Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Using your senses to explore your surroundings

20 minutes

Find Out: Where is a place that is special to me?

25 minutes

Take Action: Sharing your special place

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a strong connection to Country.

Success criteria

Students can:

explain some of the reasons why Country is so important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
describe a place that is special to them
use feeling words to explain how this place makes them feel.

Tune In: Using your senses to explore your surroundings

Step 1

Lead students to an outdoor space where they can all sit down. Once settled, invite them to close their eyes and silently pay attention to what they notice about this space. Softly prompt them with the following but ask them not to speak:

I wonder what you notice now you have your eyes closed.
I wonder what you hear.
I wonder what you feel (e.g. the wind on your skin or the hard concrete on your legs).
I wonder what you smell (e.g. the grass).

After a short period of time, invite them to open their eyes and discuss:

What could you hear? Can you now see the things that were making the noises?
What could you feel? Can you now see the things that you were feeling?
What could you smell? Can you now see the things that were making the smells?

Explain to students that sitting quietly and using our senses (like hearing, seeing, smelling, touching and tasting) is a great way to get to know the place that we live in a bit better.

Ask students to discuss:

Why do you think we notice more with our other senses when our eyes are closed?

Invite students to share their answers and propose that when our eyes are open, we can be distracted by all the things we can see, which means we are less tuned into our other senses.

Step 2

Explain:

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a deep connection to where they live and where their family is from. This is known as a connection to Country. Country can be described as everything that makes up the place you live in, including the soil, plants, animals, waterways, mountains, sky and people. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Country is a part of who they are; it isn’t just something they walk and play on but also part of them.

Explain to students that when we write about caring for Country from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, we need to capitalise the letter C in Country. Country is a word that holds many different meanings for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is a proper noun which is why it needs a capital C.

Step 3

Return to the classroom.

Find Out: Where is a place that is special to me?

Step 1

Share the following video with students:

We Love Country - audio book (youtube.com/watch?v=CxGh83o-bzQ)

Once complete, invite students to share their responses to the following:

What did you find interesting or important about this video?
What did you learn about connection to Country? Consider the following points:
- Country is everything around us, everything we can see, smell, hear, taste and feel
- Country is our connection to our ancestors - what might this mean?
- How might the stories be in the stars?
- Looking after Country - what might this mean?

Step 2

Invite students to take a few minutes to work independently to think of a place that is special to them. This could be a place that they visit with their families, or somewhere they like to go alone. It might be somewhere far away that you visit on holiday or somewhere close to home, like a local park or beach, or a place in your backyard or even a balcony. It could even be a special window that you can watch the world from.

Ask students to write down the place they have thought of and to record how this place makes them feel (e.g. happy, calm, excited). Consider sharing this list of feeling words for students to work from.

Step 3

Now invite students to form small groups and ask each student to explain this place to other members in their group. They need to try and describe it in such a way that the other students can visualise it. This will require students to use descriptive words (students can use this list of adjectives to guide them).

They also need to explain why this place is special to them. Consider writing the following sentence starters on the board as a guide:

This place makes me feel special because
This place makes me feel

The students listening should try not to interrupt; consider allowing time for students to ask questions at the end. You could also set a time limit for each student to describe their special place that suits your cohort (e.g. 2 minutes per person).

Step 4

Invite students to join in a brief class discussion about their special places and why they love them. Record keywords and themes on the board. For example, it makes me feel good, calms me, and makes me have fun there. I can spend time with my family or pets, run around, or climb trees.

Take Action: Sharing your special place

Step 1

Students will now imagine that they need to explain their special place to someone who has never been there. They can do this by:

creating a drawing or 3D model (e.g. using plasticine)
writing a short descriptive text
writing a short story that features this special place
creating a simple map of the place that includes all of its features.

Note: You could select a writing genre that aligns with other skills students are developing in the classroom (e.g. creative or persuasive writing, or map-making).

Step 2

Nominate several students to share their work with the class. Invite other students to share their feedback on this work by using the following:

One thing I like about this text/drawing/model/map is…
I would like to visit this place because…

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on their own work by considering the following:

One thing I like about my text/drawing/model/map is
If I were to do this again, one thing I would change would be
One thing I learned about connecting to Country is

Connecting to Country

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Summary

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