Syllabus content

Possible sequence of teaching activities

Learning about reading – Context and text

Learning about talking and listening – Context and text
Talk to students about how a speaker or writer composes with an audience in mind. Discuss the fact that a skilful writer or speaker creates texts which position the audience in a certain way. A reader or listener can be made to feel emotion or agree with a point of view because of the way a character or event is presented. Also discuss how speaking face to face with a person makes it easy to assess how they are feeling and responding through observation of  body language as well as what they say.

When writing an email remind students that it is more like talking written down, which is different from most writing. However, like writing, an email can be sent, as in this case, to unknown, distant audience. Students therefore need to use all their writing skills to introduce themselves and make their audience happy to hear from them.

1. In order to construct a whole class introductory email, discuss the purpose of the email and its audience. Discuss appropriate greeting, ‘signature' and email ‘etiquette'. Focus on the unknown audience and what they need to be told to help them understand your school and your students. The email message should include the school's name and location, the size of the class/group and any other interesting information like the cultural backgrounds of the students in the class.
   
2. Access and discuss email introductions from other rappers and locate these schools on the Rap maps
   
3. Read and enjoy any of the Indij readers.
   
4. Make entries in Rap journal.
   
5. Teachers subscribe to, and introduce themselves to the Teacher rap.

Syllabus content

Possible sequence of teaching activities

RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.

Indicator Recognises that texts are created for different audiences and attempts to identify the audience of a text.

1. Ask questions about the text: use the questions in Rap Sheet 1 to prompt discussion on stereotyping and who/what is valued. (These questions were derived from Leonie Rowan's approach of transformative analysis outlined in Write me in.)
   
2. Use the text as a starting point to discuss identity. Focus on the character of the daughter and brainstorm all the activities she participates in. Write up in a concept map.
   
3. Brainstorm how she would feel and why as she participated in these activities with her mother. Add to the concept map as dot points under the activities.
   
4. Read about the author and the illustrator and ask students to discuss why this book was written and the audience they might have had in mind while writing and illustrating.
   
5. Use Rap Sheet 1 to analyse a TV show, film or book.
   
6. Choose one character and listen to what they say or listen to what they do when they are happy, sad etc.

Note: when reading titles in the Indij readers series, remember to check the Cultural knowledge section in the Teachers' guide.

TS2.3 Identifies the effect of purpose and audience on spoken texts and distinguished between different varieties of English.

Indicator: Recognises different kinds of English: Australian, Aboriginal, American and identifies instances of ‘school language' (Standard Australian English) and ‘home language' eg. Aboriginal English.

1. 1. As a whole class discuss what is home language and school language. Why are they different?
2. 2. Create a word bank which shows the difference between home language and school language. Depending on the cultural backgrounds of students, this list may contain recognisable English words, some with different meanings and, in some cases, words from another language.
   

   For example:

   Home Language	School Language
   deadly	good
   tea	dinner
   Yum cha	lunch

   
   
3. Either at school or at home watch a TV show or film and track one character. Use Rap Sheet 2 to try to list all the ways they say or show something is good or bad, and keep the record for comparison.
   
4. Analyse a text to compare; using Rap Sheet 2, for instance, look at Ms Johnstone to the rescue.
   
5. Choose one scene from the book, for instance, the double page spread on pages 10 and 11 of Ms Johnstone to the rescue, and jointly construct speech bubbles for the four characters: Ms Johnstone, the girl, and the two dogs. Remind students how the characters might feel and discuss what they might say. Make it clear that they could all feel and react differently and could also choose very different things to say and ways of expressing their feelings.
   
   Split class into groups of four and give each student a strip of paper so that each student writes one of the speech bubbles and then let the groups dramatise the scene for the whole class. (Save the strips as they can be used by the group to write a play in another lesson.)
   
6. Discuss the importance of language in creating and maintaining culture, for example, in The emu egg. Ask students to think of a story that happened in their family. Do they know a story about their grandparents or parents (maybe about when they were at school)? Ask some students to tell their story to the class. Discuss how you illustrate with your voice that something is exciting or scary and how this needs to be written if the audience is reading not listening. Give examples of how emotion is shown in written texts i.e. descriptive language, visuals to support story. Ask students what other differences do they notice between spoken and written (e.g. sentences, punctuation).
   
7. As a class, choose one story (from their family stories discussed and shared) then as a whole class jointly construct a written version of the story and post it.
   

Syllabus content

Possible sequence of teaching activities

RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.

Indicator Talks about own interpretation of information provided in images, and makes general statements about how visual texts enhance or detract from meaning.

1. Read In Redfern and discuss the images. Ask students why photographs were chosen to illustrate this story.
   
2. Use information from Jon Callow's article in Image matters to analyse some images in the book.
   
   Use the analysis of pages 6 and 7in Rap Sheet 3 as a starting point for discussion.
   
3. Create a story of your own using a digital camera and captions to tell about your community or school.

Note: when reading titles in the Indij readers series, remember to check the Cultural knowledge section in the Teachers' guide.

Learning to talk and listen – Talking and listening
TS1.1 Communicates with an increasing range of people for a variety of purposes on both familiar and introduced topics in spontaneous and structured classroom activities.

TS2.1 Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topics across the curriculum.

Indicator Conducts brief interviews with  adults to obtain information about an issue or plans and  role plays an interview with peers.

1. Read All the questions you EVER wanted to ask Adam Goodes  and analyse the questions the students asked Adam. Write up some or all of the questions and note that they are mostly open ended ‘Wh' questions that start with who, what, how, why, when or where.
   
2. Select a person to interview and jointly construct some appropriate questions to ask. Have that person visit the class and allow several students to address a question. Record the interview.
   
   Individually or in small groups or pairs ask students to prepare interview questions for an invited guest, someone at home, or to role play in class. Conduct interviews and record.
   
3. Read What we count, then and now and visit the illustrator, Bronwyn Bancroft's, web site.
   
4. Read What we count , then and now by Helen Empacher or Nan and Dad and Me at the zoo (Series 2) by Dylan Russell.
   
5. Read an interview with Helen in Writing links.
   
   Prepare some questions you want to ask the authors, Helen Empacher and/or Dylan Russell. As a class decide on the 5 best questions to ask. Post your class questions to the rap. In the subject line of your email type Questions for Helen or Questions for Dylan.
   
6. Use Rap Sheet 4 to create a biographical storyboard of the interviewee's life.
   
7. Use information from an earlier interview or choose another  person to create a timeline for an individual from life, a child or someone known to all the students, a famous person or a teacher or community worker. Interview the person or use written information to create a timeline to scale showing important events that took place in that person's lifetime and events that were important to that person, such as Federation or the birth of a child.
   
8. Do the same with a character from a story. Ask some of the questions suggested by Aidan Chambers in Tell me, such as how much time it took for the story to happen and what was told quickly or took a long time to tell about but may have taken more or less time to happen.
   
9. Read Me and Priscilla get
   ready, and focus on all the steps in getting ready for school. Each step is told in the same amount of time but some steps take longer than others to happen in real life
   
10. Create a timeline for getting ready for school and estimate the time it takes for each step: opening eyes, getting up and ready, getting on the bus, running to the community room, having breakfast and having a wash. Illustrate the events on the timeline with photographs of the steps such as those in the story.

As a class decide on a timeline to share with rappers, and post it to the rap once the teacher has approved the final text.

Syllabus content

Possible sequence of teaching activities

RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.

Indicator: Makes inferences and expresses an opinion about a character's actions, qualities, characteristics and motives in texts and discusses the ways different groups of people are represented in texts.

1. Read Locked out and choose one character to focus on.
   
2. Develop a concept map which provides a character profile. Use some of these questions: What does s/he look like? What kind of person is s/he? Where does s/he live? What is his/her favourite food, colour, TV show? What does s/he like to do? What are her/his favourite sports or hobbies?
   
3. Use the text to support opinions e.g. p.8:
   

   ‘He went bush yesterday,' grumbled Tammie, ‘and I'm missing out on my video.'

   The use of grumbled suggests that Tammie was angry or upset.

4. Ask students to use the information to write a description of the character. Ask students to write at least one complex sentence in their character profile. For example:

Tammie who was angry, jumped to her feet.

How did she feel?     
What did she do?

RS1.8 Identifies the text structure and basic grammatical features of a limited range of text types.

RS2.8 Discusses the text structure of a range of text types and the grammatical features that are characteristic of those text types.

Indicator Identifies noun groups in texts and talks about how to build a noun group.

1. Read In the bush and Having fun at school.
   
2. Discuss with students that In the bush describes using only a noun e.g. This is a kangaroo.
   
3. Compare to Having fun at school, which uses adverbial clauses to explain when the children have fun e.g. We have fun at school when we play in the sandpit.
   
4. As a whole class brainstorm about one animal from In the bush. See Rap Sheet 5 as a model for a concept map. Ask the questions: What is it? What does it look like? What does it eat? Where does it live? What does it do? Record on a concept map.
   
5. Jointly construct a complex sentence with an extended noun group including an adjectival clause e.g.
   

   A kangaroo, which lives in the bush, can hop.

   The big, red Kangaroo, which is bigger than a child, has powerful back legs.

6. In pairs or groups get students to answer the questions about an animal of their choice and construct a concept map.
   
7. In pairs, or individually students use the concept map to write a description of their chosen animal and attempt to use complex noun groups.
   
8. As a whole class write a description of one of the class' favourite characters from the Indij readers series, or a person that they have interviewed or read about during this rap. When you have chosen your subject, read about them again and develop a concept map describing their characteristics.
   
9. Talk about descriptions and what needs to be described to give a complete picture of a person or character. Use some of these questions: What does s/he look like? What kind of person is s/he? Where does s/he live? What is his/her favourite food, colour, TV show? What does s/he like to do, what are his/her favourite sports or hobbies?
   
10. When jointly constructing, focus on developing noun groups to show how the character or person was feeling or thinking, as well as what they were doing. Use this information about noun groups to get started. Refer to A grammar companion by Beverly Derewianka for information about the noun group.

A noun group can have all or some of these elements but all need a noun. Rap sheet 6 shows the order in which a noun group is developed.

Remind students that a clause has a verb and a phrase does not. Adjectival clauses can start with who when referring to people, that for people and things, or which for things only. When an animal is personified in a story it is acceptable to use who.

As a whole class write a description of one of the class' favourite characters from the Indij readers series, or a person that they have interviewed or read about during this rap.

Post your description to the rap once the teacher has approved the final text.

Syllabus content

Possible sequence of teaching activities

Learning about reading – Context and text
RS1.7 Understands that texts are constructed by people and identifies ways in which texts differ according to their purpose, audience and subject matter.

RS2.7 Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of worlds through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.

Indicator Makes inferences and expresses an opinion about a character's actions, qualities, characteristics and motives in texts and discusses the ways different groups of people are represented in texts.

1. Responding to Rap Point 3: as a class, read and reflect upon the descriptions written by other rappers (in Rap point 3). If there is more than one description of one character/person compare and contrast these descriptions. Ask question such as: What is the writer's opinion of the character's actions? What language have they used to describe the character?
   
2. Students reflect on their understanding of the books before the book rap, and brainstorm all they have learnt by participating. Students consult their Rap journals if they have kept them.
   
3. Students brainstorm skills and concepts they have been introduced to and/or developed in the context of this book rap. Students check their Rap journals.
   
4. Together students share insights gained through their own investigations and those they have learnt by reading other rappers' responses.
   
5. Students reflect on the highlights for them of participating in this book rap.
   
6. Construct a joint response to the Rap wrap up question and post it to the rap.
   
7. Read others rappers' reflections and respect their opinions.

Teachers may wish to reflect on how well particular learning outcomes in the Program and planning have been met, and post their thoughts on this, and other aspects of the rap to the teacher support rap. Thank you for your participation.