Sunday, October 30, 2016

Parliament Hill and CBC

How are trip Friday to Parliament Hill and CBC studios was incredible!  One of the highlights of course was the OC Transpo trip downtown and back, where the students behaved themselves, and represented the school wonderfully.  While at the hill we Took part in a guided tour called follow that bill. This gives students a first-hand account of how ideas become bills that become laws in our country by moving from the house of commons to the Senate and finally to the governor general. We visited the library, which is the highlight of any Tour of the hill. The students were impressed at every turn. The usher of the black rod, Greg Peters, took time from his busy schedule to stop and speak with us about his role in parliament as the senior officer. That was a very special highlight of the day for us. Following our time in The house and senate chamber, we went up and toured the peace tower. I stop in the memorial chamber after going up the tower then progress to almost lunchtime, so we went outside for a quick walking tour of the outside of the hill, and then we headed over to have lunch.  Thanks toAnika's  mom Nancy, we were able to use a conference room from the library of parliament, as a lunch room, which was directly across from CBC.  
Following lunch, we met Giacomo Panico at CBC, who has arranged for our class to tour the studio.  (He is a parent in our class). Our tour took us on to the set of power and politics, which was exciting for several of the students who apparently are fans of that show. We also got a chance to meet Ian Black, and tour the studio where he does the weather each day. The class loved getting to interact with the green screen, as the photos show. After our time with Ian Black, we've moved to one of the CBC radio sound booths to see how radio broadcasts are created. This was a tight squeeze for our class, but it was also incredibly interesting for everyone. 
We found it we perhaps have some budding television or radio stars in the class, and we definitely have some outspoken members of our class. Overall it was a wonderful day, and I hope that the students took a lot away from it. Will be talking about what we learned in the days and weeks ahead.