I wrote the Read about Australia books on request from librarians, so the worksheets have a ‘do this, then check it yourself’ flavour. Only the discussion pages are interactive, for the benefit of small reading groups or conversation groups.
Since then, I’ve heard that the books are definitely valuable for classroom use, so I’ve been wondering, could I create any other ‘post-reading’ group activities?
A matching activity for Capital Cities of Australia
Here’s my first one – a map matching exercise to follow on from reading Capital Cities of Australia. That’s a link, below.
Capital Cities Matching activity
It’s based on the ‘match the cities, states and territories on a map’ task which you’ll have done many times in beginner level classes. However, this time learners have to pinpoint the city location, and add capital city photos and the First Nations names to the matching. (Or you can simplify and give them a map with the city locations the first time you do this…)
For those (like me) who did not grow up here, and never fail to be amazed at just how close Brisbane is to the NSW border, yes, there is an answer sheet. (You could give this to a learner, who could be Task Manager for the session.)
If learners aren’t sure how to pronounce the First Nations names, there is always help available on YouTube. (I had to undertake a little PD in this area myself, and learners might like to know that most of us are in the learning phase here. Personally I’d allow a little ‘looking back at the book’ to check the answers for these names. You might prefer to add them in later as a group effort for less confident learners who are still working on the English names.)
How to play
- There’s a bit of ‘print, cut up and laminate’ involved (which learners could assist with). If you have better city photos, or a different way to spell a First Nations name, then you could substitute a card or two.
- Then you need to draw a mud map outline of Australia on the board, or project a simple map on the screen. Ideally it should have state and territory boundaries, but no city markings. It could be like this one from VEmaps: https://vemaps.com/australia/au-07 If there’s no board and you’re using a table, you could print the map from the activity set, using A3 paper, but it will get a bit squeezy.
- Everyone gets some picture cards, name cards or red dots. If you include only the capital cities, there are 40 items to share out. If you add in Cairns and Alice Springs (which have smaller font and blue dots) there are 50.
- Then it’s your call. A free-for-all rush to the board? Teams take turns? Make it interactive and get the Task Manager to invite people up and have a little chat with them, like a quiz show?
What you should end up with…
…something like this: less squeezy if you draw a nice big map on the board!
Activities for the other books
I’ll see what I can come up with for the three other books released so far: Outback Australia, Amazing Birds of Australia and Beach Icons of Australia. Watch this space…
Anyone interested in trialling?
This would be for the next books in the series, in February and March. So far G’day: English in Australia is ready to trial, and the books on the Australian Bush, Australian Animals and Flags & Symbols are in progress…Let me know! (info AT thebooknextdoor.com)
