Australia Day - 26th January

Australia Day is the official National Day of Australia; it is celebrated annually on January the 26th (today!). Most Australians take the day off and schools close. 

If you want to know what's happening today in Australia, watch this:

What does Australia Day commemorate? 

The creation of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. And this is a summary of history: Captain Arthur Phillip, the very first Governor of New South Wales, set up a community to run a prison in what is now Sydney. 

However, not all Australians celebrate this day. Many Aboriginal Australians do not like the idea of a day to celebrate the British landing. Aborigines have dubbed the 26 January as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day". The latter name celebrates the fact that the Aboriginal people and culture have not been wiped out.



Classroom plans suggestions

If you want to learn more on this beautiful country, you can try the following resources, full of great ideas:

http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/01/australia_day.html

http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/australia.php


Another interesting idea I use with my students is to watch this clip for them to learn the Australian English; the main differences in vocabulary and pronunciation between British and Australian English:

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. Feel free to comment your ideas or opinions below ;) and...

From ELS, a group of students honoured Australia Day by making a representative poster. They highlighted what they think are the most important things in the country. After this, we played a quiz game where they could show their knowledge of Australia. 

These are the pictures taken during the project: