Unit 10: ǸɑɜȣǸȽȇȇɤɕɜ

HȐȇ
Red is the colour
of my Blood;
of the earth, of which I am a part;
of the sun as it rises, or sets,
of which I am a part;
of the blood
of the animals,
of which I am a part;
of the flowers, like the waratah,
of the twining pea,
of which I am a part;
of the blood of the tree
of which I am a part.
For all things are a part of me,
and I am a part of them.
W. Les Russell

W. Les Russell was born in Melbourne in 1949.

His traditional name is Boolidt Boolidtha.
He spent his early years in rural Victoria.

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ɤɕɜLɜɄɑȹ
Old man kicking up dust —
Emu’s close by —
Old man waving red rag,
Emu opens his eyes.

Old man moving faster,

Dust swirling mad and high —
Emu’s senses tells him be cautious
As old man and weapon close by.

Hunting Emu can be fun

And played for hours —
Only trouble is dust storm —
Bringing on showers.

Old man moves for cover,

Cliff is overhanging —
Old man wait in comfort —
Cliff blocks out the sun.
Aunty Beryl Carmichael

Aunty Beryl Carmichael was born on Old Menindee Mission, NSW,

in 1935. Her traditional name is Yungha-dhu. Aunty Beryl is an
elder of the Ngiyampaa tribe from the Darling region of NSW.

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 In the texts
1 Poetry expresses thoughts and feelings.
Read the poems on pages 98 and 99 aloud to a classmate. Done
a List the things that the author of Red feels a part of.

b What is Dust Storm about?

 a hunting lesson  an emu hunter’s day
 predicting desert weather  how emus find food
2 Count the punctuation marks in the poems.
Red Dust Storm
, comma a
; semicolon b
— dash c
. full stop d
e Why do you think Red has semicolons at the end of some lines instead of commas?

f Why do you think Dust Storm has dashes instead of semicolons?

g Why do you think there is no punctuation at the end of some lines?

3 a Which clause is repeated in Red?

b Which preposition is repeated in Red?
c What effect does repeating this word have? Hint: prepositions relate one thing to another.

4 Write different titles for the poems. Think about how the poems make you feel.
a Red:
b Dust Storm:
5 The poems are by Aboriginal writers. Do you think a non-Aboriginal person could write
about these topics? Explain your answer.

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Read and learn
1 a Label these things from the text on page 98.

_________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________

_________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________

b What do they have in common?

2 Write definitions for these words.

a rural:
b Mission (proper noun):
3 Explain what the writer is saying in the last two lines of Red.

4 In Dust Storm, what do the emu’s senses tell it?

5 What can spoil the fun of hunting emus?

6 Explain why hunting emus could be fun.

7 What weapon might the old man carry?

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 A response is a personal
reaction to a text. It uses:
Your turn • relating, action, thinking and
saying verbs
1 What do you think of the poems on pages 98 and 99? • present tense or past tense
Give reasons for your answers. • persuasive words, if making
a judgement.
a Which topic do you like most?

b Which poem is easiest to understand?

c Which poem uses more descriptive language? Give examples.

d Which poem paints the most interesting picture? How does the writer do that?

e What is the difference in the layout of the poems?

f Which poem do you like best and why?

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 Poetry shows feelings and
thoughts about people, things
and experiences. It works
through our emotions and
2 Look at the setting sun on pages 98 and 99. imaginations. It may also
rhyme. Poetry uses:
a Choose an Aboriginal word for sun. There are about 200 different
• rhythm
Aboriginal languages; here are the words for sun from four of them. • stanza structure
• different text types, such as
Language Spoken in Word that means sun recount and description.
Kamilaroi New South Wales yaraay (say “ya-ray”)
Kaurna South Australia tindo (say “tin-doe”)
Wagiman Northern Territory ngurrun (say “n-grr-en”)
Yawuru Western Australia rumarra (say “roo-murra”)
b Plan a poem where you imagine the sun is like a person (this is called personification).
Write some of the things the sun does that a person also does, eg gets up, rises.

c Write some of the things that a person does that the sun could do, eg looks, watches, rests.

d Write your poem from these ideas — it does not have to rhyme. Start the first and last lines with
the sun’s name.

3 An Aboriginal artist may paint the sun in this way. Draw a scene from your poem.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 103
Synonyms and antonyms
1 A synonym is a word with the same or similar meaning as another word.
Synonyms expand your vocabulary and make your writing more interesting.
Using a thesaurus, find five synonyms for each adjective.
a small
b sad
c silly
d smooth
e still
f smart
2 Rewrite these phrases with synonyms from question 1.
a a small mistake
b a sad child
c a silly joke
d a smooth beach
e a still pond
f a smart dog
3 Use a thesaurus to find a suitable synonym for the coloured words.
a The example the teacher gave was a bad ___________________________ one.
b The old ___________________________ actor hobbled across the stage.
c We walked ___________________________ all the way down the corridor.
d They needed help to lift the heavy ___________________________ packages.
e Grandma rubbed Tom’s stomach carefully ___________________________ to ease the pain.
f When you have finished, please revise ___________________________ your writing.
4 Using a thesaurus, find three synonyms for each verb.
a run
b roll
c rest
d rescue

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5 Use synonyms from question 4, or from a thesaurus, to complete the sentences.
a I’ll have to ___________________________ for the bus.
b Please ___________________________ my fish and chips in paper.
c I’ll need to ___________________________ at the top of the hill.
d We hope to ___________________________ the trapped horse.
6 An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. Some dictionaries
give an antonym for a word after its meaning. Draw lines to match the antonyms.
a many ancient
b tall steady
c modern short
d wobbly clean
e soiled few
f hold release
7 You can often make an antonym by adding a prefix or suffix to a word.
Add the prefix un, in or im to make antonyms of these words.
a possible f able
b active g complete
c patient h attractive
d perfect i done
e formal j impressed
8 Add the prefix dis or mis to make antonyms of these words.
a honest e believe
b informed f loyal
c match g understood
d respect h spell
9 Change the suffix less or ful to make antonyms of these words.
a hopeful c tasteful
b joyless d powerless

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 Assessment: Units 9 and 10
Print your name here:
(First name) (Family name)

This is a test to see how well you understand There are three different ways to show your
what you have read, and to see what you know answer:
about using language, spelling and punctuation. • Shade the bubble next to the correct
It is also a writing test. answer. O
• Write a word in a box. IV[_MZ
Instructions
• Write a number in a box. 
Read each question carefully. Some questions
will ask you to read a text from another page in
this book before answering.

Use a pencil. DO NOT use a pen. If you make a mistake, rub it out and try again.

Start of test
4 The fastest avalanche happened when
Read the texts on page 90, and answer O snow rushed down Mount St Helens.
questions 1 to 4. O a volcano erupted in Washington, USA.
O rock and snow reached 402 km/h.
1 An avalanche is a mass of O rocks fell into a volcano.
O snow which slides down a mountain.
O snow, rock and soil. Read the texts on page 91, and answer
O snow, rock or soil which slides down questions 5 to 8.
a mountain.
O snow and rock sliding down a mountain. 5 Four verbs in How to Start a
Snowmobile are:
2 The worst avalanche in history killed O pull, turn, ready, locate.
1 800 people in Peru in 1970. O locate, pull, attach, ready.
O True O locate, pull, turn, attach.
O False O turn, attach, pull, kill.

3 Choose the best answer. 6 The kill switch and the choke are
Avalanches are caused by O under the handlebars.
O people messing about in snow. O on top of the handlebars.
O rain, wind and storms. O on top of and under the handlebars.
O natural and human actions. O on the right side of the handlebars.
O falling trees, wind and weather.

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7 The choke should be 12 This poem is mainly about
O attached to your wrist. O the colour red.
O pushed in to make it work. O things that are red.
O pulled out to make it work. O how red things belong together.
O pulled out, then pushed in. O how things connected to the poet
are red.
8 Which statement do you think is true?
Dogs are used in snow rescues for their Read Dust Storm on page 99, and answer
O ability to be trained and sense of smell. questions 13 to 18.
O obedience and kindness.
O energy and sense of smell. 13 The words Emu’s close by mean
O ability to carry rescue equipment. O emus are close by.
O an emu is close by.
Read Red on page 98, and answer
questions 9 to 12. 14 The words Emu’s senses tell him be
cautious mean
9 The poet says he is part of O the senses of emus are warning them.
O the earth, blood, animals and flowers. O the senses of an emu are warning him.
O the earth, the blood of animals and trees,
and the sun. 15 When it rained, the Old Man moved out
O animals, sun, flowers and blood. of the sun.
O the earth, flowers, trees and me. O True
O False
10 Which statement is false?
O The poet has an Aboriginal name and 16 The poet is
an English name. O a man called Yungha-dhu.
O The poet moved to Melbourne in 1949. O an Aboriginal woman from the town
O W. Les Russell grew up in Victoria. of Darling.
O W. Les Russell was born in Melbourne. O an elder of her tribe.
O a woman called Beryl, who was born
11 The poet says “all things are part of me, in a church.
and I am a part of them”.
What does he mean? 17 The punctuation marks at the ends of
O Everything must live together. the first two lines are
O The land and living things must respect O dashes.
humans. O colons.
O The land and living things are linked. O semicolons.
O Animals, plants and the land belong O hyphens.
to humans.

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 Assessment: Units 9 and 10

18 Hunting emus can be 23 Adding which suffix forms an antonym

O fun but ends too quickly. from the word taste?
O boring but necessary for food. O less
O fun and goes for hours. O ful
O dangerous because of the hot weather. O y
O un
19 Which preposition correctly completes the
sentence? The spelling mistakes in these sentences have
A climber found a cliff ____________ the been circled. Write the correct spelling for each
mountains. circled word in the box.
O under
O in 24 The rescue team is hopefull that the
O above climber is safe.
O of

20 Write a preposition to correctly complete

the sentence. 25 Emily’s school project was uncomplete .
The helicopter sat ____________ the ground,
waiting for the rescue team.

21 Which word is an antonym of swirling?

O whirling
O still
O dust
O spinning

22 Which word is a synonym of avoid?

O hug
O embrace
O escape
O consider

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26 Tiny, your pet Saint Bernard rescue dog, is sick! Tiny has helped with many rescues and
now needs to get to a veterinary hospital. Write a procedure for getting Tiny from your house
to the veterinary hospital. Remember: Tiny is big and heavy, so you’ll need more than one
person to move her.
Write a short statement
that introduces what the
procedure is about.

Use dot points to list

everything you will need
to move Tiny. How will
she be lifted? How will
she travel?

Write steps for the

procedure. Give clear,
simple instructions and
number each step.
Use action verbs and
connectives, eg first,
then, next, after, this,
finally.

After the steps, write

a short statement that
sums up and says what
happens next.

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