Rawah Arja's "The F Team" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Brief description of The F Team

Tariq Nader is in Year 10 and is sure of his place in his large, lively family within Punchbowl's tight-knit Lebanese community, and in his school as leader of ‘The Wolf Pack’. The new Principal, Mr Archie, at Punchbowl High pushes Tariq outside his comfort zone and into Cronulla's Anglo-Australian society to compete, on and off the football field. Tariq’s actions and the actions of his friends could save his school or condemn it to closure. Tariq must battle his own anger and understand the consequences of it as he tries to be a good leader and friend while also falling for new girl, Jamila, who is smart and outspoken and counters his sometimes thoughtless, sexist attitudes.

Distinctive features of The F Team

• Authentically and joyously represents Muslim/Lebanese communities
• A funny and moving account of growing up and personal development
• Genuine and realistic friendships and relationships 
• Focus on family with culture, religion and wonderful food 
• Examination of cultural differences and connections in white Sutherland Shire culture and Lebanese society through Rugby League football 
• Exploration of leadership, loyalty and male anger and its consequences as well as racist and sexist attitudes

Ways to use The F Team in the classroom

Context

The F Team is set in Punchbowl, a South West suburb in Sydney, home to the famous Canterbury Bulldogs NRL team.  Much of the action occurs at the fictional Punchbowl High School. The real Punchbowl Boys High School is a school that figured in the media in the past, with a high degree of negativity and stereotyping. The widely condemned 2005 Cronulla Riots in Sydney’s south ignited public debate about multiculturism in Australia and were fuelled by inflammatory and racist broadcasts and social media. In the Teaching Notes, prepared for Giramondo Press by the author, Rawah Arja, she records:

 “One boy said to me ‘We’re either the terrorists or we’re the bad guy with a big beard’. He was talking about the news, but still, this idea was prevalent amongst most of the boys I talked to.”

The F Team explores the school in a work of fiction which examines that sort of negativity and provides positive and authentic contrasts to it through understanding and respect. Punchbowl Boys High School, founded in 1955, has a fascinating history and an article on Jihad Dib, who was Principal from 2007-2014, looks at how he improved the school for the better. The article is available here on the Sydney Morning Herald (August 15 2014).

In groups, read the article and compare the qualities Mr Dibb brought to the school, and the actions he took, with the fictional Mr Archie. Present your conclusions to the class

Characterisation

The F Team has a range of interesting and engaging characters from family members to the Wolf Pack for you to examine and discuss. In groups select one of the following characters and prepare a character profile to share with the class.

• Tariq
• Tariq’s dad
• Tariq’s mum
• Uncle Charlie
• Feda, Tariq’s older sister
• Jamila
• Aaron
• Mr Archie
• Huss
• Ibby
• PJ

Consider these points for your character profile:

• Name and description
• Relationship to other characters
• Distinctive features of their personality
• 2-3 quotes e.g. character’s dialogue which captures the character’s views or personality
• Role in the narrative or representation of key ideas

Choice and Group tasks

The F Team is a humorous novel but with some serious issues and problems for Tariq and other characters to solve. Students can choose to

• Go on a Humour Hunt through the book and select several humorous scenes as the basis for a Readers Theatre dramatization in the classroom.

OR

• Design two editions of the School Newsletter produced by Punchbowl High students. (Look at the real Punchbowl Boys High School website for ideas here.) One newsletter should reflect the school at the beginning of the novel and one reflect it as it appears at the end of the novel. Examine and explore the problems the school and the Wolf Pack face, and the solutions Tariq and others find.

OR

• Design and present their own Poetry Slam (like the Bankstown Poetry Slam mentioned in the novel) with poems that reflect their own school experiences and aspirations. Consult their site here.

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English 7-10 syllabus

Text requirements: The F Team is a novel (extended prose) by an Australian author.  It includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.
For more recommended texts suitable for Stage 5, explore our Year 9 texts and study guides and Year 10 texts and study guides.

Concepts could include Characterisation and Perspective and Context.

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content for Stage 5

Understanding and responding to texts A

Characterisation

• Analyse how engaging, dynamic and complex characters are constructed in texts using language features and structures, and use these features and structures in own texts
• Explore how characters in texts can be lifelike constructions with whom audiences establish intellectual and emotional connections, and can be perceived to reflect, challenge or subvert particular values and attitudes
• Analyse how characters can serve structural roles in narrative, such as foils and drivers of action and conflict, and manipulate these ideas when composing own texts
  Understanding and responding to texts B

Perspective and Context 

• Understand how the personal perspectives of audiences are a product of historical and cultural contexts
• Analyse how texts can be understood or interpreted from different perspectives, and experiment with this idea in own texts
• Evaluate how texts can position audiences to accept, challenge or reject particular perspectives of the world, and reflect on this in own texts
• Analyse how elements of an author’s personal, cultural and political contexts can shape their perspectives and representation of ideas, including form and purpose
• Appreciate how all communication is a product of cultural context
• Explain how texts affirm or challenge established cultural attitudes and values in different contexts
• Appreciate the significance and value of expressions of cultural context in texts constructed using elements of languages and dialects, including Standard Australian English, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Languages, and Aboriginal English

Expressing ideas and composing texts A

Writing 

• Select and adapt appropriate codes, conventions and structures to shape meaning when composing written texts that are analytical, informative, persuasive, discursive and/or imaginative
• Develop a personal and informed voice that generates ideas and positions an audience through selection of appropriate word-level language and text-level features
• Experiment with language to create tone, atmosphere and mood
• Use rhetorical language strategically and subtly to shape complex ideas and convince others of a point of view, as appropriate to audience and purpose
• Use tense accurately and purposefully
• Apply narrative voice to depict complex ideas and enhance engagement
• Create engaging and authentic temporal and spatial settings for a range of purposes and audiences

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts