Old Dog and Elly fear goannas, Ms Chen fears geckos, and Big Cuz fears the dentist. Little J boasts he isn’t scared of anything, but this may not be true. When Mick, Ally, Little J and Old Dog go to the beach, Little J discovers that his hero, Mick, is scared of Hermit crabs. Together, on the cliff, Mick and Little J overcome their shame of being afraid and help each other to be brave.

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

Theme - WELLBEING

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 11 ‘Nothing Scares Me’, engage students with the following learning activities to support their understanding about phobias, and how to overcome them.

As a class, revisit Episode 11 ‘Nothing Scares Me’ and ask students to recall the events of the day and the ‘fears’ each character encountered. The outcome for the day was that each character overcame their fear by being brave.

Concentrate students’ attention on who assisted each character to overcome their fears. For example:

1. Uncle Mick assisted Little J to overcome his fear of heights, and being shamed.
2. Little J assisted Uncle Mick to overcome his fear of hermit crabs, by problem-solving (the use of bread to attract the crabs away from the cliff face).
3. Uncle Mick scares away the goanna for Elly to feel safe.
4. Nanna helps Big Cuz overcome her fear of the dentist.
5. Big Cuz helps Old Dog to with his fear of the goanna.

Divide students into groups of 3–4 and provide groups with a ‘Spider Map’ for each sample scenario. Have groups brainstorm actions to overcome the fear as illustrated in the given scenarios.

Suggested alternative graphic organisers:

• Bubbl.us Brainstorming made simple!
• Graphic organisers
• Graphic Organisers
• Mind Map Free

Sample scenarios include:

• Scenario 1: Little J pretends he isn’t afraid of anything, but actually he is afraid of the dark and lies awake at night worrying about scary monsters grabbing him and taking him away.
• Scenario 2: Little J doesn’t want to go to school as he is the smallest and the youngest and the older boys pick on him.
• Scenario 3: Big Cuz feels shamed that she can’t dance, and makes excuses why she won’t join in the class Hip-Hop dance.
• Scenario 4: Big Cuz fears having to read aloud in class because she feels embarrassed that she can’t read as very well as her classmates.

As a class, read/view the stories and discuss the scenarios of fear in the story/stories:

• Browne, A. (2004). Into the forest. London: Walker. 
• Daddo, A. & Whatley, B.  (2010).  Monster.  Pymble, NSW:  ABC Books. 
• Gleeson, L. (2016). Clancy & Millie and the very fine house. Surry Hills, NSW:  Little Hare. 
• Karst, P., & Stevenson, G. (2014). The invisible string. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
• McDonald, M. & Pryor, B.  (1998).  My Girragundji.  St. Leonards, NSW:  Allen & Unwin.
• Seden, P.  (2016).  Crabbing with dad.  Broome, WA:  Magabala Books. (Teacher Notes)
• I Think, Into the Unknown, Australian Children’s Television Foundation (Scootle TLF R6320)

Ask students to select one of the stories above and using a Spider Map to problem-solve the actions each character adopted or could have adopted, in the story, to solve the problem of the ‘fear’. Have each student share their ideas with their paired student; then each pair shares their combined ideas with another pair.

Suggested teacher resource: Social and Emotional Learning (Educator Toolkit)