Powell, M. (Writer) (1966). They're a weird mob. In M. Powell (Producer). Australia, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdfsrhRimZ0
This online exhibit is relevant not only to our national history, but also to history education. Using this exhibit would be beneficial for students completing stage 5 History as it is an engaging form of visual learning to enhance a student’s understanding and comprehension of the concepts within the Immigration Restriction Act. As noted in the NSW syllabus, students would learn to “outline the reasons for the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, and explain how the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was used to restrict immigration”; while learning about “the origins and implementation of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901” (NSW Board of Studies, 2003, p.31).
This exhibit would be effective to use in a lesson by using a role-play technique. Role-plays assist students in developing their empathy skills by placing them in a situation that requires a deeper element of understanding while placing their own interpretation on the situation (Killen, 2007). Students will be given an introduction to the task through teacher directed discussion regarding the topic. During this introduction, students will be shown a short clip from the movie “They’re a weird mob’’ (Powell, 1966). It is expected that from this clip students will gain a better understanding of the difficulties faced by new Australians, as well as giving them an insight as to how they can incorporate such situations in to their role-plays. Once the students have a superficial understanding of the topic, the class would utilise this web site and analyse the articles to gain a better understanding of what life would have been like for people living in Australia during the early 1900’s. Students will be given the opportunity to present their role-play in costume and character while adhering to set criteria.
Resource to be used:
Role-play empathy task. Students are to submit as a group, a rationale of the choices made regarding their intended role-play. The class is to form into groups of approximately five students. Each individual is also required to complete a separate component consisting of ten questions, and hand it to the teacher separately.
Each group will have a different immigrant coming through customs randomly distributed by the teacher.
The immigrant roles may include:
- A person or family from a European background who gets through immigration easily
- A Chinese person or family with an exemption certificate(s)
- A coloured person or family without an exemption certificate, but the money to pay their way through
- A European person or family who speaks a little English, but would otherwise meet all of the criteria
- A Chinese person or family coming to Australia for the first time with no exemption certificate
All groups would have:
- An Immigration official
- An official who reads out the dictation test if required
Groups will be required to establish whether the immigrant assigned to them will be required to undertake the dictation test.
