FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bilingual concerts inspire students about Canadian heritage

Decorated with a collage of images featuring Canadian landscapes and significant events in our history, Mike Ford uses his guitar or keyboard to accompany his songs about places and people in our great country. Students at three area high schools were enthralled with his use of humour and music as he performed in both official languages.

24 March 2006, Belleville, Ontario—Students from three secondary schools celebrated La semaine de la francophonie through interactive concerts earlier this week with Mike Ford, singer, songwriter and member of the pop group Moxy Früvous. Ford’s high-energy shows inspired students with songs about exploring Canada, its geography and its history from the time of the voyageurs to present day. Singing in English and French with equal passion, Ford incorporated themes of travel, the environment, globalization, social responsibility and the benefits of learning another language.

La semaine de la francophonie is an international celebration of the French language and French culture. Students sang, clapped and paddled their way to a renewed sense of the Canadian identity and the value of speaking French in Canada and around the world.

Ford was invited to share his bilingual, musical portrait of Canada with local students for this year’s celebration by curriculum co-ordinators Susan Davies and Sharon Richardson. Teachers Bethia Narayan at Trenton High School, Liz Stevens at Bayside Secondary and Dominique Duverne at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute organized the very successful concerts at their schools on March 21 and 22.

Other notable events for French this year included concerts by Gregg LeRock for elementary students in the fall, a district-wide trip to Québec for secondary students in February and next month’s bilingual play presentations of Les trois mousquetaires at Harry J. Clarke Public School and Bayside Public School.

Courses in Core French and French Immersion are available to HPEDSB students from Grades 4 –12.

Ford’s current CD, Canada Needs You Volume One, is nominated for a 2005 Juno Award for Best Children’s Album. He is already working on songs for Volume Two.

The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board has 46 elementary and eight secondary schools serving 18,400 students, employing 1,070 teachers and 705 support staff. The Board covers a wide geographical area of 7,221 square kilometres bordered by Maynooth to the north, Deseronto to the east, Prince Edward County to the south, and Quinte West to the west.

For more information, contact:
• Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, (613) 966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, extension 2354