Getting Started
Learning for life
- The living world is a large and beautiful place with diverse climates and habitats, flora and fauna.
- Every living thing has a right to have its needs respected and protected.
- All living things depend on the environment around them for survival.
- All living things need water to survive, and we must manage the water we have so there is enough to go around.
- All living things are interconnected and interdependent, and the balance can be delicate.
- Humans are ultimately responsible for the state of the environment and its protection for the future.
- Environments change over time and these changes can be caused by nature or humans.
- Changes, whether natural or artificial, can affect whole systems and the environment both for better and for worse.
- Many spaces and species are threatened because of human impact on the environment.
- Through knowledge and understanding, I can make responsible choices to meet my needs and still promote the protection of the environment.
- I may only be one child but I can make a difference.
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Overview
'Big rain coming,' says Old Stephen on Sunday afternoon, and for days the children, the dogs and frogs wait for his prediction to come true.
This story is set in the Minyerri community, 270 kilometres southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
On the surface it appears to be a simple story that has as its main focus the passage of the days of the week. But it is much richer than that as the reader is drawn into a world of sleeping outside to beat the heat, seeking relief in the local billabong and watching dogs dig holes in the dust to keep cool.
In these times of severe drought gripping much of our country, we empathise with the growing anticipation of rain coming as dry clouds gather and taunt their watchers, and the sense of relief when the clouds finally deliver.
The text is complemented by Bronwyn Bancroft's distinctive illustrations, and her repeated imagery of the Rainbow Serpent provides a powerful link to the setting of the story, its characters, their beliefs and traditions.
Although Big Rain Coming is part of the Aboriginal storytelling tradition, it is also cross-cultural as it explores the common themes of anticipation, excitement and fulfilment – for all young children have waited for such big events - even if it is in the form of Father Christmas.
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Author profile
Katrina Germein was a teacher at Minyerri, a remote Aboriginal community southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory, which is also the setting for this story.
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Illustrator profile
Bronwyn Bancroft illustrated her first book in 1993 – Dianna Kidd's Fat and Juicy Place, which was shortlisted in the Children's Book Council: Book of the Year Awards for Younger Readers, and for which she won the Australian Multicultural Children's Book Award.
Since then Bronwyn has illustrated a number of books including Stradbroke Dreamtime by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and several by Sally Morgan.
Since she was a young girl, Bronwyn 'wanted to do and make art,' and she has been able to do this all her life.
I am committed to advancing the rights of Indigenous people in this country, as can be seen from my various appointments on national committees such as the National Gallery of Australia and the National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association.
I have always supported the education system at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and firmly believe that education for Indigenous people is imperative to our development and confidence. It allows us to participate with equity in an often inequitable society.
Find out more at http://www.bronwynbancroft.com/index.html
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Useful websites 
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Focus questions
Before reading the book
- What clues can you use from the cover of the book to predict its content?
- What does the title suggest?
- How does the cover illustration prepare you for the setting, characters and content of the story?
- Is this brown, barren landscape familiar to you?
- In which parts of Australia would you find this sort of landscape?
- What images come to mind when you think of 'the outback'?
- Why do you think the people in the illustrations on the cover and the title page appear to be so happy?
- What are your experiences of a drought?
- What would it be like to live in a place where there is no rain for six months of every year? What would be the good points? What would you miss most?
- How might you feel when it began to rain again?
During and after reading the book
- What were the clues in the clouds that prompted Old Stephen to say, 'Big rain coming'?
- How did they differ from the other clouds that were seen?
- Was Old Stephen concerned that there was no rain on Monday?
- Do you think the children doubted him?
- How would he be feeling on Friday night, and then again on Saturday? What tells you this?
- What is the significance of the coloured band through the earth that the illustrator has incorporated into the illustrations?
- What is the significance of the lizards in the illustrations?
- Why are there no other animals to be seen?
- What might the significance be of the birds seen in some of the pictures?
- What is a billabong? Who or what might need or use it apart from the children? How would those people/ creatures/things need or use it?
- How has the illustrator shown that a storm is coming?
- What makes thunder and why does it 'echo around the hills'?
- How did the children feel when the rain came?
- How would the water feel on their skin after such a dry spell? What would it taste like? What would it smell like?
- What happens next?
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Activities
Responding to text
Setting the scene
Individuals
This story is set in the Minyerri region of the Northern Territory. Use the Internet and a map to find out about Minyerri School. Compare what you find to your school.
- How are they the same?
- How are they different?
Investigate the climate and seasons of this area.
- Would long dry spells be common?
- Why do some places only have a wet and a dry season?
- How do these weather patterns compare with your region?
Investigate what causes the seasons and the changes they bring.
The members of the Minyerri community, on which this story is based, live in an area that has just two seasons - the wet and the dry. How do these communities harvest and conserve water during the dry season?
Some Aboriginal groups identify up to six seasons in a year based on the natural cycle of seasonal events observed over thousands of years of living in a particular region. Investigate the seasons recognised by the Aboriginal peoples of your area and construct a chart that compares these to the European seasons. Why would a knowledge of seasonal changes in the environment and the ecology of plants and animals be critical to the Aboriginal peoples?
Investigate how the Aboriginal peoples survived long spells of dry weather, particularly those in the areas that only have the wet and dry seasons. What can we learn from them to help us deal with drought?
Cloud clues
Individuals
What were the clues in the clouds that prompted Old Stephen to say, 'Big rain coming'?
Observe and draw the cloud cover over your school on a number of days and describe its appearance. Are the clouds always light and fluffy?
Keep a record of the sorts of clouds seen in sunny, wet, stormy or other weather conditions and compare the clouds to the conditions.
- Is it possible to predict the weather from the clouds?
- Does one season have more of one type of cloud than another?
- Do clouds always bring rain?
Keep an hourly record of cloud cover and weather on a day when changing patterns are forecast as well as on days that start windy, calm or cold. What have you learned about clouds and weather prediction?
Investigate the four basic types of clouds – cirrus, cumulus, stratus and nimbus. Develop a chart or construct a model which illustrates each type, including a description of their features, their altitudes and the sorts of weather they usually precede.
- What sorts of clouds could Old Stephen see?
- What other clouds appeared during the week?
Investigate how clouds are formed and devise an experiment which demonstrates this. Use this to create a flow chart that explains what you did.
- Why did the clouds that Old Stephen saw appear to be black?
- Is thunder really caused by the clouds banging together?
Big rain coming
Individuals
Because of their thousands of years of history and intimate knowledge of and connection with the land and its inhabitants, the Aboriginal people have developed a weather lore which that them predict the weather. Some of these are described on the website http://www.bom.gov.au/. Were there other clues that might have prompted Old Stephen to say, 'Big rain coming'?
Weather lore has developed over centuries to help people predict the weather, particularly among those who work in the open and who might not have access to modern weather forecasts. Some of the sayings include:
When a halo rings the moon or sun
the rain will come upon the run
Rainbow to windward, foul runs the day
Rainbow to leeward, rain runs away
Red sky at night, sailor's delight
Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning
If a cat washes her face o'er her ear
'tis a sign the weather will be fine and clear
When clouds look like black smoke
a wise man will put on his cloak
When leaves turn their back 'tis a sign it's going to rain
The higher the clouds, the finer the weather
If birds fly low
expect rain and a blow
A coming storm your shooting corns presage
And aches will throb, your hollow tooth will rage
If salt is sticky and gains in weight
it will rain before too late
I know ladies by the score
whose hair foretells the storm
Long before it begins to pour
their curls take a drooping form
Explore and explain the truth to some of these sayings by investigating the science behind them.
There is Australian folklore that suggests that frogs croak more, ants scurry around and some species of birds appear just before rain. Find as many of these sayings as you can and then investigate the science behind them to see if they could be true. Are you now able to predict the weather in your area?
Investigate how the Bureau of Meteorology develops its weather forecasts.
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Responding to images
Big rain comes
Individuals 
Small groups 
Class
Look at the images on the last few pages of the book when the rain comes.
- How has the illustrator portrayed the strength of the rain and the people's reactions to it?
- Why has she portrayed the rainbow serpent image as a circle?
Translate the build-up of the storm, the storm itself and its aftermath into music and dance. Use the students' experiences to discuss the sounds of a storm and introduce the terms:
- crescendo (gradually getting louder)
- decrescendo (gradually getting softer)
- fortissimo (very loud)
- pianissimo (very soft)
- staccato (short, sharp and detached)
- legato (smooth and connected)
Discuss how the illustrator has incorporated these elements into the pictures through line, colour, texture, shape and movement. Discuss how we can use our voices and bodies to illustrate those same elements and experiment to identify the most effective sounds and movements. Incorporate these into a music and dance presentation.
Big rain gone
Individuals
Use the style of Bronwyn Bancroft to create a picture that shows what happened after the rain had passed.
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Themes for Education for Sustainability
Where did the rain come from?
Individuals
Investigate the water cycle and make a model which demonstrates this. Why are some areas more prone to rain than others?
Apply the model to your local conditions to determine when rain is most likely to fall. How does the water get from the sky to your tap? Construct a flow chart that shows this.
What happens to the water when it goes down the plughole? Construct a flow chart that shows this.
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Research themes
The Rainbow Serpent
Individuals
Throughout the story, the illustrator has included an image of the rainbow serpent which has a very significant place in Aboriginal mythology, particularly its relationship with the rain and the sun. Read about this at http://www.bom.gov.au/
Droughts and dries
Individuals Class
Even though some tropical areas can get over 1200 mm rainfall each year, Australia is still the driest inhabited continent. Dealing with droughts is a way of life for Australians and, in the book, Old Stephen seems quite relaxed about the weather.
Read 'Living with Drought' at http://www.bom.gov.au and use the information there to write a report which explains:
- the characteristics of a drought
- the causes of a drought
- the effect of El Niño
- the effect of La Niña
- the impact of a drought on the land and its inhabitants
Australia is emerging from what has been described as the 'worst drought in 100 years'. At its worst, a huge proportion of the whole continent was drought-declared. Investigate the impact that this drought has had on your local community. Create a collage that demonstrates both the positive and negative outcomes. Have there been any long-term lifestyle changes that most people have made as a result of the drought?
Then choose a community that is geographically different from yours. Identify a school within that area and establish an email relationship to carry out a similar study.
- What have been the key impacts of the drought on that community?
- How are they similar to or different from the impacts that occurred in your community?
- What sort of long-term changes has that community made as a result of the drought?
Create a three-minute television news clip that explores and explains the community's issues and their solution. View a range of clips from news bulletins or current affairs to identify the significant elements of such a report, as well as techniques such as camera angles and movement, lighting, soundtracks, and the facial expressions and body language of the presenters.
Alternatively, if your region has been inundated by floodwaters, use that as the subject of the news clip.
A sunburnt country
Individuals
In her classic poem 'My Country', Dorothea Mackellar wrote:
I love a sunburnt country
a land of sweeping plains
of ragged mountain ranges
of droughts and flooding rains
Search for some images of either a drought or a flood and use these to compose a cinquain poem about the scene. A cinquain poem has five lines:
- One word for the subject.
- Two words that describe the subject.
- Three words which describe what the subject does or what is done to it.
- Four words which express an emotional response of or toward the subject.
- One word that is a synonym for the subject.
Clever creatures
Individuals
Many of Australia's indigenous flora and fauna have adapted over time to the cycle of dry and wet that is our climate. Select one plant or creature and investigate how it survives the heat and the drought. Are there lessons that humans could learn from these natural adaptations?
Without water
'The panting dogs at Roberta's camp dug themselves dusty holes to keep cool.'
'The fat green frogs huddled around the leaky tap on the rain-water tank.'
Most of us take the water supply for granted, expecting to have clean fresh water whenever we turn on a tap. What would life be like without water?
Create a chart that shows every instance that we use water throughout the day including food, drinks and other goods and services that use water in their production or delivery.
Create a graph which identifies those things that the majority of the class consider essential and those that could be minimised. Where is most water wasted?
Write a story that starts: 'Oh, no! I turned on the tap this morning and all I got was a gurgling, choking sound'.
As a class, complete the It's Raining, it's pouring sheet to describe your responses to a shower of rain after a long dry spell. Use the words to construct poems and write these on raindrop shapes. Suspend these from an umbrella.
Water audits
Individuals Small groups
Conduct water audits of both the school and the students' homes to identify where the most water is used and where savings might be made.
Provide the students with a variety of containers and have them estimate which ones hold a litre of water so they can see just how much water that is.
Investigate the amount of water used during the following activities:
- flushing the toilet (half- and full-flush)
- having a bath
- having a shower (five minutes)
- brushing teeth
- cooking a saucepan of vegetables
- using the dishwasher for one load
- washing the dishes in the sink
- using the washing machine
- using a garden sprinkler for an hour
- washing the car
Research shows that a typical Australian household uses about 280,000 litres of water annually. The average person uses about 73,000 litres per year. About 3650 litres of this is for basic survival activities such as food preparation and drinking. Have students calculate the average amount of water used in their homes in a day and multiply this to see how they – personally and as a family – compare to the national average.
Consider practical ways that water usage might be reduced including new devices that are now available or services offered by your local water authority. Lobby your school council to have water-saving appliances installed at your school. Create posters to be displayed around the school that encourage the saving of water.
Calculate the amount of water that could be harvested from your home or school roof over a year using the formula that, for every one millimetre of rain that falls, one litre of water is collected from every square metre of roof. Where would be the most effective place to install a rainwater tank?
Investigate the costs and practicalities of having a tank installed at your school and lobby your school council to have this done.
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Assessment
Assessment tasks are dependent on the teacher's identified outcomes of the unit, the tasks selected and the evidence that teachers determine to be acceptable for the age group.
Changes in values and attitudes evolve over time as our expertise and experience grows and so cannot be measured. However, by exposing students to activities such as these we start them on their journey of awareness of the wider world, particularly if we give them the opportunity and time to reflect on their learning.
Time telling
Retell the story in words or pictures using this timeline template.
Retell the story using movement.
Water week
Host a Water Week for your school in which every class focuses on saving water.
Establish goals such as: 'Every student will become aware of the need for and the value of water in our lives' and set some targets such as: 'We will reduce our water usage in the school by 5% this week.'
Ask your teacher librarian to source and provide a variety of resources that will help everyone understand the role of water in our lives and the need for its conservation.
Conduct an activity that involves the whole class. Ideas include:
- Hold a competition that challenges classes to invent a water-saving device for washing the dog
- Create a poster to encourage water conservation.
- Create a quiz for other classes to answer.
Plan and construct a garden using native plants that require little water and provide a home for local creatures.
Spreading the word
Have students consider ways that would spread the word about water conservation to their community including:
- an article for the school newsletter or local newspaper
- a page for the school website
- a display for the school entrance or a local shopping centre
A precious resource
Debate one of these topics:
- 'Water restrictions should remain in place permanently.'
- 'The price of water should double so people value it more.'
- 'Desalination plants are the only answer to the water shortage.'
Waiting, waiting
Imagine how the children of Minyerri must have felt as they waited for the rain to come. Recall a time when you have counted down the days to a special event.
- Why was the event so special for you?
- What words would you use to describe your feelings as you waited?
- How did you feel when you woke up on the special day?
- Did the day live up to your expectations?
- How did it feel when it was all over?
Write an acrostic poem using each letter of the word 'waiting' to start a phrase which describes the day and your feelings.
Reflections
- How has this story impacted on you?
- What will you remember about it when you are older?
- Have the words or the pictures had the most impact? Why?
Use this reflections sheet to think and write about what you have learned and how it might have changed your thinking and understanding.
Working together
Many of these activities require the students to work together in pairs or small groups. Have them rate themselves as group members using the working together template.
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