Unit 1: Celebrating Culture


Download Unit 1: Celebrating Culture (pdf)

Overview

This unit is about the different cultures that coexist in the local community and in Australia. It explores the ways in which people from these cultures express their beliefs and values through art, music, dance, drama, and especially story. Students will compare the similarities and differences between a variety of cultures that are significant in the school and local community including Aboriginal culture. They will have the opportunity to create some art works and experience some stories from different cultures. Students will begin to develop an understanding that the Australian nation is enriched by the diversity of cultures that contribute to it.

Understandings

  • Culture is the way a group of people lives; what they do and what they believe.
  • There are many cultures that make up the Australian nation.
  • Songs, art, dance and storytelling were used in the past and are still used today to tell peoples’ stories.
  • For many thousands of years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (or use the term Indigenous Australians) used song, dance, art and storytelling to pass on their beliefs about life.
  • In many cultures valuing and celebrating difference is a sign of respect for other people.

Rich Question

How do we celebrate our culture?

Contributing Questions

  • What is culture?
  • What cultures are represented in our classroom?
  • Who are the different people who live in Australia?
  • What would it be like if we were all the same?
  • What can we learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through their art, songs, stories and dance?
  • What can we learn about other cultures through their art, songs, stories and dance?
  • Why do people tell stories?
  • What are the different ways we can tell stories?
  • Why is it important to value and respect other people?

Background Notes

From the Yarra Healing website: essential learnings.

  • There is diversity of lifestyles amongst Indigenous Australian communities today.
  • Kinship ties are integral to Indigenous Australian identity and lifestyles.
  • A sense of belonging to 'a place' is an important feature of Indigenous Australian identity,
  • Important insights about the identity and culture of Indigenous AustralianKoorie people are contained in their songs, stories, films, poetry and art.
  • For many thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people used songs and stories to express their beliefs about the origins and meaning of life and land forms, the cycles of nature, and the harmony and conflict among human life and the animal world.
  • The Dreaming refers to how Indigenous Australians explain the beginning and the continuity of life.
  • The cultural diversity of the Indigenous Australian nations, and nations within nations, is expressed through a wide range of artistic forms, styles and symbols. Dot paintings, for example, were not traditionally used in Victoria as that style of painting came from the central desert area of Australia.
  • Indigenous Australian art continues to be a living and growing concern through which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples express their beliefs, celebrate their tradition and look to the future.

Resources

Written texts

Mckee, D, 1989, Elmer the Elephant, Harper Collins

Rosen, M, and Graham, B, 2005, Our House, Candlewick

Bishop, M, and Evans, A, 1995, Tell Me Why, Muuruun series, Curriculum Corporation, Melbourne:

  • Lunch Box
  • Guess What
  • Let’s Rap
  • A Big Day
  • What Do You Play?

Folk stories from around the world

Reader’s Theatre Books 1 and 2 Lower Primary.

Websites

Audio Visual

Guest speaker - Yarn Strong Sista contact details available at www.yarnstrongsista.com