MuchMusic | Media Education | BookTelevision

Heritage Day '99

Program Length: 1 hour
Produced: 1999

This study guide suggests ways that students can process the information in Heritage Day to better understand why people take pride in their Canadian heritage. Some of the suggestions involve class discussion, some involve writing. You need not view the whole tape at one sitting, nor is it necessary to use all of the guide; in fact, it is recommended that only those suggested activities be followed that best suit the students and the curriculum.

In this program, a number of guest-hosts, mostly Canadian musicians, take us to various places in Canada and present aspects of Canadian culture that we can take pride in. There are many sections to the video, some of which present an entire package of information, others which occur intermittently and add information to previous installments.

1. Speaking Skills
We have the opportunity to hear many voices on the video. Some of the speakers are very well-spoken, some could improve their speaking skills. Except for Bill Welychka, none of them are "professional" speakers, or speakers who are paid for their good speaking skills. We can expect someone who gets paid to speak to have good speaking skills, while others may or may not speak as well.

Make a list of the qualities and skills of a good speaker.
You may create your own list, or you may work from the following suggestions for good speaking skills:
Inflection - using a variety of volume and pitch to emphasize and give interest to the words.
Pace - speaking slowly enough that we can understand, but not so slowly that we lose the sense of the sentences. Avoiding long pauses between ideas. Avoiding meaningless and distracting words such as "um".
Body language - having good posture, a smile or interested look on the face, and avoiding distracting gestures, like scratching. Looking at the camera or at the listener rather than away from the listener.
Clear sentences - using short, simple sentences which are easy to follow.
Watch the video and listen to each of the speakers listed below. Take notes on the qualities of their speaking, comparing them to the list of good speaking skill. Which speakers best match the qualities on your list? Which speakers need to improve their speaking? How do they need to improve?

Rank the top three speakers and explain why they rank the way they do.
Bill Welychka – Anchor, Heritage Day (and MuchMusic VJ)
Matt Good, Matthew Good Band, speaking from Newfoundland
Steve Watson – Chef, Hotel Newfoundland
Brendan Quinlan - Newfoundland Historian
Gerald Eaton, Philosopher Kings
Dave Bidini, author of On a Cold Road, member of the Rheostatics
Gord Downie, Tragically Hip
Shirley Manson, Garbage
Biff Naked, musician
Brian McKnight, Buffalo-area musician
Melanie Doan, musician
Craig Lyn, aeronautical engineer
Laurie Chappill, aeronautical engineer
Greg Nori, Treble Charger
Bryan DeWalt, curator, Canadian Science museum.

2. Characteristics of Hip Hop Language
We see a group of Canadian Hip Hop artists collaborating on a rap and video. Listen to their language and their rap. How does rap differ from other English languages? What are its distinctive qualities? How does it use inflection, pronunciation and pace for artistic effect?
Find a section of a Hip Hop song. Speak the lines without Hip Hop qualities, then rap the lines. How do the sound and language have to change to become Hip Hop? From your observations, can you formulate some rules for creating hip hop? Test the rules by taking a piece of standard language, like a newspaper report or a radio broadcast, and re-working it as rap.

3. Canadian Facts
We are presented with many Canadian facts we might not have known before. As you watch the video, take notes on the Canadian facts. List at least three facts you knew before the viewing. List at least five you did not know.
Which of the facts encourage Canadians to be more proud of their country?
Some Canadian Facts:
Some traditional Newfoundland foods are cod cakes, scrunchions, jigs dinner, mussels, sauteed shrimp and scallops.
A Kitchen Party is held in the kitchen because it is the biggest room in the house and is close to the food and drink.
Signal Hill gets its name from at least two different kinds of signals.
Dead Man's Pond gets its name from being the burial place of Newfoundland criminals.
Canadians use 'Eh' for politeness.
There will be people living in the International Space Station by February, 2000.
The Canadarm will be used to build the International Space Station.
The University of Toronto is the most haunted university in Canada.
"Canada" takes its meaning from "Kanata," a Native Canadian word meaning "meeting place" or "village."
The synthesizer, sequencer and sampler were all invented in Canada.

3. Thoughtful Answers
Intermittently throughout the video, people on the streets are interviewed about their favourite aspects of Canada. Before viewing the video, answer the questions for yourself, then compare your answers to those you hear.
a) What aspect of Canada are you most proud of?
b) What is your favourite thing about Canada?
c) Who is your favourite Canadian figure?
Are the answers predictable, or surprising? If these people had more time to reflect on their answers, what other responses might they make to these questions?

4. Foreign Impressions
Intermittently throughout the video, foreign musical artists share their impressions of Canada. Note the artists and their impressions. Do you think their impressions are accurate? All of these people have visited Canada as touring musicians. Imagine the kinds of transportation, accommodation and concert venues these people would experience while in Canada. How might their experiences in these locations lead them to think the way they do about Canada? For example, do you think their impressions have come from a tourist's perspective of larger urban areas, which is not all of the real Canada?
Where do these artists come from? What are your impressions of their countries? What experiences have given you those impressions?

Written by: Neil Andersen
Neil Andersen is an award-winning Curriculum Consultant with the Toronto District School Board. He is also a speaker and consultant in media and communications technology. His most recent work includes the Between the Lines CDs, the teachers' study guide for the award-winning Scanning Television, and study guides for Space, Bravo! and MuchMusic's Cable in the Classroom broadcasts of original media literacy programming.

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