Identity

Chapter titles/Suggested grade level	Suggested questions/Activities
NATIONALISM Railway: Our Railway Ties
Grade 8	PM John A MacDonald’s "National Policy"
	What was the purpose of National Policy? How did Lethbridge help achieve the National Policy?
Coal:Development of Lethbridge

Grade 4, 5,8	Development of Lethbridge
	From whom did Lethbridge get it’s name? How did Lethbridge develop out of Coalbanks? What natural resources drew and kept people in the southern Alberta region? Fun activity * Have students pretend that they are new settlers to Canada, have them decide if they would have settled in Lethbridge. Why or why not? State three reasons. This could be done in groups or pairs. It is important that they choose a nation to immigrate from and clearly state their reasons for settling in Lethbridge. There are seven groups in the People of Southern Alberta Section but they may need to check other sources if the groups they want to discuss is not found in this site. Ask the groups: Would they have gone into the coal business? Why/why not?
CULTURAL IDENTITY Complete Site
Various grades: Need to adapt the questions to fit the level of the students.
	Use all of the different sections from the site to formulate an answer to the following question: What is unique about Canadian Culture? Suggested questions to explore before answering the above question. Why did the Canadian government put together this site?(can look at only this site or the whole SchoolNet site) What type of information is given in the site(s)? How does the story of Lethbridge help us gain a better understanding of Canadian history? (and how our culture developed) Whose stories are told in the site? Why do you think they were chosen to be in the site? What issues or concepts are dealt within the sites? What makes this site different from American or other nations’ sites? Why is it important to have stories about the different areas in Canada on the world wide web? What is your over all feelings about the SchoolNet site? Is SchoolNet something that Canadians should be proud of? Explore the topic of how (why) Canadians name items and/or places usually after things in nature? What does this mean? Do other nations also do this? Look at examples such as the turkey tail, what animals are found on our money, the national symbols (the beaver, maple leaf)? What does this suggest about Canadian culture? What is your school symbol? How do you feel about it? Do you feel represents the schools properly? If you could create a new school symbol what would it be?
MULTICULTURALISM, DISCRIMINATION/PREJUDICE, CUSTOMS/TRADITIONS: People of Southern Alberta
Grade 3,7, 8	Examine the different ethnic/religious groups outlined.
	Choose one to write a paper or short report on. Try to answer the following question (use the Internet to get the information, but also use at least two other sources). To what extent should individuals be expected to conform or follow one’s own culture’s traditions and beliefs? Suggested questions to discussion to before answering the above question. How did members of the group keep or adapt their culture to Canadian society in the past? How do new immigrants in Canada today hold on to their cultural traditions? Do you think it is important for immigrants to maintain traditions (language) from their home countries? Why/why not give three reasons. Is maintaining one’s own traditions viewed as a positive idea or negative idea in our society? How is this topic tied to racism and the problems of people accepting new people into our society?
Railway: Railway Labourers

Grade 6,7	Examine how the railway labourers were treated?
	How was their contribution recorded in history? Does this indicate anything about who was in power when the history was written? Why do you think so many stereotypes were formed in the early stages of the building of the west? For example how certain ethnic groups behaved or what they did during that time period? Why is/is not it important to study various groups when studying a time period in history?
People of Southern Alberta: All chapters

All grades	Choose two ethnic or religious groups from this section.
	Compare their lifestyles, reason for coming to southern Alberta, customs/traditions. The goal is to look for what makes them similar and what makes them unique. Explore why they came to Canada and settled in southern Alberta? Examine what resources made southern Alberta look attractive If the groups/individuals recruited to this area for a certain reason Lifestyle reasons (economic, political or religious). *briefly state why you chose those two groups
	*older grades will need to use at least two other sources

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