Osnovna škola Ivana Gorana Kovačića Vrbovsko

Week of Canada

March 29, 2016 - April 1, 2016

On Tuesday, March 29th two 6th class pupils, Valentina Alinčić and Vanja Vučinić opened the Week of the Canada in both English and Croatian language. Why in both languages? So that everyone could understand everything.

With the last words of the opening speech the national anthem O Canada started.

The guided tour was led by a 6th class pupil Mirjam Golik dresses like Susan Test, a famous Canadian cartoon character and Johnny Test's sister.

Not to get lost on the way...they just needed to follow Susan's notorious brother Johnny.

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.

The next in line to represent Canada was Susan's twin sister...Johnny's other sister...Mary Test.

As every country has got a flag, so does Canada and its flag is unofficially called the Maple flag since it has a red 11-pointed maple leaf in the middle (white field). It consistes of three fields out of which two are red and the one in the middle is white.

At the very beginning of the tour our Susan Test  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 City  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. Not only they found out about the natives of Canada but they also heard, for the first time, that calling an Inuk an Eskimo is considered to be offensive.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 Justin Trudeau 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 the Queen of Australia).

There was also a poster containing all 22 Prime Ministers of Canada preceding the current one, Justin Trudeau. 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. Some of the landmarks 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.

There was also a corner dedicated to one of the most famous Canadian cartoons known as Caillou (French), Pebbles (English) or in our country - Oblutak. Caillou is a 4-year old boy who, simply said, meets life. There are episodes in which he learns how to drive a bike, or swim...or he goes trick-or-treating, and so on.

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 four 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.

On Thursday, March 31 we had a guest at our school. A Canadian from Montreal, Quebec. A Canadian originating from Croatia. His name is Mark Mocnaj and he gladly accepted our invitation to come and tell the students about the 2nd largest country in the world. He took a tour with our Susan Test  after which he put on his hockey jersey and told them many interesting facts on Canada. More precisely, 50 interesting facts. He mentioned Terry Fox, a Canadian folk hero who started the Marathon of Hope. Students got Canadian flags, pens and Terry Fox T-shirts for which we have Mr Mocnaj and the Canadian Embassy to thank for.

The presentation was followed by an after-party with a chocolate Canadian cake. That it was a true Canadian cake you can see from the photo.

 We would also like to thank the Canadian Embassy for sending us flags and pens of Canada.

Special thank you goes to Mr Mark Mocnaj who accepted to come and tell us a bit more about Canada. Also, thank you for inviting us to a hockey match. We'll gladly come.

And one more thank you goes to Mr Bernard Vrban who was very helpful and persistant in finding us our special Canadian guest. Maybe next time he'll come together with Mark to present Canada. Yes, Bernard is Canadian, too. And Croatian as well.

You have...

...a beautiful homeland  everyone should visit

...an amazing landscape one could admire endlessly

...an ethnical richness you should be proud of

...the writers everyone should read

...and much, much more.