The Grab Bag

of

Canada

A Collection of Activities
for the ESL Classroom
Elizabeth Ganong
Dan Ingram
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Contents
Introduction... i

Joining Canada 29

Canada Match 1

A Prime Chart 30

Pass the Picture 2

Knowledge Test 32

Begins with C 3

Who Can? 33

Three in a Row 4

Conversation Practice 34

A Canadian Acrostic 6

Where in the Country 35

Media Watch 6

Comparative Parts 36

Canadas Culture 7

Opinion Expression 38

The Call of the Loon 8

Reported Thoughts 40

Wild Words 9

Reporting Ideas 41

My Favourite Place 10

They Told Me 42

Seeing the Sites 11

Who Does What? 43

Batter Up 12

Cities Bingo 44

Whats the Weather 13

If Id Known 46

Weather to the Extreme 14

Weather Effects 47

Ice Cold Idioms 15

Environmentally Speaking 48

The Legend of Sedna 16

Becoming a Citizen 50

Show Me the Way 18

If Citizenship 52

A Sappy Exercise 19

Citizenship Tags 54

About You and Us 20

Before and After Interview 55

Compare and Contrast 21

Charter of Rights and Freedoms 56

Lets Talk 22

Write About Rights 56

Museum Journal 23

Its Our Choice 58

Basketball, A Canadian Start 24

Voting Choices 59

Leadership...26

From Bill to Law 60

Canada Quest 27

Discovering
Our eslresources.com
History 62
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Just the Facts 28

Placing Prepositions
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Our Flag 64

Study Here 100

Responsible Government 130

Which Word? 65

Coffee Culture 102

Ali and Marcos 131

Multiples of People 66

Check the True Statement 103

How Long? 132

Canadas Aboriginal 67

The Immigrant Experience 104

Pamphlet Grab 134

Irregular Verb Talk 68

Arriving in Canada 105

Stressed Out 136

Money, Money, Money 70

Have you? 106

Sir John A. Macdonald 137

12 Coins, 12 Symbols 71

Hows Your Diet Changed 107

Hot Off The Grill 138

Are These True? 72

Panawas Story 108

Opinion Exchange 139

Tourists Guide 74

Abbreviations 109

Historical Firsts 140

Coordinates 76

Future Predictions 106

Racism: Stop It! 143

Headed in the Right 78

Starting Out 110

Answer Key 144

Map Find 79

Hanging Out, Canadian Style 112

Benchmarks Index 145

Symbol Sight 80

Interview by Me 113

General Index 146

Mapping Ideas 81

Firsts 114

Article The 82

Finish the Phrase 115

Travelling Advice 83

Correction and Answer 116

Angelas Trip 84

Ive Been Thinking 117

The Culture of Cooking 85

Since Ive Arrived 118

Canada Scrabble 86

Together and Apart 119

Making Friends 87

Provincial Puzzle 120

Canadian Words 88

S Endings 121

Pop Culture 90

Name the Holiday 122

Canada Food Guide 92

Describing a Holiday 123

Picture Canada 93

Slavery in Canada 124

O Canada 94

Opinions About Canada? 125

Industry 96

From East to West 126

Revision
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Canada
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Sticky Situation
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Places, Flowers, Trees 128
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Introduction
Its time to celebrate Canada. The activities included enable you and your students to explore Canada
from historical to contemporary perspectives. You can look at Canada through its art, nature, people,
structures and so on.
In typical Grab Bag fashion, the ideas actively involve your students and fully cover the topic at hand.
Not only are there introductory activities, but there are numerous extensions to provide further practice
and/or allow you to customize your lesson.
Welcome your students to Canada by inviting The Grab Bag of Canada into your classroom!

About the Authors

Dan Ingram and Elizabeth Ganong met teaching Adult ESL at the Canadian Cooperative for Language
and Cultural Studies in Toronto in 1992. It was within this LINC and teacher-training environment that
the idea for sharing teaching materials formed. In 1995, they started The Grab Bag, a newsletter of
ESL teaching ideas. Over the past few years, they have facilitated workshops at numerous
conferences, including TESL Toronto, TESL North York/York Region, TESL Hamilton, TESL London,
TESL Ontario, and TESL Canada.
Dan had his BRE and M.Miss when he was introduced to ESL in Ecuador. When he returned from this
overseas experience, he got his TESL Certificate from CCLCS and started teaching LINC at CCLCS,
where he taught for many years. Dan is currently teaching overseas.
Elizabeth had her B.A. when she started working at Humber College in 1985. It was there that she was
introduced to ESL. After receiving her TESL Certificate from Humber, she taught ESL as a part-time and
sessional instructor. She also has experience working with Humbers Summer Language Program and
extensive experience with LINC at CCLCS. Elizabeth currently teaches with the Peel District School
Board. In addition, Elizabeth has her B.Ed, M.Ed, and ESL Part 1.

Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations for their support: all of our
ESL students (for inspiring us to share the country we call home), the students at the Canadian
Cooperative for Language and Cultural Studies (CCLCS) in Toronto (for the testing of ideas), the staff at
CCLCS (for helping in many small but important ways), Earl and Loretta Ganong (for the Canadian roots
they provided), and Henry and Marjorie Lyons (for the immigrant experience they shared).

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Canada Match
Instructions:

Match the information with the place. Then, write

one more thing that you know about any five of the places. You may
have to do some research.

Information

__

Places

1.

Its Canadas largest province.

___

Manitoba

2.

Its Canadas smallest province.

___

Yukon

3.

Its Canadas newest territory.

___

Ontario

4.

Its Canadas most eastern province.

___

Prince Edward Island

5.

Its between British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

___

Nova Scotia

6.

It has the tallest mountain in Canada.

___

New Brunswick

7.

Its north of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

___

Alberta

8.

Its capital is Halifax.

___

Saskatchewan

9.

Its west of Quebec.

___

Nunavut

10.

Its east of Saskatchewan.

___

Quebec

11.

Its capital is Fredericton.

___

Northwest Territories

12.

Its Canadas most western province.

___

Newfoundland

13.

Its capital is Yellowknife.

___

British Columbia

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Pass the Picture

Activity:

Divide the class into three or more groups. Give each group a
picture of a Canadian scene. Instruct them to describe the picture.
Encourage them to write as many sentences as possible about the picture.
Give them about 15 minutes.

Have the groups exchange pictures and the papers that have the groups sentences on them.
Instruct the groups to read and correct the sentences and to write any additional sentences. Give
them about ten minutes. Next, have each group use the sentences to write questions. The level
of the class will dictate the kinds of questions written. Give them about 15 minutes.
Have them pass the picture and the questions (b
but not the sentences) to the next group. Collect
the description sentences to be used in the final exercise. Have the groups answer the
questions. If a group finishes quickly, have the students write some more questions of their own.
Give them about 15 minutes.
Finally, return the picture, descriptions, questions and answers to the group they started with.
Have them spend a few minutes seeing what happened to their original work.

Variations:

Take the pictures and cut them into puzzle pieces. The number of pieces is based
on the number of students in the class. Mix the pieces up in a bag. Have each student draw one
piece and find the members of his or her group. Then, the groups can describe the pictures.

Have them try to determine the locations of the scenes (e.g., by region [Eastern Canada] or by
province/territory).
Instead of having them write questions based on the students sentences, have them write
questions that they have about that place or about Canada in general. Then, you could do a
research activity. Combine this with a tour of a local library.
Have them write the questions from a travelling point of view. Then, you could visit a local travel
agency or have a travel agent come in to speak to the group. Alternatively, the students could do
role plays (one being a customer and the other being a travel agent).

Extensions:

Using magazines, the students could make a collage of what they think defines
Canada. Have them do this in groups of three or four, they could make five-minute presentations
about their work.

Look at Canadian art. Compare photographs with abstract art. Set your room up like an art
gallery and have the students wander around and discuss what they see.

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Begins with C
Instructions:

Read the clues and think of words that start with C

C. Write the words in the space
to the right of each clue.

1.

Its a popular pet in Canada.

2.

Its a yellow vegetable grown in Canada.

3.

Its the name of our country.

4.

Its the name for the region of Ontario and Quebec.

5.

Its the name of Montreals hockey team.

6.

Its an adjective that describes the weather in the

winter.

7.

Its a large city in Alberta.

8.

Its one of the first flowers to grow in the spring.

9.

Its the animal on the Canadian quarter.

10.

Its a popular soft drink invented in Canada.

11.

People from this country helped build the Canadian

National Railroad.

Extra:

Use one of the c words to make a sentence. Write it below.

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Three in a Row
Instructions:

Get the students to make a grid on

a piece of paper. The grid should have nine squares.
In each square, they need to write the name of a
province or territory. Once finished, you choose the
kind of clues you want to read out. They listen and
cross off the name of the province or territory. When
a student has three in a row, he or she wins the
game. To make the activity longer, have them get
two rows instead of one. You could have them using
a map of Canada as they are following your clues.

Set #1

Set # 2

It is west of Alberta. (British Columbia)

Its capital city is Fredericton. (New

Brunswick)

It is between Saskatchewan and British

Columbia. (Alberta)

Its capital city is Yellowknife. (Northwest

Territories)

It is the smallest province. (PEI)

Its capital city is Regina. (Saskatchewan)

It is the newest territory. (Nunavut)

Its capital city is Halifax. (Nova Scotia)

It is between Ontario and Saskatchewan.

(Manitoba)

Its capital city is Whitehorse. (Yukon)

It is the province that is the farthest east.

(Newfoundland)

Its capital city is Toronto. (Ontario)

It is the largest province. (Quebec)

Its capital city is St. Johns. (Newfoundland)

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Set #3

Canada Clues

You find the Bay of Fundy there. (New

Brunswick and Nova Scotia)
You find the Red River there. (Manitoba)

You find the Pacific Ocean there. (British

Columbia)
You find Lake Louise there. (Alberta)

You find Great Bear Lake there. (Northwest

Territories)
You find the St. Lawrence River there.
(Quebec and Ontario)
You find the Labrador Sea there.
(Newfoundland)

Extensions:

Have the students do their own research

and make up clues. Use the blank form above. After
they gather their clues together, they could host a game
for the class.

Find out more about the places. Use this as an Internet

activity. Alternatively, combine this with a trip to the
local library.
Do a mapping activity.
Have them use a map and find names of other oceans,
rivers, bays, lakes, etc. They can sort them into fresh
water and salt water. Also, you could talk about water
pollution and/or sources of drinking water.

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A Canadian Acrostic
Instructions:

Have students make an acrostic poem using the word Canada. Alternatively,
they could use the name of their province/territory or city/town. If desired, use the sample below.
Use this as a dictionary activity.
olourful people and places.
bundant food.
atural beauty.
ll together.
ancing lights in the northern sky.
t home feeling.

Media Watch
Preparation:

Before a holiday, instruct all of the students to pick up a newspaper on the same
day. This works best when students are going away for the holiday. Alternatively, you can pick up
a variety of newspapers. Include local community papers in your selection.

Activity:

Give each small group a newspaper. Have them identify the main stories. Then, have
them present their papers and the main stories. Record the name of the newspaper, the city/
town/country it services and the three top stories.

Then, the groups should discuss why the main stories are different. Discuss this as a whole
group.
Finally, talk about what happens when you rely on one source for your news.

Extension:

Watch or listen to a short news segment (not a disturbing one). Compare reading
about a story and watching or hearing it on the news.

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