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Face the Facts (2008) Education Resource
Activity 3: Readers’ Theatre and Multicultural Storytelling
Exploring the stories of migrants and their journey to Australia is an engaging way for students to gain an understanding of migration and the importance of multiculturalism in Australian society.
The following activity has been designed to assist students in exploring the history of migration in Australia since the 1940s and includes both a Readers’ Theatre and Oral History activity. The Commission thanks Herman van Haren for sharing his personal story of migration to Australia which has been provided for use during the Readers Theatre stage of this activity.
Encourage students to explore Face the Facts – Questions and Answers about Migrants and Multiculturalism before commencing the activities.
Step 1 – Who are Immigrants?
What is migration? In the first step, students work individually to discover definitions, using Face the Facts – Questions and Answers about Migrants and Multiculturalism and the Face the Facts Glossary to inform their answers. A table has been included in the worksheet to assist students in identifying important information.
Engage students in a short class discussion to follow-up where any areas of confusion can be clarified. During the discussion it is important to highlight the changes in both the number of settlers in Australia and the countries of origin since the 1940s. If appropriate, teachers may also wish to explore the origins of class members and their families’ stories of migration to Australia.
Readers’ Theatre teaching strategy
1. Form groups according to the number of characters in the story. Supply a complete copy of the script for each member of the group. Students are allocated a character role and read the script through together to get an overall understanding of the storyline.
2. On the second reading, students highlight their specific reading sections.
3. Groups rehearse their scripts and decide on a minimum of props and costumes to support their performance. It is recommended that the props be limited to one item for each group member so that the group has to prioritise what is important to convey meaning in their script.
4. Groups perform by reading their scripts aloud in front of their peers. The setting should be kept to a minimum. The best arrangement is one where the group forms a semi circle and actions are limited.
As students perform, they should try to maintain eye contact with the audience.
This is possible if they have had sufficient rehearsal time to become less reliant on reading the script closely.
It is recommended that groups are scheduled to perform over a period of days rather than in one sitting.
Step 2 – Readers’ Theatre
Exploring the stories of migrants to Australia through Readers’ Theatre is a form of minimalist theatre. Through group interaction around the text, students gain an understanding of the important elements of story, oral expression, and the role of characters, as well as knowledge of a real-life migration story.
Readers’ Theatre is a fun strategy for exploring texts, using limited actions and does not require elaborate sets, costumes or props. Readers’ Theatre is also a powerful reading strategy. It has the support of a group and the group provides the necessary encouragement for those who are less confident when reading aloud. The group rehearses the script prior to performing it and any assistance with unfamiliar words is provided at the time of need.
Additional Resources
When exploring migration in the classroom, teachers may also wish to draw on SBS’s Tales from a Suitcase series, which was originally aired in 1996, and explores the stories of migrants and their journey to Australia.
Alternatively, teachers may prefer to access the Tales from a Suitcase book, which was published in 2001. The book brings together a collection of stories which reveal the migrant experience and highlight how multiculturalism has influenced Australian society.
Publication details are as follows:
Tales from a Suitcase by Will Davies and Andrea Dal Bosco
Published by Thomas C. Lothian, Melbourne, 2001. ISBN: 0 7344 0237 6 A
The Readers’ Theatre script focusing on Herman van Haren’s story of migration to Australia in the 1950s (as told to his daughter Rita van Haren) has been included for use at this stage. However, if appropriate, teachers may wish to assist students in developing Readers’ Theatre scripts based on their own family’s story.
Step 3 – Oral history: Telling the story of a migrant to Australia
Working in groups, students are asked to brainstorm a list of elements of storytelling. (Teachers may wish to explore text types and story-telling more explicitly at this stage.) Elements to be identified include:
- the difference between oral and written traditions
- elements of fiction such as character, plot, theme and style
- dramatic techniques of suspense, conflict and climax
- the importance of eye contact and use of the voice, body, and facial expressions.
After identifying some of the important elements of storytelling, students work in their groups to write and present a recent real-life story of migration to Australia – either personal or based on research – for presentation to their classmates. Students must create the story and devise a presentation that communicates the story in an effective way.
It could be presented as:
- Readers’ Theatre performance, where each student plays a role or series of roles
- a puppet show, where students play out the action of the story
- an exhibition of old photographs or artwork which explore a story of migration to Australia.
Step 4 – Classroom Discussion – Multiculturalism in Australia
To consolidate this activity engage students in a class discussion about multiculturalism and diversity in Australia, using Question 2.8 – What is Multiculturalism? as a starting point.
Areas of discussion could include:
- the main principles of the Australian Government’s policies on immigration
- the impacts of migration in Australia from a range of perspectives including economic, social and environmental
- citizenship rates for overseas-born people resident in Australia.
Encourage students to identify the positive ways in which immigration has influenced their own communities, both at school and local levels. To debrief the students after their presentations, engage the class in discussion about the differences and similarities of the stories presented, and ask students to think of stories told by their families or friends that have become ‘legends’.
