Cooee Mittigar

Responding to the text

Set an at-home activity where the students connect with their grandparents or an elderly person in their community who has lived most of their life in Australia, or someone from another English speaking country. This may not be possible for all students but for those it is ask students to interview their special person and collect a list of five to ten words that have either:

• changed over time (e.g. ‘chap’ used in older times but ‘man’ used now, ‘walkman’ used to be a very popular way to listen to music, but the word has become obsolete as the item is no longer in common use), or
• words that are not used in Australia (e.g. ‘pushchair’ used in UK but ‘pram’ used in Australia, ‘wee’ used in NZ but ‘little’ used in Australia).

To set the students up for this activity, discuss how to conduct an interview and how to record the main topic of the responses from their special person.

Students bring their list of words to a whole class discussion. The focus is on language variation and change. Language varies across places and across time.

On the information page at the back of the book, the following text appears:

‘All languages, whether passed down in spoken or written form, change from one generation to the next as speakers revitalise their mother tongues. The Darug language we use in Cooee Mittigar has been carefully considered. Some Darug people may use alternative names for animals, plants or Country to those we have used in this book’.

Discuss the importance of respecting language variation and change. It’s not so much that one way is correct and other ways are wrong. It’s more important to think about what version of language belongs to which context and how the social interactions within that context will influence the way the language is used.
(ACELA1487)   (EN2-1A)   (ACELA1488)   (EN2-1A)   (ACELT1602)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELY1686)   (EN2-7B)

Rich Assessment Task

Double-page spread #22 lists the Darug language used in this book. Each word is listed in three ways: bold, italics and light font. Ask the students to hypothesise the difference.

• Bold – spelling used in this book
• Italics – phonetic representation with a space used as a syllable break (instead of the usual / symbol)
• Light font – word meaning in standard Australian English.

Discuss how it’s not unusual to see Aboriginal words spelt differently in different context. For example, an internet search shows multiple spellings as Darug, Dharug, Dharruk, Dharrook, Darrook, Dharung. Discuss how oral languages were re-interpreted with different spelling and that spelling was a European tradition and not always consistent.

When discussing the standard Australian English, guide the students towards an understanding that difference is not deficit. Avoid referring to standard Australian English as ‘normal’. All dialects of English, including Aboriginal English, are robust, sophisticated and mature languages.

Split the students into smaller groups and ask each group to find five points of interest on the double-page spread #22. Some examples might include:

• babana – ba/ban/na – the ‘n’ sound carries across both syllables
• djuramin – jura/min – the ‘j’ sound is made by the letters ‘dj’ (called digraph)
• garad – kar/ratt – the ‘k’ sound is made by the ‘g’ letter and the ‘t’ sound is made by the ‘d’ letter
• gurbuny – kur/pu/nya – the ‘k’ sound is made by the ‘g’ letter, the ‘p’ sound is made by the ‘b’ letter
• bootboot – bud/bud – represents the sound of a beating heart
• gwarra – g/worra – represents the sound of wind
• wumbat – wum/bat – very close to standard Australian English, evidence of an Aboriginal word adopted into standard Australian English
• buru – boo/roo – very close to standard Australian English, evidence of an Aboriginal word adopted into standard Australian English
• dingu – din/goo – very close to standard Australian English, evidence of an Aboriginal word adopted into standard Australian English
• warada – wara/da – very close to standard Australian English, evidence of an Aboriginal word adopted into standard Australian English

When discussing the difference between sounds and written representations, encourage students to start with the ‘sound’ and then observe the different letter combinations that represent that sound. Standard Australian English also works in this way, where one sound can be written with different letter combinations.
(ACELA1487)  (EN2-1A)   (ACELY1686)   (EN2-7B)   (ACELA1828)   (EN2-5A)   (ACELA1779)   (EN2-5A)   (ACELY1688)   (EN2-10C)

Examining text structure and organisation of biographies

Turn to the biography page at the back of the book that was read aloud earlier to confirm the writer and illustrator. Confirm two biographies have been presented, one each for Jasmine Seymour (author) and Leanne Mulgo Watson (artist). Split the students into small working groups. Give each group a copy of the two biographies. Ask students to read each paragraph and think of a subheading for that paragraph. The students need to confirm that the subheading represents all the ideas that are contained within the paragraph. For example, the first paragraph of Jasmine Seymour’s biography could be given the subheading of ‘Heritage’ and the second paragraph could be given the subheading of ‘Past and Present’.

Once each small group has completed their subheading suggestions for both biographies, join two groups together and ask them to discuss their suggestions. The groups may want to amend their subheadings as a result of these discussions. Now discuss as a whole class. The purpose of the discussion is to reveal how the author has structured the biographies and kept to a specific topic in each paragraph.

Return to the two biographies. Ask the students to re-read and circle all the pronouns and map (connect) their point of reference. When authors use pronoun references, the reader has to map the point of reference to comprehend the author’s intention. Understanding how texts are made cohesive through pronoun references is an important skill for reading comprehension and to increase student awareness and understanding of how writers use pronoun references.

• Jasmine Paragraph 1 – ‘She is a descendant…’ references to Jasmine
• Jasmine Paragraph 1 – ‘…after their arrival’ references the colonists
• Jasmine Paragraph 2 – ‘She is a primary school teacher…’ references Jasmine
• Leanne Paragraph 1 – ‘She is a mother…’ references Leanne
• Leanne Paragraph 4 – ‘…her work on the Darug…’ references Leanne’s work
• Leanne Paragraph 4 – ‘…evolved into this book’ references Cooee Mittigar
• Leanne Paragraph 5 – ‘They hope…’ references Jasmine and Leanne

(ACELA1491)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELY1692)   (EN2-4A)

Examining grammar and vocabulary

Explore the Aboriginal language Darug words and the grammatical function of each as it is used within the context of the book. Split the class into smaller groups and ask each group to select one double-page spread. Children collect the Darug words on their double-page spread and complete the five columns of the grammatical analysis table.

• The first column lists the Darug word.
• The second column is to copy the clause to show the Darug word in context. By Year 4, students can bring their knowledge of clauses from ACELA1481 (Year 3). When the clause is not the whole sentence, use an ellipses (…) to indicate that some of the sentence has been left out.
• The third column can be copied from the book.
• The fourth column is to list the word classes such as noun, proper noun, adjective or verb.
• The fifth column identifies the function (job) of the word. This column will probably generate the most discussion as it’s hard work to put into words the function (job) of a word.

Here is an example of the grammatical analysis of the Darug words from double-page spread #1.

After each group has completed their table, groups who chose the same double-page spread can come together to compare their analysis and continue the discussion.

Bring all the groups together as a whole class and in a teacher-led class discussion to consider how the use of Aboriginal words for nouns, proper nouns, adjectives and verbs enriched the meaning of the text. Make a connection to authorial choice and discuss why Jasmine Seymour would mix Aboriginal and standard English words.
(ACELA1488)   (EN2-1A)   (ACELA1493)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELA1498)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELY1688)   (EN2-10C)   (ACELT1604)   (EN2-9B)

Rich assessment task

Display double-page spread #3 and ask students to re-read the text. Ask them to identify phrases that indicate the surrounding ‘circumstances’ (refer to ACELA1451 from Year 1). If circumstances are new for this class, the teacher can prompt by asking for the group of words (phase) that provide information about ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘with whom’. For example, in double-page spread #3, the following phrases were located:

• on Nura
• through the minak and darraburra
• with me
• through the times of yanada, yiluk and birrong
• in the long, long ago
• in the now and forever
• into the songlines of Nura
• by its creation people, yallamundie, yibban-da, animals and lands

Ask the students to identify the grammatical pattern in these phrases. Points of discussion may include:

• all of these phrases begin with a preposition (see Australian Curriculum glossary), so these are called prepositional phrases
• many of these phrases use the word ‘the’ (which starts a noun group)
• no verbs used (which is a point of difference between a phrase and a clause).

Go through the phrases and classify them as types of circumstances, such as those that tell ‘where’ (place), ‘when’ (time), ‘how’ (manner), ‘why’ (cause) and ‘with whom’ (accompaniment).

• on Nura – ‘on’ is preposition, circumstance of place as tells where
• through the minak and darraburra – ‘through’ is preposition, circumstance of place as tells where
• with me – ‘with’ is preposition, circumstance of accompaniment as tells with whom
• through the times of yanada, yiluk and birrong – ‘through’ is preposition, circumstance of time as tells when
• in the long, long ago – ‘in’ is preposition, circumstance of time as tells when
• in the now and forever – ‘in’ is preposition, circumstance of time as tells when
• into the songlines of Nura – ‘into’ is preposition, circumstance of place as tells where
• by its creation people, yallamundie, yibban-da, animals and lands – ‘by’ is preposition, circumstance of manner as tells how

Discussion should centre on how some prepositions can do a few functions (jobs) such as ‘through’ and ‘in’ which both can tell about place and time.

Distribute some other double-page spreads to small groups of students and ask them to undertake the same process for locating and classifying the prepositional phrases. Discuss how authors use prepositional phrases to provide circumstantial details for the reader. The communication is enhanced because the reader is given more information.
(ACELA1493)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELA1495)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELT1604)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELY1688)   (EN2-10C)

Creating

The activities listed are in preparation for the assessment task. Working in small groups, the students will create a multimodal digital information text about one specific flora, fauna or event in Cooee Mittigar. All of the following topics can be searched in Kpedia and Kimages and facts and images can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Some of the websites will come from outside of New South Wales. This is because these flora, fauna and events are more widespread than New South Wales.

• Physical location and life cycle of the bottle brush plant (Callistemon) (double-page spread #4).
• The flora and fauna emblems of each state and territory in Australia (double-page spread #4 shows the State flora symbol for NSW, the waratah).
• Why the feather tail glider is a protected species (double-page spread #4).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of the eastern rosella (double-page spread #5).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of the long-necked turtle (chelodina longi collis) (double-page spread #5).
• Why reptiles need sunlight and warmth to survive (double-page spread #7).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of the golden orb spider (double-page spread #9).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of emus (double-page spread #10).
• The location and length of the Hawkesbury River and how humans interact with the Hawkesbury River (double-page spread #11).
• Migration of the long-finned eel, travels 4000 km out to the Coral Sea near Vanuatu to breed (double-page spread #12).
• The process of and benefits of fire stick farming (double-page spread #13).
• Origins of the dingo (double-page spread #14)
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of echidnas (double-page spread #15).
• How to make a spear out of a grasstree (double-page spread #16)
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of sulphur-crested cockatoo (double-page spread # 17).
• Physical location and life cycle of the red flowering gum (corymbia ficifolia) (double-page spread #17).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of the brolga (double-page spread #18).
• Physical characteristics, habitat and life cycle of the black swan (double-page spread # 19).

The task is for each pair to create a two-minute photostory to educate an audience of their peers with factual information about the flora, fauna or event. Microsoft Photo Story is a user-friendly free app that allows students to create a narrated visual story including background music, transitions and pan and zoom effects.

Each student should also add a single slide bio about themselves, using an explicit paragraph structure that includes subheadings:

• Paragraph 1: Name and place of birth (if born in Australia) or place of arrival (if immigrated from overseas), including the Indigenous name (refer to interactive map used at start of the unit)
• Paragraph 2: History of time at the current school, including the Indigenous name of the country on which the school is located (refer to interactive map used at the start of the unit)
• Paragraph 3: Commentary about themselves as writer and producer of texts.

Students will need to be scaffolded through the following activities over a number of separate lessons.

Finding Content & Photos

• Identifying keywords that can be used to search the internet for the required information
• Refining keywords to narrow the internet search for the required information
• Analysing why one set of search terms yielded more appropriate results than another set of search terms (e.g. including ‘for kids’ helps, or clicking on ‘images’ if sourcing photos for the photostory)
• Making strategic choices about which websites to access and which websites to dismiss (based on appropriateness for age and skill level, scroll past the ‘ads’ shown in a grey box if using Kiddle)

Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Saving photos from the internet to a file on desktop for their photostory
• How to reference photos from the internet that are used in the photostory
• Typing the text and inserting pictures into the photostory
• How to prepare and save audio narration to add to photostory
• Sourcing, and preparing background music to add to the photostory
• Exporting the completed photostory file for shared viewing

Design Knowledge and Skills 

• Watching some photostories to identify the features of effective narration (e.g. tone, pace, pitch, volume, clarity and coherence)
• Watching some photostories to identify the features of effective visuals (clarity, focus, transitions)

Some example photostories are listed in the More Resources tab located at the bottom of this page. These photostories vary in terms of their appeal and this makes an excellent point of discussion as the children create the criteria for an effective photostory.

Rich assessment task

Assessing the writing knowledge and skills

• Information text that matches the purpose (to inform) and audience (audience of their peers)
• Deciding on flow and coherence, including title page, and effective use of subheadings and pronoun references within the information text
• Using prepositional phrases in the information text to provide the listener with more information about when, where, why, how and with whom
• Bringing in their knowledge of Darug language (double-page spread #22)
• Writing their own three-paragraph biography, paying attention to the purpose of each paragraph and pronoun references
• Sourcing information about Indigenous country names from the interactive Indigenous country map to add to their biography.

(ACELA1488)   (EN2-1A)   (ACELA1493)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELA1495)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELA1496)   (EN2-10C)   (ACELA1498)   (EN2-9B)   (ACELA1779)   (EN2-5A)   (ACELA1793)   (EN2-8B)   (ACELA1828)   (EN2-5A)   (ACELY1688)   (EN2-10C)   (ACELY1689)   (EN2-2A)   (ACELY1690)   (EN2-2A)   (ACELY1694)   (EN2-8B)   (ACELY1697)   (EN2-10C)