Year 7–8 Mapping the Wurundjeri creation story

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Teacher Note: These activities have been inspired by the University of Melbourne Indigenous Knowledge Institute resources, available here.

Overview

Students will listen to and view the Japanese translation of the Wurundjeri Creation story as told to Lilydale Heights College. Through the story they will learn about how indigenous stories explore the relationship between the elements, human characteristics, and place. 

Students will explore how different creation story characters represent different elements and then identify possible locations where the events in the story occurred. 

4Cs Curriculum Connections for CLIL

CONTENT

This resource addresses the following Content Descriptions from the Victorian Curriculum: Geography

  • The spiritual, economic, cultural and aesthetic value of water for people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and peoples of the Asia region, that influence the significance of places (VCGGK109)
  • Spiritual, cultural and aesthetic value of landscapes and landforms for people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, that influence the significance of places, and ways of protecting significant landscapes (VCGGK120)

COGNITION

  • Making links between local place, natural elements and narrative meanings.

CULTURE

  • Exploring elements of culture through the Wurundjeri Creation Story. 
  • Understanding the kanji used in Japanese to represent natural elements. 

COMMUNICATION

Language Of Learning

  • Names of elements – 天 風 木 土 水 
  • [spirit]は [element] をあらわします。(e.g., Balliyangは木と風をあらわします。)

Language For Learning

  • Worksheets: 表現している漢字、複数の列に表示されます

Language Through Learning

  • (This is the unplanned language students discover through their learning)

Teaching and Learning Activities

Lesson 1

  • Display the Wurundjeri Creation Story (Powerpoint file).
  • Read the story and use the images and text to explore the meaning of the story together.
  • To scaffold students understanding of the kanji elements in the story, ask students to write the names of the Wurundjeri spirits in the table on the Wurundjeri spirits and elements student worksheet.
  • Students could then be supported to write Japanese sentences to express which element each spirit represents.  (e.g., Balliyangは 木と 風を あらわします。 )

Lesson 2

  • Display the Wurundjeri Creation Story (Powerpoint file).
  • Support students to join in reading some parts of the story such as the names of the elements (from lesson 1).
  • While following the story, students can mark on the Wurundjeri Creation Story map (student worksheet) where they think each spirit first appears. They can write the kanji elements by referring to the worksheet from lesson 1.

Resources

Wurundjeri Creation Story (Powerpoint file)

Wurundjeri spirits and elements (Student worksheet)

Wurundjeri Creation Story map (Student worksheet)

This work is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This resource embodies traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions shared by Australian Indigenous communities. The information is shared for the purposes of knowledge preservation and general education, and ask that you engage with opportunities to learn from this knowledge and culture respectfully. In drawing on the material, users should consider the relevance and suitability to their particular circumstances and purposes. For more information, and to learn more about Australian Indigenous Knowledge, please visit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander School Curricula