Report for the Nov. 17th BOD Meeting from the Interim National Education Co-ordinator
On Nov. 1, 2011, the delegates to the Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy took part in the Resource Fair that is part of the 6-day education session offered to between 75 and 85 teachers chosen from across the country to experience democracy as we live it in this country. If you recall, the BOD sponsored the gift of the "The Ten Lessons" by Nick Brune as part of the package that was offered by the Ontario Region of HKVCA to those delegates during our first year of involvement. The Ontario Region in the two years since has sponsored that same gift in order to be sure that the teachers taking part understand the details of the Battle of Hong Kong.
We have three Ottawa members, Ted Terry, Ann Argue and Ian Doull who, for the second year in a row, have taken charge of our event, and provided in addition to the "The Ten Lessons" the new CD-ROM that was developed just recently for teacher use in the classroom by a committee involving Mike Babin, Sue Beard, George MacDonell and others. This CD-ROM has already proven of considerable interest across the country, and will continue to be a linchpin in our attempts to get to the teachers in all our provinces and territories.
The HKVCA Cross Canada Writing Contest has already demonstrated in the three years since its inception that the committee which developed this method of connecting with teachers and students has been on the right track. It might be worth noting that two of the members on the Committee have achieved in the last few years the country-wide accolade of being winners of the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Canadian History – both are Honorary members in Ontario – Nick Brune, who won in 2003, and Nancy Hamer Strahl who won in 2008. We have a third Honorary member as well, Flora Fung, who has worked very hard offering workshops on Hong Kong and other topics at the Teachers’ Conventions (0HASSTA), as well as actually creating the HKVCA Cross Canada Writing Contest itself which continues to be popular across the country. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her among that very elite group before long.
The purchase of the three Hong Kong banners this year has been a godsend in that they peak the interest of everyone who sees them. They have been used in several situations already, including a session at the Richard Charles Lee Hong Kong – Canada Library in Toronto on March 31st, the Resource Fair in Ottawa on Nov 1st, as well as participating in the VAC-sponsored Remembrance Week event on Dec. 8th just past. The HKVCA member responsible for this very special display of the Hong Kong story in words and pictures was Bud Mann, an HKVCA member who is also the Area Rep. for the GTA. He was able to put everything together in a remarkably short time. Ontario will be using the banners and the CD-ROMs and other resources on this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18th and 19th when teachers from all over the province hold a Convention in Toronto as the Ontario History and Social Science Teachers Association meets (OHASSTA). It should be a very special event….as between 200 and 300 teachers will be present. I would suggest that good things are happening, and in a future report I hope to fill in the BOD regarding very important things going on in other parts of the country. All of this is a sequel to the "Education is the Key" series which appeared in the National Newsletters’ last two issues.
Pat Turcotte – Interim National Education Co-ordinator