Lesson overview
Outcomes
Students explore different cultural influences and their contribution to Australian identities.
Introduction
In this activity students reflect on their own backgrounds and making links with their peers, reflect on our heritage.
Worksheets to download
Resources needed
Art materials
Activities
Students view My family- My Australia, identifying the various symbols used and suggest links there may be to the artist, her family and Australia.
Make a class family mosaic
Students make a class family mosaic using similar strategies.
- Brainstorm images of family life and background
- Create individual mind maps of family life with self as centre- include family, community, national and international memories/history
- Share with others
- Create images using symbols, paintings, drawings, collage- pictures from magazines, photographs etc or even stitching
- The compilation could be a mural or a mosaic or based on a map of Australia to signify belonging together in a culturally diverse society.
Additional strategies
Students create individual works based on pictures of themselves surrounded by their family icons.
Related resources
Curriculum Corporation 1999 Australian Readers – Discovering Democracy
- Middle Primary Collection – We are Australian explores how our identity has changed over time.
- Upper Primary Collection – This is My Country looks at the stories we tell about ourselves
- Lower Secondary Collection – Stories We Tell About Ourselves explores Australian identity
- Boyds Mills Press – The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story, Pegi Deitz Shea
- Harcourt Brace – The Lotus Seed, Sherry Garland
- McGraw Hill 1999 Australian Issues Collection
IDENTITY Images of Australia