Blog Post: A lesson plan for Are we there yet? A journey around Australia by Alison Lester.

For my lesson plan I have incorporated the book Are we there yet? A journey around Australia by Alison Lester into a reading/writing subject lesson. By using this book that was published in Australia it will incorporate international children literature into my classroom here. Throughout this book they talk about a families trip all around Australia. This book will give the students a better understanding of different cultures other than their own. It will also show many places in Australia that mean a lot there. Before reading this book with my class I will show them a video to begin. This will be a good opening of the lesson to grab the Children’s attention and provide a visual presentation of diversity within children.

Lesson Objectives: This lesson will teach the students that no matter where you are from everyone is similar in some ways and different in their own. It will show the life of people in other places and give the students an idea of the similarities between them and the people in the book. Students will be able to identify the similarities and differences between themselves and the people in the book and video. They will be able to apply this into their writing skills.

Introduction: Play the video called Children Just Like Me by DK Books on YouTube. This video will show the students other children their age throughout the many places of the world. I will then ask the children if the children were similar to each other and to themselves? And how?

Lesson: I will begin by reading the book called Are we there yet? A journey around Australia by Alison Lester. Throughout this book we see how the family goes on a trip around Australia and get to see all the new places they visit. After I finish reading the book to my students I would ask them following questions like, Have any of you been to Australia to visit? If some said yes I would ask them if they visited anywhere that we talked about in the book and if it was like they described? Then I would ask if any of the students had known anyone that is originally from Australia? I would asleep ask if anyone was originally born in a different country outside of North America? I will ask the students to find the similarities between them and the family that is traveling through Australia. I will also have the children find the similarities and differences of the cities there and the city where the children live in.

Activity: After the class discusses what they found from the book, I will have the students return to their seats and write 3-5 sentences about the similarities and differences between them and the other children showed throughout the video or the book we read together.

Conclusion: After the children are done I will hang up their papers on the walls around the classroom so students will be able to read others.

References:

Books, DK. Children Just Like Me, YouTube, 24 Aug. 2016, m.youtube.com/watch?v=M4JEw3yfVGw&t=1s.

Lester, Alison. Are We There Yet? A Journey Around Australia. Penguin, 2004.