Romulus, My Father - Activities for Chapters 1-6

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.

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.

3 Cloze activities on Stasiland: Biography Anna Funder Investigative Journalism Theme: Resilience

Excellent ezine article from Discover magazine on the impact of Spanish silver mining and refining on the environment in the early 1500s, as reflected in ice core samples. Great way to cover the Australian Curriculum cross curriculum priority of Sustainability in the topic of Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Highly readable, good photographs and a few activities linked to environmental impact of human activity.

Book review by Janet Maslin from the New York Times and student activities.

Information report assessment task on the novel, Mister Pip. The task is: Select one of these themes from the text: fantasy vs reality, living in a warzone, tradition vs modernity, hybridity, strangers in a strange land, storytelling. How does the text help the reader to understand the theme? Give examples to support your report.

Background notes, key passages and student activity relating to Matilda Laimo, the protagonist in Lloyd Jones’ novel, Mister Pip.

Analysis of scenes from the film version of Mister Pip. Students analyse details of the scenes, notably atmosphere, colour, gestures and poses and camera angles.

Grace represents the tragedy. Her fall from a life of promise to the ravages of major depression foretell the tragedy of the village’s fall from idyllic paradise to being ravaged by the redskin army. This resource includes background notes on Grace, key passages from the text and student activities.

Background information on the history of Bougainville since 1889, stifled attempts at independence and the civil war from 1988-1996 when the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was declared. This background explains the context in which Mister Pip is based. The student activity involves completing a timeline of key events in the civil war.

Ezine article from The Monthly entitled ‘From Frogmore, Victoria’ and written by Helen Garner. She describes a visit to the sites in the text, Romulus, My Father with the author and the reactions of Raimond Gaita and herself to each of the sites in the light of the events that took place there. Student activities included.

Activity that requires students to read the character profile and to select which character is being described.

3 Cloze activities related to the text, Romulus, My Father: Memoirs Raimond Gaita Yugoslav migration to Australia

Student activities for Sections 1-5 of Lloyd Jones’ novel, Mister Pip.

Sequencing activity of key events in the non-fiction text, Stasiland.

This set of resources includes a map of Papua New Guinea and the surrounding countries of the Solomon Islands and Australia and gives details on how the novel mentions each country. A map of Bougainville shows where the Australian copper mine and base for workers was located and the likely location for the village from the novel. Students use the internet to identify the geography, flora and fauna and marine resources of Bougainville and then investigate problems of living on such a resource-rich but isolated island.

Topic summary for the novel, Mister Pip. Includes themes, symbolism, structure and style, characters, comparative texts, setting, key quotes, metalanguage, author and genre.

Student activities for Sections 6-10 of Lloyd Jones’ Mister Pip.

Students must identify if the 30 statements relating to Raimond Gaita’s memoir, Romulus, My Father are true or false.