Class of 2010-2011

Message to our readers and learners

The class of 2010/2011 was a rather small group but a very enthusiastic and productive one. Learners worked diligently under the direction of Frances Moore, our staff assistant, and myself. Many good projects were completed and a lot of interaction occurred between the learners. We had the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities such as: a Christmas party; an afternoon of bowling; a trip to the sugar shanty; the opening of the greenhouses at the HAECC; end of the year lunch and afternoon of various games. To our volunteers, Lillian Forget Stirling, Susan Gagnon, Steven Crisp and Maureen Cooney, our sincere thanks for your time, effort, patience and contribution to our students progress. Our learners look forward to your weekly visits. We wish to take this opportunity to offer our best wishes for a happy and healthy retirement to Louise Richard, director of the centre for the last three years. Louise has worked above and beyond her mandate during these years. The centre has seen a lot of innovations under her leadership. The centres visibility and reputation have grown because of her dedication and concern. We also welcome the new director of the centre who will be here in a few days. Her name is France Laplante, she has extensive experience in community organisations and is presently doing volunteer work in Jamaica for CUSO. We wish her a pleasant experience at the Learning centre and offer her our support, commitment and cooperation. Thanks to Sylvie Brazeau for always being there for secretarial help. Have a good summer everyone. Roger Bouthillier (teacher)
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My Summer
Last summer I bowled a lot. I took my own ball. I got a lot of strikes. I bowled with my friends and we had fun. I played my xbox360 a lot. I played video games like: car racing, mustang, go cart racing, Ski-Doo racing and 4-wheeler racing. I cut lawns for my Father and friends I made a lot of money. I like my Cub Cadet tractor mower the best. There are a lot of trees so I have to use the push mower too.

March Break
I drove my Ski-Doo. It was icy but I drove it anyway. I drove my three-wheeIer too. I shovelled snow at my place. I played a 4-wheeler video game on my xBox 360. I did not bowl because it was closed for March Break. I went to visit my friend Pierre. Wilfrid

Ghana
My friend from Ghanas name is Secushe Emmanuel. He has three sisters and two brothers. He is 30 years old, he works as a hotel manager. People from Ghana work for little pay. But they work very hard. Secushea sent me a dress, ring, and bracelets. He speaks 7 different languages. Here are some expressions in Ghana. My friend from Ghana: Hol-no ye Good day teacher: Nod anwa na fia ia Welcome is: ak wabawo ze Thank you: O yi wa do This is a map of Ghana

This is a dress I got from Secushe. The Symbolic meaning of the colours: Black: Maturation, intensified spiritual energy Blue: peacefulness, harmony and love Green: vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth spiritual renewal Gold: royalty, wealth, high, status, glory, spiritual, purity Gray: healing and cleansing rituals, associated with ash. Maroon: the colour of mother earth, associated with healing Pink: assoc. with female essence of life a mild, gentle aspect of red Purple: assoc. with feminine aspects of life usually worn by woman Red: political and spiritual moods, bloodshed, sacrificial rites and death Silver: serenity, purity, joy assoc with the moon White: purification, sanitisation rites and happiness Yellow: preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility Darlene Russsell

Donovan McNabb
Donovan McNabb was born November 26, 1976. He is an American football quarterback. He played for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. He was a Philadelphia Eagles quarterback from 1999 to 2009. McNabb played football and basketball for Syracuse University. McNabb led the Eagles to five consecutive nfc east division championships 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008. In 2004 McNabb went to his first Super Bowl and lost to the New England Patriots. McNabb and the Eagles 2009 were having a little trouble because the fans were hating him because McNabb only took Eagles to one Superbowl. Fans said he always got injured. He was too old when he made the Eagles the five nfc division championships. It wasnt important to the fans. In April 2010 McNabb got traded to the Washington Redskins. McNabb was happy to be going to a new team.
On October, 2010 McNabb and the Redskins faced the Eagles. McNabb came back to face his old team the Eagles. Washington won the game. I like McNabb. I find he is a great quarterback. He is a very patient person.

Donovan McNabb in his Washington debut.

Donovan McNabb, when he played for the Philadlphia Eagles.

Andrew Kerr
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Thanksgiving
I went to my cousin for Thanksgiving. We ate turkey dressing, potatoes, gravy, carrots, peas and cranberries. After dinner, I went home and played on my computer. By Brian Patenaude

My project
On Monday December 6, I went to St. -Josephs school with Brian for crafts. A guy and a woman from Melissas sunshine camp helped us. I made a card with blue paint and stencils. I made a plaque with my name on it. I used the back of a nail to paint. I made yellow flowers and wrote Willy in blue. I put paper in a box and put paint on it. I put three balls on top of the paper and paint and shook the box back and forth to make the picture. Narrated by: Wilfrid Henderson Written by: Lilian Forget-Stirling, tutor

CATS AND DOGS

My puppy likes to play with me and it likes to play for fun. Its name is Hobo and it is a mix of boxer and German shepherd. It is 5 months old. I got it from a friend. It is black and brown. It eats puppy food to get big and strong and it drinks water. Hobo likes to play ball with me and attacks me to play outside. It is always in a hurry to get outside. It pulls my arm to rush me when I'm taking my time. When Hobo wants to go home he attacks my coat. It likes Tim Hortons coffee. I also have two cats. My two cats like to sleep with me. One of them is pregnant. They like to go outside and play all day. One is called Patches. It is brown and grey. I got it from a friend. Angel is black and brown. My friend found Angel went she dropped off Public Sacs and one of her friends gave the kitten to her. She gave me Angel because she has lots of cats and dogs. I love cats and dogs; they are good companions to have.

By Chris Deschamps

My project On Monday I went to St. Josephs school. We did crafts and played games in the gym. Sue Irving brought some people to help us with the crafts. I made cards and a picture and painted my name on the wood. To make the picture we put paper in a box. We put paint on the paper. I put a big marble on the top and rolled it back and forth. To make the wood plaque, the guy wrote my name on it and I used the head of a nail with paint to decorate it. We plan to go back again in January. I had fun and I am anxious to go back. By Brian Patenaude (with the help of Lillian Forget-Stirling)

The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television series created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting television network. The Simpsons TV show started in 1989. The show is still going on now. There is a guy named Homer Simpson, he worked over 188 different jobs. For example, he worked as a truck driver, boxer and farmer. His real job is at the Springfield nuclear power plant. Homer Simpson has a wife. Her name is Marge Simpson. She worked at home. They have three kids. Their names are Bart, a boy, and the two girls are Lisa and Maggie Simpson. Maggie is a baby. Bart and Lisa go to Springfield elementary school. Bart`s best friend is Milhouse. They met at school. Lisa has no friends because she is a teacher's pet. Only one person likes Lisa. Milhouse is the only person that likes Lisa. I know a lot more but that is just an example. If you want to know more characters in the show ask your friends or watch the TV show. I love that show. They are funny, happy, mad, sad and have lots of incidents. My favourite character is Homer. He is funny, he is married and always upset. He spends a lot of time with his kids and says funny stuff.

Andrew Kerr
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MY TRIP TO THE BUSH

We left the centre at 9.30 am to go to the sugar bush in St.Chrysostome. It was very cold on that day and I knew the sap would not be running because it was so cold outside. We went in the boiler room where an employee was telling us how they make maple syrup. It takes two men to run the boiler and one to just keep putting wood in the stove every 30 minutes to keep the fire going. The sap goes through three stages before it is syrup. Then we went out to get on the sleigh pulled by horses. We went through the bush. We saw a blue pipeline, some trees had three tap spouts on them. We saw a 100 year old sugar shanty that was still standing. We went-back to the sugar shanty and had lunch. We ate eggs, bacon, ham, sausages, all cooked in maple syrup, which was good. We all ate too much I think. I had a good time, we enjoyed it very much. I would go back anytime because the whole class enjoyed it very much.

Darlene Russell

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My uncle the farmer

Farming in the 1950 was a lot different than it is today. My uncle used horses to do all the work on the farm. The horses did a lot of work on the land, things like pulling machinery, and ploughing, and sowing, and cutting down hay and wheat. My uncle would get up at 5 am to do the milking by hand. I think he had 15 cows then and about 100 pigs which was a lot of work for one man. But he did it. His wife helped a lot too by milking the cows if he was ploughing the fields. It was very hard work. I know because when I was 13, I had to milk the cows by hand and help with a lot of the farm work. I didnt like it but I did it any way. I like haying because I got to drive the horses and wagon. My uncle used a big hay fork to put hay on the wagon.

I always cleaned the pig pens, which was ok. The sows, they are like bears sometimes. One sow could kill you if they had little pigs, did you know that? I dont think anyone knew that. We had 25 hens too. My uncle didnt have to buy too much food at the store because he grew a lot on the farm.

My uncle was a great man and I miss him very much ever day.

Darlene Russell

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Life Project

This year I worked with the students on their life projects. This was a project that touched on all aspects of their lives. We began the project by filling out a profile, where each student gave information on various aspects of who they are; for example where they were born and what their favourite colour is. I then had the students engage in an activity to learn about their unique qualities. We discussed the importance of knowing what our qualities are. There was a section on family, in which we discussed the importance of family and how various families are made up. We then talked about the society and community that we live in and how that community has an affect on us. We discussed the importance of being a good citizen and what that means to be a good citizen. In following what makes a good citizen, we explored what we participate in and what actions we perform. My community was a section that had the students look at things that they loved about where they live and things that they wish were different. The final section was on goals. We discussed why goals are important and then each student wrote about a personal goal they have and how they plan to go about achieving that goal. The students put in a lot of hard work and I believe truly learnt more about themselves in the process. Until next year, Frances

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Family My mom and dad raised me. I do not have any brothers or sisters. I have a lot of cousins; I dont see them often because they live in the U.S.A. I grew up in a house in Huntingdon. I like my family. My favourite memory I used to play basketball at my house. I had my own net. My friends would come over and play. It gave us something to do and was a lot of fun. My favourite person My favourite person growing up was my dad. My dad helped me whenever I needed him. He would always buy me stuff and that made me happy. My dad was always nice to me. What Family means to me Family means a mom and a dad. Family means people that are there to help when you need them. Family means people that love you.

Wilfrid Henderson (with the help of Frances Moore)

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Society and Community What does community mean to me? A community means the stores. It is people that follow the rules. It is a small town. In a community there are lots of people. It is important to live in a good society In a good society there are a lot of people so you can visit with them. There are a lot of people to help you when you are sick. A good society has a lot to do. There are a lot of services to help you. It is I important that businesses bring in new people. What makes a good citizen? I think it is important to vote. It is good to follow the rules of the place you live. It is important to be respectful of people. Brian Patenaude

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My participation

Is it important to participate? You need to participate in school to get a job. It is important to help people out to make them happy. It is important to pay taxes to fix the roads. It is important to vote to keep your rights. It is important to recycle to keep the earth clean. Citizen actions I perform I pick up bottles to keep the earth clean. I work by passing out the publi-sac. I help people learn. I help to repair peoples bikes. I participate on the board of directors for my school to help the school. Philip Deschamps

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My Community What I love about my community I like the community of Huntingdon because I like the restaurants. Its quiet and nice. I like the stores because they have good toys. Also I like the Friperie Communautaire because there is cheap clothing. I like school because you can learn. The disadvantages of my community The disadvantages of my community are there is not enough work and the Walker Bridge is closed. People need to work to make money because you do not get enough money on welfare. One way to make the community better is to try and start new businesses. The bridge being closed is a disadvantage because you need to walk on it. Its good to fix it to make the bridge better. What I love to do in my community I like to eat at restaurants because the food is good and it doesnt cost a lot. Sometimes I bring my family to eat. I love fast food because it tastes good. I like the parks; you can sit down and stay quiet. The parks are free. Something I would love to do Something I would like to do but have not yet done is to take more walks and run more often. I would like to go bowling also. I would like to learn to skate and play hockey. I want to try and learn to swim. I never got to try these things when I was a kid because no one taught me. Andrew Kerr

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Goals Why are goals important? Goals can help your get along with other people. They can make you a better person. Goals can make you like yourself because sometimes you dont. You can say I did it. My goal is to make up with my family, the ones I do not get along with. My goal is to go and see my friend in Pakistan and Ghana. My personal goal My personal goal is to get my family tree done. I will need to find information on where my great grandfather came from. I will have to contact relatives on both my mother and fathers side of the family. My family members will have to help me. My family tree will be difficult to do because some of my relatives go by the name Russell while others use the name Rocheleau. My family is all over the world which means it is going to be hard to find them. I would like to get my family tree done in maybe two years. Darlene Russell

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Acknowledgements
Most everyone worked hard this year and this collection of texts is an example of all that work. We want to congratulate all the students who participated in this creation, their teacher Roger Bouthillier, without whom it would not be possible, and Frances Moore who is a great help to us all. We all want to say a very special thank you to Roger Bouthillier, a dedicated and wonderful teacher, and I especially want to thank him for all the support, both on the board and with the administration of the Centre de formation de Huntingdon Learning Centre. It is hard to believe that the year is over; it all went so fast. You can all be proud of yourselves for you pereseverence. We thank each and everone of you for your participation in this project, and we wish you the very best for the holidays to come, and you future projects. We also want to say a special thank you to the volunteers who give their time and expertise with generosity week after week to help the students progress: Lillian Stirling-Forget; Susan Gagnon; Reverand Steven Crisp; and Maureen Cooney. We also thank Cira Dominguez who is helping out with new Spanish students who want to learn French. Happy reading!

Louise Richard Director

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