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Insight: Engage

‘We have survived – and now we must thrive’ Dr Chris Sarra (NAIDOC Person of the Year, 2016)

Welcome back for Term 3, and welcome back to the Insight blog. This week’s post celebrates the start of a new term with a speech delivered by Dr Chris Sarra, who was named the 2016 NAIDOC Person of the Year last Friday night.

You may have missed this story flipping through the papers on the weekend – not from any oversight of your own, but because it wasn’t discussed widely by many major news outlets.

Dr Sarra is the founder and Chairman of the Stronger Smarter Institute, an organisation dedicated to improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students in Australia. For those of you not familiar with his work and philosophy you can read his bio and explore the work of the Stronger Smarter Institute here.

This speech, ‘We Indigenous people are stronger than we believe, and smarter than we know’ is a must-read. It’s a call to action – to improve the standards of education provided for Indigenous Australians – a challenge to politicians to start formal treaty discussions and a powerful expression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander strength, culture and pride.

The speech would provide a good starting point for reintroducing Context discussions of ‘Exploring issues of identity and belonging’ or ‘Whose reality?’ It would also be a sensational model for how to write a speech. Not only is the content incredibly compelling, but the structure of the speech makes use of all the best techniques of speechmaking.

Click the icon below for a free downloadable PDF of analysis questions and writing tasks based on the speech. Please note that all links below and in the PDF will take you to third-party sites.

Best wishes and happy Term 3.

Sandra Duncanson
Senior Editor

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The resource

‘We Indigenous people are stronger than we believe, and smarter than we know’, by

Suitability and relevance

  • Form: speech transcript
  • Central topics: improving Indigenous education outcomes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage and the importance of the government negotiating a treaty with Indigenous Australians.
  • Content warnings: There is a reference to the speech honouring Indigenous ‘ghost children’ which may raise issues of youth suicide.
  • Suitable for: Years 11–12.

Additional resources

 

 

 

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