Students ask, Parlez-Vous français? Mais-Oui!

A good Community Service Learning projects begin with the question, what is an authentic need in our community?  

On the small island of Harrington Harbour, Madame Monger and in the town of Chevery, Madame Nadeau-Monger understood that students living in geographically isolated, completely Anglophone communities do not always see the day to day need for French that other Anglophone students in Quebec might observe.   The two teachers asked the question, how could we change the attitude of students towards French?

This was the start of Parlez-Vous?, a collaborative project between the communities of Harrington Harbour, Chevery and Kegaska on the Lower North Shore of Quebec.  

The CLC schools wanted to show students that even though people live in English in the village(s), many speak French and use those skills for work purposes, often outside of the community. The teachers thought if the students realized that people they know, and often look up to, are bilingual, the students might have a different, more positive view on bilingualism.

The Project:

Students were asked to prepare questions they would like to ask bilingual community members.  Three classes met over the videoconference to select the best questions and picked a name for the project.  

Outside of class time, the students approached a community member to go over the questions and a second meeting to conduct the interview. After the interviews were completed, the students and teachers used Windows Movie Maker to edit everything together.

When everything was done, the students viewed the video in class and then screened the video for the community using the videoconference.

A final activity was writing thank you notes for the 'stars' (en français), and launching the videos at a community event.

What did the students learn?

Through the project, students realized that even in a close community, being bilingual is a very important asset. Students also discovered that there were a lot more bilingual people in their community than they previously thought.

Madame Monger noted that students had to go outside of their comfort zone and interact with adults in the community and also speak publicly in another language.  Producing a short film presented an opportunity to get familiar with Windows Movie Maker. Finally, the videoconference collaboration between the three schools allowed the students to get to know each other a little better, important because they will become classmates in secondary IV & V when they will all be together at Netagamiou School in Chevery.

Madame Nadeau-Monger noted that some among the greatest successes was “the look on our students faces when they saw someone they knew speaking French”.

Many thanks to the teachers, students and community members who participated in a wonderful initiative that promotes the importance of bilingualism on the Lower North Shore of Quebec.

Mecatina CLC and Harrington Harbour CLC CHSSN "C is for Coast" Project

"C is for Coast"

A fantastic initiative called “C is for Coast – Photo Share” was launched to bridge the gap between the youth and the seniors of the Lower North Shore. The goal was to instill in the youth a sense of community and family that goes beyond the immediate household.

The students in the region are becoming less aware of the life of their grandparents and great grandparents. This initiative helped create a sense of self-esteem in youth and seniors through the sharing of their own individual knowledge, while creating a connection and breaking down isolation between the two groups.

Specifically, grade 2-4 students at Mecatina School sent invitations to local seniors, prepared snacks and prepared a PowerPoint presentation about the Lower North Shore in which students used pictures from the "'C' is for Coast" project website. (To see the presentation.. Click Here.)

The seniors brought their own pictures and stories to share information and memories about local places, moments and landmarks.  The stories brought much needed understanding to places, in a humourous & personable way that is hard to replicate in a typical history class. The event was a relaxed environment that allowed both groups to come together in a meaningful way, demonstrating the power of intergenerational collaborations.  Students enjoyed demonstrating their expertise with new technologies and the seniors were please to share some “old fashioned know how”.

CLC Coordinator Molly Organ said:

"The project was a huge success and watching the seniors and students present with such pride in what they were sharing was one of the best parts of the day."

Without the aid of the involved Seniors from the community, this project would not have been possible and a generational gap would have continued. Now as a result of this initiative, students have made a bond we hope they continue to maintain.  

Harrington Harbour Healthy Heritage Project

Harrington Harbour CLC

This project gave  students an opportunity to learn cooking and food preparation strategies. Because many students will end up leaving this small town to go away for school, we wanted to show them how to maintain a well balanced diet once they are away from home and build their confidence in their abilities so that, even for those remaining in town, they are not afraid to try cooking something different on their own. Our larger goal is to support their healthy growth and proper functioning now and into the future. The 50+ Club wanted to create connections with the youth in the community and show them the traditional manners of cooking local specialities.

Since the onset of the program they had seen all of the students involved evolve from shy quiet young men (at least in the kitchen!) waiting to be told how and what to do, to young men with the confidence to start on their own and follow a recipe once they know what they are preparing.  The evenings are now filled with camaraderie, jokes, smiling faces and good smells.

The project was concluded with a spaghetti dinner (with something a little less healthy for dessert, Texas Brownies, we thought that this was a good way to end) for all of the volunteers prepared by 8 of the student participants

“They did an amazing job and it was a great evening.” CLC Coordinator

As always none of this is possible without the help of some great people. The 50 + Club provided recipes and cooking skills. The BCN En Forme , also helped to make this whole endeavour possible by providing supervision and extra help. It is the contribution from these partners as well as the willingness of the students involved which has made this project such a great success and so much fun. 

Try some of the Harrington Cooking Club's recipies at home by... Clicking Here.

Gardening Containers

Gardening Containers

Harrington Harbour CLC
Joyce Foreman

Harrington Harbour is a small island off the coast of the Lower North Shore of Quebec.  The growing season is very short and there is not a lot of green space for gardening since the topography is Canadian Shield, featuring a lot of rock. Students decided to address the lack of plantation by building gardening containers and placing them around the community. Two main benefits include beautifying the village and engaging the community members in a collaborative project. The engagement was of utmost importance during the summer when the school is closed and the containers would need to be watered. Future goals would include growing vegetables to help support healthy food choices.

The project was linked to the curriculum in science through the study of plant growth and in technology was incorporated through the building of the planters.

According to teacher Joyce Foreman, This project met a community need because there is a strong interest in gardening within the community. As the climate changes, gardening is becoming a more and more viable activity. The beautification of the community can only help the tourism industry. This project also allows for the interaction between the generations, for example when the 50 + Club helped the youth build four planters. The United Church helped bring two groups together to build the planters and various businesses around the small island agreed to have a planter placed at their establishment with the promise that they would help maintain it.

To learn more about the project, click here.

C is for Coast

C is for Coast Alphabet Book

Harrington Harbour CLC and Mecatina CLC

Starting in January 2013, two teachers from Mecatina CLC and Harrington Harbour CLC, on Quebec’s Lower North Shore began a project inspired by an alphabet book entitled G is for Gaspe.   These two teachers are collaborating with their students and other schools from the Littoral School Board to produce a book entitled C is for Coast.  

The Coast Alphabet Book will show the landmarks, geography and culture that are uniquely found on the Lower North Shore. The book provides youth the opportunity to take the lead in mobilizing their communities to develop a unique and interesting tribute to the region that encapsulates its uniqueness both past and present.

Students from pre-K to Secondary 5 participated in Harrington and Mecatina and at least one class from 8 other French, English and Innu schools in the Littoral School Board took part.  The project was embedded into English, Arts Education Geography, History and Citizenship Education.

This service learning project meets a real community need by increasing pride and visibility of the Lower North Shore locally as well as nationally through a multi media book promotion campaign.

The Coast Alphabet book will not only promote and preserve the heritage and culture for LNS communities, but will be shared with other regions. Many young people are leaving the Coast and raising their families elsewhere. This book would give them an opportunity to share some of the LNS traditional values and activities. In addition, the book will promote early literacy.

You can read more about the C is for Coast project by clicking here.