B)+Resource+2

**Resource 2** Pictures depicting religious celebrations

Figure 1- Buddhist monks meditate for Nirvana Day.

Figure 2- a Christian church re-enacting the Stations of the Cross as part of the three day Easter celebration.

Figure 3- An Islamic celebration for Eid-ul-Adha.

Figure 4- a Jewish Passover celebration.

Figure 5- A Hindu Diwali celebration.

These five pictures depict a representation of a significant celebration of each of the major world religions. The captions explain to the students what celebration is displayed in each picture, as well as which religion the celebration is part of. The visual grammar used to compose these images impacts the viewer’s assessment and understanding of the religious celebration that is shown in each picture.
 * Explanation of the resource **


 * Figure 1 **- this image captures a group of Buddhist monks meditating as part of their celebrations for Nirvana Day.


 * Figure 2 **- this image shows a group of people re-enacting the Stations of the Cross, and a congregation responding to the re-enactment. This is part of the three day Easter celebration that is held by many Christian churches.


 * Figure 3 **- this photograph shows a large crowd of Muslim people worshipping as part of the celebrations held for Eid-ul-Adha.


 * Figure 4 **- this image captures a Jewish congregation participating in a Passover celebration.


 * Figure 5- ** this photograph shows a young Hindu girl partaking in a celebration for Diwali.

This compilation of photographs is relevant for use in conjunction with some of the other resources documented in relation to the HSIE outcome ** CUS2.4: **
 * Relevance to the outcome **

// Describes different viewpoints, ways of living, languages and belief // // systems in a variety of communities. //

The photographs provide students with a visual appreciation of the ways in which each of the five major world religions celebrate a significant religious occasion within their community. Examining the differences and similarities of the images will assist students in understanding the variations in types of celebration between different religious groups, thus stimulating an appreciation of the multicultural society they are part of.

These five photographs are relevant to the literacy outcomes explored in this unit because they visually support the information students are reading about the religious celebrations that they will be creating their multi-modal text based on. Furthermore, the visual representations allow students to assess the similarities and differences between different religious celebrations effectively. For example, Buddhist meditation and Islamic worship have a similar impact visually in that they depict a large group of people in the natural environment focusing on a particular idea. This visual analysis is becoming increasingly important in primary classrooms because students exist in an increasingly visual culture, and as such must be given the skills to make meaning from visual texts (Callow, 2006, pp. 7-9).
 * Elements of literacy **

Students will be using this resource as part of making a poster to promote a religious celebration. In order to do this successfully they will be given the opportunity to experiment with representational, compositional and interactive meanings for themselves, which is beneficial in developing their ability to construct visual texts and will also strengthen their ability to analyse them. Students should recognise how the photographers have manipulated the photographs in order to convey meaning. For example, the long shot used in Figure 3 is useful in showing the vast number of people attending this ceremony for worship, whereas the extreme close up used in Figure 5 is useful in conveying the meaning of this celebration to the individual in the picture.