Bye, bye Canada

GOODBYE TO THIS AMAZING TEAM

After a month in Canada I must say goodbye to this beautiful country and

the wonderful people I have met here. It has been a fantastic experience. 

See you soon guys!

Niagara Falls

 Las catarátas del Niágara se encuentran al noroeste de Ontario, entre la frontera de Canadá y Estados Unidos.Comprenden tres cataratas: la «catarata canadiense» (Ontario), la «catarata estadounidense» (Nueva York) y la «catarata Velo de Novia», más pequeña.En algunas secciones la caída de agua supera los 50 metros. Puedes verlas más de cerca cogiendo un tour guiado en bote, además en muy divertido.

Niagara Falls are located on the border of Ontario, Canada and New York, USA. They are a group of three waterfalls at teh southern end of NIagara Gorge. From largest to smallest: the Horseshoe Falls (also known as the Canadian Falls), American Falls and Bridal Veil falls. Niagara Falls vertical height is over 50 meters in some sections. You can get close to them  taking a guided tour by boat.

To know more interesting facts about them you  can visit:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/niagarafalls.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4wEA99kE8c

Trip to Toronto

 TORONTO

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the most populous city in Canada, with a population of  around 2,800.000 people.
The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for inmigrants to Canada.More than 50 percent of residents belong to a visible minority population group and over 200 distinct ethnic are represented among its inhabitants. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city

Parc Omega

PARC OMEGA

Parc Omega is a safari park in Quebec, Canada (just north of Montebello). Along a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) nature route are lakes, meadows, small valleys, forests, and rocky hills. It is home to many wildlife species including beaver, elk, raccoon, timber wolf, coyote, muskox, deer, turtle, boar, red fox, Alpine ibex, caribou, black bear, moose, wild turkey, and bison.

 You can take carrots with you or, once there,  you can buy carrots and feed the animals while visiting the park.

Hockey in Canada

 Ottawa's Hockey team, Senators.

Hockey is Canada's official national winter sport and perhaps its greatest contribution to world sport. Canada is considered the birthplace of ice hockey, and Canadians generally regard the sport as their own.
The Canadian teams are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Teams compete annually for the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America
Ice hockey is considered to be the most popular sport in Canada.

Go Sens!

While in Canada I went to a hockey game. The atmosphere is amazing! First, players warm up in an organized systematic way, it looks like a dance. Then, they start the game. The anthem for each team is played. Also, music is played all along the whole game during pauses or when points are scored.

For your interest, in case you like taking food on the site during a game ( much recommended to try the typical hot dog) If you take a bucket of popcorn you are allowed to refill it one more time for free!!  In this game, the Senators played against the Buffalo Sabres, from USA. The Senators team is Ottawa's official team. Go Sens!

Grades 5-6

Sitting on the carpet to listen to a story, an explanation or to work in groups, is an essential part of the daily schedule. Everyday, after thevsecond nutrition break the teacher in this class reads a story.

In this class, students from gardes 5th and 6th are making crafts for a  charity Christmas market . They will donate the money to an environmental NGO.

My school schedule, shadowing Ms Harback

At Cambridge Street Community lessons start at 9am and finish at 3.30 pm. Between 8 and 8.45 there is a morning club that delivers breakfast for some of the students.

There are two recessess, called nutrition break and activity break.  They eat their lunch either in the classroom or a designated area. There are always teachers on duty responsible for supervising the children. They usually have lunch in the first break, snack in the second one. Also, kids are allowed to eat in the classes, during a silent individual work, whenever they feel hungry , as long as they keep it quite and theirwork neat.

Regarding the subjects, they have the common ones such as maths, literacy, music... All the children have core French (CF)

Cambridge Street Community Public School

THE SCHOOL : CAMBRIDGE STREET COMMUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL

This school is located in the center of Ottawa, near Chinatown borough
More tan 90% of the students have a foreign background, they are sons and daughters of inmigrants or are the first generation of the newly arrived families.  Many of them do not speak English or still are learning their own mother tongue so English is taught as a second language. Therefore, inmersion is an essential part for them to develop good language skills. No translation is given as it would be impossible for the number of nationalities and languages spoken among the kids are numerous. Kids with larger linguistic needs are set in a special group with a permanent teacher.

What does "community" mean?

For Cambridge, the word is an integral part, not only of the name, but also of the day-to-day life of staff, students and parents at the school. The list of community helpers, volunteers and partners seems to be endless and continues to grow every year.

There is not a classroom that does not have a volunteer from the community, nor a classroom that has not worked with a community partner to help enhance student learning.

While my stayed there almkst everyday children in grade 2 and 3, where I was based, had at least 3 volunteers along the day, mostly retired people or undergraduates willing to become teachers one day.

Religion is not taught the same way it is here in Spain. Given the diversity of the school population, all religions are respected and encouraged to flourish.

THE SCHEDULE

8:40 - 8:55	Arrival on the yard
8:55 - 10:55	Learning Block
10:55-11:15	Nutrition Break #1
11:15-11:40	Activity Break #1
11:40 - 1:20	Learning Block
1:20 - 1:40	Nutrition Break #2
1:40 - 2:05	Outdoor Play
2:05 - 3:25	Learning Block

MONTREAL

MONTREAL

Montreal es la ciudad más grande de la provincia de Quebec, en Canadá. Se encuentra en una isla, la Isla de Montreal,  al suroeste de la provincia. Su nombre viene del Mont-Royal, una montaña con tres cimas que se ubica en su centro.

La ciudad de MOntreal es la segunda ciudad más poblada de Canadá, con aporximadamente 1.900.000 habitantes. Es una ciudad bilingüe, el francés y el inglés son lenguas oficiales

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Montreal is the biggest city in Quebec. It is located in an island, l´Íle de Montreal, southeastern of the province. Its name comes from Mont-Royal, a mountain with three peaks located in the center of the island.

Montreal is the second most populated city in Canada with approximately 1.900.000 inhabitants. It´s a bilingual city, both French and English are official languages

                                                Catedral de Nôtre- Dame en Montreal

                                            Vista de la ciudad desde Mont-Royal

                                                             Desayunando en Montreal

                                                                        Old Port

La Sucrerie de la Montagne

LA SUCRERIE DE LA MONTAGNE

De camino a Montreal, paramos en "La sucrerie de la Montagne", un lugar entrañable en medio de las montañas donde fabrican sirope de arce( maple syrup) de manera tradicional. En inglés  a este lugar se le llama "sugar shack,". Allí, además de contarte todo e proceso de creación del "maple syrup", también puedes comer y escuchar música en vivo.  
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.On our way to Montreal we stopped to visit a sugar shack, a place where maple syrup is made the traditional way. The sugar shack, islocated in the midlle of a 120-acre forest of century-old maples atop Mont Rigaud, west of Montréal, transports its visitors back in time, providing them with a momentary glimpse of life as it truly was for Québec and Canadian pioneers. It is a cute, old wooden house where not only you get the chnce to see how maple syrup is made, also you can eat and taste it there while listening go live music. It is alzo rented for private celebrations such as weddings.

Para saber más de este lugar o de la elaboración del maple syrup podéis visitar las siguientes webs.
To know more about this place or how maple syrup is made:

https://www.sucreriedelamontagne.com/

https://vermontmaple.org/how-maple-syrup-is-made

Remembrance day

During these days children and teachers wear a poppy flower on their jackets. In the streets, there are banners, such as the one in the photo, and wreaths on those monuments dedicated to the soldiers dead in WWI.

"Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of the remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty" ( Wikipedia)

Conociendo la capital

Ottawa es la capital de Canadá, en la provincia de Ontario en el sureste, cerca de la ciudad de Montreal y la frontera con Estados Unidos. Ubicada en el río Ottawa, en su centro se ubica Parliament Hill, con una preciosa arquitectura victoriana y museos, como la Galería Nacional de Canadá, con notables colecciones de arte indígena y otras obras de arte canadienses. El Canal Rideau suele congelarse durante la temporada invernal. Son muchas las personas que aprovechan para patinar en los aproximadamente 7 km de agua congelada. 

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Ottawa is the capital of Canada. It is located in Ontario, in the south- eastern side of the province. It is close to Montreal and the U.S. border.It stands south of the border with the Ottawa river.Right in the center we find Parliament Hill surrounded by an impressive victorian architecture and lots of museums, such as the National Gallery with a great number of collections from indigenous and other sort of Canadian art .

The Rideau Canal freezes during winter. Every year, thousands of people take advantage of this natural event to skate along the approximately 7 km of frozen water. 

Did you know...?

 Canada’s capital boasts the largest naturally frozen skating rink in the world as designated by Guinness World Records.

Picture from ottawatourism.ca

A few pictures of some of the teachers and me hanging around:

Algunos de los compañer@s del viaje

First day in Ottawa

GOOD MORNING OTTAWA

After approximately 30 hours traveling, including conection flights and cancellatios due to the snow storm, we have arrived to our  destination. Each teacehr has been apointed one family, which will help us make this experience even more meaninful.
I live in Westboro with a Canadian family of three, the mum and her two children.
This is the view from my bedroom window the first morning I wake uo in Canada.The temperature in  is between -14 -13 degrees!
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Después de aproximadamente 30 horas de viaje, contando trasbordos en Madrid y
Toronto retrasos y cancelaciones por la tormenta de nieve, llegamos a destino. A cada profesor y profesora se le ha asignado una familia. La mía  vive en Westboro un bonito barrio no lejos del centro de Ottawa. esta conformada opor la madre y sus dos hijos. Esta es la vista desde mi habitación en mi priemra mañana en Ottawa. La temperatura oscila entre los -14y -13 grados.
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We start the adventure!/ Empieza la aventura!

40 Galician teachers start these adventure. Let´s go!
40 profesores galleg@s de distintos niveles educativos se embarcan en esta aventura. Let's go!!