AUSTRALIA. Stories of the Dreaming

Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman...

I hope you like tales and stories beacuse today we are going to do some research on Aboriginal storytelling. As you may know, storytelling plays a very important role in traditional cultures such as the Aboriginal one. As well as being a way of entertainment, telling stories was also one the most important ways of preserving history among generations in an oral way.

So, your task is quite important, as you may guess. You are going to work in pairs and your final task is to tell an Aboriginal story to the rest of the class.

Steps in order to complete the task:

1. Visit the following web page: http://australianmuseum.net.au/Stories-of-the-Dreaming Find out the meaning of the concept "Dreaming" and its significance to Aboriginal people. Make notes if necessary as you will be asked to report your information in the next class.

2. Decide the story you are going to work on with your partner

3. Listen to the story twice. On your first listening try not to look at the transcript and see if you can get the gist. On your second listening you can read the transcript you will find bellow the video

4. Fill in the graphic organizer handed out in class and re-write the story with your partner in your own words to tell it to the rest of the class during the next session.

5. As you are going to be a story teller, it may be useful for you to read a little bit about the art of telling stories. Click on this link to get some general and useful ideas: http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/eest.htm

I hope you enjoy this task. I'm sure we will have a really good time on our next session, acting out and listening to the rest of the stories...

As usual, you are more than welcome to leave your comments on this activity... Thanx ;)