ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney
ABC Collinswood Centre, AdelaideTeachers
Preparing your students for their ABC tour
Before your tour, please give your students some background on the ABC, to ensure they get the most out of their visit. Below are some tips on how to prepare the class.
- Visit our website – there’s so much to discover, not just about our television and radio shows, but a host of other ABC content. Your students can learn all About the ABC, including the historical significance of the organisation as well as what governs the ABC. Your students might also be interested in how the ABC ensures balance and accountability in our reporting via our editorial policies.
- Ensure your students watch ABC TV programming prior to the tour. All programs are also available to watch either on their own dedicated websites or on iview, our free on-demand full screen internet television service.
- Tune into ABC Radio – both on air and digital (online or apps). Listen to your local ABC for local radio, news, sport, weather and special feature stories.
- For primary school students, watching Behind the News is a great way for them to make a connection with the news and the ABC. This program can also be seen on iview.
- For secondary students, if you are interested in shows that will inspire debate amongst your students, and link to a number of syllabus areas, you may like to visit or watch the following: Media Watch (particularly interesting in relation to media ethics and codes of practice), The Drum, Australian Story, Four Corners, Big Ideas, and Q&A;. You can also watch ABC News 24 live in the classroom.
- For secondary students (and older primary), we have also developed a post tour questionnaire so students have some things to take note of on the tour.
- For music students, please ask your class to visit triple j unearthed. Musicians can create profiles on the site and upload their music, so it can be listened to around the country.
- For international students, the ABC offers radio and television services directly into many countries in the Asia Pacific and Indian sub-continent region. You can show your students, particularly from ESL colleges, how the ABC is transmitted in your student’s country of origin by visiting ABC International. Discuss with your students the key features of their country of origin’s media and how they differs from the Australian media landscape. You’ll also find a range of resources and lesson plans for students who are learning English.
- We have developed basic quiz questions primary or beginning ESL students can ask the tour guide while on the tour. This helps to encourage engagement between students and their tour guide, build confidence and promote active participation on a tour.
After your tour
- Missed your favourite radio program or heard of one on a tour that you’d like to hear? You can get podcasts here.
- Did you know you can be a member of a studio audience in Melbourne or Sydney – it's free, so come and see some of your tour studios go live to air.
- If you are in a regional location, try getting your students involved with ABC Open. ABC Open invites regional communities to produce and publish photos, stories, videos, and sound through the ABC.
For lesson plans visit the lesson plans and resources page.
If your students have been inspired to get involved, take a look at our media careers page.
