Just like an English class, my colleagues Jen and John (JR) use the important Indigenous play 'The 7 Stages of Grieving' by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman as a spring board for discussion.

Not only do we discuss the play that we are currently teaching alongside ‘The Longest Memory’ by Fred D'Aguiar, but we also discuss our own Australian identities.

Jen in particular discusses the trauma around not fully having her own identity (potentially Indigenous) really clarified for her and her family. 

John discusses the importance of history in our curriculum and how he became such a strong ally and advocate for oppressed voices, including Aboriginal and Torrest Strait Islanders.

We also talk about

• the teaching of empathy through the English curriculum


• our favourite texts to teach and why


• the importance of storytelling


• the controversy surrounding Bruce Pascoe's 'Dark Emu' 

The conversation is not just for educators and students in VCE English, but also a wider audience because the themes are truly universal.

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