Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: What is an Acknowledgement of Country?

10 minutes

Find Out: Listening to our Acknowledgement of Country

30 minutes

Take Action: Sharing our Acknowledgement of Country

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand why an Acknowledgement of Country is important.

Success criteria

Students can:

listen to and read their Acknowledgement of Country
explain and communicate features of their Acknowledgement of Country to an audience.

Tune In: What is an Acknowledgment of Country?

Step 1

Take your students outside to a space where they can comfortably sit. Allow students to settle before sharing the following scenario with students:

Imagine you are visiting your friends’ house. Your friend invites you to their living room to muck around with some of their stuff. When you get there, you see that a giant Lego town has been created; there are houses and roads and cars and animals and shops. It sure looks like your friend spent a lot of time creating this town!

Explain to students that this town looks so good that they’d really like to play with it. Pose the following and invite them to share their responses (possible responses below):

I wonder if you can think of anything you could do before you start playing with the town.

Suggested response: We could ask them if we could play with their Lego town.

I wonder if we should ask our friends if we can play with their Lego. Why might asking be important?

Suggested response: It is respectful to ask before we starting playing with someone else’s things.

I wonder how we might feel if they say ‘no’.

Suggested response: We might be upset but it is their Lego so we have to respect their answer and feelings.

I wonder how we should treat their toys

Suggested response: We should treat them carefully - this shows our friends that we respect them and their toys.

The aim of this discussion is to lead students to the idea of respecting the Lego and work of their friend and to ask if they can share and play in their space.

Step 2

Explain:

The place students are sitting on is land that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in your area have been looking after and living on for many thousands of years. Explain that you don’t mean that they built your school or created the yard to look the way it does, but rather that First Nations peoples and their ancestors have lived on this land for nearly as long as we can really imagine (over 65,000 years!); they have looked after and cared for the land, the animals, the plants, the waterways and the stars that are all part of this place. Share some information about the Country you are on. This could include the name of the Country, Languages spoken, and the name of the local Mob (e.g. The Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation who speak Bunurong/Boon wurrung).
When we learn, play and work on and use this land we should do so respectfully. One way we can do this is by taking the time each day to practice an Acknowledgement of Country.
What is an Acknowledgement of Country? Reconciliation Australia states that: “An Acknowledgement of Country is an opportunity for anyone to show respect for Traditional Owners and the continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to Country... Taking the time to acknowledge Country reminds us that every day we live, work, and dream on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands.” (Source reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/acknowledgement-of-country-and-welcome-to-country/)

Students may also have heard of a Welcome to Country. This is not the same as an Acknowledgement of Country. Find out more about the differences between them and who can deliver them here (reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/acknowledgement-of-country-and-welcome-to-country/). Or watch this video (youtube.com/watch?v=C9Oi6pJqYcs&t=234s) from 6:38 to 9:55.

If you don’t already have one prepared, you can find out how to prepare one in this Professional Learning Course. A part of this process is to think about and decide how you will share your Acknowledgement of Country and implement it into your daily routine - the aim here is to ensure that this sharing is continually done with good intent, and is not something to tick off a list. Building in reflective practice around this sharing can help in this process and can provide an opportunity for all students and teachers to really connect with what is included in your Acknowledgement of Country. You could do this by regularly changing the words of your Acknowledgement, featuring references to events at your school or in your community, or by referring to things your students have shared or noticed about the world around them or are focusing on in the classroom.

Optional: Consider sharing the following video with students that explains why we should do an Acknowledgement of Country and how we can all connect to Country:

What is an Acknowledgement of Country and why is it important? (youtube.com/watch?v=7I38p1v8CoM)

Find Out: Listening to our Acknowledgement of Country

Step 1

You can now read aloud your Acknowledgement of Country to students.

Step 2

Once complete, explain some of the features of your Acknowledgement of Country: what did you include and why?

For example, the name of the land you are on and the people to whom this land belongs, as well as any other features that are relevant or important to your context.

Invite students to share their reflections to the following prompts:

I wonder what information is familiar to me. Have I heard this information before? Where and how?
I wonder if there are any words in the Acknowledgement of Country that are new to me.
I wonder how this Acknowledgement of Country makes me feel.
I wonder what this Acknowledgement of Country makes me think about.
I wonder if I have heard an Acknowledgement of Country before.
I wonder what questions I have about our Acknowledgement of Country.

Consider keeping a note of any questions to research later and spend some time clarifying any new words students identify or creating a word wall.

Take Action: Sharing our Acknowledgement of Country

Step 1

Students will now create their own versions of an Acknowledgment of Country by creating an A3-sized artwork.

Project your Acknowledgement of Country on the board for students to copy onto their A3 piece of paper.

Learning support: For students requiring support, you could print your Acknowledgement of Country on paper for students to work on.

Learning extension: Students could write their own Acknowledgement of Country, either individually or as a class. Discuss with your students to set the parameters e.g. How long should it be? What are the key elements to include?

Students can use colour to:

highlight the words that are important to them
decorate the page with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags
decorate the page with sketches of features of nature found at your school
decorate the page with sketches of things that are specific to your school, such as the school emblem or house names.

Step 2

Create a display of student works.

Consider working with students to practise reading aloud the Acknowledgement of Country with students regularly. Individual students can take responsibility by reading aloud or reciting the Acknowledgment of Country each day in the classroom or at school events.

Reflection

Engage students in a class discussion around the following:

I wonder what other opportunities we could find to acknowledge and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures in our classroom (e.g. by displaying flags, or reading books).

Acknowledging Country

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Summary

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