This scaffolded research activity allows students to focus on Cortés’ personality, influences on his life, motivations to conquer the Aztec Empire, leadership and military skills, treatment of First Nations peoples, positive contributions to the history of Mexico and an assessment of whether Cortés was a hero or a villain. Three sources are provided for students to analyse to gain information on the character of Hernán Cortés. The activities are designed for better-able to Gifted and Talented learners of the NSW History K-10 Syllabus. Stage 4 Depth Study 6: Expanding Contacts 6©: Spanish Conquest of the Americas

Activity using the principles of visual literacy to analyse 6 different covers to the English language editions to Anna Funder’s Stasiland: colour, people, content, critical response and medium.

Research task on Erich Mielke, head of the East German Stasi. Questions focus on using the information gained through research to make an assessment of his contribution to East German society and impact as head of the Stasi.

Like Alice, Anna falls through the rabbit hole into the strange world of Berlin in 1990 and into the world of people’s memories of East Germany, 1945-1989. As a stranger in a strange land, she must question everything she thought was real to make sense of a society where suspicion, surveillance, double-speak and danger govern everyones life. This resource provides background on Anna Funder as author and as a character in her own text. It provides passages from the text and activities relating to the background and character of Anna.

Worksheet to accompany the video Crash Course World History - The Spanish Empire. Designed for students of the NSW History K-10 Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum. Stage 4 Depth Study 6: Expanding Contacts 6c: Spanish Conquest of the Americas

Empathy task for the topic Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Students imagine they are an Aztec commander who has been ordered by Montezuma to engage the Spanish conquistadors in a street battle in Tenochtitlan. Students are provided with the structure and language features of narrative writing and are encouraged to use all their senses in writing a description of what they see, smell, hear, taste, and touch as well as what they sense about their situation. A marking guide (rubric) is provided.

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.

Worksheet for the Deutsche Welle video clip, Talking Germany. Talk with Roland Jahn, Head of Stasi Archives. The interview looks at Roland Jahn’s role as a journalist and dissident in East Germany, his expulsion from the country, work to expose former-Stasi officers since the reunification of Germany and his work managing the Stasi archives. Excellent resource for teh teaching of Stasiland.

Worksheet for the video, Former Stasi Agents Defend Their Deeds. Includes answers.

Worksheet to accompany a 9-minute 2009 news item from Deutsche Welle television on efforts by the German Ministry of Information to piece together destroyed East German Stasi files and to allow citizens to access their files. Excellent resource for the teaching of the text, Stasiland.

Former East German rocker, Klaus Renft stands apart from the other characters interviewed by Anna Funder. He has found peace with his treatment by the Stasi and has his Stasi file as a means of reminding him of his younger days, not to explain how the Stasi meddled in his personal life. Is his contentment a product of alcoholism or something else? This set of activities includes background information, passages from the text and an analysis of Klaus’ character and history.

Hagen Koch was a Stasi officer who marked out where the Berlin Wall was to be built. But when the state began to interfere in his own family life, Hagen took a stand to resist. The decision resulted in retribution against him and his family. This set of activities includes background information on the character of Hagen Koch, passages from the text and questions related to his character, influence of the state on hi upbringing and the reasons behind his decision to resign from the Stasi.

Ezine article from ZD Net on internet surveillance by the government of the United States . Article supports the teaching of the text, Stasiland. Activity asks students to analyse the article to identify hoe this surveillance takes place and where in the world surveillance occurs.

Mix and match the correct meaning to the terms and concepts and paste these in student workbooks. Students then use this topic metalanguage to write a sentence.

The Stasi established a surveillance network in East Germany that monitored and reported upon all aspects of life. This resource provides background details in this surveillance network, passages from the text and student activities focused around the nature and extent of the network and the impact of surveillance on the lives of the characters in the text.

Analysis of a book review on Romulus, My Father.

Three cloze activities on the topic, Spanish Conquest of the Americas: Conquistadors Why did Pizarro attack the Incas? Spanish exploration of North America

The Stasi used imprisonment and the threat of imprisonment to silence the people of East Germany. This set of activities includes information on imprisonment in East Germany, extracts from the text and an activity requiring students to make a mind map from the information provided.

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.

This activity involves students examining quotes from the text, Stasiland, and attributing them to the correct characters. Page references are provided.