Canadian Studies Class:

Class curriculum:
Teaching resources:
Class-related internet links:
Final Exam:

In the summer of 1999 I was offered a position of teaching Canadian Studies ("you can teach anything you like!") to a class of of 45 19-year-old female Japanese students in a suburb of Osaka city in Japan. I jumped at the opportunity and had a lot of fun designing a creative schedule and gathering materials. It was perhaps one of the first times in many years that I had a reason to think about my home country and all that it entails. I also had to present it in such a way that language learners could understand. Class learning was approached in four ways:

Lecture
In-class assignments
Video
End-of-term assignments

Class Curriculum:

The classes were arranged by topics.

Class 1 - Explanation of course and introduction of subject matter
Class 2 - Canada and Japan
Class 3 - Canada and the U.S.A.
Class 4 - History
Class 5 - Music
Class 6 - Film
Class 7 - Literature
Class 8 - Canadian institutions in Japan Part 1 - introduction
Class 9 - Society
Class 10 - Politics
Class 11 - Quebec and French Canadians
Class 12 - Native peoples
Class 13 - Canadian institutions in Japan Part 2 - presentations

Teaching resources:

My prime resource, given the lack of a useful textbook, was video. I quickly managed to gather several videos on Canadian themes - both motion pictures and documentaries were useful to the students in learning about Canada.

Feature films:

Canadian Bacon
Indian Summer
Un Zoo La Nuit
Scanners
The Sweet Hereafter
Map of the Human Heart
Kissed
the Sweater
Anne of Green Gables

Documentaries:

the Parliamentary Video
My Floating World: Miyami Tanobe
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen
Curling
Return To Green Gables: the Lucy Maude Montgomery Story

Class-related internet links:

Class 1 - General

the best reference site on Canada I've seen can be found at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Unofficial/Canadiana/ and Canada Eh!
Canadian Dollar Rates      http://www.fenix.com/rates.htm
                                 http://www.ela.co.nz/ela.dll?MID:447191:CAD
                                 http://www.wellingtonfx.on.ca/CANRATE.HTM

Canada’s National Anthem http://www.scottstjohn.com/ocan.htm
                                    http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/services/quickref/eocanada.htm
General information        http://phoenix.som.clarkson.edu/~canweb/information/info.html
Famous Canadians         http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/Canadians/
Statistics Canada         http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/
Yahoo Canada         http://ca.yahoo.com/
Canada Eh!                http://www3.sympatico.ca/taniah/Canada/Canada.html

map public domain, courtesy Canada Eh!

Class 2 - Canada and Japan - October 4, 1999

Kansai Canadian Association (Kobe). www.top.or.jp/~thekca/, email info@kca.office.ne.jp, or tel. (0720) 85-8274
The Canadian Academy is a Canadian school in Kobe for students of any nationality. Tel: (078) 857-3250

Class 3 - Canada and America - October 18, 1999

The best site to explain the Can-Am differences http://www.icomm.ca/emily/
This site was created lovingly by an American living in Canada and documents unique elements about Canada from an outsider's point of view. Good job!

Can-US relations

AP Photo

Atlanta, 1992, Game 2 of the World Series, Toronto-Atlanta. The flag is raised upside-down by guys who look like they aught to know what they are doing.
No hard feelings, guys.

Class 4 - Canadian History - November 1, 1999

http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/vavrr/
http://www.glenbow.org/libhtm/thisweek.htm
http://www.icomm.ca/emily/history.html

Class 5 - Canadian Music - November 8, 1999

Class 6 - Film

Canadian movies                                               http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/Places/Canada/CanadaMovies.html
Canadian TV series in the Internet Movie Database   http://us.imdb.com/M/list?countries%3DCanada
Canadian movies in the Internet Movie Database    http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Countries/Canada/
Canadian film production                                    http://www.film.queensu.ca/Links.html
the National Film Board of Canada                     http://www.nfb.ca/E/

Class 7 - Literature

General             http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/caninfo/ep08.htm
                         http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/services/eweblit.htm
                         http://canlit.st-john.umanitoba.ca/Canlitx/Canadian_Writers.html
                         http://canlit.st-john.umanitoba.ca/Canlitx/Framed_Version/CanlitF.html
Leonard Cohen         http://nebula.simplenet.com/cohen/frame.html
                         http://www.serve.com/cpage/LCohen/
Margaret Atwood       http://www.web.net/owtoad/toc.html
Robert Service         http://www.ude.net/service/service.html
Irving Layton         http://www.tceplus.com/layton.htm
Michael Ondaatje        http://www.tceplus.com/ondatje.htm (see also the film “the English Patient”)
Douglas Coupland       http://www.qub.ac.uk/english/imperial/canada/coupland.htm
William Gibson         http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~thefinn/gibson/gibson.html   (see also the film "Johnny Mnemonic" or “JM”)
Farley Mowat         http://www.tceplus.com/mowat.htm

Class 8 - Canadian Institutions in Japan

Directory of Canadian Businesses in Japan http://www.dcbj.com/
A Canadian Building Company in Japan     http://www.acbi.ca/
Canadian building companies in Japan     http://www.canadex.com/
Japanese embassy in Canada            http://www.embassyjapancanada.org/   (Japanese citizens under 30 should study the “working holiday" section)
Working Holidays                             http://www.mmjp.or.jp/jawhm/
Canadian Chamber of Commerce (Japanese) http://www.cccj.or.jp/j.html
The Canada Journal (Japanese)         http://www.canadajournal.com/

Class 9 - Society

Terry Fox              http://www.terryfoxrun.org/
                             http://www.terryfoxrun.org/terry/terry_fox_facts.htm
Hockey                 http://cbc.ca/sports/hockey/
Field hockey         http://www.fieldhockey.ca/

Canadian cooking http://www.virtualcities.com/~virtual/ons/recipe.htm
Toronto Life magazine http://www.tor-lifeline.com/

Class 10 - Politics

Prime Minister:

Prime Minister Jean Chretien (Liberal) http://www.canadianprimeministers.com/
Canada’s Prime Ministers http://bennett.freehosting.net/pms.htm

Political parties:

The New Democratic Party (NDP)       http://www.ndp.ca/Default.asp?language=English         Leader is Alexa McDonough
The Liberal Party of Canada            http://www.liberal.ca/welcome/                                    Leader is current Prime Minister Jean Chretien
The Progressive Conservative Party (PC)   http://www.pcparty.ca/english/home.htm                   Leader Joe Clark
The Reform Party of Canada - gone!      http://www.reform.ca/main.html                                Leader Preston Manning
The Canadian Alliance - new!             http://www.canadianalliance.ca/index_e.cfm
Bloq Quebecois - no website

Canadian newspapers

Frank Magazine                               http://www.frankmag.net/
The Toronto Star                             http://www.thestar.com/thestar/
The Globe and Mail                         http://www.globeandmail.com/
The National Post                            http://www.nationalpost.com/

Class 11 - Quebec

the Montreal Jazz Festival - June 29 to July 9, 2000 http://www.montrealjazzfestival.com/fest1.htm
Quebec tourism (English site) http://www.otc.cuq.qc.ca/eng/otc1e.html

Class 12 - Native Canadians

http://arcticculture.about.com/culture/cultureamer/arcticculture/mbody.htm

Final Exam

This is a copy of the final exam I prepared for my students. Take the exam yourself to see how you would have done, or visit the questions and answers page.
To view the answers visit the Canadian Studies Exam Question and Answer page.

What is the capital of Canada?

When was Canada's independence day?

Name 5 Canadian provinces.

Name 5 Canadian Cities.

Who is Canada's prime minister? What is his political party?

Name 3 Canadian prime ministers.

Name 5 Canadian singers or music groups.

Name 3 Canadian movies.

Name 3 Canadian writers.

Compare Canada and Japan.

Compare Canada and the U.S.A.

Tell me about "Japanada."

(note: "Japanada" is a novelty concept introduced to the students to make them laugh and think "what if...")

What sports are played in Canada.

How do people travel in Canada?

What is special about Quebec?

What happened in Quebec in 1970?

What kind of food is popular in Canada?

What kind of people live in Canada? What countries do they come from?

What is the weather like in Canada? What is the temperature in summer and winter?

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all original text copyright Peter Hoflich
upside down flag copyright AP Photo