We all had a good sleep in the youth hostel in Toronto. At a quarter to eight we left the hostel to have a very small breakfast. We were lucky that we just had a small one. When we arrived at the Parkdale-school we got an other breakfast again. After lots of sightseeing’s and visiting museums, today we were visiting an other partner school.
The Parkdale-school is a school in the centre of the city. The school has children of 52 countries; lots of immigrants and refugees. The principal of the school called it the United Nations of the city of Toronto. What we saw was a perfect organised multicultural society. The school is in a new building that opened seven years ago. The purpose was to have a high level of information technology. Three years ago the school got an extra funding for buying more hardware. They also used the funding for education of the teachers. Nowadays every classroom has 6 I-Mac computers. There are lots of laptops, digital cameras and beamers. The principal said that ICT is an important tool for education.Every Friday the school has an internal broadcast, made by the kids. It brings news about what happened last week at school. Because we arrived after nine o’clock, the broadcast this Friday took place at eleven o’clock. There was for instance an interview with Harrie and Ton as leaders of our visit and with Lonneke and Jan Willem as pupils. They talked about the Grassroots Twin Schools Project. Parkdale is matched with the ‘Veurne College’ in Leidschendam.After the breakfast we spook with teachers, the principal, the vice principals, a member of the school board and other employments of the school. We had a wonderful lunch with wraps and pizza. In the afternoon the pupils had to make a video. Either there was a problem because most of the batteries didn’t work. The adults listened to a presentation about the Knowledge Network. It is a virtual school, where the using of Internet is the power for learning. Although the presentation took to long, we all got fruitful information.One of the very kind things we saw were the poems of the children. The children are invented by the ‘Poetry Club’ to make poems. The ‘Poetry Club’ is composed of different children. The best poems are published in a journal of the ‘Poetry Club’. Some of them are hanging as a shield on the walls of the building.

We saw a multicultural society in the school. The climate seems to be very kindly and child friendly. All employments are very devoted to do a good job for all of the different children.

The school is working together with the community. That is why the swimming pool and the library are connected with the school.

When our pupils arrived, they all were introduced one to one with a Canadian boy or girl. After the introduction they went away as twins; visiting the school.

After visiting the Parkdale-school the whole group went to the CN-tower. CN means Canadian National. It is the national railway company. This company is the initiator of this magic building. The tower is opened in 1976. The building has the highest turning around restaurant in the world. When we were at 347 m we had a wonderful sight over Toronto. The weather was perfect. It was to windy tot reach the level of 450 m.

At a quarter to six we had one hour left for shopping. In the evening we dinner in China Town with some Canadian friends.

It was a very fatiguing and interesting day!!

Idalie, Niek and Anton

2College

Report by Bas Leussink, Dzovik Sipaan en Roosmarijn Schopman (St. Canisius College)

We had to get up rather early, because we had to rise and shine for an early breakfast at a quarter to seven. This first night (of the two) in Hostelling International in the near vicinity of the centre of Toronto had been a good one. We had slept well in comfortable beds.

At half past seven everybody was at the reception downstairs and then we all went walking to the Mercatto restaurant, some streets further down, where we had our breakfast. We ate a muffin, a delicious piece of pie, some fruit and we could choose from different beverages.

At half past eight we all went walking to the tramstop some blocks away. In the tram you pay with a very little coin and you receive a tram ticket. The trip took about 40 minutes and took us to Parkdale Public school. http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/parkdaleps

Twinschoolpartner of Parkdale Public school is the Veurs college from Leidschendam. This school is represented by 4 teachers in our Junior master Class.

The reception at Parkdale Public School was friendly and forthcoming. There was a lot of lemonade, coffee buns and cookies.

At eleven o’clock a broadcast took place of the schooltelevision. Every week Parkdale Public school makes their own broadcast and airs it throughout the school. All pupils watch this from 11:00 to 11:30. In this broadcast much attention is paid to our visit to the school. There is even a live interview from 2 pupils who participate in the Junior Master Class. We have watched it with the whole group in the library.

At a quarter to twelve we were treated to pizzas and lemonade. There were sandwiches and salades for the teachers.

At one o’clock we got an explanation about the usage of video-equipment and a videocamera. That was very interesting and new as well, because we don’t have that at our school in Holland.

Round and about four o’clock we had covered just about everything at Parkdale Public school and left for the CN tower. This tower is 534 metres high and gives a fantastic view over the city and its far surroundings. There is an elevator with a view when you go up. At about 300 metres altitude there is a big platform on which you can walk around and there are restaurants as well.

In this secluded and protected area it is wonderful to gaze as far away as you can.

In the end we all went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Toronto. There we had a great meal with some Canadian guests from Parkdale Public school. Tired but satisfied we arrived at the youth hostel at midnight.