Aboriginal People and places - Teaching resources

1. Acknowledgement of Country

• Watch an Acknowledgement of Country and discuss as a class what this means to you.

• Discuss as a class about the difference between a Welcome to Country and Acknowledgment of Country. 

• Students write down why a Welcome to Country and an Acknowledgement of Country are important.

2. Animal language names

We would like to acknowledge Aunty Tracie Howie for sharing her knowledge of the language of the GuriNgai People with Gibberagong, and giving us permissions to share these words with our local community.

Watch the video below. You will hear both the sound that each animal makes and the GuriNgai pronunciation of the animal name. Afterwards, students complete a matching activity to match the GuriNgai word with the animal.

1. Shadow outlines

On a sunny day, take students outside. Have them stand with their legs apart and arms outstretched. On a large piece of paper, students have a friend trace around their shadow. (You could also scratch the shadow outline into sand or trace around with chalk on the asphalt).

In their workbooks, students sketch a copy of their shadow drawing and answer: 

• What features of your body can’t you see in your outline?
• What is similar to the Aboriginal engravings you have seen?

2. Aboriginal engraving procedure

Using the worksheet, students cut and paste the steps to creating a human-shaped rock engraving in the correct order.

3. Make a commercial

Students work in small groups to create a commercial to advertise why people should visit an Aboriginal site. Ensure that student include the correct way that people should behave when they visit a special site eg. take off your shoes, be respectful etc. The 'commercials' may be filmed or acted out live.