Students spent last Thursday fęte-ing, feasting and celebrating French culture day at Landing Trail Intermediate (LTIS) and Whispering Hills Primary (WHPS).
LTIS hosted its annual French cultural day – La Journée Culturelle en Français – for the French immersion students in Grades 4 to 7, along with Grades 8 and 9 from Edwin Parr Composite High School.
WHPS skipped the usual visit to LTIS and planned its own Winter Cultural Carnival with the inclusion of Inuit culture, which included building miniature inukshuks sculptures out of household items and teaching students to spell their names in Inuktituk.
LTIS has hosted the French cultural day for the last 16 or 17 years, said Joe MacIsaac, LTIS assistant principal and coordinator of the Second Language and French Immersion programs.
He said French is isolated in Athabasca because there are few residents who speak it. The activities give students more opportunities to practice the language outside of the classroom and meet other French-speakers who visit.
“If you want students to have an authentic learning experience, it can’t just be in the classroom – especially language learning,” he said. “They have to experience it in different environments and with different language speakers.”
One such guest was a francophone graphic artist from Edmonton who taught the students, in French, different techniques to build and draw a mise en action – an action scene from any comic book of their choice.
Another surprise visitor made a stop at both schools – the cheery red-capped snowman from Quebec, Bonhomme Carnivale.
“All the kids wanted a hug and some attention from Bonhomme,” MacIsaac said, including the older kids.
And Bonhomme wasn’t the only sweet treat for students.
WHPS students filled up on berry covered crepes, while the older kids at LTIS got their hands on le tire – the sweet toffee-like lollipop made from maple syrup served this time of year at sugar shacks, or les cabanes ŕ sucre, as they are commonly known in Quebec.
Earlier in the day, WHPS students worked up an appetite snowshoeing, while over at LTIS the students played hockey and built structures.
MacIsaac said it couldn’t have happened without the collaborative effort of parents and the local branch of the Canadian Parents for French, who made and provided the toffee as well as organized Bonhomme’s appearance.
Add it all together and that makes the French cultural day another hit with the kids and MacIsaac year after year.
“It’s a fun way to come back and remember what it was like and watch how far they’ve come in their language learning,” he stated.
