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TSO Songbook Part 1: Tingalayo

Tingalayo is a children's song from the Carribean that has many versions in Spanish-speaking and English-speaking cultures. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra have created a range of resources to explore and perform the song (in English and Spanish) in the classroom. Resources include a teacher's guide with differentiated ...

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Genghis Khan

This resource is a BBC audio recording about Genghis Khan. It consists of an interview by Melvyn Bragg with three historians of the period, discussing Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. The discussion includes details of Genghis Khan's birth in the 12th century, his early life, his leadership of a great empire and his ...

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TSO Songbook Part 1: Chan Mali Chan

Chan Mali Chan is a popular folk song from Malaysia and Singapore. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra have created a range of resources to explore and perform the folk song (in English and Malaysian) in the classroom. Resources include a teacher's guide with differentiated teaching and learning activities and assessment ideas ...

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Heywire: Spanning the generations in an unlikely friendship

Do you think strangers with 60 years of age between them can become friends? When eighteen, George Baker found out that they can when he befriended Geoff, a man in his eighties. Could you write or record a story about yourself and/or your community? The ABC's Heywire competition calls for stories from 16-22-year-olds in ...

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Heywire: When I'm riding, I don't think about my Asperger's

Jordan Gyss, who was born with Asperger's syndrome, says he found life before cycling 'one giant pain'. In this Heywire audio story, he describes how competitive cycling helps him manage his condition while providing a source of excitement and challenge. Could you write or record a similar story about yourself and/or your ...

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Heywire: Hip hop against waste dump

Many hip hop artists have expressed concerns about the world through their music. The Northern Territory's Kylie Sambo is no exception. Listen to her protest against the construction of a nuclear waste dump on her people's lands in Muckaty, near Tennant Creek. Could you write or record a story about yourself and/or your ...

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Radio National: What makes a great speech?

Did you know that making a speech in public is rated as one of most people's greatest fears? There is however an art to making a great speech. Listen as Don Watson speech-writer for the former Prime minister Paul Keating, Michael Gurr playwright and speech-writer, and Ted Widmer foreign policy speech writer for former US ...

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Radio National: Was Shakespeare psychic, or just a smart guy?

Shakespeare's plays are strangely relevant to today's world. Could he see what the world would be like 400 years into the future, or is it just that humans haven't changed much? Hear Phillip Adams and John Bell (actor and director of the Bell Shakespeare company) discussing Shakespeare's enduring relevance, as well as his ...

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Radio National: Different meanings for the same word

<span style="line-height: 1.4;">You've heard people speaking English with different accents, but have you noticed that the differences in accent come down to the way words are pronounced? Listen to this interview with linguist David Crystal and find out about accents and why the same word can mean something different or ...

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Big Ideas: Evolving English and the impact of television

Imagine if the English language never evolved. What would we be speaking? Possibly Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxon tribes, a language written down using runes known as the 'futhorc'. English continues to evolve, but it takes the media to bring new words into common usage. So which form of media is responsible ...

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Radio National: What makes Shakespeare so special anyway?

Few literary figures are as widely revered as William Shakespeare. But just how did this glove-maker's son grow to become the greatest writer of the English language? Explore the extraordinary appeal of Shakespeare with John Bell, Australia's pre-eminent Shakespearean actor and director. If you like this clip, listen to ...

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Heywire: Autobiography of a flood survivor

Imagine if the town or suburb you live in came under threat due to a natural disaster. How would you react? Shelby Garlick from Kerang, Victoria, was a finalist of the 2012 Heywire storytelling competition for young people. Listen to her inspiring story and explore the lessons she learnt as a result of working with her ...

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Big Ideas: Evolving English and the role of social media

How many times have you heard teenagers berated for using the term 'like'? Yet this term has existed at least since 1586 when the term, 'Yon man is like out of his mind' was written into history. The truth is, our language is constantly evolving, with new words added, others dying off and some resurfacing again. In this ...

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Radio National: Shakespeare sweated it!

Ben Jonson, a 17th-century playwright and critic, said of Shakespeare that 'a great poet is not just born, but made'. Enjoy this discussion between Phillip Adams and John Bell, Australian actor and director of the Bell Shakespeare company. They explore soliloquies, authorship and why Shakespeare came to be considered the ...

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Coastal erosion and king tides

A friendly discussion about the economic and environmental impacts of ways of dealing with the problems of simultaneous king tides and tidal surges associated with storms from a Californian perspective. Download the audio or view the transcript of this ABC radio interview.

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Green glow of radiation

Coming into contact with a large dose of radiation is known to be hazardous. But will it make you light up like a car dashboard at night? Some anecdotes that will engage the students to learn about radioactivity while dispelling a few myths.

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Conserving seeds of agricultural crops

This radio interview discusses how Global Crop Diversity Trust is trying to conserve the biodiversity of the world's agricultural crops. A network of seed banks is being developed, together with a backup in a mountain in Norway. Just 10 or 12 crops dominate human nutrition. And there's turnover in varieties as crops are ...

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Malaria: affects animals as well as humans

This program is an excellent example of the latest research into one of the world's most deadly disease. Humans are infected by five out of the two hundred species of malaria parasite. But birds, bats, lizards and antelopes are also hosts for malaria parasites. Each species of malaria has a different life cycle and life ...

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Gateway to Chinese

This website is a collection of resources that practise the skills of pronunciation, listening, reading, grammar and vocabulary for beginning Chinese language learners. The linked resources provide both characters and Pinyin for reading and are accompanied with audio to listen to the Chinese as well. This resource is part ...

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Radio National: Sir Henry Parkes's Tenterfield Oration, 1889

What role did Henry Parkes play in the federation of Australia? Listen to a re-enactment of Sir Henry Parkes's famous 1889 speech in Tenterfield, known as the Tenterfield Oration. Note in particular the arguments Parkes used to gain political support.