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Resources from the NSW Department of Education and Communities to tackle racism in schools and communities.

This website contains different activities and fact sheets along with many other teaching resources to help educate children about racism.

How do YOU address controversial issues (such as racism) in the classroom? This list is a fabulous starting point and can be adapted to suit different student year levels...Thanks to @SmythCatherine.

How do YOU address controversial issues (such as racism) in the classroom? This list is a fabulous starting point and can be adapted to suit different student year levels...Thanks to @SmythCatherine.

Social: this article tells all about the lifestyle in australia ; including clothing, religion, food, and all other daily life activities

The inhabitants of Australia consist of a melting pot of old traditions and new influences and impulses. The country has a huge amount of different cultures and people from various countries.  There are actually spoken as much as 200 different languanges. After 1945, there was a flow of imigrants who arrived Australia. Mostly europeans due to the war, and eventually also people from the  Asia-Pacific region, The Middle-East and Africa. This made the population go from 7 million inhabitants to todays nearly 23 million. The mix of so many various cultures has made a huge impact on Australia, and has enriched it's culture to a large extent.

This article affect my view on Australia in a really positive way. It seems like a quite good country to live in. My impression is that all of the different cultures are accepted as a part of Australia, and that different people having different views and religions are respected. The fact that other languages than english are valued as well, may also help to maintain the wold's linguistic diversity. 

The Little Red, Yellow, Black Book provides an entry-point to Indigenous culture and history for everyone. The book introduces and covers most areas required for study of Indigenous Studies throughout Australia. It is particularly useful as it links to curriculum and provides guidelines for ethical research.

Content is divided into categories: Who are we?; Culture and Sport; Participation; Resistance and Reconciliation. If we take a further look at Steven’s model of framework (2005), we can see potential points and direction of the site through a case study of traditional Aboriginal hunting (http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/australia/traditional-aboriginal-hunting-australia-cultural).

To engage students, the class could divide into different groups to collaborate and research issues on the six themes (land, relationship, place, time, language, culture) to be presented either in class, at assembly, to the community, or via the internet (Youtube, website, blog). Students then effectively use a various selection of skills and strategies in interpreting written texts (RS2.6).

For example, students can look into:

Land – how the Aboriginal people act as one body and the importance of the land to Indigenous Australians. Students also evaluate how Aboriginal interaction with the land demonstrates responsible actions in caring for the environment (ENS2.6)

Relationship – Students look at the impact and significance of the historical relationship between both Indigenous and White societies.

Place – When studied alongside the case, students can relate and explore the place and positions of those affected by traditional hunting, and amateur hunting.

Time – Can you apply your knowledge of Australian history to this situation, and construe your own arguments for allowing traditional Aboriginal hunting in National Parks? If “time” is taken literally, students can construct a timeline by first modelling it with string and then by recreating through physical or ICT (UT S2.9). This involves strengthening their concepts of length (MS2.1) and time (MS2.5) An example of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCFLGykMasI

Language – Language plays a large role in culture - it defines our sense of place. Students can partake in a debate where they discuss the pros and cons of traditional and amateur hunting. This allows students to understand and relate to the topic and thus gain an understanding of the civil rights of Australian Aborigines.

Additionally, students can learn words of the language and design posters to teach the class. In doing so, students can choose to create it via digital/ICT or handwritten means, encouraging better use of technology and/or handwriting presentation skills (WS2.12, UT S2.9).

Culture – Students can be asked to draw from their own cultural backgrounds and analyse the case study. They would be encouraged to bring in or talk about aspects of their cultural identity, and on some of the stories or tales which have been passed onto them. By teaching the importance of respect and understanding of various cultures, students should be able to understand and relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures (CUS2.3, CUS2.4).

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Board of Studies NSW (2007). English K-6 Syllabus: B.O.S.
Board of Studies NSW (2007). Human Society and Its Environment K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: B.O.S.
Board of Studies NSW (2002). Mathematics K-6 Syllabus. Sydney:B.O.S.
Board of Studies NSW (2006). Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus: Outcomes and Indicators. Sydney: B.O.S.
Stevens, V. 2005. Embedding Indigenous Perspectives Model Framework. Unpublished Model Framework, Indigenous Intellectual Property [Powerpoint].