Digital Collections

Read "I Want to Call Myself Canadian" by Katalin Szepesi (p. 29 in Talking about Difference)

Answer the following questions:

1. Why does the author feel that her name prevents her from being Canadian?
2. Do you agree with the author that accents are frowned upon in Canada? Why or why not?

Have students read "Zebra: Growing Up Black And White in Canada" by Lawrence Hill (p. 41 in Talking About Difference)

They should answer the following questions:

1. Tell a personal experience where you or a person you know felt affected by others' feelings about your (friend's) cultural heritage.
2. What can be done to help reduce prejudice against different cultures?

*Hopefully one suggestion raised by question 4 will be to learn more about the diversity of cultures in Canada. That is the first activity and it will take place over the first 3 days of this unit.

This is a good time to look up the Web site http://www.schoolnet.ca/lang_soc/different/diffmain.htm/

It is called "How to be Different" and it gives personal accounts by students who feel different in their social setting. The site also allows students to send in their own stories.