Developed in partnership with Education Services Australia

Discussions about books, films, television and current affairs are a great way to support your child's learning. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• if you watch the television news with your child, discuss how stories are presented
  
  What did you think of the report on driverless cars? Did you think it was balanced?
  
  (You might prefer to watch news programs specially created for children, such as those on ABC3)
• talk about the characters in movies and television shows
  
  My favourite character was the old man, because he was kind and wise, and he reminded me of Grandpa. How about you?
• when a film is based on a book, talk about any differences between them
  
  Did you notice that the film had only one sister instead of two? Why do you think they did that?
• share your favourite comic strips with each other
  
  I love this comic because it makes me think of some of the funny things that happen at work. Why does your favourite comic make you laugh?
• when you see an ad that features a celebrity, talk about why the advertising company might have chosen that celebrity
  
  Do you think that having [ ] in that ad will sell more mobile phones? Who would you have chosen?
• compare different weather reports and how they show weather information
  
  I find the charts on this station a bit confusing. How would you make them clearer? 
• talk about how numbers or graphs are used in news reports and advertising.
  
  I'm not sure that this graph supports the argument they are making. What do you think?

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