Victoria's family supper

• What makes an It girl in 1888?

• Ask students to create character profiles using names, birthdates, descriptions and clothing from 1888. Websites to use include:

1. Picture Australia, http://pictureaustralia.org/trail/fashion+trail
2. Eureka Council, http://www.eurekacouncil.com.au/Australian-Culture/australian-fashion.htm
3. Victorian Fashion Australia, http://www.ulladulla.info/fhc/vicfashions.htm
4. Collections Australia: http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/collections

• Students create a character profile using different software programs.

Student Activity Sheet H13.5: Historical character profile

• Who is at the top of the social status ladder in 1888, and who is at the bottom? Provide reasons why this was the case. Once you have created a social status list, ask students to list the expectations of children for each of the rungs on the social status ladder, including manners, dress code, education and chores. See Sovereign Hill Education, http://sheducationcom.ascetinteractive.biz/?id=teachers

• Create a Social Status Pyramid. This is a visual representation that students use to depict the social divide in Australia in 1888 based on information from your discussion.

Student Activity Sheet H13.6: Social pyramids

• 'What is in their garden and what is in your garden?' A comparative look at the type of food available in 1888 and in present times. Discuss the contents of Victoria's family garden. Use an A3 sheet of paper divided into four parts labelled:

1. Garden
2. Store bought
3. Livestock
4. Other.

• Ask students to write the type of food grown, commodities available for purchase, livestock kept in residential areas and other items necessary for life in 1888.
• Make a similar poster to depict where and how students obtain their food today.

• What are the obvious differences in food origins and food consumption between the two eras?

Student Activity Sheet H13.7: Where does food come from?

• What was the common view of women going to work in the 1880s? Research what employment women undertook in 1888. Compare the types of employment to the careers of women today.

• View the clip and ask students to listen to the attitude of Victoria's mother to Miss Müller working. Ask them to create two journal entries: one for a day in the life of Miss Müller and one for a day in the life of Victoria's mother.
• Students compare these to a day in the life of their own mother or female relative.

Student Activity Sheet H13.8: Women's roles in 1888

• As a class, view the clip and pause it after Victoria's father says, 'I'm the luckiest man alive to have a daughter like you.'
• Ask students to think about the most important pieces of information given by the filmmaker in this clip so far. Have students predict what might happen next, and give reasons based on clues or information from the text: 'I think X is going to happen because Y.'
• Have students look up 'foreshadowing' in the dictionary. What does it mean? As a class, discuss this literary device and how writers and filmmakers use foreshadowing to suggest and tune readers into events that have yet to occur.

• Ask students to think of examples of foreshadowing in a variety of texts: television shows, novels, picture storybooks. The opening scene of a television show often foreshadows what is to come, with hints given in many different ways. Look again at what students have highlighted in their predictions and how they have supported them with evidence from the text.
• Remember that two key elements in the story of Victoria are superstitions and the money problems of Victoria's father. Ask students to discuss the purpose of this foreshadowed information and have them answer the questions on Student Activity Sheet: E13.3.
• Have students write an outline of what they think will happen next in the story. This should include these foreshadowed elements.

Student Activity Sheet E13.4: Predictions

• For this activity, turn off the volume for the clip and have students view the dinner table scene from the beginning. This will provide the opportunity to study non-verbal language. Focus on the characters' thoughts and feelings and how they are conveyed visually as a narrative device, rather than through words alone as they would be in a written text. As a class, discuss how a filmmaker might do this by using the camera and non-verbal language, including facial expression, gesture, stance and movement.

• Discuss with the class the relationships between characters in a story and how important these relationships are in setting the scene and telling the story. Have students think of some fictional families and discuss the relationships between key characters.
• Ask students to closely observe the relationships between the characters, looking at the way this scene has been shot and the body language used.
• Review the dinner scene in the clip. List all characters present at the table: mother, father, Wesley, Victoria and May. Students should use the Student Activity Sheet: E13.4 to identify the main relationships between the key characters in this scene and give reasons why they think so.

Student Activity Sheet E13.5: Meaning without words

• Have students select a favourite character from another television series, film or book. Ask them to write a 30-second movie script about a dinner at this fictional character's home, or at their own home with the fictional character as a dinner guest.
• Make sure that students think about this scene and address questions such as: Who will be there? What will they look like? What is the setting? Who is the central character? How will the characters react to each other? What will they talk about?

• Divide the class into smaller groups and have them perform their play to the class. Remind them to consider body language, acting, voice, intonation and how constructed dialogue conveys meaning.

Student Activity Sheet E13.6: Guess who's coming to dinner?