Asian Studies Program

Chinese Australia

Teacher's guide

for To Stay or To Go
by Jill Wilson

Introduction

Use this WebQuest to help 7 - 9 Social Studies students learn the experiences of the Chinese at Federation and to wrestle with classic migrant dilemmas such as whether to assimilate into mainstream culture, questions of identity and allegiance to the original culture versus the host culture, clashes of cultural values, treatment by white Australians and the inevitable success stories which have accompanied migration to Australia.

Aims of this Quest:

  1. To encourage students to 'step into the lives' of specific Chinese at the time of Federation and empathise with their situation
  2. Encourage students to articulate a specific point of view within a group
  3. Provide a format for the synthesis of a range of viewpoints
  4. Provide an opportunity to examine one of the core underlying narratives of white Australian history, namely reactions to migration from Asia

Implicit in the activities is an echo of contemporary reactions to migration. While the quest does not explicitly explore this theme, it provides a jumping-off point for teachers and students to make compaisons and contrasts. This is to be encouraged.

Other advice in working with this quest includes:

  1. The webquest assumes a certain level of knowledge about the experiences of the Chinese prior to the Federation. The Knowledge Hunt will provide students with this information. The Subject Sampler is designed to 'whet' their appetites rather than providing a lot of information.
  2. Some of the URL's go past 1901 in terms of the experiences of the Chinese. Teachers should acknowledge this with students but state that for the purposes of the quest, the assumption will be that all the experiences canvassed are relevant to the quest.

Overview

Main Topic: Chinese at Federation

Subtopics: Experiences on the goldfields, Experiences post goldfields, The White Australia Policy,

Grade Level: 7 - 9

Subject(s): Social Studies

Learning Goal: engaging in critical thinking

Vision and Reality

If the learning goal were achieved in the most ideal of perfect worlds it would look something like:

This Quest will hopefully work in a number of ways.

  1. It will help students to 'stand in the shoes' of specific Chinese as they faced the challenges of being in Australia of the 1900's.
  2. Encourage students to wrestle with the classis migrant dilemmas such as assimilation and whether to stay or go
  3. Help students see that the current narratives about migration to Australia have a deep reverberation in out history

However, what I anticipate probably looks more like:

Based on the Vision set for this activity, the actual reality is more likely to be that students may gain a simple understanding of the challenges facing specific groups of Chinese immigrants during this period (Federation).

The teacher can make a difference here by encouraging a depth of empathy and understanding of the compexities underlying their situation, both in Australia and China. The teacher can also work with the students in teasing out some contemporary links or connections.

The What-If Inventory

To give the activity its best chance at helping students learn, I assembled this list of possible resources:

  • Technology Resources
  • Internet Potential
  • Possible Collaborations
  • Special Events
  • General Resources
  • Standards