Synopsis:
Set in the 1950s Captain Johnno is about Johnno, a ten-year-old boy who is almost completely deaf. When Johnno's sister leaves town to attend secondary school
in the city, he loses his support. A group of boys taunt who Johnno and an unsympathetic new teacher provoke a violent reaction in Johnno who then
finds himself in trouble with his father. When Johhno discovers his father intends to send him away to a special school, Johnno runs away. The ensuing
search and dramatic incidents that follow eventually enable Johnno and his father to reconcile with both learning from their experiences.

Aim:
To use the video Captain Johnno to develop empathetic student responses to disability and cultural difference, and to develop their understanding and acceptance of diversity in their community.

Suggested Teaching Approach

Preparation:
It is suggested that teachers should preview the entire program. If students are going to be viewing the tape episodically it is suggested that teachers note places and times where it would be convenient to stop the tape.

The following process is suggested when viewing segments:

1. The whole class should watch the segment at least once. The dialogue can be quite complex and a second viewing is advisable. You can freeze frames on particular scenes and ensure that all children understand the dialogue.
2. The Preamble provided for each segment summarises the main issues raised. Class discussion will involve using the questions provided to raise philosophical issues concerning either the broad issue (eg. Emotions) or specific issues raised in segments (eg. Can you put a price on the emotions raised by video or film?).

3. Involvement in the activities you select.

4. Class continues discussion of philosophical issues.

The process of discussion and activity can be repeated as required.

Before Viewing:
Discuss the question, ‘Is anyone perfect?’ Ask students to share their personal responses about ways that they think they could be better. Most of us feel somewhat ‘disabled’ at some level and yet we also have strengths. From this discussion it is possible to build a platform for empathic understanding of people like Johnno who suffer from some very obvious form of disability yet who also have strengths which are not always acknowledged.

Viewing Focus:
Ask students to focus their viewing on how people treat one another in the video and, in particular, to consider how and why Johnno reacts the way he does.

Viewing:
Students can either watch the entire program in one sitting or alternatively watch it episodically over a number of days.

The Inquiry Process:
The students participate in a five stage process of ethical inquiry and discussion.

Stage 1: Identify and clarify the issues
As a class discuss and investigate the issues raised in Captain Johnno by deciding:

• What is the problem?
• Who is involved?
• Who is adversely affected?
• How?
• By whom?

Stage 2: Discussion and justification of initial responses
Class
• Why is Johnno treated this way? Is this treatment fair? Give reasons.
• Why does Johnno react to people and events the way he does? Is Johnno’s reaction entirely justified?
• How else can Johnno’s parents, particularly his father, react to him? How should his father, in particular, treat Johnno?
• How else can Johnno’s teachers treat him? Would these alternatives be better? Why?
• What did you think of Johnno’s treatment by other school children? Are they fair to Johnno? How do you think Johnno wants to be treated?
• How do Johnno’s sister, Julie, and his Italian friend, Tony, help Johnno? What is different about the way they treat to Johnno in comparison to the behaviour of the other children and Johnno’s father?
• How is Tony treated by the townspeople? Is he treated fairly? Why is he treated like this? Give reasons.
• What similarities can you see in the way the men treat Tony and the way the children treat Johnno?

Stage 3: Reflection and creative exploration
Students undertake further investigation and reflection about the issues raised in the video through a range of activities selected from the following.

Suggested Activities
The complexity of the following tasks increases from Level A to Level C, however it is not necessary to work progressively through them. Teachers can select activities best suited to the abilities and requirements of their whole class or individual students.

LEVEL A

Individual/small groups:
A1. Examine the photo below of Johnno and his sister, Julie. (This could be made into an OHT or a blackline master.) What does this photo show about the kind of relationship that Johnno has with his sister, Julie?

Consider such features as:
• Facial expression
• Posture
• Eye-lines
• Composition of the shot

Class/small groups:
A2. Think about the feelings of some of the main characters in Captain Johnno. Through paintings or drawings show how various characters feel during particular incidents in the video.

Class/small groups:
A3.
List Johnno’s strengths. What can he do that his father for example can’t do?

Individual:
A4.
Make a list of your own strengths and weaknesses. Which
strengths will you choose to build on?

Small groups:
A5. Imagine you are disabled in some way. Discuss how would
you like other people to treat you.
A6. Imagine you cannot speak or understand English. Explain an event to a partner without
using words, for example, something that happened on the way to school.

LEVEL B

Small group/individual
B1. What do you think a disabled or culturally different student of your age would want most
from his/her classmates? Discuss this with your group.

Individual
B2 Now write your ideas in an individual statement which begins:
“I think that a student who is disabled or culturally different would want the following from his/her classmates:

1.
2.
3.
because”..............................................................................................................................................……

Small groups
B3. Discuss why you think some people discriminate against disabled people or against immigrants. List the reasons suggested and present these to the class. Identify key threads and discuss.

LEVEL C

Class/small group
C1. List the problems Tony faces living in Streeton. Discuss the reasons why Tony may have chosen to leave his home country to live in Australia, despite these difficulties.

Individual/class
C2. Research some of Australia’s history of immigration in the last 200 years by interviewing your parents to find out when your family first came to Australia, where they originally came from, and the reasons why, if they are known. Give an oral presentation to the class detailing your family’s history in Australia.

Class
C3. Following these presentations draw up a graph showing where non-indigenous class members’ families came from originally.

Individual
C4. Research, write and present a report on the life story of a famous person who was physically disabled such as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the renowned teacher of the Blind and Deaf, Helen Keller, or the painter, Toulouse Lautrec.

Small groups
C5. How well does your community cater for the physically disabled? Make a list of all public major buildings and facilities in your community and rate their ease of access for people with a physical disability. Make recommendations which could be sent to your local councils, state and federal governments, and various other agencies such as banks and private companies.

C6. Research how well your school and your local community caters for non-English speaking migrants. List the resources and support available and assess how well these services would assist a non-English speaking migrant. How well does your school do this? Make recommendations which could be sent to your local council, appropriate state and federal government departments and the school council.

Stage 4: Consultation and re-evaluation
What issues does Captain Johnno raise by linking the two characters Johnno and Tony and their stories together? What general issues does the video raise? Students can discuss and justify their responses to these issues, drawing on the work they have done during the unit.
As a class or in groups, discuss the following statement.
Despite any differences, being treated as the same as everyone else, and being accepted and
included by peers is very important for all people my age.
Make a class statement which captures the main points which have emerged from the
discussion.

Stage 5: Action planning
Students decide what action they can take: individually; as a class; as part of the school
community; and the wider community to ensure that people who are physically or culturally
different are treated as normally as possible and are made to feel ‘one of us.