Les Éditions 3D, supported by the Canadian Studies Program, the National Literacy Secretariat, Alberta Education (ACCESS Program) and the National Film Board of Canada, has developed two interactive CD-ROMs for learning French and English as second languages. They are also of interest to the literacy community and intergenerational learning.

The intent is to connect with young Canadians and new Canadians through reading and the sport of hockey. At the centre of the CD-ROMs is the National Film Board's animated film based on Roch Carrier's famous hockey story.

Supporting the NFB film are interviews with Mr. Carrier and with Quebec folk artist Marcel Dargis, pages from Eaton's 1946-47 catalogue, "hockey cards" and computer-based activities.

The chart: The Hockey Sweater: Top Menu Bar and Contents shows the main features of the CD-ROM.

Click here to view the chart

1st Period (Listening Period): This period contains the full version of the film (10 minutes) as well as video clips. Learners observe, view and listen. Examples of exercises are matching pictures to spoken words or sentences and oral multiple-choice questions. Exercises require manipulation, such as dragging the number of the word the learner hears to the appropriate picture. Learners with limited literacy skills can successfully complete these exercises.

2nd Period (Listening and Reading Period): The text is introduced on the screen, side by side with the film and learners are able to associate sounds with text. Exercises are at three levels, Peewee (advanced beginners / faux débutants), Junior (intermediate) and Pro (high intermediate - advanced). This period provides practice through matching words to pictures, to definitions, written comprehension questions, cloze exercises, and plot puzzles (ordering sentences in sequence).

3rd Period (Listening, Reading and Writing Period, Canadian Heritage): The ideas in the film are expanded with texts providing additional information about Canadian heritage, the game of hockey, and hockey cards of famous players. On the front of the card is a photograph with some text and, by pressing a button, learners can flip the card over to look at the player's statistics. Several original pages, in colour and black and white, from the Eaton's catalogue 1946-47 give a sense of fashion at the time of the story, and a hockey song reflects the popularity of the game. An example of an exercise in this period is filling out an order form for Eaton's.

REPRODUCIBLE ACTIVITY SHEET! Click here to download a blank Eaton's Order Form. Refer to the task list on the CD-ROM and to the teacher's guide for suggestions about how to use the form in the classroom.

Zone (Task-based, Creative Period.): This section contains extended activities, which involve all skill areas. The Dream Team activity, for example, consists of making up a team from the selection of hockey cards presented in the 3rd period. Learners are then asked to describe why they have chosen a particular player or players

Encounters (Rencontres) (Linguistic and Cultural Enrichment Period): Learners get acquainted with the writer, Roch Carrier, and Quebec folk artist, Marcel Dargis, through original interviews created specifically for this CD. Biographies, including those of the animator of the film and the translator of the story (French to English), provide further background information. One of the highlights is a visit to the Art Gallery to view some Dargis paintings depicting life at the time of Le chandail de hockey.

Throughout the program, a variety of help is available to learners. Clicking on any word in the film script, for example, will bring up a multimedia dictionary: learners can hear the word and, where appropriate, see an illustration.

Authors, The Hockey Sweater: Donna Mydlarski, Penthes Rubrecht, Dana Paramskas, André Bougaďeff, Larry Katz

To contact them, or for more information, visit the website at: http://www.www.editions3d.ca/hockey

 

The Teacher's Guide (172 pp.) will show you how to use all the features on the CD-ROM, namely, information about how to get started, the complete film script, all the exercises and activities, culture and heritage notes, interviews, help screens with instructions and tips, and discussion questions.

Special features of the Guide are the ample margins on every page for Notes. In some cases we have provided suggestions, such as additional discussion questions, websites, games, or research projects for individual or group work.

 

Letters from our customers

"I have used The Hockey Sweater to practice listening and reading comprehension and as a warm up for discussions and writing topics….

Whenever I can use The Hockey Sweater to compliment something we are studying, I do because the students like it. For example, we used the material to write compare-contrast paragraphs from the ‘Zone’ section using 'The Stars'.

We are at the end of a course now and will be starting a new one next week. I will be continuing to use The Hockey Sweater. I will use 'The Stars' again as material for students to use when writing paragraphs that require statistics to support their opinions and when they have to write descriptive paragraphs. I can see The Hockey Sweater as a great compliment to our writing program.

The song has been fun too! (Who doesn't love that song?)

In later courses, as we go into debates and argumentative writing, The Hockey Sweater will be used as a springboard for controversial topics such as women in traditionally men's sports, salaries of professional athletes and the 'Battle of Alberta'.

Thanks! It's a keeper!"

-- Kathy Draper teaches for The English Language Centre at Lethbridge College (Alberta). She has been delivering an EAP program for Japanese young adults for 7 years, coordinating for 5 of those years.