Big Cuz and Little J are very excited that Sissy is coming to play with them over the weekend. They both see Sissy as their special friend. Big Cuz wants to play a ‘Sisters Only’ talent quest just for she and Sissy, and Little J plans an obstacle course for all to play. Eventually, Little J, Big Cuz and Sissy come together to test their skills on the obstacle course.

Explain - Describe their own strengths and achievements and those of others, and identify how these contribute to personal identities

Theme - ROLE MODELS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Big Plans’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding about identifying good role models.

Provide a selection of books for students to read about various people/characters that others admire, such as:

• Williams, J., All the questions you ever wanted to ask Adam Goodes, (2003). Indji Readers, North Sydney, NSW
• Prior, C., McIntosh, K., Murray, P., Hughes, S. & McKenzie, P., (2004–05). What I Wanna Be, Indji Readers, North Sydney, NSW
• Campbell, P. & McDougall, W., An Indij Sport Report: Preston Campbell Edition, (2004–05). Indji Readers, North Sydney, NSW
• Heiss, A. & Davis, J., Me and My Mum, Indji Readers, North Sydney, NSW

Revisit Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Big Plans’, and have students suggest the types of personalities or celebrities that would appeal to Little J and to Big Cuz. Have students consider that Little J designed and built a challenging obstacle course based on an adventure/survivor television show where he was a compere; and Big Cuz created a Talent Quest game where she was the star singer.

Have students suggest real-life TV personalities/celebrities that both Little J and Big Cuz may have been emulating, e.g. compere Jeff Probst (USA) or Jonathan LaPaglia (AUST.) from the TV show ‘Survivor’, or compere Phil Keoghan compere of The Amazing Race (USA), or contestants in talent quests, e.g. Jessica Mauboy and Casey Donovan who appeared in Australian Idol, or Dami Im who represented Australia in Eurovision 2016, among others.

These links may help to identify people who are good role models for younger students:

• Indigenous Role Models, Arakwal: People of Byron Bay
• Australian of the Year – 2021 recipients
• Australian of the Year –  Recipient
• Indigenous Role Models
• The 10 Most Influential Indigenous Australians
• 20 Young Australians on the cusp of greatness, The Cusp
• Five inspiring Australians shortlisted for human rights medal, Human Rights Commission:
• A Mighty Girl – Character Collections
• 11 Australian role models to seriously inspire you, Mammamia
• The greatest of all: our 50 top Australians, Perth Now
• Indigenous Role Models, Queensland Government

**Teacher note: Warning Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students if they are to view images and names of deceased peoples.

Ask the class to nominate who are their idols and what qualities these nominations must embody to be regarded as a ‘star’. Provide each student with a star diagram and have them find an image of their idol and glue it into the centre of the star. Label the star with the name of the person, and their achievements.

Provide a list of words that describe ‘fame’, and have the students choose words to write on/around the star that indicates what type of person they are, such as hard working, happy, generous, talented, funny, beautiful, outgoing, respected, thoughtful, creative, energetic, etc.

If students know their idol in real life, have them share any stories and experiences they have of meeting the idol. If not, ask students how they know this idol is like what they think. Explain that sometimes we may not know the people we idolise, but we feel they portray some traits that we, as individuals, can read/feel about them.

Have students use another star diagram and draw into the star someone that they actually know, as a ‘star’ person. Again, use the list of adjectives to select different words to describe the person. Have students assess which star was easiest to find genuine words to describe them.

Invite students to design and make two greeting cards, one to send to their celebrity/idol congratulating them on their success and saying how much the student admires them, and one to the person they know and admire, expressing similar sentiments to the first. Compare the choice of images and words and the description of who each student admires.

Suggested resource: The Hero book: Learning Lessons from the People You Admire