SCHOOL DIRECTORY
Catholic Education South Australia
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Inquiry Questions

How have attitudes, values and perspectives about family and community in Australia changed over time?
What visual text techniques are used in the “My Place” series to explore changing attitudes, values and perspectives?

Resources

My Place for Teachers

The website for teachers provides free access to all episodes in the series, information about the different eras of Australian history, teaching activities, themes- which draws excerpts from different episodes to explore a theme, and information about the development of the series.

Link: My Place for Teachers

Considerations and Strategies for EAL Learners

Some cultures do not expect students to challenge texts. The writer is seen as ‘expert’. In some cultures, challenging viewpoints is a dangerous activity. This means that some students may experience reticence in both challenging perspectives and in justifying this opinion. When introducing the task, explain that this is culturally acceptable in Australia and show public examples (such as editorials) where this occurs regularly. Provide models for how this response can be structured, including the language features required. 

Allow EAL/D students share their experiences to provide concrete examples of how the construction and interpretation of texts, including media texts, can be influenced by cultural perspectives.  If they wish to share, use this as a way of validating their differing perspectives. 

EAL/D students may not be able to show the depth of their understanding if they are required to respond in extended written or spoken text.  For students in the Beginning and Emerging phases, provide alternative methods of eliciting this information, such as graphic organisers or a teacher interview.  

Provide text structure frameworks within which to write specific types of texts. Use model texts to demonstrate and explain the steps in a type of text. Engage students in teacher– led joint construction of new types of texts. Allow students to use exemplar texts as models from which they can draw structure or ideas and then re– create their own texts.