Learning to Decode Historical Posters and Political Cartoons.

Level 1: List the people of objects you see in the poster:

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Level 2: Identify the slogan or title What message is it promoting?

Level 3: Which visuals in your poster are symbols? What do they mean?

Level 4: Which words or symbols in the poster are the most significant? What emotions do they portray?

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Using what you have learnt about the role of propaganda in Australian society during World War one, follow the steps below to successfully decode the enlistment poster shown to you in class.

Level 5: Here we take a step back and bring our observations together.

Level 5: Here we take a step back and bring our observations together.

Which words have been enhanced? What do they ask the reader?

Congratulations, remember to follow these steps to ensure a well rounded explanation of a poster or political cartoon.

Describe that actions taking place in the poster? What are the people doing?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Explain how the words in the poster support the use of symbolism? (Hint: The link between actions and language)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who do you think would agree or disagree with this poster? Why? (Hint: Political parties, social groups, religious institutions)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now try combining your observations into a single paragraph?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What going on in the background? What actions are the Germans taking? Burning, killing etc.

What images let us know where this is happening? Water tank, barns etc…