National English Skills 7

Constructing a personal profile
Complete the profile of Oodgeroo Noonuccal.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
1 There were children in Oodgeroo’s family.
2 Her father’s employer was .
3 Her father’s weekly payment was .
4 The family belonged to the tribe.
5 The family lived on .
6 The family all the white man’s food.
7 The family ate
.
8 The family caught dugong each year.
9 was made from the intestine of the dugong.
10 Oodgeroo’s mother got the children to take the intestine into the water
because .
Social and cultural context
Social attitudes and different times and places have an effect upon the author and the
audience. Authors cannot avoid being influenced by their social experiences. Some
writers condemn their society’s values, while others endorse them.
A society’s culture includes the skills, arts and customs that are passed down from
generation to generation. Most countries of the world have their own special traditions
and customs.
Cartoon
Over the past fifty years, Australia has become known as a ‘throw-away society’. Like
many other countries, we have been strongly influenced by consumerism. We are
surrounded by advertising for new products to own, use and then throw away, and the
constant creation of disposable goods contributes to pollution of the earth, sea and sky.
2: Texts and contexts
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