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Lesson ideas

Investigating our multicultural world

Students compare a perceived view of 'Australian life' with the reality of their own lives. Students recognise examples of stereotyping. Students consider that when studying other cultures the convenience of generalising and stereotyping may lead to misconceptions.

Activities like Investigating our multicultural world can produce positive outcomes but there is also the danger of creating and sustaining inaccurate stereotypes and generalisations of cultures in other countries and of individuals from those cultural backgrounds who live in Australia.

1. Cloze activity
Download Teacher's notes and Cloze activity sheet.
Organise class in pairs or small groups.Distribute one copy of the cloze activity to each pair or group.Students discuss and fill in the missing words from the list provided.
2. Class discussion
Use the completed cloze to discuss these questions:
Are all or any of the Australian activities outlined in the sheet a part of the students' everyday lives?
Does the outline give an accurate understanding of the Australian way of life?
3. Grammatical features
Analyse the grammatical features of the language used when generalising.
4. Joint construction
On the blackboard or OHP jointly modify the language of the passage to more truthfully describe the Australian lifestyle. Choose words which more accurately describe each situation or give more information about the particular Australians.

1. Using the completed cloze as a model students construct passages individually or in groups which reflect their lifestyles in Australia.
2. Students select texts about other cultures and identify obvious stereotyping.
3. Students rewrite texts using modifiers.

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