TO:

• My Canadian  family (CHAN-LEE). Thanks for your warmth. I really felt at home.
• All the very welcoming and hard-working school communities (Ridgemont HS, Glebe, Chelsea School, Hawthorne School, Ecole polyvalente Le Carrefour, CEGEP Heritage, Woodroff French Immersion School)
• My Tai Chi Teacher and group.
• The wise Syrian stallkeeper at Byward Market.
• The friendly Jamaican bus driver.
• The chatty Egyptian shop assistant.
• Sweet Elizabeth Tovell and her family.
• Basque and native-culture sharing Orianna Barkham & family.
• Holmes family.
• All the International Centre of Ottawa-Carleton District school board. Mauro, Constantine and a very special mention to Merima!!!
• And all the anonymous and familiar pleople and drivers in the route-55-bus every morning ( The military man, The beautiful Somalian women with her gorgeous baby-boy, the always happy retired Chinese couple, the secretary…)
• AND THE CITY ( Rideau, Mackenzie, Byward Market, Bytowne Cinema, 440 Albert St, the canal, special buses, malls, Laura Secord Chocolates, Britannia Beach, Ottawa River, Gatineau River, Pink Lake, Experimental Farm, Baseline, Merivale, Central Park, Cedar Park…)
• AND THE WEATHER ( warm, sunny, cold, snow…Fall)
• AND ALL THE LANGUAGES…AND PEOPLE…

Dedicated to our wonderful Counsellor, Gabi Goya…

Here I am, writing my last words from Glebe. Today we have a beautiful weather (17 dregrees!!!) Barack Obama is the new U.S President…

The Student Services Department serves students by providing them with counselling and support in educational choices, career goals, and personal concerns.

There are 5 counsellors at Glebe, 2 of them full time and 3 of them shifting from teaching to counselling.

Appart from that, as at Ridgemont HS, there’s a full-time teacher, called ”Success Teacher”, to focus on students who need additional help to be successful in their courses. Support is offered through Credit Rescue and Recovery classes as well as Learning Strategies courses, and/or Guidance and Career Education ( Discovering the Workplace at grade 10 and Navigating the Workplace at grade 12)

Today all the grade 9 students are taken by one of their parents to work in “TAKE THE KIDS TO WORK” day.

Hello….

Last Tuesday evening, as expected, it started to snow and it didn’t stop until next morning…As you can imagine, there were around 10-15 cms of snow. I spent most of my time enjoying the snow…It was great!!!!

On Thursday my Canadian friend, Oriana Barkham, took me to 3 differents schools in Quebec, in the area of Gatineau where there are 4 different school boards. The schools I visited belong to “Commission scolaire des Draveurs”.

I first visited a Secondary school called “L’Ecole Polyvalente Le Carrefour” where the principal, Mme Carmen Thauvette, after taking me for a tour around the school, introduced me to 3 teachers… They have the International Baccalaureate Program along with a regular one. I met Michel Plamondon who teaches Spanish, Maria del Rosario Mena Lupercio who teaches “Soutien linguistique”(French) to new commers (*) and I also went to a regular class of English. By the way in Quebec, the National Anthem is not sung at the beginning of the school day as it is in Ontario!

Afterwards, I went to visit two CEGEP(**), one in French and the other one in English.

(*) When a new student comes and French isn’t his/her 1st language, the school(the “Soutien linguistique” teacher) will assess him/her in order to find out the level of the student. If he/she is a beginner, he/she’ll spend all the periods in  French (Soutien…) and will only attend regular groups in Phys Ed and Arts. Then little by little, he/she will be going to Maths…According to their learning habilities, they will eventually get to regular classes, but they can always come to “Soutien …” when needed.

(**) CEGEP: Secondary schools in Quebec go from age 12-13 to 16-17, 5 years. there’s no grade 12. Instead, most students go to the CEGEP where they can study 2 or 3-year courses:

1. PRE-UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS (Science, Social Science, Visual Arts, Commerce…You can enter 2nd year course at University, so you get 1 year for free!)
   
2. CAREER PROGRAMS (Nursing, Forestry Tech., Eletrocnics Tech, Early Chilhood Care & Education, Accounting & Managment Tech, Newmedia & Publication, Computer Science…)
   
3. CONTINUING EDUCATION

After a relaxing weekend around “La ville de Quebec” KEBEC IN ALGONQUIN LANGUAGE!!!, here I am back to Glebe.

I’m really enjoying my staying here as both teachers and students are really nice and welcoming.

I’m having a great time attending all these ESL, French Immersion, English, Media Studies, The writer’s craft, Film Studies…

After attending all these classes, and specially the last three, I can say that students here are really encouraged to participate(and  they really DO) to be creative, to develop they critical thinking…Grade 12 students doing their oral presentations this morning…You cannot imagine how awesome it was!

Tomorrow I’m attending a class where the teacher is using the AIM method, and the day after tomorrow I’ll be taken to a High School in Gatineau “L’Ecole Polyvalente Le Carrefour” and a CEGEP, Province of Quebec (so a different system and curriculum from the Ontario one, as each Province in Canada has independence to state its own educational curriculum!)

Then I’m looking forward to Friday and the Pumpkin carving…

By the way, we’re expecting SNOW TODAY!!!!

HI again,

Here I am, back in Ottawa after spending the weekend in the middle of the nature…Sunny and bright weather during the day and freezing cold ( -5)  at night. For our standard, WINTER…here, just FALL…Wild animals: moose, beaver, squirrel, fisher, bear, fishes….big forest…beautiful lakes…

Today I’m in my new High School, Glebe Collegiate Institute, where I’ll be teaching for the next 3 weeks before I go home. It’s a huge high school, with 1500 students and more than 150 teachers…

Yesterday, 1st period, I had Phys Ed with a really energetic and welcoming teacher, Jane Adams!!!

In the afternoon I met the ”Student’s success” teacher,Lindsey Rown. Being Ridgemont a school which has special needs, they have a full-time post. She coordinates different programs in order to avoid students dropping out( CREDIT RECOVERY, CREDIT RESCUE, ALTERNATIVE PATHWAYS…). What I like about it, is that the school system provides many opportunities for the students to graduate (school is compulsory up to 18) without having to pay private tutors after school!!!!!!!!!!! 

I’m also having some Art and Careers(*). As you can see, a little bit of everything this week…It helps me to have an general idea!!!

(*)CAREERS: All the stdents need 1 credit on this in order to graduate. They develop skills they’ll need to chose their future studies or lives. 

 Hi again,

After spending a bright, warm and sunny weekend in NYC…here I am again in Ottawa. Last night we had turkey for dinner as it was Thanksgiving…Anyway the best thing about the weekend was NEW YORK CITY!!!

CATCHING & AMAZING CITY…the sensation when walking between skyscrapers…the view from the ferry crossing from Staten Island to Manhattan at night…crossing Brooklin bridge…going out at night in Greenwich…listening to some Funky & Blues…window shopping in Soho…shopping around 5th Avenue and Times Square…dinner in Chinatown…visiting Little Italy…resting in Central Park…graffitis…the exbition: BODIES…Broadway…Sunday- morning- singing & dancing gospel mass in Harlem…SPANISH LANGUAGE EVERYWHERE… 

On Tuesday, I got the chance to take part in the first of the four  workshops on ”YOU CAN”(Youth Organizing to Understand Conflict & Advocate Non-violence) with a grade 10 French immersion group.

That’s all for now, I’m getting ready to go to NY. I’ll tell you about!!!

(*) Here you can get English in many different ways, according to your level or your aims or inetrests. For example, their are 5 levels of English (A-B-C-D-E) for those students who need to improve their academic English. It is said that it takes an average of 1-2 years to reach English for interaction and 5-7 years for SCALP(academic language).

On the other hand, you can choose English for University(+ academic), English for College (+ technical), Applied English( + basic) and Open English. This makes a great choice!!!

(**) Peer tutor: A student can choose to get 1 credit from the 30 he needs to graduate on “peer tutoring”. He-she will lead activities in the classroom, help the teacher in different ways. For example, Jennifer, in grade 11 is tutoring French immersion grade 10 students. Today, I was amazed by the active reading activity she did, really good!!!

Hi again,

Here I am, Monday back to school after a nice but short break to Montreal last weekend. Montreal is an interesting city in the province of Quebec. It’s French-speaking, although around here many people are quite fluent with both French & English. I like  Québécois although I sometimes find it difficult to understand. By the way, if you ever come to MONTREAL, don’t miss Le Pierrot, a great pub with live music and terrific atmosphere

Since I came, I’m having a great time practising French and English. When I speak English to somebody, I think because of my accent, French-speakers start speaking French to me.

But French & English are only the official languages here. Most of the students I met today(grade 9 in French immersion) here in Ridgemont speak3-4 languages: good English, quite good French and their parents’language at home (Spanish from Peru, Arabic from Algeria, Somali, Urdu from Pakistan, Amharic from Ethiopia). ISN’T IT GREAT????