Timor-Leste: friends and close neighbours

Timor-Leste Curriculum Unit

No 2

Children from Rialau Primary School, Same, Timor-Leste.Photographer: Helen White

Friendship School Project The Friendship School Project (FSP) seeks to build generations of international friendship with a sustainable network of schools and communities in Australia and Timor-Leste. Australian schools join FSP seeking to learn about, understand and interact with the educational community in Timor-Leste. Schools usually opt to maintain a specific partner relationship with another school in Timor-Leste.

Purpose of units The development of a specific curriculum about Timor-Leste was identified by FSP as crucial for effective student learning and participation, within the goals and vision of FSP. The units provide a structure whereby teachers can offer children at upper primary and lower secondary levels integrated learning about Timor-Leste within their school curriculum. Exposure to these units will help Australian students to develop a solid understanding of the culture, history and geography of Timor-Leste. From this basis, students can develop relationships with their Timorese friends based on understanding and appreciation of cultural difference. The units are consistent with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards requirements.

Development Key teachers from the FSP school membership in Victoria have taken the initiative to create curriculum materials which have now been developed into four units. FSP gratefully acknowledges the, skills, efforts and knowledge put into the development of this unit by the teachers at St Paul Apostle North Primary School: Anette Phillips, Monique Fallace, Miranda Wishart, Megan Thomas, Michelle O’Sullivan, Paul Dwyer, Juliette Foenander, Bianca McInerney, Nerine Van der Merwe. Special thanks go to the Principal of the school (1994-2006), Mr Gavan Murphy. FSP would also like to acknowledge Rod Yule from World Vision for his preparation of the units for a national audience. Availability of Curriculum Units Unit 1 and 2 (Upper Primary) and Units 3 and 4 (Lower Secondary) can be downloaded at the following websites http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/public_html/lesson_plans.htmhttp://www.alolafoundation.org/fsi.php

Contact details To learn more about FSP or to join the membership: Australia FSP Coordinator Rachel Clark Phone: (03) 9418 4807 Address 112 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford, Victoria, 3067. Email: fsp@aeuvic.asn.auWeb: http://www.alolafoundation.org/fsi.php

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http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/public_html/lesson_plans.htmmailto:fsp@aeuvic.asn.au

Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) This unit connects with the following domains of VELS Civics & Citizenship:

• Knowing their rights and responsibilities as citizens • Appreciating Australia’s role in the global community • Having the knowledge, skills and behaviours to participate in society and take responsible

action in relation to other citizens and the environment at a local and broader level Interpersonal development:

• Building positive and social relationships • Working and learning in teams • Managing and resolving conflicts

Personal learning:

• Recognize and enact appropriate values within and beyond the school context English

• Reading – viewing CDs videos and DVD. • Writing – planning, composing, editing and publishing • Speaking and listening – story telling, formal presentations, group discussions, listening

strategies, co-operative learning, jigsaws, sharing circles LOTE

• Communicating in a language other than English • Intercultural knowledge and language awareness

Humanities

• Humanities skills – exploring the geography and recent history of Timor Leste The Arts

• Creating and making Arts works – experiences, ideas, feelings and interpreting • Exploring and responding - visual and performing (creating, dance, drama music)

Information and Communications Technology

• Create information products that demonstrate their understanding of concepts, issues, relationships and processes.

• Express themselves in contemporary and socially relevant ways • Communicate locally and globally to solve problems and to share knowledge

Thinking

• Reasoning, processing and inquiry – inquire into the world around them • Creativity – problem solve and innovation • Reflection, evaluation and metacognition – question, plan and evaluate

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UNIT 2. Timor-Leste – friends and close neighbours

Stage of schooling Upper Primary

Learning focus Students develop an understanding of Timor-Leste (formerly known as East Timor) or Timor Lorosa’e (the country’s name in Tetum) as a very near neighbour to Australia. They will learn to identify the similarities and differences in the way of life in both countries. Students will also understand how the history and diverse physical environment of Timor-Leste affects the way people live. This unit invites schools to participate in the Australia East Timor Friendship School Project. For more information and resources, contact the FSP Australia Office: 112 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford, Victoria, 3067 or email: fsp@aeuvic.asn.au Schools choosing not to participate in the Friendship School Project can also engage meaningfully in this unit of work.

Texts / Resources

• FSP Information Sheets, Resource CD and DVD “Ita Nia Eskola, Ita Nia Belun” (Our School, Our Friend), available with membership kit.

• One Day in Fatulai – video (18 minutes) • Asia our Neighbour: East Timor – Video (42 minutes) and booklet.

www.caritas.org.au • Turismo de Timor-Leste. Discover the world’s newest nation – CD-ROM or visit

www.turismotimorleste.com/en/ • ‘The Crocodile that became Timor’ http:///www.uc.pt/timor/croc2.htm.

Resources are available from the Australia East Timor Friendship School Project. For more information, contact the FSP Australia Office: 112 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford, Victoria, 3067, phone: 9418 4807 or email: fsp@aeuvic.asn.au

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http://www.turismotimorleste.com/en/http:///www.uc.pt/timor/croc2.htm

Overview The goal of this unit is to make a connection and to build sustainable cultural bridges and understandings. It aims to establish a commitment to ensuring successive generations of students and members of the school community are informed about and actively engaged with the culture, language and circumstances of the people of Timor-Leste.

Duration This unit is flexible and can be adapted to the needs of an individual school. Activities can be incorporated according to the interests of the students and staff. However, the whole unit, including participation in the Friendship School Project, would typically be the focus for a term and may develop into an ongoing school-to-school relationship.

Activity 1: Introductory DVD 1. Introduce the idea of linking with a school in Timor-Leste and show the FSP DVD “Ita Nia Eskola, Ita Nia Belun” from the FSP Membership Kit. Discuss the Friendship Schools Project (FSP) and the reason behind its development. Discuss how an Australian school could help to support a linked school in Timor-Leste.

2. Begin taking photos to make a scrapbook to send to the FSP School Partner in Timor-Leste (if there is one) at the conclusion of the unit.

Activity 2: Pre-existing knowledge Have students complete the proforma (Appendix 1) showing pre-existing knowledge about Timor-Leste. This includes information under the headings: Culture, History, Language, Religion, Food, Education, Housing, Lifestyle, Sports.

Activity 3: Guest speaker and interview 1. Invite a guest speaker with some experience of Timor-Leste to visit the school and answer questions about their experience of that country. This may be someone who has lived or worked in Timor-Leste. 2. Before the guest arrives, invite students to write interview questions for the speaker, using the headings from the proforma (Appendix 1). It would also be a good idea to send the questions through to the guest prior to their arrival.

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3. In pairs, have students make a comparison chart of what they know about Timor-Leste and Australia. This can be done by dividing an A3 sheet of paper in half. Ask students to record all the information they learnt from the guest speaker on the left side of the chart. On the right side, ask them to record what happens in Australia. For example:

TIMOR-LESTE AUSTRALIA Education Education

• Children have to walk a long way to school

• Not all children attend school • Few, if any, computer resources in

schools • Few sports facilities – play soccer

• Many different ways to get to school – cars, train, walk, bikes

• All children attend school • Computers in all schools

• Good sport facilities – play soccer

Assign different topics for the pairs to take notes on – Housing, Language, Food, Religion, Education and so on.

Activity 4: Education discussion 1. From the comparison charts completed in Activity 3, discuss the education system in Timor-Leste and that in Australia. 2. Using a Venn diagram (Appendix 2), record the similarities and differences between Australian schools and the Timor-Leste school shown in the FSP DVD “Ita Nia Eskola, Ita Nia Belun”.

Activity 5: Mapping 1. Refresh the students’ memory about the DVD “Ita Nia Eskola, Ita Nia Belun” – this may include watching sections of the DVD again. 2. Ask students to look up Timor-Leste in an atlas. Discuss the geographical location and measure the distance from the different capital cities of Australia to the capital of Timor-Leste. 3. Watch scenes from the CD-ROM Turismo de Timor-Leste. Discover the world’s newest nation and discuss other features of physical geography – landforms, climate, longitude and latitude. 4. Have students paste an A4 map of Timor-Leste into books and locate the FSP School Partner (if there is one). Add new information to the map throughout the unit.

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Activity 6: Language 1. Make available lists of Tetum words to be discussed (see FSP Information Sheet 5 or Appendix 3 of this unit). 2. Share common greetings, months of the year and family names using Tetum. For example, include words for ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ and numbers one to 10. 3. In small groups, have students make a chart that gives the English and Tetum words for:

• numbers one to 10 • months of the year • family names – relations • common greetings.

Compare the similarities / differences between the two languages and present to the rest of the class. Display charts around the room.

Activity 7: Village life 1. Watch the video One Day in Fatulai, in which a volunteer doctor provides a glimpse of everyday life, health and education in a remote village in Timor-Leste. 2. In small groups, have students list the similarities and differences between their own lives in Australia and the village life shown in the video.

Activity 8: Food 1. Discuss how different regions or nations are associated with particular foods and list these on the board. For example: Italy – pasta; Asia – rice, coriander; India – dahl, rogan josh; Mexico – burrito, taco, tortilla, beans; North Africa – couscous. 2. Reflect back on the initial FSP DVD “Ita Nia Eskola, Ita Nia Belun”. The main foods of Timor-Leste are cereals like corn and rice, and vegetables like sweet potato, pumpkin and beans. 3. Write out the recipe for the indigenous dish Tau Koi Rana (Appendix 4). Discuss the language features of procedure texts and have children prepare the meal to eat.

Activity 9: Housing 1. Show the DVD Asia our Neighbour: East Timor, which looks at a teenage boy’s life in Oecussi. 2. Discuss the housing seen in the DVDs and videos viewed so far and compare with housing in Australia.

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Activity 10: History 1. View timelines of Timor-Leste’s history from different sources and discuss reasons why different events are featured. 2. Discuss how the historical and political events have impacted on the people of Timor-Leste. 3. Have students complete the timeline of major events in the history of Timor-Leste (Appendix 6) and write a recount about the history of Timor-Leste.

Activity 11: People 1. Have students look up the word ‘indigenous’ in a dictionary and explain what it means. 2. The people of Timor-Leste belong to three main ethnic groups – Indigenous Timorese (90%), Chinese (6%) and Portuguese (4%). Ask students to compare and contrast this with the Indigenous community in Australia and the multicultural groups that make up the population of Australia. The could use a Think, Pair, Share activity to support this discussion.

Activity 12: Folktales 1. Make a list of the folktales that the students know and discuss their role or purpose. 2. Read ‘The Crocodile that became Timor’ (see FSP Information Sheet 9 or http://www.uc.pt/timor/croc2.htm) and have the students complete the cloze activity (Appendix 5). 3. Discuss the central meaning of this folktale and why this folktale is important to the people of Timor-Leste. 4. In pairs or individually, have the students rewrite the folktale ‘The Crocodile that became Timor’ in their own words. Have the students illustrate the folktale and share it with a ‘buddy’ or partner in a younger class.

Activity 13: Expo Organise a Timor-Leste Expo where the children are organised in groups and rotate through a range of activities that may include:

• weaving • rice cooking • guest speaker • folktale presentation • flag making

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http://www.uc.pt/timor/croc2.htm

• sporting games – Stone Throw involves placing two large flat rocks at a reasonable distance apart. Each player has five stones which are thrown to strike the large rock. For each strike, the player moves a step further from the rock.

Provide a lunch of Tau Koi Rana (see Appendix 4).

Activity 14: Letter writing 1. Have students write letters to the FSP School Partner (if there is one). Encourage them to use some Tetum words, include information about life in Australia and share information they have learnt about Timor-Leste. 2. Compile photos, letters and any other helpful resources to send to the friendship school. These may include Teachers Resource Kits and Student Resource Kits.

Activity 15: Final knowledge assessment Ask students to write down information they now know about Timor-Leste, using the proforma (Appendix 1).

Assessment Assessment is ongoing throughout this unit. An important component will be the contrast between the pre-existing and final knowledge assessment information in Appendix 1. Also, note that Activity 15 (Letter Writing) will be a key assessment tool, as well as the tasks required in Appendix 5 (Cloze) and Appendix 6 (Timeline). The participation and cooperation of the students throughout the unit should also be considered.

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Appendix 1: Timor-Leste knowledge assessment

Topic

Information I know

Culture

History

Language

Religion

Food

Education

Housing

Lifestyle

Sports

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Education in Australia

Appendix 2: Education in Timor-Leste and Australia (Venn diagram)

Education in Timor-Leste

Appendix 3: Basic words in English, Tetum and Portuguese The constitution of Timor-Leste states that Timor-Leste will have two official languages (Tetum and Portuguese) and two national languages (English and Bahasa Indonesia).

Counting Months of the year

English Tetum English Tetum One Ida January Janeiru Two Rua February Feveiru Three Tolu March Marsu Four Haat April Abril Five Lima May Maiu Six Ni lui June Junhu Seven Itu July Julhu Eight Valo August Agostu Nine Sia September Septembru Ten Sanulo October Octubru November Novembru December Dezembru

Common greetings

English Portuguese Hello Alo Good morning Bondia Good night Boanoite Please Favor Thank you Obrigado

English Tetum Mother, Mum Inam, Main, Mamain, Ama Father, Dad Aman, Pai, Papai, Apa Son Oan Daughter Oan Feto Grandmother Avo Grandfather Abo

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Appendix 4: Recipe – Tau Koi Rana

Ingredients • 1 pumpkin • Can of ‘lite’ coconut milk • Ground corn (polenta) • Salt

Method 1. Peel and cube the pumpkin and place in a saucepan. 2. Cover with coconut milk. 3. Put lid on and cook gently until the pumpkin is very soft. 4. Mash with potato masher. 5. Add enough ground corn (polenta) to thicken the mixture to the texture of mashed potato. 6. Cook slightly, stirring so it does not stick. 7. Add salt to taste.

Serving suggestion Though the people of Com, near Los Palos, may eat this on its own as a staple food, it makes a good accompaniment to fish or meat with rice, vegetables or salad.

Mache! (This means Eat! in the Fataluku language of Timor-Leste’s Lautem District.)

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Appendix 5: The Crocodile that became Timor

Choose the best verbs to complete the folktale. Time ___________________, and one day the lad returned. He hardly recognised the crocodile: his burns had ___________________ and he _______________________ plump and well fed. ‘Listen Crocodile, my dream hasn’t gone away. I can’t stand it anymore.’ ‘A promise is a promise. I’ve been finding so much food that I’d almost _______________ my dream. You did well to come and remind me of it, Lad. Do you want to set off right now across the sea?’ ‘That’s the only thing I want Crocodile.’ ‘Then me too. Let’s be off.’ They were both delighted with the arrangement. The lad _________________ himself on the crocodile’s back, as if in a canoe, and they set off to sea. It was all so big and beautiful! What ____________________ them most was the open space, the size of the vista that stretched away before and above them endlessly. Day and night, night and day, they never rested. They __________ islands big and small, with trees and mountains and clouds. They could not say which was more beautiful, the days or the nights, the islands or the stars. They ________________ on and on, always following the sun, until the crocodile finally grew tired. ‘Listen lad. I can’t go on. My dream is over.’ ‘Mine will never be over …’ The lad was still speaking when the crocodile suddenly grew and __________ in size until, still keeping his original shape, he _________________ into an island covered with hills, woods and rivers. And that is why Timor is the shape of a crocodile.

grew passed astonished saw

turned forgotten settled disappeared

went looked

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Appendix 6: History of Timor-Leste

Create a timeline of the following events and dates.

Timor-Leste is occupied by Indonesia.

Timor-Leste and Australia sign the Timor Gap Treaty involving oil reserves.

Bishop Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos Horta are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Over three-quarters (78.5%) of people residing in the territory of Timor-Leste vote for full independence from Indonesia.

Portuguese explorers settle on the island of Timor.

Timor-Leste becomes an independent nation – the 191st member of the UN.

Portugal declares Portuguese Timor a colony.

Japan invades Portuguese Timor to fight Australian troops in World War II.

1520 1859 1942 1975 1996 1999 2002 2003

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Friendship School ProjectPurpose of unitsDevelopmentContact detailsUNIT 2. Timor-Leste – friends and close neighboursStage of schoolingLearning focusTexts / ResourcesOverviewDurationActivity 1: Introductory DVDActivity 2: Pre-existing knowledgeActivity 3: Guest speaker and interviewActivity 4: Education discussionActivity 5: MappingActivity 6: Language3. In small groups, have students make a chart that gives th

Activity 7: Village lifeActivity 8: FoodActivity 9: HousingActivity 10: HistoryActivity 11: PeopleActivity 12: FolktalesActivity 13: ExpoProvide a lunch of Tau Koi Rana (see Appendix 4).

Activity 14: Letter writingActivity 15: Final knowledge assessmentAssessmentAppendix 1: Timor-Leste knowledge assessmentAppendix 2: Education in Timor-Leste and Australia (Venn diaAppendix 3: Basic words in English, Tetum and PortugueseCounting Months of the yearEnglish Tetum English Tetum

Common greetingsEnglish PortugueseEnglish Tetum

Appendix 4: Recipe – Tau Koi RanaIngredientsMethodServing suggestionMache!

Appendix 5: The Crocodile that became TimorAppendix 6: History of Timor-Leste