Loves me, loves me not

• Ask students to research examples of 19th century family gravestones in Australia. To assist this task, arrange a visit to a historical cemetery in your area. Ask students to consider how the inscriptions found on the graves can be used to interpret history and help us to learn about how someone might have lived and died. For example, if the child's date of birth and the date of the mother's death are the same, this most likely implied death due to complications of childbirth.
• Students could collate images and inscriptions on gravestones.
• The following websites may be helpful:

1. Interment.net, 'Toowong Cemetery', http://www.interment.net/data/aus/qld/brisbane/toowong/toowong_ag.htm
2. Websites for Genealogists, 'Cemetery Records - Australia', http://www.coraweb.com.au/cemetaus.htm
3. White Hat, 'Melbourne General Cemetery', http://www.whitehat.com.au/cemetery/FCemetery.html
4. City of Sydney, 'Old Sydney Burial Ground', http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/aboutsydney/historyandarchives/SydneyHistory/SocialHistory/OldSydneyBurialGround.asp

• Using their research as inspiration, ask students to create a fictional gravestone for Johanna's family or an imaginary 19th century family. The gravestone would tell the story of the family through the dates and inscriptions.

1. How old were the people when they died?
2. Who were their relations?
3. Did their death occur naturally or was it caused by accident or illness?

• Students could create a graveyard by combining gravestones made by other members of their class. Students take a tour of the class graveyard, reading the inscription on each gravestone to deduce its family history.
• Students could reflect on the reasons why unmarked graves exist in a cemetery. Ask students to research the reasons why a person might not have been given a recognised burial. Students could look at graveyards from the perspective of Australia's Indigenous and non-white population.

Student Activity Sheet H17.3: Graveyards

• As a class, ask students to consider what it would be like to be a person who is unable to read or write. Ask students to research what school was like in 19th-century Australia and who went to school.

1. AllExperts, 'What was education like in Australia in 1850?', http://en.allexperts.com/q/General-History-674/Education.htm#b 
2. Aussie Educator, 'History of Australian Education', http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/other/history.html
3. National Archives of Australia, Documenting a Democracy, Education Act 1872 (Vic),, http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?sdID=25

• Provide students with the literacy rates in various countries. Ask students which ten countries have the highest literacy rates and which have the lowest.  As a class, ask students to discuss why literacy is high in these countries. Ask students to find out where Australia is ranked on the list.
• Ask students to create a Y chart about going to school in the 19th century based on the following questions:

1. What did going to school look like?
2. What did going to school feel like?
3. What did going to school sound like?

• Ask students to complete the fishbone graphic organiser about what types of literacies children need in the 21st century. On one side of the diagram students list the types of literacies children needed in the 19th century. Have students provide reasons why we need to be more literate today.

Student Activity Sheet H17.4: Reading

• Play the clip to the class, and discuss the role of Granny Sarah. Ask students to replay the clip to establish whose gravesites Granny Sarah is visiting (her husband's and her child's) and why she is visiting the cemetery on her birthday. Ask them to work in groups of three or four to establish the family relationships that exist between characters in the clip. Refer to the ABC3, 'My Place' website http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/ for more information about the characters.
• Sarah is a character who features across five decades (episodes 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21). Ask students to view these episodes and distinguish the differences of her role in each. Sarah is a connecting device used in the overall story of 'My Place'. Ask students to fill in a table that describes Sarah's role in each episode.
• Sarah and Johanna (mother and daughter of Alice) visit Alice's grave. Ask students to notice the information on the gravestone to work out Sarah's age, Alice's age when she died and then Johanna's age. A gravestone may also have an epitaph that says how a person has lived their life or how they wish to be remembered. The epitaph on Alice's gravestone reads as:

Alice
Beloved mother to Johanna
Daughter of Sam and Sarah
Sister to Davey and Maryann
1818-1838

• During the conversation between Johanna and Granny Sarah and throughout the episode there is information, both stated and implied, about Johanna's father. The ditty, 'He loves me, he loves me not' is full of meaning for Johanna and her quest to find out who her father is. Ask students about Granny Sarah's attitude to Sarah finding her father and contrast it with Johanna feelings. Ask them why each character would feel this way. Discuss with students the impact on Johanna of being an orphan and not knowing either of her parents.

• It appears that Granny Sarah has established a tradition of visiting the cemetery each year on her birthday. As a class, brainstorm traditions or rituals around death and dying. (Teachers need to consider if this activity is advisable for their particular class and also ensure students exercise sensitivity towards any peers who have experienced loss or grief.)

Please note the following before you undertake the activity below.
Before suggesting that students investigate traditions and protocols of bereavement of a local Indigenous group, seek advice from the relevant community about whether the activity is appropriate for your local context. Ask about appropriate sources of information and about what information is appropriate for students to know and share.

You could seek further support or receive advice about who best to speak to by: 

1. talking to Indigenous people working in your school
2. connecting with staff from your education sector at a local, regional or state level
   
3. talking and sharing with the families of your Indigenous students
   
4. seeking out a school that has Indigenous students or contacts with Indigenous schools or communities if you have a small number of Indigenous students or no Indigenous students at your school
   
5. finding out about Indigenous groups and organisations in your local area and getting to know people and asking for guidance.

• Have the class break into groups of three or four to investigate traditions and rituals related to bereavement across different groups. Each group should select one of the following - Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or a local Indigenous group - and investigate traditions or protocols of bereavement of that religions or culture. Bear in mind that there may be crossovers between religious and cultural traditions. If students are investigating a local Indigenous group, you may wish to remind them that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are culturally diverse, and different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures across Australia have different traditions.
• Provide each group with the KWLH chart from Student Activity Sheet E17.3: Dying with dignity to help them to plan their investigations. Guide each group in conducting effective research, for example, considering relevance and validity of sources, and then support each group as they organise their information to share with the class.
• Encourage students to write a eulogy for Johanna, Sarah or Alice. Explain that the purpose of a eulogy is to sum up the main events of a person's life and to persuade the audience that they were the best person they could be in life. Or, write a poem about the feelings associated with the loss. Each form of writing must start with, 'She loves me, she loves me not …'.

Student Activity Sheet E17.3: Dying with dignity

• As a class, view the clip Loves me, loves me not and ask students for their opinions about the 'situation' in which Johanna finds herself. Granny Sarah talks about Johanna being teased. She blames Johanna for getting herself into 'these situations' and she senses that Johanna provokes the incidents. Ask students to identify what it is about Johanna that may cause this unwanted attention.
• Conduct a think-pair-share activity. To begin, each student considers what Granny Sarah might mean when she tells Johanna to 'turn the other cheek'. Have students rewrite the saying in their own words, while keeping the same meaning. Have students illustrate their new saying with a picture or cartoon. As a class discuss the appropriateness of 'turning the other cheek' when it comes to dealing with teasing or bullying behaviour at school today. Brainstorm a large list of alternative ways to cope with and to deal with unacceptable teasing or bullying behaviours at school today.
•  Johanna reads a letter to Granny Sarah from her uncle Davey, who now lives in Bathurst. The letter highlights what a wonderful and productive life he is living, and he invites them to travel to Bathurst to live with him. Ask students to consider why Granny Sarah wants Johanna to read it. What do they think Granny Sarah means when she tells Johanna that you can do anything you want if you can read? Have students also consider why Johanna made up wild sentences.

• Ask students to write a letter from Johanna to Davey telling him about what has happened over the past day and of her quest to find her father. The letter should describe her thoughts and feelings about the events. Students can interpret her actions as those of the victim or the perpetrator. The language they choose to adopt can evoke sympathy or anger.
• Alternatively, write a letter from Johanna to her father telling him of her feelings about being abandoned and of her quest to find him.

Student Activity Sheet E17.4: Dear Davey