All About Australia Primary Three and Four

What is Australia? Australia is a big country.

Where is Australia? Australia is an island surrounded by the Pacific and Indian Ocean. The capital city of Australia is Canberra.

What oceans surround Australia?

Weather Winter starts in June and ends in late September. The northern part of Australia is hot all year round.

spring September, October, November summer December , January, February autumn March, April, May winter June, July, August Christmas in Australia is celebrated during the summer months. Christmas dinner may be a barbeque in the backyard or a picnic on a beach.

People The first people to live in Australia were the aborigines. Then the British came and settled in Australia. Nowadays, Australia has many different races, but the official language is English.

Australian Boomerang The boomerang is an aboriginal weapon used for hunting. The aborigines made boomerangs to kill animals for food.

Follow the instructions to make your own boomerang: Here’s how to make your own returning boomerang out of cardboard. Give it a whirl! You will need the following: cardboard measuring 8 by 11 inches (20 by 28 centimeters) color markers scissors glue or stapler

• Glue the printed sheet (at the end of the workbook) to a piece of cardboard. • Cut out the two blades. • Lay one blade on top of the other so they form an X shape, and staple or glue them together at the center.

Fold up the ends of each cardboard strip about one inch from the end of each blade. You can practice flying it at home, but make sure you look after it, because on English Day there will be a boomerang competition to see whose boomerang really is a ‘returning’ boomerang.

Cities and the country Most of Australia’s cities are near the ocean, the middle of Australia is desert and is called the outback.

Australia outback

• Most of the people in the outback live on farms and have to travel far to the nearest city. • Being so far way from the city they don’t have shops, doctors, hospitals and even schools.

• Many children living in the outback cannot go to school, so they have home, radio or internet lessons.

Australian Language • Most of the people in Australia speak English. • Australian English contains many slang words that are not used by other English speakers from other countries.

Australian Language Here a few: • G’ day – common greeting, like hello. • Down Under - Australia • Mate - friend • Sheila – a girl or woman. • Woofer – a dog. • Hooroo – see you later. • Ta – thanks • Barbie – barbecue

• What should you say if you want to greet someone? • What should you say if a girl or woman gives you a biscuit? • What should you say when you’re leaving someone’s house?

Famous Places • There are many famous places in Australia. Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is used to hold theatre productions and music concerts.

Ayers Rock is a large rock in central Australia. It is also known as Uluru is known as one of the great wonders of the world. Ayers Rock

The Great Barrier Reef is the longest coral reef in the world. It is home to thousands of animals.

Tazmania is an island off the coast of Australia. It is home to a famous Australian animal called the Tasmanian Devil.

• • Try and unscramble the names of the famous places below: 1. ryea skocr _________________ 2. iazmatna _________________ 3. ydyesn rapoe shoue _________________ 4. het tareg rrrieba fere _________________

Sports Australians play many sports. Can you think of Australians’ favourite sport?

Surfing is one of the most popular sports in Australia. Surfers ride waves on a small board called a surfboard.

Australian Food Are you hungry? I am! I just love leaves. Do you want some? Oh, I forgot, you probably like people food! Well, here’s some Australian tucker! (tucker is food)

Aussie Meat Pie Aussie meat pie is a pie with meat inside.

Lamingtons are small cakes covered in coconut.

Pavlova is a crispy cake made from eggs.

Vegemite is like British marmite, but it’s not as salty!

Animals

Australia has many animals and most of them are not found anywhere else in the world. Kangaroo The Kangaroo is well known for its strong legs and the way they carry their babies.

Koalas also carry their babies like kangaroos. Koalas are nocturnal animals, which means that they are awake during the night and sleep during the day.

Emu Emus are birds that can’t fly. They have long legs and can run fast.

Platypus can live on land water.

Wombats are nocturnal , like koalas. They don’t drink water as they get it from plants.

Dingo A dingo is a wild dog and is Australia’s largest hunter.

Kookaburra The kookaburra is famous for its laughing call, which warns others to stay away!

Song – Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree http: //www. niehs. nih. gov/kids/lyrics/kookaburra. htm Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Merry, merry king of the bush is he Laugh, Kookaburra! Gay your life must be Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Eating all the gum drops he can see Stop, Kookaburra! Leave some there for me!

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Counting all the monkeys he can see Stop, Kookaburra! That's not a monkey that's me Kookaburra sits on a rusty nail Gets a boo-boo in his tail Cry, Kookaburra! Cry, kookaburra! Oh how life can be!

Australian Life G'day mate. Hello my name is Nicole, and I live in Australia is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. We have wonderful, warm, sunny weather. Most of the people live near the ocean.

The middle of Australia is too dry for many people to live there. It is called the outback. There are farms in the outback. Canberra is our capital city.

We speak English but we say some words different. Here they are BAHR-bee is barbecue. HOO-roo means see you later, MATE is a good friend, TAH means thank you.

For food we eat normal American food, some food is different. I like to eat vegemite on bread. For fun places we go to the beach. I also like the Great Barrier Reef.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the world's most famous buildings. There is also a big rock called Ayer's Rock or Uluru (oo-LOO-roo) in the desert. It is a very popular place for tourists to visit. Well, I have to go now. I am going surfing with my friend, Steve. Ta for reading my letter. Hooroo, Nicole

Primary 3 and 4 Project You are going to work in pairs to design and perform an Australian animal telephone interview. In pairs you can choose two different Australian animals you like and give them names like the example. Eg. Kelly the Kangaroo Animal #1: ____________ Animal #2: ____________

1. You each need to pretend that you are your chosen animal and your animal friend is going to interview you over the telephone. You need to answer the following questions in your interview: a. What’s your name? b. Can you describe what you look like? c. What do you like to eat? d. Where do you live? e. What do you like to do? For each animal you need to answer all the questions. You can use the internet or the library to find the information you need.

Once you have found the information you need to write a dialogue where both animals ask each other the questions and answer. *See the project When you have finished your dialogue you will make a puppet of your animal to perform the conversation for your classmates. Use the puppets below to help you.

dingo

emu

koala

kookaburra

kangaroo