Houston, BC

I'm just about to leave Houston, BC (northern BC) after spending a few absolutely delightful days here.  A workshop on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on Thursday night was well received with about 25 parents and teachers in the audience.  Burns Lake, just a short distance away, has the highest prevalence of FASD in Canada.  In many ways, FASD is a disaster within our own land, particularly amongst our First Nations brothers and sisters.

Three keynote sessions yesterday focused on glocal perspective building. I provided some of my favourite activities to stimulate dialogue on how we can engage our students in expanding their ideas and knowledge of the world:  maps of Bangladesh, perspective pictures, cross the line, etc.  There was some great dialogue and lots of positive feedback.  Three other highlights of the day were:  a panel discussion (conservative Mennonite, east India, and Carrier First Nation), an international cuisine lunch (featuring bannock and salmon, perogies, butter chicken, samosas, sausage and saurkraut sp? - all favourites of mine!), and a number of dances by gr. 4 students of the Carrier First Nation.  What a lovely day!