English
Lesson Ideas
What is diversity? What are some of the ways that people can be different from each other? What things make us the same?
What is Harmony Week? What does harmony mean? What are some examples of harmony in nature/in the world?
Word challenge: How many words with three letters or more can you make from the letters in the words ‘Celebrate Australia’s Diversity’?
Two sides to every story: Write a short account of an event from two different points of view.
Acrostic poem: Brainstorm some words associated with cultural diversity in Australia and choose one to write an acrostic poem.
Book review: Write a book review of a text which has diversity as a theme.
Family diversity: Give a talk about the people in your family and their heritage. How do they differ from each other?
Debate: ‘Variety is the spice of life’.
Oral presentation: Give a short presentation about an Australian you admire who has a different cultural background to your own.
Lesson Plans
Discussion dice – International Food: Using the dice, students learn that Australian food is influenced by other cultures.
Discussion dice – International Food (214.5 kB)
Discussion dice – Which Sport?:To develop the students’ awareness that sport contributes to a better understanding of different cultures and lifestyles.
Discussion dice – Which Sport? (290.1 kB)
Acrostic puzzle
Crossword
Activities
Anh’s story: See life through Anh’s story. Explore three detailed activities ‘Understanding Anh’, ‘Many Stories museum’ and ‘Seeing ourselves’. Experience an interactive way of learning!
Languages
Lesson Ideas
Linguists: Find out how many people in your class/school are bilingual or multilingual. Graph your findings.
Roll call: Say ‘good morning/afternoon’ in a different language each week.
Body language: Ask schoolmates from various cultural backgrounds what gestures they would use to show the following: ‘Come here’, ‘Go away’, ‘I don’t know’, ‘OK’, ‘Good’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’.
Diverse scripts: Can any of your classmates write in another script (eg Korean, Arabic)? Ask them to teach you how to write a word in this script.
Language treasure hunt: Use your schoolmates as a resource to ‘collect’ basic words or expressions in other languages.
Borrowed words: Compile a list of words commonly used in English that have been borrowed from other languages.
Where does your name come from? Research the cultural origins of your first and last names. Do they have a meaning or story? Are there variations of your name in other languages eg John/Ivan/Giovanni/Johann?
Arts
Lesson Ideas
Painting to music: Listen to a diversity of music styles and represent what you hear with different colours and brushstrokes to create an abstract piece.
Diverse dancing: Have members of the class demonstrate a dance they have learned. Teach some of the steps to classmates.
Movement to music: Listen to a diversity of music styles and represent what you hear through movement
Class collage: Make a collage that represents the diversity of your class. Be open to the many different ways of doing this.
Self portrait: Mix paint to match, as closely as possible, the colour of your skin, hair and eyes. Paint a picture of your face aiming for realism in portraying your features.
Aussie art: investigate some of the many techniques used by Australian artists that have been drawn from different cultures eg dot painting, batik, mosaics, papier mache, origami etc.
Colour of culture: Find out what meaning or significance colours have in different cultures. Create a design in one colour reflecting what that colour means in a particular culture.
Building designs: Look at local buildings to find design features that have been inspired by different cultures/religions.
Everyone Belongs logo: Design a logo that shows that everyone belongs in your school, community or country.
Harmony Week banner: Create a banner to advertise Harmony Week and display it where parents and community can see it.
Musical tastes: Bring a piece of music that one of your parents likes and play it for the class. What are its origins
Fashion designers: Research some Australian fashion designers. What is their background? Does it influence their designs?
Lesson Plans
Body decorations: Students learn why people from a range of cultures decorate their bodies and are introduced to Indian (Hindu) customs of henna hand painting.
Marvellous mosaics: Familiarises students with mosaic art as found in Muslim mosques and other cultural buildings.
Science
Lesson Ideas
Indigenous technology: Examine the scientific principles underlying traditional Australian Indigenous technologies eg boomerangs/flight.
Diverse nature: Look at ways that diversity exists and functions in ecosystems eg coral reef, rainforest, desert.
Bridging technology: Investigate how technology can help to bring people together and break down barriers.
Aussie scientists: Research some famous Australian scientists and their backgrounds.
Herb garden: Establish a class herb garden. What type of cuisine is each herb associated with? Use the herbs to prepare a dish eg herb bread.
Flora: Investigate the trees and plants in your school. How many are native to Australia? Where did the others come from?
Fauna: Investigate the birds, insects and other animals you see around your school. How many are native to Australia? Where did the others come from?
History
Lesson Ideas
Family diversity: Give a talk about the people in your family and their heritage. How do they differ from each other?
Class museum: Create a museum of family objects, reflecting the diversity of the students in your class.
Two sides to every story: Write a short account of an event from two different points of view.
Local Indigenous Country: Find out the name of the traditional Indigenous custodians of the land on which your school is built. Include an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ statement in your daily class routine.
Indigenous welcome: Have an elder from the local Indigenous people come to your school to do a ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony and/or visit your classroom.
Architects: Research some Australian architects, or architects who have designed famous Australian buildings. What is their background? Does it influence their designs?
Geography
Lesson Ideas
Mapping the land: Look at some Indigenous Australian paintings of the land. How do they show landforms and other natural features?
Flora: Investigate the trees and plants in your school. How many are native to Australia? Where did the others come from?
Pets: What breed of dog/cat/other pet do you have, or would you like? In what country did that breed originate?
Stats and facts: Use the statistics from the latest Census (the Australian Bureau of Statistics) to find out some key information about Australia’s population eg most commonly spoken languages other than English, countries of birth. Compare these with your own area.
Places of worship: Find out how many different places of worship there are in your community. Who worships there?
Lesson Plans
Body decorations: Students learn why people from a range of cultures decorate their bodies and are introduced to Indian (Hindu) customs of henna hand painting.
Marvellous mosaics: Familiarises students with mosaic art as found in Muslim mosques and other cultural buildings.
Our diverse classroom: Students build relationships through the exploration of the diverse backgrounds and experiences of their classmates.
Activities
Discussion dice – Geography: To introduce countries around the world and to make connections to cultural identity
Discussion dice – Geography (278.9 kB)
Health and physical education
Lesson Ideas
Dinner last night: Do a survey of what everyone in your class had for dinner last night. Investigate the origins of all the dishes.
Aussie sports: What sports are played in Australia? Where did they originate?
Food alphabet: Using each letter in the alphabet as a first letter, make a list of foods available in Australia. Find out where each food came from.
Team mates: Choose an Australian sporting team. Research the heritage of each team member.
Alternative therapies: Identify some of the alternative medical or health therapies in Australia. Where did they originate?
Relax: Try some methods of relaxation that are practised in Australia (eg Tai Chi, yoga, meditation). What is their origin?
Mathematics
Lesson Ideas
Bilingual counting: Get a bilingual classmate to teach you how to count to 10 in their other language.
Tessellations: What is tessellation? Find examples of tessellation from buildings reflecting different cultural and religious heritages.
School stats: Conduct a survey and develop some statistics about your school student population. Display them for everyone to see, or include them in the newsletter.
Stats and facts: Use the statistics from the latest Census (the Australian Bureau of Statistics) to find out some key information about Australia’s population eg most commonly spoken languages other than English, countries of birth. Compare these with your own area.
Diverse symbols: Ask your parents to write down the symbols they learned as children for the four basic maths operations. Compare them with your classmates. Are there any differences?
Values, civics, citizenship and religious education
Lesson Ideas
What is Harmony Week? What does harmony mean? What are some examples of harmony in nature/in the world?
Family diversity: Give a talk about the people in your family and their heritage. How do they differ from each other?
My groups: List all the groups to which you belong eg team, family, friendship group, hobby.
Class collage: Make a collage that represents the diversity of your class. Be open to the many different ways of doing this.
Colours in cultures: Make a list of colours. Ask people from a variety of different cultural backgrounds what each colour represents in their culture of origin.
Everyone Belongs logo: Design a logo that shows that everyone belongs in your school, community or country.
Harmony Week banner: Create a banner to advertise Harmony Week and display it where parents and community can see it.
Indigenous welcome: Have an elder from the local Indigenous people come to your school to do a ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony and/or visit your classroom.
Places of worship: Find out how many different places of worship there are in your community. Who worships there?
Lesson Plans
Anh’s story: See life through Anh’s story. Explore three detailed activities ‘Understanding Anh’, ‘Many Stories museum’ and ‘Seeing ourselves’. Experience an interactive way of learning!
Our diverse classroom: Students build relationships through the exploration of the diverse backgrounds and experiences of their classmates.
Listen in: Prepares students to use effective listening and questioning skills during a visit from a guest speaker from another culture.
Marvellous mosaics: Familiarises students with mosaic art as found in Muslim mosques and other cultural buildings.
Activities
Diversity challenges chatterbox (287.6 kB)
Crossword
All Lesson Plans
