Behind the News 2008

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Questions are a good way to stimulate thinking and discussion after watching Behind the News.

Some of the questions below rely on factual recollection, while others are designed to help students create

connections to make the content of Behind the News more meaningful.

Students best develop visual & critical literacy skills by watching Behind the News without note taking.

Water licences 1. How many states does the Murray-Darling Basin lie across? Name the states. 2. Why is it called the Murray-Darling Basin? 3. How much of the food produced in Australia comes from the Murray-Darling Basin? 4. How many Australians does the Murray-Darling Basin provide drinking water for? 5. Why are the wetlands important? 6. What is the environmental impact of too much water being pumped out by irrigators? 7. Who distributes the water licences? 8. Why does the Federal Government want to buy back water licences? 9. How much are they planning to spend buying back licences from farmers? 10. How does this improve the health of the rivers?

FOLLOW-UP TASK: What impact does the health of the Murray-Darling Basin have on you and the way you live?

Language Teaching 1. Why are the economies of China and India important to Australia? 2. Discuss with other class members what you think the term `Global Community’ means? 3. How many languages are spoken in Australia? 4. Why do many children in Europe speak more than one language? 5. What is the language most spoken in the world? 6. Why does the Prime Minister believe that kids should learn an Asian language? 7. How much has the Government promised to spend to encourage schools to teach languages? 8. Why do scientists believe that it is easier for young children to learn a language? 9. Describe your own experience of learning another language. 10. Do you think it is important that all children learn a language from a young age?

FOLLOW-UP TASK: “Should kids have to learn foreign languages from when they start kindergarten?” Vote in the online poll

Underwater Volcanoes 1. What is the Kermadec arc? 2. Where is it located? 3. Why do you think Dr de Ronde has been described as a modern day Captain Cook? 4. What is the name of the volcano that Dr de Ronde has been exploring? 5. Apart from the volcano, what else did they find? 6. How do the plants and animals living around the volcano survive? 7. Describe the barnacles that were found. 8. What minerals are found around the volcano? 9. A company is already trying to work out how to mine these minerals. What might be the

environmental impact if this occurs? 10. What new species have they found in the southern oceans?

Behind the News 2008

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FOLLOW-UP TASK: Take a virtual tour of the Kermadec arc. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05fire/background/kermadecarc/kermadecarc.html

Prince Harry

1. Why do some people believe that Prince Harry should not go to war? 2. How long has Prince Harry been fighting in Afghanistan? 3. How does Prince Harry feel about being involved in the war in Afghanistan? 4. What is an ‘embargo’? 5. What happened in Darwin in World War II? 6. What was the reason for not telling the public all the details? 7. Why was there an embargo on the Prince Harry story? 8. Some people believe that the media shouldn’t be told what they can and can’t report. What do you

think? 9. Do you think Prince Harry should have stayed in Afghanistan? Why? 10. Do you think there should be penalties or consequences for media outlets that break an embargo?

Explain your reasons. FOLLOW-UP TASK: Send a message or tell us what you think about this issue on the Behind the News Guestbook

Elephant Culling

1. Why were elephants shot last century? 2. What year was there a worldwide ban on ivory trading? 3. How many elephants live in Kruger National Park in South Africa? 4. What is culling? 5. Why do authorities want to resume elephant culling? 6. Why do some people believe this is wrong? 7. What are some alternatives to culling? 8. What might be some of the issues with using some of these alternatives? 9. Describe what you know about culling or plans to cull animals in Australia. 10. What do park rangers believe are threatened because of elephant over population?

FOLLOW-UP TASK: Test your knowledge in the online quiz.

Behind the News 2008

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Water Licences Curriculum Outcome Links: Society and Environment/HSIE DATE 4/03/08

Student learning outcomes

Students will: Develop an understanding of the importance of the Murray-Darling Basin. Develop an understanding of what water licences are. Reflect on how water restrictions affect the way people live.

Focus Questions

1. How many states does the Murray-Darling Basin lie across? Name the states. 2. Why is it called the Murray-Darling Basin? 3. How much of the food produced in Australia comes from the Murray-Darling Basin? 4. How many Australians does the Murray-Darling Basin provide drinking water for? 5. Why are the wetlands important? 6. What is the environmental impact of too much water being pumped out by irrigators? 7. Who distributes the water licences? 8. Why does the Federal Government want to buy back water licences? 9. How much are they planning to spend buying back licences from farmers? 10. How does this improve the health of the rivers?

Water Restrictions

In the same way that the Government is trying to decrease the direct use of water from the Murray-Darling Basin by the farmers, the water use of householders and other groups in the community is also being regulated. Brainstorm how water restrictions affect you and your family. What changes have you had to make to the way you live? Record your ideas. Research what the water restrictions are in your state. How have restrictions changed in the last 12 months. Has the recent flooding in some parts of Australia impacted on water restrictions? What else can the Government, industry and householders do to decrease the amount of water being used? Present the information you have collected about water restrictions at a school assembly.

Behind the News 2008

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Follow-up Suggestions NATURALISTIC Visit the Basin Kids website and look at the photo gallery of native fish. Click on the name of the fish to find out more. Why are native fish important to the Murray-Darling Basin? http://kids.mdbc.gov.au/basin_fish/alien_fish VISUAL – SPATIAL Make a word puzzle or game (crossword, wonderword or pictionary) using words associated with water. Try to include new or unfamiliar words in your puzzle or game. INTRAPERSONAL Think about your own water use at home. Keep a journal of what you and your family do to conserve water around the home. What else could you do to conserve water? INTERPERSONAL Interview your local fruit and vegetable shop owner about how the drought has impacted on their business. Where in Australia and overseas do they get their fruit and vegetables from? LOGICAL AND MATHEMATICAL Use the Internet to research how much water is needed to produce food. Record your findings in graph form. VERBAL – LINGUISTIC Write a response to the following statement: “Water is essential for the basic survival of life on Earth”. BODILY – KINAESTHETIC Play a game of charades – act out `water’ words.

Related Research Links http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/26/2173120.htm

http://www.environment.gov.au/water/mdb/overallocation.html

http://www.mdbc.gov.au/subs/The_River/february2008/index.html

http://kids.mdbc.gov.au/__data/page/337/animation.swf

http://rivermurray.com/html/about_the_murray/murray_darling_basin.html#water

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Elephant Culling Curriculum Outcome Links: Society and Environment/HSIE DATE 4/03/08

Subject: Animal culling

Student learning outcomes

Students will:

Develop an understanding of what culling is and why it occurs. Understand different perspectives regarding the issue of culling.

Focus Questions

1. Why were elephants shot last century? 2. What year was there a worldwide ban on ivory trading? 3. How many elephants live in Kruger National Park in South Africa? 4. What is culling? 5. Why do authorities want to resume elephant culling? 6. Why do some people believe this is wrong? 7. What are some alternatives to culling? 8. What might be some of the issues with using some of these alternatives? 9. Describe what you know about culling or plans to cull animals in Australia. 10. What do park rangers believe are threatened because of elephant over-population?

To cull or not to cull…

1. In small groups, research the reasons for culling animals. Topics to explore could

include:

Economic Cultural Environmental.

2. Develop a case for or against animal culling stating the reasons why you believe it

should or shouldn’t happen.

3. Present your case to the class. Consider how you will present the information. Some suggestions include:

A formal class debate Powerpoint presentation Role play Using graphic organisers (Inspiration software)

4. Tell us what you think about the issue on the Behind the News Guestbook

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Knowing What do you now know about culling that you didn’t know before? Understanding Research animal culling in Australia. Show on a map areas that have either culled or are planning to cull animals. Show graphically what the animals are and the reasons for doing it. Applying Design a leaflet or poster for an animal rights group or a pro-culling group advertising your point of view. Analysing Do you think the type of animal being culled affects how people feel about the act of culling? Creating Create an art work or cartoon based on the topic of animal culling. Evaluating Tally the number of people in your class or other classes that are for or against culling. Do you think this represents the view of society? Why or why not?

Related Research Links http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2172463.htm http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005/11/21/1511044.htm http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/2006/s1904205.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7260000/newsid_7263300/7263338.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/static/find_out/specials/newsround_extra/africa/html/game.stm

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TRANSCRIPTS 4/03/08

Episode 3. On this week's Behind the News should the media have kept quiet about Harry? Is it time to cull elephants? And the magical mysteries on the ocean bed. Hi I'm Catherine Ellis, welcome to BTN. Also on the show today... the push to make kids learn more languages. Those items later but first to our top story. PRINCE HARRY Catherine Ellis, Reporter INTRO: Last year, there was a huge debate about whether Prince Harry should be sent overseas to fight. But then it all went quiet and we didn't hear about him for ages. Why? Well, we've just found out that for the last few months he's been fighting anyway! It turns out the media were keeping it a secret. When you think of the royal family... you generally think of palaces, luxury and the finer things in life. Not exactly what you were thinking is it? This is what Prince Harry has been up to for the past few months; fighting with the British Army in Afghanistan. Where's that? Well it's a long way from the United Kingdom in Central Asia but the British Army is there with soldiers from other countries including Australia. They're helping the Afghanistan government to keep the peace Harry was deployed to the front line in December last year and has since been personally involved in battles with Taliban fighters. It's very dangerous work but the young guy who's third in line to the throne is loving it! PRINCE HARRY "I don't think there are any words to describe it, it's just really nice to be out here, I've only been out here for a short time, I hope to be out here for a lot longer and go through it with everyone else." But wait a second. Sending such an important royal to war sounds like huge news. Why are we only just hearing about it now? We rely on the news organisations to tell us about all the important things happening in the world. Everything from wars, disasters, crimes and sporting achievements are splashed across our screens every night. So why didn't we hear about this back in December? Well sometimes news organisations are asked not to tell us certain things. It can be for lots of reasons such as to protect someone's privacy or to help the public. For example the police sometimes ask reporters not to tell some details of a crime so they can catch a criminal. That's called an 'embargo'.

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It happened in Australia way back in the second World War. Japan launched a massive air attack against Darwin in the Northern Territory. It was devastating. 251 people were killed. You would think that such a tragic event would have been reported in full but while newspapers did say the bombing had happened, they didn't say anyone had died. The reason for this was that the government thought people would be scared if they knew what really happened and they also didn't want the enemy to know exactly how much damage was done. You might remember last year we told you Prince Harry was probably not going to be sent to fight because the army thought it was too risky. They thought if the enemy knew he was over there they would purposely try and kill him. Killing a member of the Royal family would be a big prize. But after we and many other news stations reported that, the British Army decided to send him anyway. Their condition was that the media was not allowed to publish the story. So they pretty much kept it a secret to keep Harry safe. That was until a few media places including an Aussie magazine decided to break the embargo and report it anyway. That upset the army which says it put the lives of Harry and his fellow soldiers at extra risk. But there are others who say the news organisations shouldn't have agreed to withhold the story. They say that we rely on the media to tell us what's going on and if they don't tell us everything then it can be misleading. Both sides of the debate will keep arguing their point but in the meantime, the Prince has flown back to England because it's too dangerous for him to stay The Prince says he wants to go back to fight again when he can but that will mean the media will have to keep quiet so there's bound to be more debate.

What do you think? Should the media have kept quiet about Harry? Let us know in our Guestbook. Now here's Sarah with some other stories making news.

THE WIRE On Sunday 800 thousand Aussies got their hands dirty making the country a cleaner place. Clean up Australia Day organisers say more than 7 thousand tonnes of rubbish were removed from all sorts of places. And while it came in all different shapes and sizes, the biggest culprit was recyclable drink containers, which made up a third of all the rubbish collected. ************** In Victoria the platypus population at Victoria's Healesville Sanctuary has been given a boost with a pair of very small additions. Two babies have been born to parents Barak and Binarri.

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The sanctuary says they're the first offspring born to captive-bred platypuses anywhere in the world. The babies will stay under the watchful eye of staff for a year before they're transferred to another zoo as part of a national breeding program. ************* And could dogs and cats be fighting with a grasshopper for a place on the couch in your house? It seems insects are finding their way into Australian homes and not as pests. The hobby of insect keeping has become so popular that the Melbourne museum has released a guide on how to do it. The museum has also put on an exhibition so people can get to know the creepy-crawlies. WATER LICENSES Catherine Ellis, Reporter INTRO: We've all heard of buying and selling cars and homes and stuff but did you know farmers buy and sell water? Well they do. And now the Federal Government wants to join in the trade. It's offering millions of dollars to farmers in the Murray Darling Basin. We thought we'd find out why. REPORTER: Whoops! Thank goodness, the trusty basin. Did you know Australia has its own trusty basin? But it's a lot more important. It's the Murray Darling Basin. It's called that because the Murray River and the Darling River flow through it. There are actually 12 basins in Australia but this one is the biggest. What's a basin? Well it is like the basin in your bathroom. it collects water and channels it into a river. The Murray Darling basin takes up a big chunk of south-eastern Australia and lies across four states: South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the ACT. But at the moment it's really not that well and if it gets much worse it could have a huge effect on all of Australia. You see almost half the food produced in Australia comes from the basin. anything from your lettuces and tomatoes to your oranges and grapes. It also provides drinking water for more than three million Aussies. And around 30 000 wetlands can be found in the basin which are important breeding grounds for birds and fish. Environmentalists say wetlands are drying up, native fish are struggling to survive, and many areas of land are becoming too salty for plants to grow. So why is it in trouble? Well the drought is a big problem. And the Government is worried about the amount of water being pumped out of it especially by farmers to water their crops. Pretend this is the Murray Darling Basin.

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Now at the moment, if farmers want to take the water, they have to have a special licence. And there is only a set number of these licenses. But having one doesn't mean you can take as much water as you want. the state governments decide how much the farmers are allowed. Now if the farmers don't think they'll use all the water they're allowed they can trade their water allowance with other farmers. There is actually a water trading market. But now the Federal Government wants to join that trade and buy $50 million dollars worth of water from the farmers. But it doesn't want to water crops. It wants to leave the water in the river system to try and improve its health, to fill up those wetlands and help the trees and fish. Will it work? Well there's some debate about that. Some farmers say they can't sell their water because they need it for their crops and they're already dry because of the drought. Others say we need to put much more water back into the system and the government needs to act faster. But the government says this is only a first step in a big plan.

***** OK let’s do a watery quiz ¶ What is the tallest single drop waterfall in Australia? Wallaman Falls

LANGUAGE TEACHING

Sarah Larsen, Reporter INTRO: The Wallaman Falls are in Queensland and are just over 300 metres tall. The tallest in the world are the 'Angel Falls' in Venezuela which are almost a thousand metres high. Of course if you went to Venezuela it might help if you could speak their language especially if you wanted to ask directions to the falls. But experts say lots of Aussie kids can't speak a foreign language and that's a serious problem. They reckon it's time kids start as soon as they can. Here's Sarah. Not knowing a language can be a problem. Luckily, not knowing Mandarin won't stop me enjoying my lunch this time. But if I was doing business overseas, it might be a different story. The economies of lots of countries near Australia are booming, like China and India, and they're really important to Australia. And it’s not just Asia. These days business really is global. REPORTER: We're pretty lucky, really. More than any other time in history we have the world at our fingertips. We can play games with people in Europe and right now I'm buying a stereo from someone in Hong Kong! Australians regularly trade with people overseas. We share scientific research, we go on holidays and take in tourists, we even share movies and TV shows. One problem; language.

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At the moment there are almost 400 languages being spoken just in Australia. Around the world there are more than 6000! It could certainly make life a lot easier if you speak a few of them. Bastian is in Year 6 and has lived in Australia for a year. BASTIEN: I'm from France and I already learned at least four languages including French and I also went to China to learn Chinese which is my third and Japanese is my fourth. REPORTER: In European countries it’s not unusual for kids to learn three or four languages. And if you look at Europe you can see why; there are so many countries next to each other. Australia's a lot further away from its neighbours. But a recent study has said Aussie kids should still be learning another language. The Prime Minister speaks fluent Mandarin, which is now the most spoken language in the world. It's the native language of more than a billion Chinese people. Spanish, English and Arabic are the next most common. The PM reckons Aussie kids should speak Asian languages so we can talk to people in countries closest to us. He's promised to spend 68 million dollars to set up courses in schools. These kids are learning to speak Japanese. Sounds good, but its hard work. Luckily for you, languages are much easier for kids. Lots of scientists reckon the younger you are, the spongier your brain is, and the easier you can soak up new things. That's why the PM wants kids to start learning languages in Kindergarten. BEN: I've been studying Japanese since reception REPORTER: And how much do you know? BEN: A lot. Looks like I've got some work to do.

ONLINE POLL

Now what do you feel about that? Show us by voting in our online poll . The question is "Should kids have to learn foreign languages from when they start kindergarten?" Just head to our website at abc.net.au/btn and click 'yes' or 'no'

ELEPHANTS Nathan Bazley, Reporter

INTRO: Now Elephants are amazing creatures and lots of people love them but not so long ago, they were close to becoming extinct. Many people fought extremely hard to save them and they were very successful. Their numbers have recovered dramatically but now that's created a whole new problem. Nathan's been finding out what it is. During the last century, this was a common scene in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of elephants were shot mainly for their tusks which are prized by some for carving and artwork. But the more people wanted ivory products the more elephants were killed to produce them. The number of African elephants plummeted. And it wasn't long before they became a threatened species. Reporter: These types of products are the reason so many elephants were killed. Ivory was used in everything from piano keys to cutlery. But it wasn't all bad news for the future of the elephant. In 1989 a worldwide ban on ivory trading was introduced and a few years later it became illegal to kill them at all.

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And soon enough they started to make a comeback. In fact, they've made a huge comeback. We're going to Kruger National park which is in South Africa. It's one of their biggest wildlife reserves and now home to over 15,000 elephants. Efforts to save these amazing animals seem to have worked so well that now there are way too many! And that's created one huge problem. They're trashing the place! Reporter: Elephants are really hungry animals. Each one eats around 170kgs of grass, tree bark and leaves every single day. That's about this much hay! As well as all that eating, they're also really huge and a massive herd of elephants moving across the countryside tends to leave a trail of destruction. The South African government is so worried about how much damage that they're planning a very drastic solution - culling. Culling is when authorities try to control the numbers of an animal by killing some of them. The South African authorities believe the parks can't survive the massive increase in numbers so a cull is necessary. But of course, that's made a lot of people very angry! Some are furious the South African Government is going to use guns. They say it's far too violent and less painful methods like tranquilizers should be used or else methods that don't kill the elephants but stop them having babies. But others believe there's more to it than that. Some people are worried this is just a plan to get more ivory to sell. But park rangers say that other threatened animals are in danger because of the elephant overpopulation. The thorn trees they love to eat are the nesting place of eagles and vultures and giraffes rely on them for food too. Culling is always a big issue and when it comes to killing an animal that so many people fought hard to save things can get really heated. Here in Australia, there's been similar arguments about culling kangaroos and koalas. But the South African Government insists its move is necessary, and plans to push through with it regardless. Ok lets do a quiz on that. What is bigger - the African or Asian elephant? And the answer is: African The African also has bigger ears and tusks and it's never been domesticated like Asian elephants.

THE SCORE

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Now here's some sports news. India has won the first tri-series final against Australia with star batsman Sachin Tendulkar scoring 117 not out. But it wasn't all bad for the Aussies. Micheal Hussey took this speccie catch that's got to be in the running for catch of the year. ********** And there was also lots of spectacular action in the World Sperbikes Series at Philip Island. In the first race a rider stalled on the grid. Soon after there was another collision. This time between Australia's Russell Holland and Spain's Carlos Checka. In the second race, another Australian, Troy Corser, also came off the bike which ended his shot at victory. While Italian Max Biaggi had a spectacular end to his day. Amazingly none of the riders were seriously hurt. Australia's Troy Bayliss took out both races ********** And a new athletics star might have been unearthed in a lead-up comp to the Beijing Olympics. Javelin thrower 23 year old Jarrod Bannister is a real medal chance after smashing the Australian record at the national titles in Brisbane Now that's a throw!

UNDERWATER VOLCANOES

Sarah Larsen, Reporter INTRO: Have you ever wanted to be an explorer? Well I have, but I always thought it was too late... all of the countries have already been discovered! But it turns out there's still a lot to find, its just hidden under the ocean....Sarah found a group of scientists who are exploring the dark and mysterious depths. Imagine going where no one has gone before, seeking out new life and exploring strange new worlds. No, it's not Star Trek. Try "Sea Trek". REPORTER: Did you know that we know more about the dark side of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean? There could be all sorts of new things hidden down there. DR CORNEL DE RHONDE, SCIENTIST: Where else can you go to see eruptions on the sea floor, that you can see the wackiest animals you've ever seen in your life. So I mean it's the most coolest, sexiest place on earth. Dr Cornel De Rhonde is a real life explorer! His quest? To chart a newly discovered underwater volcano. REPORTER: That might sound weird if you're used to volcanoes that look like this but there are also volcanoes deep under water. This area to the north of New Zealand is known as the Kermadec arc. It stretches for 1300kms and it's where scientists have found 33 underwater volcanoes. The one Dr De Rhonde has been exploring is 2 kilometres under the sea. They call it the Brothers volcano.

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DR DE RHONDE: There was an incredible chimney about seven metres high and pumping out black smoke. His team's 3D images of the Brothers are the first detailed maps of an underwater volcano. But even more exciting were the other treasures they found down there. DR DE RHONDE: When you get to these vents it's absolutely mind boggling. There's animals all over the place that are hovering all around the vents. There's no sunlight this deep. These plants and animals get their energy from the volcano and if they look really strange, they should! Half of them are totally new to science. DR DE RHONDE: We also found these barnacles, so called long neck bangles which I thought were particularly beautiful because they have these beautiful fronds that sort of flop around and down with the currents and they, to me it looks like ballet underwater. But as well as the beauty and the biology, there's more traditional treasure around the volcano; a wealth of valuable minerals like gold, copper and zinc. A company is already trying to work out how to mine it. Not far away in the much colder Southern Ocean another group of scientists has been at work in the depths. It's found even more new species and they're just as bizarre, like these jelly-like, tulip shaped animals and giant sea spiders. MARTIN RIDDEL, SCIENTIST: Its a huge diversity of life, very colourful, ah, far exceeding all of our expectations. The scientists are busy naming the new species. They're hoping to learn more about ocean life and the effects of climate change. It goes to show you don't have to be an astronaut to explore places that are out of this world!