Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? STEP 1 Questions for you to discuss 1 What is this building? 2 Who are the people in the room inside the building? 3 What are they doing? 4 These people are our representatives. What does that mean? 5 Why do we have laws that apply to all people equally in Australia? STEP 2 Imagine you have been asked to write a message that will be put at the front of this building. Here is the start of the message. How will you finish it? “This place is important to all Australians because . “ If you cannot answer any of these questions look at the clues. But do not look at them unless you really have to. When you have worked out the message you need to present that message to the rest of the class. But we do not want you to TELL them what your message is, we want you to SHOW them through a role play! STEP 3 Work out your role play to get your message across to the rest of your class You have created your message. It will be something like: “This place is important to all Australians because it is where the representatives we elect to Parliament meet to pass laws for all Australians.” How can you get this message across in your role play? You need to: 1 Show the rest of your class that this place is Parliament House 2 Show the rest of the class that people are elected to go there as representatives of Australians 3 Show the rest of your class that they make laws there for all Australians. Here is one way you might do this: You have two Members of Parliament arriving at Parliament House, and about to go into the House of Repre- sentatives to pass a law. Remember to act out the roles! ‘Well here we are in Parliament House.’ ‘Look, there are a lot of us here.’ ‘Yes, like us, they have been elected to represent Australians, and speak for them.’ ‘Who do you represent? I represent the people of . [say your own suburb here]’. ‘Well, I think we had better go and do our job there.’ ‘Yes, we are about to pass a law about our defence force.’ ‘Yes, that is important for all Australians.’ Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? Or you might decide on a different way to show your class what the message about this building is. • For example, you might: • Create a song or a rap • Be a TV interviewer and a guest • Be on a quiz show and the person has to get the answers right • Or any other good idea you can come up with. Remember that you only have a short time to prepare your role play, and then it is showtime! STEP 4 Perform your role play • It should only be short - about 1 minute at most. • Make sure all your group is part of it. • Enjoy it! STEP 5 At the end of your role play Ask your classmates if they got the message. We are sure they have, but you can read out this final summary of what you have discovered: We have learned that this place is an important part of Canberra because • Canberra is the national capital • The national Parliament is here • We elect people as our representatives to pass laws • The laws they pass apply to all Australians • So the national capital helps us understand an important part of our system of democracy. - The people who are elected pass laws about what all Australians can and cannot do. cannot and can Australians all what about laws pass elected are who people The - - The Prime Minister is the leader of the government, and sits in the House of Representatives. Representatives. of House the in sits and government, the of leader the is Minister Prime The - - Most sit in the House of Representatives, some sit in the Senate. the in sit some Representatives, of House the in sit Most - - People are elected to represent Australians in this place. this in Australians represent to elected are People - - This is called Parliament House. Parliament called is This - Clues Clues Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? Photoraph: George Serras, National Museum of Australia Photograph: Dragi Markovic, National Museum of Australia Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? STEP 1 Questions for you to discuss 1 What is this building? 2 What is in this building? 3 Why do we have collections of things? 4 How can a museum display help us know about our history and who we are? STEP 2 Imagine you have been asked to write a message that will be put at the front of this building. Here is the start of the message. How will you finish it? “This place is important to all Australians because . “ If you cannot answer any of these questions look at the clues. But do not look at them unless you really have to. When you have worked out the message you need to present that message to the rest of the class. But we do not want you to TELL them what your message is, we want you to SHOW them through a role play! STEP 3 Work out your role play to get your message across to the rest of your class You have created your message. It will be something like: “This place is important to all Australians because it helps us understand our past and how we have developed as a nation.” How can you get this message across in your role play? You need to: 1 Show the rest of your class that this place is the National Museum of Australia. 2 Show the rest of the class that it displays objects that tell us about the past. 3 Show the rest of your class that this helps us understand who we are as a nation. Here is one way you might do this: We have a museum tour guide and a visitor. Remember to act out the roles! “Welcome, students. Let me show you around this museum. Any questions?” “Why are all these things on display?” “These objects show us how people lived in the past. For example, here is a dress that was made for a girl who did Irish dancing.” “So what?” “Well, seeing this helps us understand that many people came to Australia from different countries, and they brought ideas and traditions with them.” “But why keep this old stuff?” “Because it is a way of remembering our past, so we know what happened, and we do not just live in the pre- sent. It’s about keeping the memory of who we were alive.” “What’s it got to do with today?” “Well, it helps us understand the mix of people and ideas that we are today, a multicultural place, not one that is just one culture.” “OK. Let’s go see the stuffed Tasmanian Tiger next!” Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? Or you might decide on a different way to show your class what the message about this building is. For example, you might: • Create a song or a rap • Be a TV interviewer and a guest • Be on a quiz show and the person has to get the answers right • Or any other good idea you can come up with. Remember that you only have a short time to prepare your role play, and then it is showtime! STEP 4 Perform your role play • It should only be short - about 1 minute at most. • Make sure all your group is part of it. • Enjoy it! STEP 5 At the end of your role play Ask your classmates if they got the message. We are sure they have, but you can read out this final summary of what you have discovered: We have learned that this place is an important part of Canberra because • Canberra is the national capital • The National Museum of Australia is here • The museum collects objects from the past • The past has helped to create who we are today • So the national capital helps us understand who we are as Australians today. - This helps us understand our history, and who we are today. are we who and history, our understand us helps This - - These objects tell us how people used to live, and what life was like for them. for like was life what and live, to used people how us tell objects These - - It displays aspects of our past. our of aspects displays It - - This is the National Museum of Australia. of Museum National the is This - Clues Clues Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? Role Play CAN YOU SAVE THE NATIONAL CAPITAL? STEP 1 Questions for you to discuss 1 What are these buildings? 2 Which countries do they belong to? 3 The person in charge is called an Ambassador. He or she represents their country in Australia. Why would this country want a person to represent them in Australia? 4 Who might come to this building to see the Ambassador? STEP 2 Imagine you have been asked to write a message that will be put at the front of this building. Here is the start of the message. How will you finish it? “These places are important to all Australians because . “ If you cannot answer any of these questions look at the clues. But do not look at them unless you really have to.