ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the complex literate repertoires of twenty-first century children in multicultural primary classrooms in Adelaide South Australia. It draws on the curricular and pedagogical work of two experienced primary school teachers who explore culture, race and class, by positioning children as textual producers across a variety of media. In particular we discuss two child-authored texts: A is for Arndale, a local alphabet book co-authored by children aged between eight and ten, and Cooking Afghani Style, a magazine-style film produced by a mixed-aged class of children (aged eight to 13) recently arrived in Australia. In the process of making these texts, primary children engaged in reading as a cultural practice, rereading and rewriting texts related to their neighbourhoods and to their identities (both individual and collective). This involved frequent excursions to local key sites, both familiar and unfamiliar to the children. They investigated how diverse children experienced and lived their lives in particular places within changing communities.
