Questions for the Discussion Board
Is the selection of readings here Australian enough to represent the country adequately for our textbook and our readers? In this 21st century global society, new books are more international, more Americanized in their feel and viewpoint than specific to a culture. Did you feel that this lesson seems Australian? What evidence do you give from the readings to support your answer? Remember, there are two formative cultures: Aboriginal and White European.
In reading this weeks selections, I felt all of the stories felt very Australian and that they are varied enough to represent Australian children’s literature. Both the original and aboriginal stories felt Australian because the original stories are folklore
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I give the book an A+ for artistic and literary unity.
The aboriginal folk stories are difficult to locate, since the culture is not committed to written communication and is very secretive about its legends. What do you see in these stories that is different from the other folktales we’ve read? Do they need editing for our purposes? For the purpose of US children reading them?
Australian folk stories seem to be derived from real life people and situations more so than many of the fairy tales that we have read up until now. I don’t feel like the folk stories need to be edited per se, however, I think that an added glossary and pronunciation guide might add to the enjoyment that American’s feel when reading Australian folk stories. In the first story that I read, Seven Little Australians, I jotted down twenty to twenty-five Australian words and slang phrases that I was unfamiliar with. Luckily, my New Oxford American Dictionary app recognized most of the words and quickly provided a definition. I found that I often got the gist of sentence just by reading it but sometimes it was helpful to read the definition of the Australian word to make sure that my understanding of the sentence was clear and accurate. It’s really interesting that Australian English is so different than American English. I wouldn’t edit the stories - I would add information that would contribute to the ease of understanding
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http://www.booksillustrated.com.au/
The website is interesting for a literary nerd, however, I don’t think that it specifically supports anything that we are including in our textbook. Should you wish to contact this website, you can visit their gallery or call, fax or e-mail Ann Haddon, one of the founders of Book Illustrated. The date that the website was established or last updated is not available. I would not include this website in our textbook. http://qld.cbca.org.au/bilby.htm The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has been in existence since 1945. The CBCA presents annual awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children’s literature. The website discloses it’s benefactors and donors and provides many avenues to contact them. I think this website is a great resource to find quality Australian children’s literature. For this reason, I feel that it would be a good contribution to our textbook.
This novel is a suitable text for a stage 4 class as it addresses a relevant and multicultural issue that students are able to relate to. It is an Australian novel that addresses two cross-curriculum priorities that are set out by the New South Wales Board of Studies (2012):
Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.
Respect for Aboriginal culture and traditions which is part of the Aboriginal reconciliation and integration movement in Australia is highlighted many times throughout Crow Country and illustrates the best and worst of Australians. The way different characters show respect towards aboriginal culture and feelings contrasts two different attitudes. Today, opinions about aboriginal life and culture are shared through politics, social media and protests. Kate Constable’s book portrays extreme behaviour with racism and provides the reader with a perspective on just how cruel people can be. We have a very superficial understanding about aboriginal culture and this novel encourages readers to explore aboriginal culture and beliefs.
Using the text alongside the illustrations engages in critical literacy, revealing the hidden power relationships and ideological assumptions that underline texts (Winch 2014, p.539), and strike in-depth discussions. For example, about being lost and how you managed to find your way again, what the differences are between your approach and her approach, what do you notice about where they live, how is it different from where you live, and what are all the amazing things you could possibly do if you lived there. The idea is helping to develop a child’s knowledge of their world and the knowledge about a world that is not their own (Winch 2014, p.536). Majority of Indigenous content learning occurring in the younger years found in the Australian Curriculum, is remembering, understanding and applying, in relation to Bloom’s Taxonomy (Lowe, 2015). This book can be used to unearth these cognitive processes but can further be explored beyond the elaborations of the curriculum with the grade ones to build a greater depth of understanding through analysing, evaluating and creating (Lowe, 2015).
I was inspired by the poem Municipal Gum and decided to write a short story about modern day Aboriginals living in urban settings and how the lives of Aboriginal people have changed since the first fleet arrived 1788, bringing with it so many changes to the Aboriginal lifestyle and living.
Both these books can help the reader understand more about aboriginal life along with
Hunter Harris Anderson looked up through the towering gum trees, feeling the sunlight cascade down on him, dappled by the straggly branches of a young wattle. A sense of awe engulfed him as he wondered at the height and strength of the century old trunks. The steady rush of the stream provided a constant background noise, which, in harmony with the occasional rustle of leaves and birdcalls throughout the trees, created the raw melody of the Australian bush. Hunter stood, eyes closed, and listened, enjoying each and every note.
It is crucial that we study Australian Narratives as it creates insights into events we may have not explored. This is evident in the novel "Crow Country" written by Kate Constable. It teaches us about Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality, Australia's History and respect, as we experience what it feels like to live in rural Australia, creating an understanding about Aboriginal people. Therefore, through a close read and study of "Crow Country", readers are able to learn new and important things about our past and present, showing that it is crucial to study Australian Narratives.
When we started doing this book, we were thinking a series of questions. What do Canadian children want see when they open a Canadian picture book? Do they want see themselves and their environment reflected in the illustrations? What is it about Canadian picture books that is unique to this country and its evolving identity? Finally, we decided to publish a multicultural theme of children’s book.
The Activity My Story, Your Story asks student to “write an imaginative biographical or autobiographical narrative” based on their research on an aboriginal person and their contribution to society. . “The purpose of autobiographies and biographies is to capture the lives of important people, allowing readers to get a clearer picture of these individuals.” (Hammond, 2016) The Students were able to present this work in a text form of their choosing. The assessment explores the use of narrative to convey personal and cultural identity of indigenous Australians who play or have historically played a to Australian society. The unit of work that this assessment is situated within asks students “to present narratives as representations of Australian
In this essay we will try to provide a brief overview of educational issues of Aboriginal communities in Australia and Victoria and the elements that influence the educational outcomes of young Aboriginal people, such as culture and contemporary challenges. In addition to this, the inclusion of Aboriginal content in the Victorian curriculum and classroom practices will be explored as well as contemporary government policies.
Australians are widely known around the world for their strange and sometimes hard to understand lexicon. The Australian lexicon is derived from many points in Australian history, from the original Indigenous
Within the stories “Compatriots” by Emma Lee Warrior and “Traplines” by Eden Robinson, it is shown through further examination that both stories share similar concepts. Both stories demonstrate prominent examples of loss of Aboriginal culture, identity, and the use of stereotypes. Loss of Aboriginal Culture is shown throughout both stories, showing the lack of respect and love the characters in Compatriots and Traplines go through. In Compatriots, identity is a major factor the characters within the story deal with, as it touches about the question: What does it mean to be a true Aboriginal? In Traplines, the struggle to find one’s identity is shown throughout the main character Will, and his journey, as he finds it difficult to figure out where he belongs.
Readers often find Katharine Susannah Prichard’s “The Cooboo” deeply unsettling. The narrative is set in Australia during the European settlement of the continent. The plot revolves around an Aboriginal woman named Rose who is renowned amongst her peers for being an excellent cattle driver. She was so good, that her white bosses even held her skills higher than the other white musterers of the day. This all changed, once she became in the possession of a Cooboo. This term Cooboo is slang for the sound that an infant makes, and had become synonymous with the word for baby. Rose now had this Cooboo to worry about and care for, and it was hurting her efficiency and ability to drive cattle. This was deeply frustrating for her, because she found her identity in her ability to cattle muster. In the story, she was reprimanded by her superior for letting the cattle mob break three times in one day. She used to be his best, but now his go to girl is Minni, who Rose thought “did not ride or track nearly as well as Rose” (Prichard 17). Minni was very pleased with her own performance that day, and was “jabbering of the tobacco she would get” (Prichard 26). Rose was also being ridiculed by all the men, and her and Minni’s man Wongana had called her “a hen who did not know where she laid her eggs” (Prichard 25). This was maddening to Rose, who reasoned that the baby could be blamed for all of her current struggles. While riding back with Minni, Rose took the Cooboo from her breast and
Northern Lights and Tom's Midnight Garden which are both prizewinning, children's books will be discussed in relation to David Rudd's 'defence' of the work of Enid Blyton. This will be achieved by answering the following questions and tying them into Rudd's essay. How can the success of a children’s book best be quantified? What criteria are used for judging children’s books? How do the chosen texts stand up to this criteria? Who are different groups that judge children's books and what criteria do each of them have? How have the criteria for judging the merits of children’s literature changed since the eighteenth century? What are the arguments for defending Enid Blyton? Finally, are the arguments presented sound, and if they are what