Social Studies Grade Five

Module Three - Contemporary Canadian People

Concepts:

• Identity, multiculturalism , point of view, heroes

Students will know:

• that multiculturalism is part of Canada's identity.
• that our heroes reflect Canada's diversity.

Students will:

• conduct a survey and tabulate the results.
• identify various points of view.
• access, organize and share information about various Canadians including heroes.

Attitudes/Values Objectives

Students will:

• appreciate and value the country's diversity.

Students may:

• conduct a survey.
• nominate, assess and induct heroes into a local Hall of Fame.

• Teacher and students may choose to take a survey in class to identify the ethnic groups represented. Compare with provincial and national statistics.
• Research and identify some of the following characteristics of various ethnic backgrounds: language, technologies, recreation, traditions, celebrations, religion, foods, clothing, and lifestyle.
• Develop an understanding that living in a multicultural country has many advantages.
• Living in a multicultural country also requires that the citizens try to see things from the point of view of others. Using classroom and playground experiences, help students understand point of view. Explore stereotype.
• Use an atlas or other resource to access information about languages spoken in Canada. Identify the two official languages. Ask students to document evidence of these two official languages and others. Make connections between the many ethnic populations in Canada and the languages they would speak.
• Reflect on the importance of knowing more than one language*, both to themselves and to their country. Identify jobs that would require a knowledge of more than one language. Identify languages they would like to learn.
• Using a map, identify language groups of the Indian and Inuit peoples of Canada. Find books with text printed in English and an Indian language. Learn words in other languages.
• Explore the concept of heroes. Identify people who the students recognize as heroes. Use the Student Information Pages, various literature and other resources, and the suggestions that follow to profile various Canadian heroes.

Module 3: Activity Guide

Making comparisons

Learn about the experiences and feelings of a variety of Canadian children, comparing their situations to their own. View the video Sacred Circle to develop understandings about the lives of urban Indian and Métis children. Read Children of the Yukon aloud to the class.

Survey

Conduct a survey or interview to determine the country of origin of a sample of people. Identify the group to be surveyed or interviewed and the method to be used. Help students design the survey tool. After conducting the interview or survey, compile the results on a bar graph. Analyze the results.

Using a map of the world attach a string to the countries of origin identified in your research. Be aware that the country of origin for Indian and Métis children and for many other children of various ethnic origins will be Canada. Recognize this on the map display.

When conducting surveys, remember:

• Information about a person's family background is personal and should be handled discreetly. Give people the option to decline to discuss or disclose personal information.
• Questions should be carefully worded.
• Design the survey to collect informa tion about languag e, recreat ion, traditions, religion, foods, clothing, and lifestyle related to ethnic background.

Ethnic celebrations

Canada is made up of people from many different ethnic backgrounds. Many celebrations in this country centre around one or more of these ethnic groups.

The teacher and students may research or experience one or more of these celebrations within this module or sometime during the course of the year. The information that follows deals with the Dragon Boat Races as they occur in Regina.

Holidays and multicultural celebrations may be recognized (and celebrated) when they happen during the year.

Teacher Background

The Dragon Boat Races held on Wascana Lake, Regina, on Labour Day weekend are a relatively new event that celebrates Canada's multicultural heritage. Organizers hope this event will become a tradition and form part of our identity.

Dragon boat races originated in China over 2 000 years ago. Today, the races are very popular all over the world. Here in Canada, both Vancouver and Toronto hold annual races to celebrate multiculturalism and sportsmanship. Regina was the first city between Canada's two major centres to have the Dragon Boat Festival.

Dragon boats are available in many sizes. The most popular one used in international competitions and in Regina is forty-eight feet long and four feet wide. It requires a maximum of twenty paddlers, plus a steersman and a drummer. The official race course is 640 meters long. Races are held on Wascana Lake in Regina.

Myth and legend surround the history of Dragon Boat Racing. In a kingdom called Chu there lived a great poet named Qu Yuan. He believed political reform and truth to be essential to a healthy state. The king had fallen under the influence of corrupt ministers and banished his most loyal counsellor from the kingdom. Qu Yuan, out of love for his country and a deep concern about its future, leapt into the Mi Lo river. The people of Chu, in vain attempt to save him, beat on drums and splashed their oars in the water trying to keep the fish and water dragons away from his body. Also, they scattered rice on the water in honour of Qu Yuan's soul and to ensure that it did not go hungry. One night, the spirit of Qu Yuan's appeared and told the people that the rice meant for him was being eaten by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap the rice in three-cornered silk packages and to tie five colours of string about it to ward off the dragon. This tradition is continued today, although now the rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of silk.

The objectives are:

• Promote a spirit of cooperation, determination, and perseverance to achieve a common goal.
• Provide a showcase in Regina to convey the values and heritage of the multicultural community.
• Increase Regina's profile nationally and internationally.

• To organize an annual event that incorporates performing, visual, and culinary arts in addition to the dragon boat races thereby creating a true festival atmosphere.
• To provide an opportunity to encourage participation of the multicultural community in the mainstream society.
• To promote appreciation and internalization of many cultures to enrich the quality of life for citizens of Regina.

The teacher may choose to do some of the following:

• Use the teacher background information to familiarize students with the Dragon Boat Races.
• The Dragon Boat Races symbolize Canada's many cultures pulling together. What are other times when Canadians pull together. Watch for media items about community members or Canadians pulling together to achieve a common goal. Compile them into a scrapbook.
• Create a dance, mural, or some other form of expression to convey the idea of Canadians pulling together to achieve a common goal.
• Think of times when the members of your family (class, school) must pull together to achieve a common goal. Make up a poem or chant about it.
• Many communities have celebrations that celebrate the multicultural mix of Canada. These celebrations are becoming traditions and part of our identity. If your community has such a celebration, discuss the significance of the celebration at the time it is occurring.

Explore language as a part of personal and Canadian identity. Language is an important part of our identity.

• It is through language that we can create thoughts and opinions.
• It is through language that we learn new information and what other people do and think.
• Words in our language reflect our values and beliefs.
• Languages may be spoken and/or written.

• People would learn by listening.
• People would have to have very good listening skills and excellent memories.
• Parents would have to be sure to talk to their children a lot and tell them many stories so that they pass on all the information and knowledge that they have.
• People today are becoming more interested in learning about past experiences through stories that are passed by word of mouth. Historians are recognizing oral history as being important and different from history that is written.

Using maps explore the various Indian language groupings in Canada. Find a picture book that is written in an Indian language or other language. Examine the characters. Look for patterns.

If possible, examine a language map of the world. List countries that identify English as their official language. List countries that identify French as their official language. Would other languages also be spoken in those countries?

Are language classes available in your community. Which language(s) could you learn?

Heroes

A study of heroes should include a cross-section of examples representing women, men, boys, and girls; people from many cultures; and people of varying abilities.

Use literature and the Student Information Pages to study heroes. Integrate with English language arts (see Sample Unit for Grade 5 on Heroes in the ELA curriculum guide).

Consider with the students their personal achievements and their personal goals. Brainstorm, note, discuss and/or role play ways students in the class may now or in the future be heroes. Students' goals may include small or major achievements in various fields.

Consider the following:

• people are special for different reasons;
• society recognizes its heroes in different ways;
• over the years, the criteria for recognizing heroes have favoured the achievements and contributions of white middle class men;
• awards have generally been based on winning rather than a broader set of criteria including quality of performance and lifestyle;
• the lifestyles, achievements, and contributions of many Saskatchewan and Canadian women, men and children have been/are significant on local, provincial, national, and international levels;
• our heroes include: authors, musicians, artists, leaders in government and community organizations, Indian/Métis leaders, inventors, volunteers, people who have done good deeds for others, medical people, explorers, athletes;
• the identity of our heroes includes:
  • historical experiences,
  • ethnic background,
  • physical and social environment.

• What makes a person a hero?
  • Is it only winning?
  • Is it also the way a person performed?
  • Is it difficulties overcome?
  • Is it contributions to the family or community?
• What are the people's accomplishments? In what ways were/are they important in the past/now?
• In what ways are their accomplishments related to their cultural backgrounds? Have they overcome racism or other discrimination?

Note: The following is also suggested in Grade Four. The classes could do this project together.

Establish a local Hall of Fame. This may be done on a classroom, school or community basis.

• Develop a nomination form.
• Research local heroes.
• Present nominations to a Selections Committee of students (and teacher) that will judge the nominations