Aboriginal Australia

Learning Sequence:

1. Project or display the map where students can see it and point to it from the mat.

2. Ask students to generate ideas about what it might be a picture of.

3. Use their responses to guide a discussion of the map, and then work together to locate Noongar country and your town/area.

4. Give students quiet time to look at the map and think of a question.

5. Generate a list of questions on the whiteboard.

6. Use the questions to guide learning by:

• Having students create theories about what the answer might be.

• Teacher or TO guiding the conversation towards understanding there are over 250 distinct Aboriginal cultures and language groups within Australia. Noongar people are from the southwest of WA.

• Introducing the learning on country content by explaining that Noongar country has distinct features we will be learning about.

Extension

If students are interested in learning more about other Aboriginal cultures and countries, they could:

1. Generate a list of questions about other cultures and places, for instance: what plants and animals live there? Are there many people? What is the weather like?

2. As a class or in small groups, choose a different country from the map. Find a primary school within that country and work together to write them a letter. In the letter:

• Tell them a bit about yourselves and Noongar country.

• Ask them questions about their country.

• Include some pictures, gifts, or notes.

• Post the letter and, if you get a reply, consider continuing the conversation, or sending letters to different places to add to a class map.