El sistema educativo canadiense. Rosa´s Perspective: Friday 16th

Preparing the roof for the winter

Today Mr. Katz brought different things to eat for the students in each class. He had promised a group French fries so the first thing we did after we arrived at the school was to go to the kitchen and cook the French fries in the oven. Two students came and took them to the classroom.

Period 1: English 3IM

When I came into the classroom, the students were finishing their in-class writing. Then they read aloud the closing statements of ' Monster' ; they were very long pieces, so what he shared with them was the cake that was left from Arielle's fourth birthday cake yesterday.

Arielle and her cousin getting ready to blow the 5 candles: one candle for each year and one for good luck

Anxious to get a piece of cake

These students handed in their projects today; this is what some of the CD cases of the soundtrack they had prepared looked like:

Period 2: Ethics and Religion

The students continued working on their Canadian Elections Projects: two posters for the political party they had created. Some of them worked in the classroom, others went to the cafeteria to work but all of them got some French fries first. The students were really engaged in the work and in the planning of the things they still had to do before handing in their posters.

(When I see students working on their projects, I am always surprised by their use of the agendas to plan the different steps. It seems to be one of those things that the students do naturally; they have probably learnt to do so because all their teachers encourage this methodology. In my opinion, students are not taught `the basics´like this in Spain ; the teachers do not seem to bother to teach students how to plan their work. To a certain extent, it is something we always take for granted. I like the way students seem to have internalized some important things related to both group work and self-learning here. Repetition - in different projects and different subjects- surely works.

And I also like all the encouragement they get from the teacher. Teachers are used to praising students- `Great job!´, Èxcellent idea´ can be heard in any of the classes over and over again- and very often students thank them for their words)

Periods 3 & 4: English 1B

The first thing they did in both classes today is learning how to get a Creative Commons licence for the videos that they are filming for their projects.

These two groups of students have their tests on AMNSM next Tuesday. To revise for this test, they play a game; some of the questions are `candy questions´, that is, they get a marshmallow or a lollipop if they are right.

First of all, the students form groups ( 3 or 4 people), then each group gets a small whiteboard and a marker. They listen to the questions and write the answers on the board. They raise their hands once they have written the full answer but they get so carried away that some of them end up standing on the chairs or tables; they also clap, laugh, jump.... they are really excited to get the correct answer, and, of course, to get the candy. Mr. Katz has brought his Go-Pro cameras to class today and lets a student record the lesson