Mrs. Tutty’s Grade 8 French Immersion class at South Queens Junior High entered their video on historic Port Royal into “My Parks Pass Canada,” a contest put on by Parks Canada for Grade 8 classes from across the country.
The video, titled Port Royale et L’Ordre de Bon Temps, was created on a trip to Port Royal National Historic Site, where Samuel de Champlain made his original fort. At the fort, the students are told about the Order of Good Cheer, the society Champlain created after a long and brutal winter at the Fort as a way to boost moral.
The video goes into a flashback to that time, as Champlain leads the group in a rousing song before they turn to their large feast.
Back to the present the students then sing a song as well in a similar style.
The idea to do the video came from their teacher, but the students were certainly up for the challenge. They created a basic plan of what they wanted to do, but the performance was largely ad-libbed with the help of their site guide Yves Rossignol.
With the video up, the contest is now open for voting to get the class into the top ten. But those that want to vote should think about bookmarking the site as well. Voters can vote every 24 hours, which will help them compete against the larger schools from cities. Right now the voting is open to the public, but only until Feb. 21. Then the 10 top voted videos will go before a panel of judges to determine the winner. If they win, the class will get to go on a four-day trip through Banff National Park.
The video can be viewed at http://www.myparkspass.ca/video-gallery
