February 9, 2015

On Thursday, February 12, kindergarten to grade 3 students from Espanola’s École Saint-Joseph will travel to École St-Denis (1200 Ramsey View Court, Sudbury), to take part in the “Je suis Moi” (I am Me) networking initiative for participating French Catholic schools. By offering networking opportunities for students from the two schools, the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO) seeks to provide the youngsters with the knowledge and skills to strengthen their francophone Catholic identity and discover the vitality of Canada’s Ontario Francophonie. As a plus, given the selected date of this activity, students will also be able to celebrate Valentine’s Day as part of this teaching initiative. Members of the media are cordially invited to attend this event at École St-Denis between 11 a.m. and 12-noon.

During this day of networking, more than 200 students from the Saint-Joseph and St-Denis schools will focus on their francophone identity by taking part in activities using iPad minis. Participants will enjoy Valentine’s Day theme activities that will incorporate the Romeo and Juliet characters and take part in Zumba with French songs. Finally, the students will gather in the gym to reflect and sing together in French to close the event.

As part of this inter-school networking project that will continue during the course of the school year, students will take part in a wide range of enriching and enjoyable French language literacy and learning technology activities. Given the distance that separates the participating schools, students will continue to access electronic media. Using their iPad minis, students will communicate with their friends by accessing and sharing a broad spectrum of cultural content. This new francophone Catholic cultural network offers students the opportunity to reinforce their cultural and spiritual identity while developing technological skills.

As part of the “Je suis Moi” project, kindergarten to grade 8 students from St-Denis and Saint-Joseph will meet five times during the school year. This initiative extends beyond the borders of Northern Ontario. In fact, 27 CSCNO classrooms have been twinned with classes elsewhere in Ontario, as well as in Québec, British Columbia, Belgium and even Singapore.

The Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario offers a French Catholic Educational Program that is widely recognized for its excellence. The CSCNO provides a quality learning environment and academic program that runs from early childhood to adult education, with some 7,000 students in 27 elementary and 10 secondary schools.

Source:

Paul de la Riva
Communications and Community Development Coordinator
Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario
(705) 673-5626, ext. 294
(705) 677-8195 – cell phone