Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Identifying key ideas of the film

30 minutes

Find Out: Thematic scenes analyses

10 minutes

Take Action: Dare to Dream

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

identify key themes in the film and explain how these are exemplified.

Success criteria

Students can:

explain key themes in the film and support their ideas with evidence and examples
create a response that reflects one of the film’s key themes.

We respectfully caution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that this resource may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.

Please note that this lesson refers to Tiwi people and culture.

First Nations audiences may recognise or find connections with the stories and experiences told in this film. However, it is crucial to be considerate of the diversity of First Nations peoples, communities and their identities across the continent. Tiwi people distinguish themselves with unique language and culture. While the Tiwi distinguish themselves with unique customs and language, there is an interconnectedness through varied kinships and historical impacts that add to the diversity of the Tiwi Islands.

Given the content of this lesson, teachers should communicate with parents and guardians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students before playing the film and/or engaging with the teaching and learning resources. Teachers are advised to use discretion when deciding whether to show this film. If teaching in a context with a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, it is important that guidance is sought from the Principal and Aboriginal Education Officer (or equivalent) before screening the film.

Tune In: Identifying key ideas in Like My Brother

Students should have watched Like My Brother before commencing this lesson.

Step 1

Explain to students that every text they engage with in English has key concerns or ideas, often called themes. A theme, or key concern, is an idea that recurs throughout a text and is usually connected to the message communicated by the text creator - the authorial intent, or views and values of a text.

Facilitate small group discussions (with a short time limit of 3-4 minutes) for students to identify what they think are the three key themes communicated in Like My Brother. Invite one person from each group to list these on the whiteboard. Highlight that we will return to these later on in the lesson.

Step 2

Ask students to identify the ways we get a sense of a text’s themes - how does the author express these? One way is through a character’s actions or words. Outline that by analysing quotations, we can identify a text’s themes or find examples of them.

The following Tune In activity is designed to focus students’ attention on inference, a critical skill for film analysis. We often assume students can infer, but this does need to be explicitly taught. On their Student Worksheets, students will find a series of sentences that are quotations from the film, which will be used as the basis for eliciting key themes in Like My Brother.

Model the process of breaking down a quotation on the whiteboard. You can choose one from the Student Worksheet or use the sentence below and facilitate a class discussion about what can be inferred from Freda’s words. Some suggestions have been provided for you below, but students will likely come up with their own inferences and interpretations, and this is encouraged. What is important is that they can connect the quotation to the inference they make. A good question to determine this is: What makes you say that?

Step 3

Explain to students that they are going to complete the same activity with the quotations found on their Student Worksheets. Organise them into pairs and ask them to annotate the sentences on their worksheets using a think-pair-share structure. Students start by thinking individually and then collaborate in pairs to determine their inferences.

Step 4

Once students have discussed in pairs, bring the class together to share their thinking. Rather than asking for individual inferences, ask students to share some of the broader ideas or themes they can see emerging from the quotations from the film. You may like to write these up on the whiteboard as a mind map.

The goal is to facilitate the discussion in a way that connects to the key themes of the film below. The information in brackets is to help guide your discussion.

Walking proudly in two worlds - with football providing the bridge.
Connection to and strength of culture - culture can include arts, music, language, ceremony, connection to Country and place, death (referred to in First Nations communities as ‘sorry business’), family, obligations and respect.
Success, ambition, dreams and the barriers and obstacles to achieving them (the right to have ambition, access to opportunity, the relativity and subjectivity of dreams, what it takes to achieve them, what is needed, and who is providing support).

While it is unlikely students will stumble upon these when sharing their themes with the class, they will likely share words that align with the themes above, like culture, family, goals, aspirations, identity, etc.

Ask students to write the key themes of the film on their Student Worksheets.

Find Out: Thematic scenes analyses

Step 1

Organise the class into six or nine groups, depending on numbers - groups should be no more than four people. If there are six groups, each theme will have two groups focused on each theme. If there are nine groups, each theme will have three groups. Provide each group with an A3 piece of paper, and instruct them to write their allocated theme in large letters across the top of the page. Each group member should be organised around the paper, with a pen, so that they can all contribute to the page.

Step 2

Explain to students that they are going to analyse a series of key scenes from the film Like My Brother. They are responsible for identifying connections between the scenes and their allocated theme. The scenes have been chosen to represent all of the themes, and some are more explicitly linked than others, but students should be able to find something to add to their page at the end of each.

Some prompting questions are listed to help you scaffold and support students to make connections between the film and the themes.

Key scenes from the film:

Rina’s jumper design and Melbourne trip (scene 16:00-19:22 mins)

How is the pride of Rina and her friends expressed in the sequence?
What is the importance of the music, with the lyrics: “I am up and I am ready to grow”?
How is the girl’s culture shock accentuated in the sequence?
Why did the filmmaker include the sequence of the girls taking a photo in the photo booth?

Family day trip (scene 25:00-27:10 mins)

How does Rina describe her connection to the land?
What activities did the family engage in when they went camping? Did it look like any camping trips you have taken?
What does this sequence reflect about the strength of culture and ancestry of the Tiwi people?

Invitation to VFL training squad (scene 30:15-32:28 mins)

How do each of the girls react to their offer to train with the VFLW training squad?
“I lost it, just wanted to stay with family”. Julianna’s body language and facial expressions tell us more than her words. How do you interpret her emotions in this sequence?

Sunbury (36:41 - 40:19 mins)

What strategies does the filmmaker employ to depict how different Melbourne is for the girls compared to Tiwi?
Is the location where the girls are housed in a supportive one? Should they have been staying in Sunbury?
Do you think the girls are supported enough to thrive and excel?

Freda goes home (48:40-52:54 mins)

Why would the filmmaker overlay the Tiwi man’s Call Out over the shots of Sunbury? What could this signify?
What is the significance of a funeral for the Tiwi people? Consider Tictac’s comment, “It’s not so much an obligation but it’s your heart… missing out funerals is a big thing… so you carry it with you.”

Round 1 (55:00 - 56:53 mins)

Why is Tictac’s presence important?
How is her emotion significant? What has been achieved in having the girls be picked to play in this opening round of the season?

2022 (1:14-1:19:07 mins)

What message does Freda’s commitment to her football convey?
Are Freda’s dreams of playing AFLW over now she is a mother?

Step 3

When students have engaged with the scenes, give the groups time to decide on something to share with the class and allocate a group member to report back. As each group shares an observation or a reference to the scenes, have the other groups see if they can find a similar reference on their own pages and highlight this. When each group has shared, have the groups hold up their pages to show their classmates - was there a lot of overlap in the ideas across the class? Or across the theme-specific groups?

Step 4

Address and discuss any misconceptions that arise from the scene analyses about the core themes, such as First Nations peoples can’t live, work and thrive in two worlds, that women’s dreams are over when they have babies, and that success is only defined by money and fame.

Take Action: Dare to Dream

Step 1

Explain to students that in the final stages of the film, a song called ‘Dare to Dream’ is overlaid in post-production. As you read through the lyrics, recall what was happening on camera when this song was played at the end of the film (scene 1.23.04 - 1:27.00).

Step 2

Facilitate a brief discussion with the class about how this song connects to one or more of the three themes that have been in focus in this lesson. You might like to ask students which words, phrases or lines resonated with them and how the lyrics of the song enhanced the final message of the film - that success is not only determined through money and fame, and that each of the girls found great success throughout the film, in a multitude of different ways.

Step 3

Instruct students to choose one of the key themes focused on in this lesson, and to select a song that they think exemplifies or conveys the theme and could work as the soundtrack for the film's trailer. When students have chosen their song, they should share it with the class and justify their choice in terms of how it reflects and aligns with a theme - this could be due to the lyrics, the musical features of the song, or another element of choice. This task could be set as homework, with students reporting back at the beginning of the next lesson.

Reflection

Ask students: What is the strongest message conveyed through Like My Brother?

Identifying and Responding to Themes in Like My Brother

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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Identifying and Responding to Themes in Like My Brother

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

In this lesson