ESL Jigsaws

What it Means to be Canadian

Posted by Nancy Callan on 5 May 2016 | 1 Comments

Tags: reading, newspaper article, reading exercise, LINC, CLB 5, CLB 6, Canada, Canadian Culture, ESL, ELL

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a habit of defining who we are as a country by referring to our highest values. He recently said, "I really do want to highlight that Canada is a country where we look out for our neighbours and we are there for each other in difficult times. And certainly in Fort McMurray, the difficult times they are going through right now is something that we are going to unite around."

Nothing better exemplifies Trudeau's words than the actions of a group of Syrian refugees in Calgary. Such a short time in Canada themselves, these refugees are donating what little money they can for the victims of Fort McMurray, understanding better than most others what they are going through. Already giving back to Canada, they are proving to be the kind of people we need in our country, on the road to becoming exemplary citizens.

If you teach a LINC 5 or higher, this article from the Calgary Herald might be a great reading exercise for your class:

From the article: 

"We understand what they’re feeling. When you lose everything, you have to start from zero. You lose your memories, your items. It’s not easy. It’s something very sad. We can totally understand their feeling,” Khanchet said.

“We are very thankful to the Canadian people and we want to be a part of this society. We will do our best to be a good part of this society. By doing that, maybe we can return a little bit of the great job that Canadian people did for us.”

Need a tissue?