Canadian Fact ESL Activities

<b> Forum for discussing activities and games that work well in the classroom </b>

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tara_lee_anne
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Canadian Fact ESL Activities

Post by tara_lee_anne » Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:29 pm

I am tutoring two girls (aged 10 & 11) who are here from Korea for the summer. Their parents want them to learn ESL but also about Canada. Does anyone know of any Canadian themed activities and/or games that would be good to use? Maybe a website with some worksheets or fun facts? They are around a pre-intermediate level of english at this point, so nothing too complex.

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions!
Tara

Sally Olsen
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Post by Sally Olsen » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:03 pm

I seem to remember a board game called "Canada" that was made by the government and might be available in government information offices. It was a travel game and had facts to learn as you travelled the country. There is a board game available in Teacher's Store as well along with Flash Cards. Vancouver has its own board game with places to visit in Vancouver much like Monopoly.

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mesmark
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Post by mesmark » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:42 pm

Visit the local gov't website for your area (city/province.) They should have a tourism section and will probably send you information for free. The website itself should have a lot of information but I find the packets much easier to flip through.

Anyway, those tourism packets should contain a a good number of places, museums, events and so on that you never knew about. It might give you some ideas for road trips or just some information you could use for games/activities.

These girls will get more grammar than anyone could ever ask for in school, so I wouldn't worry too much about worksheets and such. If it were me, I would take them to various places they might find cool or interesting. You can bring along a digital camera and take as many pictures as you can. Later you can have the girls make a Canadian scrapbook with info about the places they went to and funny anecdotes. It might also make a nice souvenir in the end..

I hope that helps.

Mark
www.mes-english.com

tara_lee_anne
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Post by tara_lee_anne » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:14 pm

Thanks for the replies. But I am tutoring at their homestay house in the evenings so there are no trips to different locations.

I actually decided to work with them on a map of Canada and we have been studying the Provices, Capitals and Flags. These girls are pretty amazing as they are just sapping it all up like crazy. I have also decided to teach them how to sing the national anthem. They will be attending elementary school in Calgary for six months starting in the fall so that is something they will need to know. If anyone has any further suggestions please feel free to post.

Sally Olsen
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Post by Sally Olsen » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:20 pm

Perhaps you can borrow a video about Canada from the library. You can turn off the sound and make your own commentary at the vocabulary level they can handle but it will give them an idea of the diversity of the country. I think there was a Helicopter Tour of Canada that shows you the tour from one side to the other and gives them the sense of distance and variety of geography.
It would be good to go over classroom directions as well - I think there was a thread of things they might learn to say in the classroom to promote their learning.

Miss Lala
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Get them to do it....

Post by Miss Lala » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:28 am

Why don't you get them to design their own board game about Canada. they can begin by collecting their own information and formulatin their own questions and the end result is the board game. they can use this to test each other on their knowledge and play with their parents and/or friends.

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