The ELA 30 A course is centred around Canada and Canadian Literature. For some reason, I find Canadian literature quite interesting... the Margarets (Atwood and Laurence), Yann Martell, Stephan Leacock, Alice Munroe.. I took every Canadian Lit class offered by the Department of English. But I was destined to be an English teacher, and even some of the best English teachers despise CanLit. Sooooooo... in an effort to make this course interesting to students, I try to incorporate more interesting snid-bits of CanLit for them to enjoy.
Last week I shared a chapter from Anishinaabe World that speaks to issues of aboriginal rights and misconceptions that Canadians often harbor about aboriginal issues. It is a great read, and if you would like to hear more about it please let me know.
Two other titles that I am looking forward to sharing in class are both by Will Furguson. His first book Why I Hate Canadians is eye-opening read. You can find a review here http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=360. I am currently reading a book from the same author called How to be Canadian, which is the same in that it uses punchy humour and a bit of sarcasm to keep you interested. The second book focuses more on cliche Canadianisms, and really pokes fun at Canada. The best part about these two selections is that they are books about Canada, written by a Canadian who makes fun of Canadians. A little bit easier to read than Margaret Atwood's Survival which is a bit dry. My attempt at reading it last year while teaching this course left the bookmark stuck somewhere in chapter two.
All this talk about Canada reminded me to send a reminder about grade 12's upcoming Oral Essay - the written portion is due Thursday. Start practicing!
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