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Canadian Studies Day 2015: Teaching Canada - Enseigner le Canada (25.-27.06.2015)
From June 25 to June 27, the Marburg Centre for Canadian Studies held their probably biggest conference to date. Leading scholars from Canada as well as Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Great Britain and Germany presented their insights into "Teaching Canada – Enseigner le Canada" with focus on topics such as literature, politics, history and music. Additionally, teachers shared their experiences and ideas about teaching Canada in schools. Professor David Staines (University of Ottawa) opened the conference with his keynote lecture on "Alice Munro and the Art of Her Fiction". Furthermore, a group of students reported on their exchange with a Canadian school. Manfred Overmann (Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg) introduced the attendees to his website "Cours Québec" which provides massive amounts of teaching materials for teachers of French.
Friday, June 26, began with a keynote lecture by professor Ursula Moser (Universität Innsbruck). In "Enseigner le Canada au niveau universitaire: la chanson comme médiateur culturel", Moser explained how teachers can use the musical form of chansons in their lessons. What followed were numerous parallel panels on topics such as "Langue et littérature francocanadiennes","International Relations" and "Multiculturalism". Manfred Overmann offered a workshop about creating one's own teaching material for students and teachers alike. The theatre group Les FrancFous discussed their play "Le mond est petit" and challenged the attending teachers to try their hands at creative alternatives to teaching themselves. The evening concluded with a performance by students from the Berufliche Schulen Gelnhausen, who staged a engaging version of the play "And so it goes".
Professor Waldemar Zacharasiewicz (Universität Wien) introduced the final day of the conference with his keynote lecture about "Jack Hodgins and Fiction from the Pacific Rim". The following panels focussed on topics such as "History/histoire", "Teaching Canada", "Anglo-Canadian Literature" and "Cultural Studies".
We are grateful for the generous support by the Ursula-Kuhlmann-Fonds, the Universitätsstiftung der Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Marshall McLuhan Salon, the Embassy of Canada to Germany, the Ontario International Marketing Centre, the Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries, Pfeiffer & Schmidt engineers in Marburg, the Roter Stern book store in Marburg, the Ernst-Klett-Verlag and UTB.