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Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about snakes

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A snake on the ground
Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about snakes

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  3–4, 5–6


The snake is one of Australia's most well-known but least understood animals.

Listen to this song about snakes performed by Don Spencer.

Watch and listen, as the clip shows different types of snakes and even some trained people trying to catch a snake.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Think about snakes as they are represented (shown) in books, films and animations. What kind of character is a snake, usually? Why do you think this is so? How do you feel about this?
  2. 2.Think about the main message in this song. What is it saying about snakes? How does it make you feel about them? Why do you think this song was written? Who do you think it was written for?
  3. 3.Who is 'Joe Blake'? Why is this term used? What is the purpose of this song? Does it give any information or advice? In what other ways could this information have been presented? The song is written in third person as someone is singing about snakes. What if a snake was singing instead (first person)? How might this change the song?
  4. 4.Find out about rhyming slang. An example is 'apples and pears' instead of stairs. Where was this first used? Where is it used today? Why might it be included in this song? Do you often hear people speak in rhyming slang? Why do you think this is so? Is this text (song) imaginative, persuasive or informative? What makes you think so? How does its style match its purpose and audience?



Date of broadcast: 15 Sep 1986


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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