Osnovna škola Ivana Gorana Kovačića Vrbovsko

On May 25th, 2015 the fourth week of the Month of the English Culture was opened. It was the week of Canada.

At the school entrance there was a desk decorated with the Welcome sign and Michael Ondaatje's  picture next to it. There was also a list with all the official flowers of Canada. The maple leaf was there, too. There was a beaver as the national animal of the country.

Two 6th class pupils, Ella Musulin and Lana Uzelac opened the week. After listening to O Canada our pupils went to their classrooms.

During the past five days each class had a guided tour through the school corridors. It was like travelling through Canada with your own personal guide. Their guide was a 5th class pupil Mirjam Golik, dressed as one of the most famous Australian cartoon characters – our own Atomic Betty.

At the very beginning of the tour she took them on a journey through geography of Canada during which they found out that Canada actually consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories and that its capital is Ottawa while Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver are some of the largest cities there. They found out that there are two languages spoken there: English and French.

Regarding the history of Canada three groups of native people were mentioned: the First Nations people, Inuit and Métis. They also found out that many of the natives died due to the diseases the white European settlers brought with them.

They learnt something about the Canadian governement and how it functions – who makes the laws, who enforces them and what is the highest court in the country. They found out that it's a republic monarchy with its government whose head is the Prime Minister as well as that it has got the queen. The current Prime Minister is Stephen Harper while the Queen is actually Queen Elizabeth II which came as a shock to them. But then they remembered the colonisation and they understood why the Queen of England is also the Queen of Canada as well as Australia.

There was also a poster containing all 22 Prime Ministers of Canada including the current one who is also the 22nd one. They could see which political party they belonged to as well as the list of the political parties in Canada.

There was a poster about the top 5 Canadian universities including the University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo, Queen's University and the McMaster University. They learnt that each of those universities has got its own coat of arms and motto.

They leant about many Canadian landmarks such as the Niagara Falls, Peggys Cove, Chateau Frontenac and Chateau Lake Louise, the Hopewell Rocks, Saint Joseph's Oratory and many more.

The latter two were also presented by the paper models.

They enjoyed learning about the film industry and TV shows including names such as Jim Carrey, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling and Hayden Christensen as well as TV shows like Flashpoint, Degrassi: The Next Generation, La Femme Nikita and Naturally, Sadie.

Music introduced them to some of the greatest Canadian artists such as Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber.

Literature was represented by three great writers – Robertson Davies, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro and Carol Shields.

The last poster in line was about the state holiday in Canada. It's called Canada Day and it is celebrated on 1st July. The main celebration is in the capital, Ottawa.

Since we all love to eat, we had to mention some traditional dishes such as the poutine, the butter tart, the Nanaimo cake and so on.

Pupils had a chance to read many of the ghost stories, legends and myths originating from the natives of Canada.

Last in line was a Powerpoint presentation on Canada done by the 8th class pupils Natalija Dokmanović, Vedrana Dragović, Milica Milošević and Andrea Perić. It contained everything - geography, history, landmarks, universities, film, TV shows, music, literature but also sports with a special stress on ice hockey.

During each break there was a pupil in charge for playing  a CD with the Canadian music. The list included Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber.

The 1st and the 2nd class pupils had a cartoon workshop – Caillou; they watched the cartoon without the Croatian subtitles after which they had to colour the Caillou pattern; each pupil got his/her own colouring sheet.

The pupils who participated in this project working with me for the past several months, staying overtime 2-3 times a week, staying 90 minutes longer than all the others during our workshops got a certificate  that I made.

Our neighbours from the Railway Technical School also came together with some of their pupils and they were thrilled after seeing and being a part of our Canada week and after being guided by our own little Atomic Betty.

I just want to say that nothing of this would be possible if there hadn't been for my pupils. They showed a great willingness to participate in this project and they were persistent to carry it through. Therefore, this project is equally theirs as it is mine.

A special thanks goes to Miss Mirjam Golik, a 5th class pupil and the best Atomic Betty anyone has even seen.