Published at 1:16 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
(Saint-Télesphore) “Next word: a star. First graders start with an acute accent, which we will be working on this week! », says teacher Marie-Helen Townshend to the fifteen students who are concentrating on their bingo cards.
Holly-with-his-mute-h, Mother Christmas, and the reindeer are pictured on the kindergarten boards, but only words are pictured on the first and second grade boards.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Marie-Helen Townshend teaches French to students in all seven grades at Soulanges Elementary School.
“It's the same activity, with different levels of difficulty,” concludes Ms. Townshend. But if someone has great difficulty, I show him the card with the drawing: If a student had difficulty learning the alphabet the first time, he will see it again in the second or third year, because we teach it to others. It's a reinforcement. »
The side door opens and lets the older children in to play theater. All children will then be in the same multi-story classroom as they were in 1919, when the building was built and dedicated.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
In the acting phase, all children are in the same multi-level class.
In the middle of the back wall, between the whiteboard and the large screen, a cupboard hides the location of the old fireplace. But pay no attention to the wood-burning stove: with its small half-moon tables and colorful surroundings, the decor resembles that of a Quebec elementary school class.
This small school, just minutes from the Ontario border, almost didn't make it into the 21st century.
In the early 1990s, the Lakeshore school board, of which she was a member at the time, wanted to close the school to reduce costs. The community rolled up its sleeves and expanded the building at its own expense through donations of money, time, goods and services. This means that 29 students are taking part this year and are entitled to English lessons. As far as I remember, that's a record. “We had 26 at most,” said Ms. Townshend, who has taught here for 18 years. Saint-Télesphore has fewer than 800 residents and students come from Les Coteaux, Saint-Zotique, Saint-Polycarpe, Sainte-Justine-de-Newton and Rivière-Beaudette, in the Lester-B.-Pearson school board area.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Jack McGregor-Smith at bingo
Five generations
“I was told it was a lovely old school. I love the game structure! » shouts Jack McGregor-Smith between two slips. He is enrolled in his first year and represents the fifth generation of his family to study here. His little brother will soon be joining him at kindergarten. He won't be the only one. Among the 29 students there is a family with four children, three siblings of three children and several families with two children.
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Soulanges Primary School has been welcoming students since 1919.
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A student searches for vocabulary spoken by teacher Marie-Helen Townshend
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Typical teaching day at the Soulanges school
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The locker room is located between the school's two classes.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Jack McGregor-Smith in the schoolyard
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The courtyard of the Soulanges primary school
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The owner of this field allows the school to offer snowshoeing and cross-country skiing to its students.
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Everlie, 11, attended a traditional school before coming here last year. “It was weird because there weren’t many people there,” said this student, who was the only girl in fifth grade. “It was difficult at the beginning, but I'm happy,” says the one who likes “that the teachers don't change every year” and who finds it “easier” to learn in this environment where several levels coexist .
Bilingual and multi-level
As Soulanges is a bilingual school, teaching time is divided approximately equally between English and French. Kate Clare, whom the children call Miss Clare, teaches English, maths and ethics, while Ms Townshend teaches the other subjects in French.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Teacher Kate Clare at her small makeshift desk in second grade at Soulanges School
The students are divided into two age groups. Teachers therefore face small classes but have to teach multiple levels at the same time.
“We do differentiated training on steroids,” jokes Miss Clare. Educational differentiation, an approach advocated by Quebec, requires adaptation to students' abilities, needs and interests. When Miss Clare presents mathematics to the sixth grade, the younger children hear it too.
“It's good for children who learn faster because they don't get bored. They are encouraged, the older ones help the younger ones,” notes the English-speaking teacher.
“It's a lot more planning: every day we have to prepare seven levels as we see both courses,” notes Ms. Townshend.
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Marie-Helen Townshend at work
“If you teach third grade your whole life, you can work with the same novel. I can’t use last year’s story, they’ve already heard it,” his colleague adds.
It's playtime, the children rush to the playground. Since the small row school does not have a gym, physical education lessons also take place outside. When neighboring areas are covered in snow, young people are spoiled for choice. The field opposite on Chemin Saint-Georges is used for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. And on the other side, along Route 325, the hill is perfect for sliding…
5125
Number of schools rated in Quebec in 1951
Source: Jacques Dorion, “A Heritage to Discover: The Local Schools,” Cap-aux-Diamants, Number 75, Fall 2003