Context: A cross-curricular assignment for French Language Arts and for Social Studies.
Challenge: There is a major shortage of water in the state of California, and the Governor of California wants to negotiate a long-term, binding agreement with Canadian government representatives for the purchase of fresh water from Canada. Several parties will be taking interest in this activity, such as reporters, demonstrators who oppose the deal (or support it), and other parties that the students will come up with.
Activities: Students need to:
- to have an idea of the global situation with fresh water: read an article provided by the teacher (me) that informs students how little of all the water that covers the surface of the Earth is drinkable; how it will be a big problem in the 21st century & why; how much of the planet's drinkable water is in Canada's possession, how Canada must start to manage it more responsibly; statistics of illnesses and disease because of a lack of water or of a lack of clean water; the amount of water needed for various things (ex: 215,000 L of water needed to produce 1 tonne of steel); efforts made by the Canadian Agency of International Development to improve access to safe water supplies and its management; etc.
- do research on the situation in California regarding the ever decreasing availability of drinkable water, and their efforts to improve the situation in the past (and in surrounding areas).
- do research on any possible history of attempts by California or any US state to get into an agreement with Canada regarding the purchase of drinkable water.
- see an older documentary showing how Canada tried, but could not stop the purchase of a gasoline additive (even though it causes cancer) because of stipulations in the North American Free Trade Act.
- come up with a role-play situation, for example, where there are reporters and demonstrators outside a meeting where government officials from both the state of California and Canada are meeting to possibly sign a long-term, binding agreement for the purchase of drinkable water (happening in Canada as the demonstrators are Canadians who oppose any such agreement!).
- the role-play will be presented most likely using Tellagami (https://tellagami.com/)
Feedback:
- the other grade 6 Early Immersion class will see this presentation and then participate in a referendum, to see if they will pass the deal or not (like voters of Canada). They can also give written feedback on what they specifically liked about the final product, and what could be improved.
- a mark will be given to all participants for their active participation (the process) using mini-conferences and observations will facilitating the project, their use of the French language.
Challenge: There is a major shortage of water in the state of California, and the Governor of California wants to negotiate a long-term, binding agreement with Canadian government representatives for the purchase of fresh water from Canada. Several parties will be taking interest in this activity, such as reporters, demonstrators who oppose the deal (or support it), and other parties that the students will come up with.
Activities: Students need to:
- to have an idea of the global situation with fresh water: read an article provided by the teacher (me) that informs students how little of all the water that covers the surface of the Earth is drinkable; how it will be a big problem in the 21st century & why; how much of the planet's drinkable water is in Canada's possession, how Canada must start to manage it more responsibly; statistics of illnesses and disease because of a lack of water or of a lack of clean water; the amount of water needed for various things (ex: 215,000 L of water needed to produce 1 tonne of steel); efforts made by the Canadian Agency of International Development to improve access to safe water supplies and its management; etc.
- do research on the situation in California regarding the ever decreasing availability of drinkable water, and their efforts to improve the situation in the past (and in surrounding areas).
- do research on any possible history of attempts by California or any US state to get into an agreement with Canada regarding the purchase of drinkable water.
- see an older documentary showing how Canada tried, but could not stop the purchase of a gasoline additive (even though it causes cancer) because of stipulations in the North American Free Trade Act.
- come up with a role-play situation, for example, where there are reporters and demonstrators outside a meeting where government officials from both the state of California and Canada are meeting to possibly sign a long-term, binding agreement for the purchase of drinkable water (happening in Canada as the demonstrators are Canadians who oppose any such agreement!).
- the role-play will be presented most likely using Tellagami (https://tellagami.com/)
Feedback:
- the other grade 6 Early Immersion class will see this presentation and then participate in a referendum, to see if they will pass the deal or not (like voters of Canada). They can also give written feedback on what they specifically liked about the final product, and what could be improved.
- a mark will be given to all participants for their active participation (the process) using mini-conferences and observations will facilitating the project, their use of the French language.