Yarning Circle
Learning Area:
English
Relevant Content Descriptions:
Year 3: AC9E3LA01 AC9E3LE01 AC9E3LY02
Year 4: AC9E4LE01 AC9E4LY02
Learning Outcome:
Use adjectives and verbs to describe plants and animals observed on country.
Prompt Texts:
‘Songlines’ and/or ‘Mother Earth’ by Nola Gregory. Available on Creative Spirits
https:// www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/arts/ poems/songlines https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/ arts/poems/mother-earth
Noongar Vocabulary:
Wangkiny: Chatting
Boodjar: Earth
Kalil/Koorlurk: Home
Kadadjiny: Learning
Djaliny: Listening
Kwedjang: Long time ago
Bidik bidik: Quietly
Learning Sequence:
1. Have students form a yarning circle, revising expectations about participation and listening if needed.
2. Introduce the yarn topic: We will be listening to poems by Nola Gregory, a Kija/Bard writer from Geraldton in WA. While we listen to the poems, think about the ways they teach us how to respect boodjar/country.
3. Read the poem/s aloud, then ask students to think quietly for one minute about something they can contribute to the circle about how we show respect to boodjar/country.
4. Have students take turns sharing and listening. Offer opportunities to extend the discussion through questions.
5. Optional: collate student contributions in a list on the whiteboard, or have them create infographics, illustrations, or instructions for being on country.
For EAL/D Students
Songlines
See Cloze activity provided for suggestion. (TOOLBOX) For more details on cloze Sample cloze activities: https://www.twinkl.com.au/resources/australian-resources-3---4-english-literacy/australian-resources-3---4-english-literacy-reading/australian-resources-3---4-english-literacy-reading-activities-and-games
Songlines
By Nola Gregory (WA)
Come with us on a journey
Through land and sea and time
Follow down our dreaming tracks
Listen carefully, look for signs.
You will feel them in your spirit
As they weave into your soul
Songlines, our Ancestral story
Are alive and strong and bold.
They created for us the rivers
The trees and all their girth
Spreading out our storylines
As they walked upon the earth.
They are for us a legacy
Our connection to our land
They are seen through our existence
As we walk upon ochre and sand.
So listen very carefully now
As you walk upon our land
Let it seep into your spirit
As we take you by the hand.
We’ll lead you to our dreaming
And sing you songs of old
As through dance and art recorded
Our Ancestral story is told.
For 60,000 years it’s been
Our heart, our spirit, our song
Something for us to be proud of
It’s our existence, it’s where we belong.
We follow in the footsteps
Of our Ancestral beings
We follow along our Songlines
And our journey to our Dreaming.
Mother Earth
By Nola Gregory (WA)
I belong to this land
It runs through my veins
It’s the earth in my bones
It’s the dry dusty plains
It’s the whispering wind
As she blows through the sand
It’s the sparkling salt water
That trickles through my hands
It’s the feeling I get
When I return to my place
It’s deep down inside me
It’s my Mother Earth space.
I belong to this Country
I’ve walked in her dust
I have weathered her storms
I have learned from her past
It is respect for my Mother
It meanders through my mind
It clings to my spirit
To my soul it does bind
It’s that feeling I get
When I walk in this place
It’s deep down inside me
It’s my Mother Earth space