Profile on Australia Country Profile School and Education A2
Warm up
1 What do you know about Australia? Do some research on the Net and complete the fact file.
Fact file
Capital City: .........................................
Other important cites: 1 2 3 4 5
Population: ................................... million
Currency: .............................................
Head of State:
Discovered in:
Indigenous people: ................................. Some famous Australians: .........................
The school of the air
Australia is a huge* country with many remote areas where just a few people live. The majority of Australians live in the cities along the coast but some live in the ‘outback*’ in the middle of the country. In these places, it takes a long time to travel from one place to another and transport and facilities aren’t as developed as in the big cities. So how do people live there? And what about children? How do they get to school? Well, the answer is they don’t. Many kids follow lessons from home by using radio and even computer.
Reading
2 Read about the development of this very important educational service and put the events in the correct order.
a Today, many teachers use a video camera and an electronic whiteboard and their lessons are broadcasted by satellite. Students can email their teachers, interact with the whiteboard, answer pop-up questions and participate in class discussions.
b Before the service was introduced children had to attend boarding school or receive their lessons by post.
c In 1928 the Royal Flying Doctor Service was introduced for people in remote areas to receive medical treatment.
d In 1956, the service was introduced in many other remote parts of Australia.
e In 1946, Adelaide Miethke, who was the vice-president of the SouthAustralian group of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, introduced the idea of schooling using a radio transmitter.
f In 2005, there were more than 16 schools of the air around Australia.
g In 1948, the Royal Flying Doctor Service base in Alice Springs was used to broadcast the first school lesson.
Rabbit Proof Fence
Many films have been set*or filmed in Australia, but probably one of the most moving is Rabbit Proof Fence (Stolen Generation), which talks about the indigenous population of Australia, the Aborigines and the courage of three young sisters who are taken away from their family and sent to an educational camp where they learn how to become servants to the white people.
Fill the gaps
3 Read the summary of the film’s plot* and fill in the gaps with the missing words.
return music introduced based Australians dramatic living
The film was made in 2002 and is (1) .............. on a true story. It tells the story of three young sisters who were half-white and half-aborigine. They were (2) .............. in Australia in the 1930s when a law was (3) .............. for half-castes* to be educated in a government camp where they would learn to become servants to the white (4) . They weren’t allowed to go to a normal school. The three sisters were taken away from their family by force and sent to the camp. However, they were able to escape and together walked for nine weeks across Western Australia (2,400 km) to (5) to their community. The film tells the story of their (6) .............. journey and the scenes are accompanied by some very moving (7) such as Long Walk Home by Peter Gabriel. To find out what happens to the three sisters, watch the film!
Words to remember
half-castes: meticci, bambini
figli di un aborigeno e un bianco
huge: enorme
outback: entroterra plot: trama set: ambientati