Tibby's Leaf: Classroom activities

1. Hold a class debate

• Have your students research the referendum on enlistment versus conscription held in Australia during the First World War.
• Once they have compiled information on the referendum, ask them to hold a class debate on the topic of 'bring back conscription'.

2. Hold an interview

• It is 1918, and Clarence has come home from the war. Ask one of your students to take on the role of Clarence and another to take on the role of a journalist from a local newspaper of the period.
• Have the journalist interview Clarence about his experiences while fighting in the war.
• Other students can assist in the preparation for the interview by helping those in the roles research the First World War.
• Have your students videotape or record the audio of the interview if possible.
• They may like to hold another interview with two students taking on the roles of a soldier back from the current fighting in Afghanistan and a television news journalist.
• Ask them to compare the two mock interviews and look for the similarities and differences in regard to the soldiers' experiences and responses.
• Below are some websites that may be useful in your students' research:
  
  Ryebuck Media - Educational Interactive Media
  http://www.ryebuck.com.au/studies/
  
  National Museum of Australia Education
  http://www.nma.gov.au/education/
  
  Australian War Memorial
  http://www.awm.gov.au/

3. Create a drawing

• Ask your students to use the Chops, sausages and mince BLM (PDF 272kb) to create a drawing of the interior of the butcher's shop, based upon the description in Tibby's Leaf.
• Have them include the butcher and William, the butcher's boy who went to the war.
• Encourage them to carry out some research that will help them create an interior that is suitable for 1914.
• Ask them to consider what the main differences would be between a butcher's shop in that year and the butcher's shop or supermarket which they may go to for their family meat shopping.
• Encourage them to use a range of media and techniques in their drawing, eg pencil, pen, collage or ink.

4. Design a postcard

• Ask your students to use the Postcards from the bush BLM (PDF 427kb) to design a postcard and write a message on it from a mythical Australian animal such as the bunyip or yowie.
• Ask them to create on one side of the card an image of what they think the animal might look like.
• Ask them to write the message on the other side in the rhyming style used on the postcard from the 'bush fairy' in Tibby's Leaf.
• Encourage them to bring to class any postcards they may have at home.
• Have them hold a class discussion that analyses the postcards and looks for aspects such as recurring locations or themes, design variations, use of landscape or portrait format in the designs and the sorts of messages that appear on the back of the cards.