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LITTLE YAWAR Other ActivitiesPresented by Out of the Box

Little Yawar* is a gathering for jarjums. Welcome to the biggest little gathering of jarjums (children) you are ever likely to see. Little Yawar celebrates our jarjums from various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clans across Queensland. The gathering is a place to share and celebrate their culture. From traditional to contemporary song, dance, yarning and weaving, come sit, listen and learn from jarjums, elders, artists and traditional owners. This is the perfect place to sit back and take in the world’s oldest living culture, celebrated and performed by elders-in-training. *Yawar is a shared word between Kabi, Butchella and Yugurapul that means ‘to sing and dance’.

EARLY YEARS FRAMEWORKEarly Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (2009)

Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

NEED TO KNOWAGE RANGE: All ages

VENUE: Playhouse Green

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM THE ARTS: F-2

Explore ideas, characters and settings in the community through stories in images, sounds and text (ACAMAM054)

MUSIC: F-2

Develop aural skills by exploring and imitating sounds, pitch and rhythm patterns using voice, movement and body percussion (ACAMUM080)

Sing and play instruments to improvise, practice a repertoire of chants, songs and rhymes, including songs used by cultural groups in the community (ACAMUM081)

Respond to music and consider where and why people make music, starting with Australian music, including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACAMUR083)

VISUAL ARTS: F-2

Explore ideas, experiences, observations and imagination to create visual artworks and design, including considering ideas in artworks by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists (ACAVAM106)

Use and experiment with different materials, techniques, technologies and processes to make artworks (ACAVAM107)

Respond to visual artworks and consider where and why people make visual artworks, starting with visual artworks from Australia, including visual artworks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ACAVAR109)

CREATIVELEARNINGGUIDE

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Little Yawar is a collection of gatherings to encourage social interactions between babies, children and adults. Over the course of the festival, participants will be invited to experience yawar (song and dance), yarning

(storytelling) and traditional art making processes such as weaving, with community and artists. Through a variety of events, activities and games, participants are welcome to immerse themselves into an atmosphere of celebration that embraces the cultures and histories of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

In the Little Yawar gatherings, children will be able to experience a culturally rich environment where they can develop awareness of others’ perspectives and respond to diversity with respect. Through play, children

will be able to establish relationships that promote a sense of belonging to groups and communities. The range of activities will encourage children to exchange ideas verbally and non-verbally to build social skills for

interacting with care and empathy.

In The Arts, children will engage with Dance, Music, and Visual Arts as audience and artist. Alongside Aboriginal artists and Torres Strait Islander artists, children will be able to consider where and why artworks are made. Through Dance, children will explore, improvise and use fundamental movement skills to communicate ideas. Exploring Music through song will inspire children to imitate sounds and rhythm patterns using their singing voices. Experimentation with different Visual Arts materials, techniques and processes will encourage children to learn about traditional cultures through making weavings and paintings.

In History, children will develop their inquiry skills for posing questions about past and present objects, people, places and events that are heard in yarning stories. Stories together with dance, song and art will reveal the significant contributions that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples have made in our communities. Children will have the opportunity to make observations and listen for information that reveals the importance of Country/Place and language to Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

ART FORM FOCUS:The Arts: Dance, Music, Media Arts and Visual Arts

Humanities and Social Sciences: History

KEY MESSAGES:Overarching concept/question

Why do our children need to socialise with people from local and diverse communities?

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:The activities for Little Yawar will stimulate discussion and exploration of different cultures and viewpoints.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:NOTE FOR TEACHERS:

Observe the cultural protocols for engaging with the dance, music and art of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Wherever, possible establish contact with local Indigenous community organization, community members and /or Elders.

SOUNDS LIKE, LOOKS LIKE, FEELS LIKE

You are in a Little Yawar gathering.

• Close your eyes. Listen. What sounds do you hear? Think of music, singing, spoken language and people moving.

• Open your eyes. Look. What do you see? Think of people, dance, colours, spaces, objects and art.

• What does it feel like to be part of this gathering?

CREATIVELEARNINGGUIDE

HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: F-6/7 Foundation Knowledge and understanding: History

How the stories of families and the past can be communicated, for example, through photographs, artefacts, books, oral histories, digital media and museums (ACHASSK013)

Foundation to Year 2 Inquiry and skills: questioning

Pose questions about past and present objects, people, places and events

Foundation to Year 2 Inquiry and skills: analysing

Explore a point of view (ACHASSI005, ACHASSI022, ACHASSI038) (ACHASSI001, ACHASSI018, ACHASSI034)

Year 3 Knowledge and understanding: History

The importance of Country/Place to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples who belong to a local area (ACHASSK062)

LANGUAGES Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Framework

There are numerous connections between Little Yawar and this framework’s curriculum content, too many to list in this resource. For further information about this framework please visit the Australian Curriculum at https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/languages/framework-for-aboriginal-languages-and-torres-strait-islander-languages/.

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Listen to the musical sounds of people singing, playing instruments and body percussion.

• Practise body percussion, such as clapping hands, clicking fingers, tapping knees and toes and stomping feet.

• Explore instruments, either provided or home-made. What sounds can you make using a drum, rattle, shaker or sticks?

• Use your aural skills to recognise the rhythm patterns so that you can imitate the sounds you hear in the music of other artists.

• Experiment with music making to add silences, make the rhythm slower then faster, or softer then louder.

• Use the music you hear to inspire the making of your own rhythmic pattern.

When singing, swap between your singing voice and speaking voice.

• How are these voices different?

• Experiment with your voice to make sounds that are long and short, then high and low. Can you hear these different sounds when others sing?

• How does the way we sing affect the meaning of a song? Which songs do you sing that make you feel happy or sad?

• What can you find out about the meaning of songs you hear from the performers of this gathering?

Explore the weaving materials.

• Describe how the weaving materials feel to touch. Are they rough or smooth, strong or delicate?

• Are the materials natural from plants or human-made? What plants made the natural materials? Do the artists also use non-natural materials? How are these different to the natural materials?

Observe artists to see how weavings are made with techniques and processes.

• Are the artists using patterns? Think of the repetitive handmade techniques and the visual patterns in the woven materials.

• How are colours used in the weaving patterns?

• Can you follow the steps to make the same weaving? Or, will you experiment to find your own weaving technique and pattern?

• Why do artists make weavings? Think of bags, nets, mats and art like sculptures of animals.

• What can you find out from the artists about their weaving? Are there stories about where and when the materials, techniques and processes have been used in their communities? [re-located info to new activity]

Imagine you had a camera.

• Take a photo to freeze a moment in time.

• Which people and setting would help you remember this gathering?

• How could you re-tell the story of this gathering to your family and friends who are not here?

PAST AND PRESENT: EMBRACING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Knowing that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples traditionally shared cultural knowledge through oral histories, what can you learn from yarning and storytelling?

• Are there points of view shared that are different to what you already knew?

• Do you share anything in common with these stories?

• Are there any questions you want to ask the storyteller?

Listen to the way stories are being told.

• How could these stories change from one person to another? Why? Think about story sharing over time and between generations of people.

• How do children tell stories differently to their parents and grandparents?

How can we learn from people in the community?

• What stories have you heard from Aboriginal Elders and/or Torres Strait Islander Elders?

• Have you learned new knowledge about the connection Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to the land, sea, waterways and sky?

• Have you learned new names and words of their language groups for people, places and animals?

• Think about your family. Do you have special connections to the land, sea, waterways and sky? Do you have special names, words, language or animals? How could you share these special family connections with your class?

WEAVING OUR STORIES TOGETHER

• Together with your friends and family you can make weavings.

• Pass the time while art making to talk and share stories.

• [relocated from previous activity] Find natural and human-made materials to use for weaving. Which materials will reflect the story about where and when your family is from? Think of cardboard, paper, ribbon, shoe laces, straws, string, thread and twine.

• You could create a process for sculpting a bag, basket, bracelet or necklace. You may need to use a cardboard base to support some 3D forms like baskets.

• Use weaving techniques to make sculptural forms with patterns. Which techniques can you use that are learned from others? Could you invent your own techniques? Try using strips of material to criss-cross, fold, plait, tie, twist and weave.

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OTHER RESOURCES:WEBSITES

Yarning circles (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority) www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/k-12-policies/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-perspectives/resources/yarning-circles

Gatherings (Queensland Museum, Brisbane) www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Cultures/Gatherings#.Wn_4LGX8-dY

AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS MUSIC PERFORMANCE (Music in Australia: knowledge base) www.musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php/Australian_Indigenous_Music_Performance

Aboriginal Music and Torres Strait Islander Music in the Primary Classroom (Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia) www.kodaly.org.au/aboriginal-music-and-torres-strait-islander-music-in-the-primary-classroom/

Traditional owner connections to sea country (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-partners/traditional-owners/traditional-owners-of-the-great-barrier-reef/art,-music-and-dance

Baskets (Queensland Museum, Brisbane) www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Cultures/Fashion++textiles/Baskets#.WoGRKWX8-dY

Weaving and basketry (Queensland Museum, Brisbane) www.qm.qld.gov.au/Events+and+Exhibitions/Exhibitions/2015/01/Dandiiri+Maiwar/Ailan+kastom+bilong+Torres+Strait/Weaving+and+basketry#.WoILo2X8-dY

Be rooted: learning from Aboriginal dyeing and weaving http://theconversation.com/be-rooted-learning-from-aboriginal-dyeing-and-weaving-45940

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queensland (State Library of Queensland) www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/atsi

Protocols for producing Indigenous Australian music http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/symphony/extension/richtext_redactor/getfile/?name=8d8f0324581a5b06f6b9fe916f498072.pdf

Protocols for producing Indigenous Australian visual arts http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/symphony/extension/richtext_redactor/getfile/?name=daaf1afd6d719315db5e5e174a1da961.pdf

Protocols for producing Indigenous Australian media arts http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/symphony/extension/richtext_redactor/getfile/?name=bed1086ea0f531a7fa0ce11804002e5d.pdf

Inala Wangarra http://inalawangarra.com.au/

Hymba Yumba Community Place (Springfield) http://hymbayumba.qld.edu.au

North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum www.stradbrokemuseum.com.au

Quandamooka Festival, Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) http://quandamookafestival.com.au

Salt Water Murris Quandamooka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) http://saltwatermurris.com.au

Yugambeh Museum, Language and Heritage Research Centre www.yugambeh.com

Ration Shed Museum (Cherbourg) http://rationshed.com.au

State Library of Queensland http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/atsi

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies http://aiatsis.gov.au/

National Library of Australia https://www.nla.gov.au/what-we-collect/indigenous

FATSIL – Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages http://www.fatsil.org.au/

Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum (Version 8) Sequence of content The Arts http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/The_Arts_-_Sequence_of_content.pdf

P-6/7 Humanities and Social Sciences http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/F-67_HASS_-_Sequence_of_Content.pdf

Languages: Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Framework_-_Scope_and_Sequence.pdf

Cross-Curriculum Priority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-histories-and-cultures/