? Reflection activity Students compose a reflection based on the following questions: How important is a person’s home language to their sense of identity? In what ways does language connect a person to their family and culture? What happens when a person’s right to their home language is taken away from them? The teacher should encourage students to make reference to the text they have just explored. Writing activities (link to Focus on Writing module) Students brainstorm relating to their own language backgrounds and language learning experiences. Using Rita Joe’s poem as a model, students write a first draft of a dramatic monologue poem. Students reflect on their first draft by reading the poem aloud. They edit the first draft, experimenting with grammar, syntax, lineation and sound techniques to more vividly evoke the voice of the persona and to enhance the poem’s message and meaning.
personal, social and academic contexts Students: analyse and evaluate links between verbal and nonverbal elements of texts and interactions participate in and manage collaborative discussions and presentations in a range of contexts develop, use and integrate language for making connections, questioning, affirming, challenging, speculating and generalising EAL12-2 uses, evaluates and justifies processes, skills and knowledge necessary for responding to and composing a wide range of texts in different media and technologies Are other examples of storytelling within the film? What are these stories used for? Students read the ‘Yolngu storytelling in Ten Canoes’ by Thomas Caldwell (Screen Education 54, Winter 2009) They discuss the following questions and make notes: In what ways does the film reflect and fit into the tradition of oral storytelling in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures? What are the differences between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and Western storytelling conventions and practices? Do they share the same purposes? Exploring Ten Canoes as a cultural artefact In their groups, students consider the film as a cultural artefact. They discuss the following topics and questions and make notes on each point: There are three versions of the film available on the DVD: ‘All Aboriginal Language without subtitles’, ‘All Aboriginal Language with English subtitles’ and ‘Theatrical version: English storytelling with subtitled dialogue’. What are the differences in the three versions? For what audience(s) has each version been produced? Compare Rolf de Heer’s use of colour and and white cinematography to distinguish between the two narrative timeframes with David Gulpilil’s use of past, present and future tense forms in his voice-over narration. What do the different approaches to storytelling reveal about the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the two composers? Are de Heer and the Storyteller both telling the same stories, and to the same audiences? What stories or messages does the film hold for a contemporary Australian audience? What stories or messages does the film hold for students studying the HSC EAL/D course? In what ways does the film represent and maintain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples cultural heritage in Australia? Students view the ABC Lateline program about 12 Canoes