lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian football in the · pdf file ·...

LESSON IDEAS ON HOW TO CELEBRATE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL IN THE CLASSROOM

KEY LEARNING AREA: ENGLISH

NO. TITLE FOCUS SYNOPSIS TARGETED YEAR LEVELS

1 Our media crew

Reading Writing

Have students form media crews (of 3-5 students). Ask each crew to script and film a behind-the-scenes look at the school football team for the school website or YouTube channel. In their filmed piece, students should review the team’s performance and also source personal reflections from players, coaches and teachers.

Years 3-4

2 Let me inspire you

Speaking Listening Reading Writing

Have students reflect on a moment when they have felt inspired by someone’s words. Ask them to use their experience to script and film a speech delivered by them to motivate their football team. You can use famous speeches from AFL/VFL coaches as stimulus for this task.

Years F-2Years 3-4Years 5-6Years 7-8

3 AFL reporting styles

Reading Writing

Provide the class with four AFL football media reports – print, digital, audio and video. Using a Venn diagram, ask students to identify what is common and what is different across each type of report.

4 Play-by-play call

ReadingWriting

Provide the class with four AFL football media reports – print, digital, audio and video. Using a Venn diagram, ask students to identify what is common and what is different across each type of report.


5 Reflecting on footy

Reading Writing

Ask students to write a reflective poem about Australian Football. They can adopt poetry forms such as limericks, sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, haiku or choose not to use form and write in free verse. Source football poetry on the internet that can act as a stimulus for students.

Years 3-4Years 5-6Years 7-8

6 Punting predictions

Speaking ListeningReading Writing

Have students watch, listen to or read part of a television, radio, print or online news report about AFL football. Ask them to predict how the report might end. Students can present their predictions to the class orally or in writing. They can also film themselves as the reporter or journalist presenting the remainder of the story.


7 Footy categories


Have students brainstorm aspects of AFL football that they can use as categories for a word game. Categories may include teams, Brownlow Medal, players, uniform, cheer squads, mascots etc. Ask students in groups to identify words that might fit each category. To extend student thinking, you may decide to restrict them to words that start with a particular letter or are only nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs.


8 We are the premiers

Reading Writing

Ask students to write a hypothetical post to their Facebook friends describing their team’s great win in the AFL Grand Final. Their friends are both familiar and unfamiliar with the game. In their message they should write about the pre-game hype, the fans, the excitement of the first bounce, pivotal moments in the game and how they felt at the final siren. Please note, because of age restrictions, students under 13 should not directly post content on Facebook.

Years 1-2Years 3-4Years 5-6Years 7-8


9 Come play AFL Speaking ListeningReading Writing

Ask students to investigate where Australian Football is played overseas. Run a brainstorm activity that has students coming up with reasons why these countries might want to play an indigenous Australian game. From the information they have sourced, have students script and produce a television commercial designed to promote Australian Football in other countries.


10 Punting puzzle Speaking ListeningReading

Source an AFL match report (print or video) and cut it into strips or edit it into segments. Jumble or arrange segments out of order and ask students to use their prediction skills to reorder the report in the correct sequence.


11 Handball the story

Speaking Listening

Working in pairs and seated back to back, have one student describe a photo of a great moment in Australian Football to their partner. The partner is to reproduce the moment through drawing or re-enactment with others in the class.


12 As it happened Reading Writing

Have students write about themselves as the main character of a story about Australian Football. Use sentence starters such as ‘I knew this was my big moment when …’ or ‘My best friend knocked on the door …’ to stimulate student thinking.


13 Do you see what I see?


Read with your class two accounts of the same story about Australian Football written by different authors. Explore the way each author interprets and represents characters, events, places and themes in their story.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

14 Inspired by Australian Football


Have students write a short story that is inspired by Australian Football. The core themes should not be about the student’s involvement in the game but rather how the game might bring family and friends together, strengthen relationships and provide memorable personal moments.


15 My football opinion


Have students watch part or all of an AFL match. In groups, ask them to produce and film a 3-5-minute football talk segment that has them reviewing the game and discussing and debating the big moments that decided the game. Have groups present and justify their work to the class.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

16 AFL wonder words


Create an AFL word wall in your classroom. Throughout the season provide students with a set time to identify adjectives, nouns, adverbs and verbs in AFL print, television, radio and online media that they can pin up on the wall. Encourage students to use these words as part of their descriptive writing across subject areas.


17 My football review


Have students select, read and review a book about Australian Football. The book can be either fiction or non-fiction and the review can be presented orally, in written form or as a video presentation.


18 I’m a boundary rider


Run a round-robin Australian Football playing activity with your class. Have students who are not playing (between games) act as boundary riders who take notes, undertake interviews and record information about the game. The information can be captured in audio, visual or print form and used to produce a match presentation to the class in the next lesson.



19 My legend’s story


Have students research, write and present a biography of a legendary AFL/VFL player. The biography should be presented in digital form as a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation and include images, video and text about the subject.


20 Become a member today


Have the class brainstorm why people might support AFL teams. Enhance their ideas by having them read or watch an interview with a spectator, administrator, volunteer, player or coach talking about why they are passionate about their club. Using the information they have collected, have students develop and present a slogan for a campaign designed to attract members to their AFL team.


21 Footy words Speaking ListeningReading Writing

Run a round-robin Australian Football playing activity with your class. Have students who are not playing (between games) act as media – taking photos and recording video of other students playing games. Using the captured media as stimulus, ask students to develop a bank of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs that describe the players’ actions, thoughts, feelings and challenges. Students can use their word bank to write a story or report about what they witnessed.


22 Football changes


Have students work in groups to research how Australian Football has changed over the years. Each student in a group should be assigned a role, such as, rules investigator, fashion expert, coaching coordinator, commercial manager, stadium developer etc. Each group should present their findings to the class using PowerPoint or Keynote presentation or through a video report.


23 Our culture Speaking Reading Writing

Have students research and present a project on an AFL player from a culturally diverse background. In their project, they should show an understanding that, while English is the main language spoken in Australia, different languages may be spoken by others in the community.

Years F-2

24 Our club song Speaking ListeningReading Writing

Have students listen to and follow the lyrics of an AFL club song. Ask them to choreograph movements to the lyrics and recite their rhymes with their actions to the class.

Years F-2Year 1-2

25 Our skills camp

Speaking ListeningReading

Run an activity that provides students with instructions to perform an Australian Football skill, for example, kicking or handballing etc. Once they have practised the skill, ask them to recite the skill instruction so they can teach others.

Years F-2

26 What is real? Speaking ListeningReading

Have students read an imaginative text and an informative text about Australian Football. Ask students to identify what is ‘real’ and what is ‘not real’ in each text and how both sets of information can be used.

Years F-2

27 AFL emotions Speaking ListeningReading Writing

Have students look at AFL photographs and video showing coaches and players displaying a range of emotions. Explore with them the different ways of expressing emotions, including verbal, visual, body language and facial expressions. Ask students to build a bank of words that depict the emotions they see.

Year 1-2Years 3-4Years 5-6


28 Making sense of AFL reading

ListeningReading

Have students look at a range of AFL and Australian Football texts such as the AFL website, AFL Record and the football novel, Specky McGee. Discuss with them how books and digital texts are organised, including page numbers, table of contents, headings, images with captions and the use of scrolling to access information.

Year 1-2

29 Our best ever player


Have students brainstorm the qualities that the best ever AFL footballer would have. Create a word bank of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and ask students to select noun-adjective and verb-adverb combinations that best describe this player. Have them justify their responses to the class.

Year 1-2Year 3-4Year 5-6Year 7-8

30 Making sense of AFL writing


Have students compare an advertisement for an AFL game with a newspaper preview of that game. Brainstorm with them the differences between imaginative, informative and persuasive texts. Ask them to write an advertisement designed to attract spectators to the next game their school football team plays and a preview of that game. Have students identify the differences in their writing to the class.

Year 1-2Year 3-4Year 5-6Year 7-8

lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian football in the · pdf file ·...

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