Read on to see my 5 tips for your classroom in NAIDOC Week.
NAIDOC Week is all about Empathy
Read below for 5 teaching tips for your classroom during NAIDOC Week.
NAIDOC Week is a week to focus on the importance of our Indigenous Australians, it is important to acknowledge that they were the landowners long before our country was called Australia. Our activities will help support you to work through our 5 tips for NAIDOC Week.
My five tips for your classroom in NAIDOC Week focuses on empathy and include looking at the art of storytelling, the notion of family, respecting our environment, respecting cultural differences and understanding history.
TpT link – Indigenous Australians NAIDOC Week
My store – Indigenous Australians NAIDOC Week
NAIDOC Week Tip Number 1 – The Art of Storytelling
Dreamtime Stories are the stories passed down from generation to generation. Stories are the foundation of Aboriginal religion and culture. Dreamtime stories date back at least 65,000 years ago.
Each story teaches the history of ancestors, details about the spirit world and where indigenous Australians can find their place in their world. While we can read about these stories, they were originally passed down through conversations, dances, symbolic drawings and rituals.
Stories were told by the elders and held onto as the essence of their culture. Today you can get so many picture storybooks about Dreamtime Stories to share and use for discussions about culture.
TpT link – Indigenous Australians Bundle
NAIDOC Week Tip Number 2 – The Notion of Family
In Indigenous culture, the idea of family is a little different and includes a wider definition than in white culture. Anyone involved in the upbringing of a child and who helps to raise them is family. This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and members of the community who help to educate and care for them.
The level of respect for family is evident when you listen to how important family is to this culture. When we teach about family the norm is no longer two parents and two kids, so we need to include all the family structures.
TpT link – National Sorry Day Templates for Recording Leaning
My store – National Sorry Day Recording Templates
Tip Number 3 – Our Environment
Before white settlement/invasion the Indigenous Peoples were already highly connected to the land and sea. They were respectful of temperatures, weather patterns and the impact they made on flora and fauna. They never took too much, only what they absolutely needed to survive.
Tribes moved around to give our land time to heal, regenerate and repopulate with animals and plants that they removed. We know they are the caretakers, and we need to respect that they are traditional landowners of our nation. When we study our impact on the environment can we say our impact is as respectful?
TpT link –National Sorry Day Templates for Recording Learning
My store – National Sorry Day PowerPoint of Facts
NAIDOC Week Tip Number 4 – Cultural Differences
We can and should respect cultural differences. Australia is a multi-cultural nation, and we have people from all over the world that call our country home. We cannot argue that our Indigenous Peoples were the landowners of our nation.
Their lives are rich with stories, traditions and culture. We teach respect for each other, property and values in our classrooms because it is the right thing to do.
TpT link – Indigenous Australians NAIDOC Week
My store – NAIDOC Week Activities for Kids
Tip Number 5 – Understanding History
It is important that we begin to teach history at an early age. As teachers, we start with family, move onto the local area, branch out to our country and then the world. We can learn so much about our history by looking at how our local tribes lived, survived, and cared for each other and our area.
Links for more information on NAIDOC Week
National NAIDOC Week Official Site
National Sorry Day Facts (May)
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