Possibly the most traumatised character in Stasiland, Frau Paul carries guilt and shame. The irony, as Anna Funder points out, is that others see her as a hero for standing by her principles despite Stasi retribution. This set of activities includes background information, quotes from the text and a task involving collating information on Frau Paul and her life.

Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler was the compere on The Black Channel, a program on East German television until 1989. He is a true believer in the Communist cause and the methods the Stasi used to silence critics. Anna Funder interviews him in her search for how the activities of the Stasi affected the lives of ordinary East Germans. This set of activities includes background information, a passage from the text and a blank Stasi file for students to complete on von Schnitzler’s background,personal details and beliefs.

Word search using key words and concepts from Susan Cooper’s novel, King of Shadows.

Metalanguage mix and match using key words and concepts from Susan cooper’s novel, King of Shadows.

Key word and concept mix and match activity for Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis.

Activities for Chapters 13-19 of Allan Baillie’s novel, Little Brother. This resource is part of a unit of work for Stage 3 students.

Set of activities related to the character of Jasper Jones, from Craig Silvey’s novel of the same name.

Activities for Chapters 7-12 of Madeleine L’Engle’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time.

Powerpoint presentation on the book/film, A Wrinkle in Time.

Activities for Chapters 7-12 of Allan Baillie’s novel, Little Brother.

Activities for Chapters 1-6 of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.

Analysis of book covers of Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones according to selected principles of visual literacy.

Activities for chapters 1-3 of Craig Silvey’s novel, Jasper Jones.

This worksheet introduces students to the concept of 'Doublespeak" and explains the concept of "Doublethink' as it originated in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (a parallel text). Activities focus around explaining how examples from the text are 'doublespeak' and an assessment of how important 'doublespeak' was to the Stasi in maintaining control of the East German people.

Vacek is a highly traumatised migrant and friend of Romulus and Raimond. He falls into homelessness, mental illness and the inability to care for himself. Whilst his story is tragic he is described as a person with a solid character and he possesses an empathy for animals. His influence on Raimond’s childhood ultimately leads to Raimond’s interest in moral philosophy. This resource includes background information on Vacek, select passages from the text and short answer questions.

Both narrator and child/teen character, Raimond Gaita’s relationships with family and friends form the basis of this tragic memoir, along with the almost unreal objectivity in which the text is narrated. This set of activities includes background notes on Raimond, passages from the text and student activities

As a journalist, Anna Funder is very capable of creating a highly evocative visual description of people and places using as few words as possible. This activity provides examples of Funder’s use of descriptive language by analysing passages from the text. Students are then asked to look for the common features of her descriptive writing and to analyse a passage from the text for themselves.

Metalanguage activity involving matching the key words and concepts from John Marsden’s text, Tomorrow, When the War Began.

Worksheet for the Special Broadcasting Service Australia/Journeyman TV documentary, A place in the sand: Life inside the world’s largest refugee camp. The video is available on Youtube and examines life in a refugee camp on the Kenya-Somalia border, including why people have moved there, services (or lack of them) in the camp and factors that keep the refugees in the camp.

Ramona Koval interview with Richard Flanagan, author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Flanagan discusses the influence of his POW father, Keith Flanagan, the central character of Dorrigo Evans who is based on his father, research he carried out in Thailand and in Japan with former prison guards, the theme of fraternal and erotic love and the difficulties he had in writing the novel. This resource includes the YouTube video and worksheet to accompany the video. It is designed to be part of the unit of work on Stage 6 English, Close study of a novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.