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Activities for pages 14 and 15 of the Minerals Downunder Student book:
Discuss with students the different meanings of the major heading Going for Gold such as mining gold, competing for a gold medal, various gold rushes in history.
Students could then analyse the photographs and their captions, group them (historical aspects, appearance of gold, current gold industry, storage options) and then check which parts of the text are linked to the pictures.
Going for Gold is typical of texts at this level. It is made up of more than one genre, otherwise known as a multi-generic text.
Ask students to identify some of the language features of the first and last sections and ask them to identify which genre these are, noting that the featrues of historical recounts include past tense, specific people of importance, specific dates and places.
Ask students to work in pairs to identify the genre and major language features of the second section which is a report organised into classification, qualities and uses. Its features include present tense, the work 'gold' often at the front of the sentences and technical words.
As a class, analyse the third sectin in terms of genre and language. The purpose of this section is to instruct the reader in how to fossick. Ask students how this sectin could have been written to make it quite clear that they were indeed instructions. For example, this procedure could be written using features of a typical procedure. The goal could be 'How to Fossick.' A list of essential requirements (such as permission from the landowner, a map of the area), numbered steps or dot points and commands using the imperative mood (eg 'Scoop up the sediment from a creek bed in a pan'). Students could rewrite Anyone Can Go For Gold - Fossicking for Gold Today in this way.
