Off to Oz...

PROCESS & RESOURCES - 2
Finding out more about Australia

What are your priorities?

If you visit another country, which of the things below are important to you? Put them in order from the most important (1), to the least important (10). Then compare your list with a classmate.

• Food and eating (what, when and how people eat)
  
  
• Leisure time (what people do, where they go in their free time)
  
  
• People (their appearance, character, beliefs, aspirations, history)
  
  
• Music (what music people listen to, traditional and popular music)
  
  
• Clothes (what people wear, fashions)
  
  
• Where people live (cities, towns, in the country; types of houses and flats)
  
  
• The political situation (government policies, political parties, laws)
  
  
• The natural environment (fauna, flora, climate, geography)
  
  
• The quality of life (incomes, prices, working conditions, how people live, what they have or don’t have)
  
  
• The culture of the country (art, music, customs, traditions, influences from other countries)

What interests you about Australia?

Choose a category from the list below. Go to the relevant websites for more information. Then, make a comparison between Australia and where you live.

• The natural environment (fauna, flora, climate, geography)
  
  
• Culture and lifestyle (cultural influences, food, customs, how people live and work)
  
  
• Leisure (sport, recreation, free time, music, TV, radio, films)
  
  
• People (origins, history, character, beliefs, famous people)
  
  
• About the country (population, cities, history, politics, industry, economy)

Find as much interesting information and as many differences as you can. You will need the information for an interview about Australia in Step 3. Bookmark useful websites and images you would like to show other groups. Record the information in a table like this:

• http://www.australiangeographic.com/ausgeo/index.htm
  
• http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
  (geographical information)
  
  
• http://www.effect.net.au/lukastan/oz/Mainmenu.htm
  (aborigines, clothes, behaviour, business, costs, drinks, food, education, fauna, flora, language, holidays, music, movies, opinions, sport, TV, traditions)
  
  
• http://www.beenleigss.qld.edu.au/subjsamp/sampler.htm (useful links: way of life, photos, visual journey)
  
  
• http://www.csu.edu.au/australia/
  (culture, geography, tourism, towns and cities, trade, travel)
  
  
• http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/australasia/
  http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/
  (cities, travel information)
  
  
• http://www.britannica.com/atlas?region=oceania
  (atlas and general information)
  
  
• http://www.abc.net.au/message/
  (useful links to aboriginal culture)
  
  
• http://www.aboriginalaustralia.com/
  (aboriginal culture)
  
  
• http://www.australiavacationguide.com/
  (holiday destinations and activities)
  
  
• http://www.abc.net.au/learn/
  (TV, radio and sports information)
  
  
• http://www.amws.com.au
  (Australian music site)

• http://www.aria.com.au/
  (music and video charts)
  
  
• http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~rdale/animal.htm
  
• http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/animals/
  (sites about Australian wildlife)

Talk about what you found out.

Meet with other groups in your class. Explain what you found out. Listen to what other groups found out. Take notes. Summarise your findings on a chart like this.

To compare, you can use language like this:

• It’s quite like here because …
  
• It’s not like here at all because …
  
• This is different to the situation here because …
  
• In Australia ……., whereas in our country …
  
• In our country …… but in Australia …..
  
• This is also true here, …
  
• It’s the same here …

Imagine you are in Australia now.

Use the information you talked about in the previous stage. Write a postcard to your teacher answering the following questions:

• Where exactly are you?
  
• What is it like there?
  
• What is surprising about it, and what is disappointing?
  
• What are you doing now?
  
• What have you done?
  
• What do you want to do?

Tip:
To say something is surprising you can use:

• I am surprised because …..
• I thought …… would be ….., but in fact it is ….

To say something is disappointing you can use:

• I am disappointed because …..
• I expected …… to be ……., but in fact it was ……

Write about 250 words.

Choose an image for your postcard. You can draw a picture, or find an image on the internet. Here are some sites with postcard images:

• http://www.farnorthart.com.au/judy/
  
• http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~tdp/postoffice.html
  
• http://www.australianexplorer.com/

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