INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITIES
Activity 1: Pre-reading
Personal identities are central to the plot and character development in Looking for Alibrandi. The following activities will support student reading and analysis.
Step 1
As preparation for reading the text lead students to explore the notion of individuals having multiple identities. Discuss how these may depend on context, time, place, and social and familial connections.
Step 2
Ask students to reflect back on who they were and what was important to them when they were aged about five, which could be:
- a person/people or group
- a place
- an activity.
Students nominate a symbol or something of value to them at age five and consider what these meant to them in each of the following cases:
- amongst closest friends (e.g. at playgroup, in the cubby, playing games with cousins)
- at home with immediate and/or extended family (e.g. on the river, camping, sleepover at the grandparents’ house)
- within a special interest club or group (e.g. mini league footy, at the oval, cooking, first pair of ballet shoes)
- individually (e.g. me, in the living room, cutting , pasting and drawing, Hi5 DVD).
Step 3
Share Step 2 symbols in groups with a focus on similarities and differences amongst individuals and what accounts for these. This might include such things as where you grew up, family heritage, religion and so on.
Step 4
Students return to individual contemplation and repeat Step 2 for themselves according to their current age and identities.
- amongst closest friends (eg: in the bedroom, sleepovers, heading out for the day, mobile phone)
- at home with immediate and/or extended family (eg: Grandparents, church at Easter, feasting, dyeing Easter eggs)
- within a special interest club or group (eg: surf life saving club, preparing for a school dance, southern beaches, tennis club)
- individually (eg: shopping with friends, going to the gym, listening to music).
Step 5
Return to small groups to share what has changed over the years.
Step 6
Group discussion exploring how identities change over time in relation to friendships, family and culture and why this is so. Students to focus on similarities and differences within their class and how this adds to the complexity and richness of the environment.
(ACELT1635) (EN5-7D)
Reading the text in print and eBook formats
In this unit, there is an acknowledgement of alternate pedagogies for those teachers and students who are using the ebook of Looking for Alibrandi. Though it is acknowledged that this may a rarity at this time in Australian schools, the rate of decline in print book sales and the increase in sales of eBooks indicates that change is inevitable. Already many school have adopted the use of tablets in middle years classrooms, including Year 9.
The following functions and features of eBooks may be particularly useful for this literary study or others. However, the activities designed for this unit can be also adjusted for those using print copies of Looking for Alibrandi.
For tips and advice for using eBook functions watch this video and see below.
Text/speech versions
While the authors used a text-only version of the eBook, it may be beneficial for all or some students to upgrade to the ‘text to speak’ function available via Kindle books. This is particularly important for those students who are challenged by the reading of extended print texts.
Highlighting function
Students can use the highlighting function within the eBook to select key passages. They can be asked to use different colours for different categories. For example, students might use orange for perspectives on multiculturalism, and yellow for inter-generational tensions/harmony and so on. There is a function in the eBook that will collate all these notes in sequence, according to colour. Finally, students can choose to copy compiled notes to send via email, text to phone, or even to Facebook or Twitter.
Notes function
In addition to notes, student might add notes to sentences or passages highlighted. These notes can be compiled, used and sent as per the highlighting function above.
Search function
Unlike hard copies where one is forced to scan for character or place names, or words or concepts, the search function will immediately collate any references with pages numbers for the key word (eg Michael, wog, St Martha’s, sex).
Readability
The authors of this unit are avid print readers but found the eBook readability a bonus – it was quicker to read, could be read in any light, and easy to bookmark and highlight on the go on an iPad or mobile phone. Text size and brightness are adjustable, and whenever the eBook is reopened, the reader is taken immediately to the last page read.
Bookmark function
This allows readers to mark key pages, indicate shifts in narrative structure or simply identify a spot they need to return to later to reread. Alternatively, teachers might direct students to bookmark certain pages prior to reading to signal that this is a page demanding special consideration.
X-ray function
If X-ray is available, locate it within the home menu and then tap it to see all passages from the book that mention the idea, character, or topic you’re interested in. This is displayed as a timeline so that the intensity of reference of the idea, character or topic appears across the book. Please note that it is not yet available for all books but if it is available, it will appear in bold.
Other reader responses
Readers will notice that some lines and passages within eBooks are underlined with dots. These lines indicate that the dialogue or passage has been highlighted by many other readers, and provides the number of readers who have highlighted that section at any time since that text was purchased from that company.
As stated, many schools already have class sets of Looking for Alibrandi, so there is no imperative to swap over to an eBook version. However, if it is not already happening in all schools, teachers may begin to consider the cost and pedagogical advantages in using eBooks when extending reading lists for students.
Outline of key elements of the text (notes for teachers)
Narrative
- The story of a seventeen-year-old schoolgirl on scholarship to a wealthy Catholic school.
- Family dynamics, friendships and identity all have an impact on how Josie, the central character, sees herself and how she navigates relationships.
- Ultimately this is the story of the emancipation of a girl as she reaches beyond childhood.
Characters
- Josie; Kristina, her mother; Michael, her father; Katia, her grandmother; her small group of female school friends; and two male friends, John and Jacob.
Some key themes
- Identity
- Multiculturalism
- Belonging
- Family secrets
- Inter-generational relationships
- Developing a sense of purpose and agency for self.
Activity 2: Narrative development
Students draw chapter timelines or line graphs representing the highs and lows of Josie’s relationships with her father, her grandmother and mother. Follow-up with how these relationships shift and change:
- How do these ups and downs represent the development of the narrative within the novel?
- What can the reader conclude about the value or strength of these relationships, as well as the pressures upon them?
- How might these relationships continue beyond the end of the novel’s narrative?
(ACELT1633) (ACELT1635) (EN5-7D) (EN5-8D)
Activity 3: Adolescent lives in the 90s and now
As students work their way through the text, they highlight issues/language/dilemmas that might have been important twenty years ago, but are no longer so significant in most adolescent lives now. At the same time, students highlight what remains as important to young people. Finally, students address the following with reference to the novel:
- Reconsider the narrative development of a chapter if mobile phones or Facebook were part of the lives of characters.
- How is this text similar to, and different from, contemporary representations of adolescent life in Australia today?
(12 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5)
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