Good Week

This past week can be characterized as being quite good.

On Monday, my ESLD class went to the library for a workshop that introduced them to Lebanon. We started the workshop with a keynote speaker, one of our V.P.s. She told us about her experience of escaping Vietnam after the war as a boat-refugee with her family. It was one of the most gripping stories I have ever heard. The amount of details in the story made it so real and vivid for me. Afterwards, I told my class, it takes a certain quality of courage to be able to open oneself up and reveal such memories from one's past. Personally, I don't know if I would ever have been able to talk about something so personal to a group of high school students.

After opening with a bang, the students had to go and watch a video, which they found to be a bore. Other students had to create a flag for Freedom. They were all reluctant at first, but once they got going, the teacher's couldn't get them to stop. Some of the flags turned out to look really good!

Then we had some Lebanese snacks, like pitas with hummus, some ginger candies, and some mint tea. The food, surprisingly, was not welcomed with as much zeal as we thought.

After this workshop, the students were introduced to the novel, The Road to Chlifa. It is a novel by a Montreal writer that won the Governor's General Award in 1993. It tells the story of a Lebanese boy who escaped from the civil war, and his journey to freedom.

I am looking forward to this last week before Christmas. It should be an easy week.

Cheers!