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- May 2011: English
How do you infuse Asia into the English curriculum?
To open this forum, Dr Julie Hamston of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education discusses the Asia priority in the Australian Curriculum for English in the video on the right hand side. Julie authored a number of inspiring Australia: Intersections of Identity resources and Australia Kaleidoscope.
She states that good text choice is a source of inspiration to those who don't know Asia first hand. 'There are so many wonderful experiences that we can gain vicariously through texts.'
View the video in the right hand column.
Julie says principals and teachers can infuse Asian perspectives with a positive and open disposition. And, to kick off the web forum, she asks: ‘What we can learn from the way that you have approached the embedding of Asian perspectives that's worth sharing with others?’
Have your say. Share your stories here.
3 responses
Yes, I think that Dr Hamston is right - it's so important for Aussie kids to realise that Asia is part of us. THat's why text selection is crucial.
Some text selections by AEF leave me disappointed. I think Shaun Tan's "Suburban Stories" is definitely wrongly placed in the middle primary section. His use of irony and satire in this collection is highly sophisticated and way out of the depth of this age group. It would be much better placed at lower secondary level. Dianne Wolfer's "Photographs in the Mud", on the other hand, is an easy read, and the illustrations very straightforward - much better placed in middle primary.
Also big omission from upper secondary texts - Warren Flynn's "Escaping Paradise"! Most Australians' first expatriate experience is in Bali - and this book starts with a 'typical' holiday and takes the reader on a wild adventure which can teach kids so much about Indonesia, cultural misunderstandings etc..
We have used 'Parvana' at Year 7 to introduce the idea of Asian cultures, refugees and asylum seekers, then we follow up with an Inquiry Unit at Year 8 called 'What is a story?' We base it around 'Mahtab's Story' by Libby Gleeson, research and investigate various topics around Australia's attitude to refugees and asylum seekers, including the countries and cultures from which these people come. We also study the features of picture story books and have a visiting writer/illustrator in to speak to the girls about this type of text. The girls then write and illustrate their own picture story book on the themes of dislocation, hope, acceptance etc and go to a local primary school to read their books to upper primary children. This has been a realy successful unit. I'd be happy to share it if anyone is interested.
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Implementing study of Asia in English
Dr Julie Hamston of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education invites English teachers to comment on the Asia priority in the Australian Curriculum.
Milton Brown
posted 20 May 2011 at 10:55am