Little J feels lucky when he wears a new pair of yellow undies. After Old Dog destroys them, he loses his confidence. Big Cuz saves the day with the remnants of the undies made into a sweat band, and Little J finds confidence to play the basketball game and win the day.

Explain - Collect data and information from observations about Country/Place

Theme - CULTURAL BELIEFS

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, episode 1, ‘Lucky Undies’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of Little J’s sense of luck and superstition.

Provide each student with a map of the school. Have the students walk around the school grounds with their maps. As they go, have them mark the special places or objects in the school grounds on their maps, for example, the sculpture at the entrance, the mural, the central playground, the swimming pool etc.

Ask students to find and indicate on the map the oldest area/areas, and any areas of the school that are connected to Aboriginal culture and/or Torres Strait Islander culture. Have students research the Aboriginal peoples and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples who are the traditional custodians of the land on which the school is built. Ask students to observe what aspects of Aboriginal cultures and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures remain, e.g. in the school name, street names, suburbs.

Make a class list of the names of each aspect from First people’s culture, and what each mean. Invite an Aboriginal Elder (or acknowledged representative) and/or Torres Strait Islander Elder (or acknowledged representative) to the school to talk to the students about the local culture, language and significant places. If a representative isn’t available, access local knowledge through appropriate websites and Apps.

Suggested resources:

• Who Your Mob?
• My Grandmothers’ Lingo

Ask students to envision the community they live in and consider the public objects that are special to the community, e.g. a statue, a building, a tree, a park etc. Using a map of the community, suburb or town, identify those special objects on a map.

Ask students to consider why they are special, e.g. historical; a significant person lived in/built the house; cultural significance; environmentally important, commemorative monument, etc.

Develop a class list of the community’s significant sites, with images and descriptions of why they are important or sacred.