Year 9

English

Understand that Standard Australian English is a living language within which the creation and loss of words and the evolution of usage is ongoing (ACELA1550)

  • Explore how creoles have evolved in Australia i.e. Kimberley Kriol, Torres Strait Creole and other creoles e.g. spoken in Cape York region and Aboriginal communities.

  • Consider how English words have been borrowed in these new language varieties (and dialects of English such as Aboriginal English) to create new meanings and the different pronunciation and accents that are reflective of the sounds and grammar of Australia’s first languages.

Understand that roles and relationships are developed and challenged through language and interpersonal skills (ACELA1551)

  • Explore how roles and relationships are reflected through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages e.g. extensive vocabulary for family relations; the complex pronoun system of many traditional languages and restricted language e.g. for mother-in-laws or younger / older siblings.

  • Reflect on how language and interpersonal skills reflect culture and notice differences between English and other languages. What can language tells us about the value and belief systems of the culture?

Interpret and compare how representations of people and culture in literary texts are drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1633)

  • Compare Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors from a variety of locations (urban, rural and remote) and over different time periods e.g. pre-contact stories passed down through oral traditions to contemporary stories presented through a range of medium.

  • Reflect on how language is used (traditional language as well as new language varieties) in texts and how this influences how diverse groups of peoples are represented.

Analyse how the construction and interpretation of texts, including media texts, can be influenced by cultural perspectives and other texts (ACELY1739)

  • Explore texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians including Indigenous media sources e.g. Koori Mail, Indigenous Times, NITV and analyse their use of language. E.g. is there traditional language incorporated? Consider how this influences the reader / viewer.

Listen to spoken texts constructed for different purposes, for example to entertain and to persuade, and analyse how language features of these texts position listeners to respond in particular ways (ACELY1740)

  • Explore Indigenous speakers, academics and comedians and notice their use of language, the language features they use and how this positions the listener to respond in particular ways.

Mathematics

Express numbers in scientific notation (ACMNA210)

  • Explore how scientific notation is built on a base 10 system and compare to the number systems in other languages and cultures. Learn the language words for numbers in local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander languages and investigate how their system/s work.

Science

Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (ACSSU176)

  • Consider the holistic ways and understandings of the world from Indigenous perspectives and consider the interconnectedness of land, language and culture that Aboriginal groups and Torres Strait Islander groups share. Also consider the differences between Australia’s two distinct cultures and the diversity of language groups and ‘countries’ within them.

People can use scientific knowledge to evaluate whether they should accept claims, explanations or predictions (ACSHE160)

  • Acknowledge and reflect on knowledges from other languages and cultures e.g. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges, values and belief systems that are embedded in the languages, the land and through culture. Consider these knowledges as valued perspectives on seeing the world in diverse ways.

Humanities and Social Sciences - History

The extension of settlement, including the effects of contact (intended and unintended) between European settlers in Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ACDSEH020)

  • Consider how this contact impacted the hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages spoken across Australia at that time.

Living and working conditions in Australia around the turn of the twentieth century (that is 1900) (ACDSEH090)

  • Consider the living and working conditions of Indigenous Australians including their language situation at that time.

Humanities and Social Sciences - Geography

The perceptions people have of place, and how this influences their connections to different places (ACHGK065)

  • Compare students’ perceptions and use of places and spaces in their local area, particularly at different times of day, between males and females, different age groups, people with and without a disability, and people from diverse cultures and languages.

  • Work closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to understand the unique connections with place through time and relationships and the role language plays.

Humanities and Social Sciences -Civics and Citizenship

The influence of a range of media, including social media, in shaping identities and attitudes to diversity (ACHCK080)

  • Explore Indigenous media sources e.g. Koori Mail, Indigenous Times, NITV and consider the differences to mainstream media. Notice the difference in language used both varieties of English as well as traditional languages and consider how this can shape identities and attitudes to diversity.