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domenica 28 giugno 2015

MY PLN - A JOURNEY INTO AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE AND ITS HISTORY

      A Journey into  Australian Literature
I have discovered a new  Literature in English and not only in English  thanks  to Coursera


Not only beaches and great  cities, Australia is also a land of contrasts and with  a sad past history which everybody should read  and    learn   more  because   behind these stories and the songs  there is the  life of men and explorers and  the  inhabitants  from  Australia and Tasmania.    
These words might be  the beginning of a book which  I could write about  these  writers and what they have told us. The book doesn't exist but  I have  collected some pictures that might  describe what I have  learnt.   
                                                                                                                                
In March  I started an interesting  course  about Australian  Literature: I have  described it  in  one of  my  previous     posts.  The  title of the  course is only   " A Rough  Guide" but  the professor of the course  and his help have been great  guides for me. Learning is   something  that  continues  after you have  finished university and maybe  you are  still teaching.  My journey  was a  virtual one but  I have  learnt  about  men and men, past  events and  the history of  this  nation and its people.

Winthrop Professor Philip Mead  and  Ms  Claire Jones  have structured the course into four  sections: in each section  we  are  provided with  videos,  texts and   web links. For each section we were given a test and some of  us also wrote about  the themes  presented in the MOOC.  I have decided to write about the course to present some interesting ideas which I might use for my CPD and to develop  activities for my  students when presenting Australia. 

Week 1-  Literature and country
It was an introduction to the country and  the places which I have never  visited but are part of the history of this  English speaking country.
Week  2- Crime and Punishment

Ned Kelly-  a legend in Australia  and  we should all read about this man who died  at a young age because he was an outlaw, a man who had  Irish origins and sufferred a lot.






Read this long letter by  Kelly where he describes how he became an oulaw and he was forced by circumstances which made him a man after spending years in prison as a child. The letter was never published and it was donated to the   State Library of Victoria in 2000.  

How a man became an outlaw



Week 3- Explorers, frontier and settlement


  • VOSS-  1957  by  Patrick White  -  Australian  Nobel Prize




http://www.abc.net.au/arts/white/

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/features/patrick-white-centenary/



  • Kim Scott's novel ‘That Deadman Dance’: is also a novel about the frontier in  the 19th century. It was published in 2010.





Week 4 - Home and  Away

A.D.HOPE
From his poem  AUSTRALIA
 "  Nation of trees, drab green and desolate grey
In the field uniform of modern wars,
Darkens her hills, those endless, outstretched paws
Of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away.

They call her a young country, but they lie:
She is the last of lands, the emptiest,
A woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry.
............................................................................"
For more poems  follow this  link
http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/hope-a-d/australia-0146006

Judith Wright 
Great writer, poet and environmentalist : she loved  her country and was interested in the  social issues.

One of her  famous  poems is   " South of my  days" which  I found  also on the youtube with  images to  be part of the  text 



By studying her life you will learn more about the beauty of her works and how she worked and felt part of Australia.

Biography about Judith Wright


My personal reflections : learning more and devising  activities in my  English  classes in Italy

I decided to write about  this learning  experience and  I worked on an online presentation, which  will continue  this year as I hope I will do a second course on line- this is my  PERSONAL REFLECTION  about  this experience on line.
The presentation has been created thanks to thinglink.  I have also  created an activity on line based on what  I have  learnt  to introduce the topic  AUSTRALIA to my  students in a  vocational  school in Italy, the presentation  is on line and I have  embedded it  - it was created thanks to  Padlet.