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Through Australian eyes:
a rap HSC English ESL course text
Teacher support materials
Introductory activities
Rap point 1
Rap point 2
Rap point 3
Approach to Area of Study: Perspective
Overview (Perspective and considerations for each Rap point)
Suggested class activities (Suggested class activities for rap points, linked to syllabus outcomes)
Concluding activities
Introductory activities (week beginning 3 June 2002)
Teacher introduces students to how an online rap works, its purpose, etc. Teachers can view previous archived raps to understand format. Teachers can also see rap protocols in Rap FAQs.
Students together compose a class introduction for the rap. Details such as name of school, location, class, number of students etc can be given.
Post message to rap using the listserv address provided in the welcome message.
Teacher explains the timeline for Through Australian eyes rap. There will be three rap point focus questions over three weeks.
Students compose questions they have concerning the text in pairs or small groups.
Class teacher discusses questions raised. Teacher collates questions. These can be pinned on classroom wall and ticked off, if answered, as the rap progresses.
Continue to scroll down this page to view the support materials provided.
Rap point 1: Focus on the main character (week beginning 11 June 2002)
(See Overview and Suggested class activities for teaching support)
1 (a) What is the girl’s perspective before undertaking the trip?
1 (b) What factors in her life contribute to this perspective?
1 (c) What is the girl’s perspective on returning to Australia? What has changed?
1 (d) On her journey the main character meets many people who show her different ways of looking at life and family. How does this new knowledge of different lifestyles and attitudes influence her view:
- on the life she leads in Australia?
- on herself?
1 (e) How is the girl’s perspective shown through the structure, images and language features of the documentary? How is personal perspective shown?
Rap point 2: Focus on the responder (week beginning 17 June 2002)
(See Overview and Suggested class activities for teaching support)
2 (a) How do you initially respond to the main character? In what ways does your view change by the end of the episode?
2 (b) What factors in your own life influence your response? Is the episode (and the series) relevant for audiences today, given it was produced in 1983?
2 (c) How does the documentary engage the responder?
Rap point 3: Focus on the composer (week beginning 24 June 2002)
(See Overview and Suggested class activities for teaching support)
3 (a) What themes are explored?
3 (b) Why is the series called Through Australian eyes? Who is the intended audience of the series? Why was this series produced for and first shown on SBS television?
3 (c) How has the composer shaped the text to present perspective?
Continue to scroll down this page to view the support materials provided.
Approach to Area of Study: Perspective
| Language study within an Area of Study: Perspective |
|---|
WHAT is the perspective? |
Main character (pre and post journey)
Responder (impact of episode)
Composer (themes)
|
WHY such a perspective? |
Main character (factors influencing)
Responder (factors influencing; relevance)
Composer (audience; context)
|
HOW is the perspective shaped? |
Main character (documentary medium; personal view)
Responder (engagement; interest)
Composer (purpose).
|
Overview (Perspective and considerations for each Rap point)
| RAP POINT 1: MAIN CHARACTER |
WHAT?
What is the perspective?
| WHY?
What factors influence the perspective? |
HOW?
How is the perspective shown? What are the text structures and language features? |
What is the perspective of the main character?
Pre journey:
1 (a) What is the girl’s perspective before undertaking the trip? |
What factors influence her perspective?
Pre journey:
1 (b) What factors in her life contribute to this perspective?
Look at the beginning of the episode. Draw up a character profile from the information you are given.
Consider:
- age; sex; education
- family upbringing
- religion
- socio-economic status
- experience/influences
- personal beliefs
- individuality
- hopes/aspirations
|
How is her perspective shaped?
1 (e) How is the girl’s perspective shown through the structure, images and language features of the documentary?
Consider:
- some of the techniques involved in making documentary films: camera angles; focus; sound/music; lighting; editing.
Class could view the first sequence of the episode then list the techniques used in the opening and their effects.
Does the girl appear to be reading a script or does she appear natural?
1 (e) contd
How is personal perspective shown?
Consider:
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|
Post journey:
1 (c) What is the girl’s perspective on returning to Australia? What has changed?
Consider:
where does she now wish to live? are her goals the same as when she left? how have her ideas regarding family life changed |
Post journey:
1 (d) On her journey the main character meets many people who show her different ways of looking at life and family.
How does this new knowledge of different lifestyles and attitudes influence her view: |
| RAP POINT 2: RESPONDER |
WHAT?
What is the perspective? |
WHY?
What factors influence the perspective? |
HOW?
How is the perspective shown? What are the text structures and language features? |
What is the perspective of the responder?
2 (a) How do you initially respond to the main character? In what ways does your view change by the end of the episode?
Consider:
- interested
- empathetic
- sympathetic
- interesting as develops a broader/more realistic view of Australian society
- learnt about values and relationships within the girl’s family.
| What factors influence the responder’s perspective? 2 (b) What factors in your own life influence your response? Is the episode (and the series) relevant for audiences today, given it was produced in 1983?
Consider:
- same or different life experience or circumstances
- same age; same sex; different age; different sex
- undertook similar trip
- second generation migrants in Australia
- migrant family links with homeland
- experience of migration
- new understanding of migration experience
- appreciation of migrant parents.
|
How does the text engage the responder?
2 (c) How does the documentary engage the responder?
Consider:
- documentary form
- context and its relevance
- focus on the personal/individual
- structure: pre journey; journey; post journey
- particular scenes/images
- impact of the whole series (six episodes)
|
| RAP POINT 3: COMPOSER |
WHAT?
What is the perspective? |
WHY?
What factors influence the perspective? |
HOW?
How is the perspective shown? What are the text structures and language features? |
What is the perspective of the composer?
3 (a) What themes are explored?
Consider:
who is an Australian? what is multiculturalism or cultural diversity? what is the experience of migration identity family influences city/village life: how is it stereotyped?
|
What factors influence the composer’s view?
3 (b) Why is the series called Through Australian eyes? Who is the intended audience of the series? Why was this series produced for and first shown on SBS television?
In your response consider the degree to which the series reflects the main purpose of SBS broadcasting, as stated in the following extract from the SBS charter:
The principal function of SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians, and in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society. |
How does the text reveal the composer’s view?
3 (c) How has the composer shaped the text to present perspective?
Consider:
contemporary setting, both in Australia and overseas realistic main characters, not actors; focus on character told in a non-dramatic fashion (very basic storyline, no complications) in what order have the events been presented? That is, why is it told in sequence, as the journey unfolds? does the film present only factual evidence? colloquial language used with very typical conversational exchanges use of the girl’s home/first language voiceover of girl’s thoughts whose ‘voices’ are being heard, and whose are not?
|
Continue to scroll down this page to view the support materials provided.
Suggested class activities (Suggested class activities for some rap points, linked to syllabus outcomes)
| HSC ESL OUTCOMES | SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES |
|---|
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Rap point 1 (b)
What factors in her life contribute to this perspective? |
9. A student engages with the details of text in order to develop a considered and informed personal response. |
Teacher discusses a range of factors in the girl’s life that may contribute to her perspective, before she sets out on her journey. Factors include: age; gender; education; prior history; family background; religion; her interests and beliefs; her aspirations for the forthcoming trip. |
| |
Rap point 1 (e)
How is her perspective shaped? |
6. A student interprets texts using key language patterns and structural features |
Teacher models how to summarise one sequence from one episode and records the language features for that sequence, relevant to the documentary medium. Consider the following: structure; script; storyboard; camera shots; fade outs; editing; voiceover, etc
Activity
Imagine you are one of the girls who made the series Through Australian eyes. You are now watching it again. Write a journal entry reflecting on your thoughts and feelings, now and then. Consider the following:
- Have your hopes and dreams been realised?
- Have your ideas on immigration changed?
- What are your thoughts on family values and multiculturalism?
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Rap Point 3 (b)
Who is the intended audience of the series?
Class discusses who the audience may have been in 1983 when the series was first shown on SBS TV. Students discuss its relevance for showing on television now: SBS? ABC? Commercial channels? Comparison is made with current study by HSC students.
|
5. A student demonstrates understanding of how audience and purpose affect the language and structure of texts. |
Activity
Look up statistical information on the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) web site. Explore and record migration figures of overseas arrivals and departures for selected previous years including from the 1980s. How do they compare with today?
Rap point 3 (a)
What themes are explored?
Example: Multiculturalism
When was this term first introduced? Why?
What was the White Australia Policy?
Resources
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [website]
Making multicultural Australia [computer software], Board of Studies, 1999
SCIS 966589
SBS television [website]
Through Australian eyes [videorecording] [series] SBS, 1983
Titles in this series are:
Angela Sarantis in Greece SCIS 946528
Debbie Karp in Hungary SCIS 946537
Duska Franic in Yugoslavia SCIS 946550
Ellen Youie in China SCIS 481566
Jessie Thandi in India SCIS 946548
Rosemary Agostino in Italy SCIS 983627
Activity: Class discussion followed by extended written response
What values are being supported or challenged by this documentary? |
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Concluding activities (week beginning 1 July 2002)
Teacher directs students to questions composed at beginning of rap. Discuss which questions have been answered, and which ones have not.
Class questions that remain unanswered can be submitted to the rap for other schools to comment on.
Class composes evaluation of rap: what they have learned, how they enjoyed the experience, etc and post response to rap.
Remind students that archives of the rap are available after the rap finishes, so that activities can be used for revision.
