Bonnycastle signs ‘O Canada’ to keep music flowing

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This article was published 18/01/2021 (1955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the pandemic prohibition against singing stopped the students and staff at Ecole R.H.G. Bonnycastle School from their morning performance of O Canada, they turned to signing instead.

Teacher-librarian Tytanya Fillion said the school normally sings the Canadian anthem every morning in a mix of English, French and Cree.

“We have 49 nationalities and languages represented in our school, and normally, we have students sharing their culture in the morning announcements every week,” Fillion said. “When we couldn’t sing, we tried humming the song, but it wasn’t the same. But when we learned to sign it, everyone perked up.”

Educational assistant Laurinda Alder grew up using American Sign Language (ASL) with her two deaf parents, according to Bonnycastle principal Caterina Romeo-Mzakar.

“Laurinda worked out the signs for us, and then our teachers, educational assistants and support people got together at lunch to learn how to do the signs,” Romeo-Mzakar said. “Then we all practiced at home, before teaching the students. We mobilized our 80 staff to learn this.”

Bonnycastle has more than 500 dual-track students from kindergarten to Grade 4. At the moment, 150 students are participating in class via remote learning, with 35 of those planning to return to class by Jan. 17.

Romeo-Mzakar said that teaching ASL not only opened the door to students learning another language, it gave them an opportunity to help others and learn to grow.

“We have an outlook there that there are no barriers. So, when singing wasn’t allowed, we found another way,” she said. “Our school is a place of hope. We’re dedicated to the best for our kids. These students deserve the best education, pandemic or no pandemic.”

To that end, the school has also been supporting students and their families with food and clothing. The staff organized Baskets of Love hampers during the festive season and the Bonny Boutique outfits students with winter clothing.

“Access to food, and being part of a food desert around the school, we know that our families needed support during the holiday season and beyond,” Romeo-Mzakar said, adding that 60 enormous hampers were sent out in December. “It’s our way of showing our love. We’re all in this together, and we knew we could help our families.”

The Bonny Boutique was set up in response to help students deal with the cold and snow of Winnipeg winters. “Many of our parents are newcomers who have never seen snow before,” Fillion said. “They can’t get out and buy things, or they don’t know what to shop for. We reached out, and even other schools donated jackets and boots and snow pants. Seeing those kids playing in the snow now, it brings tears to your eyes.”

The school has recently begun dabbling in online clubs to help the students socialize. It has also set up a kindness club that takes place over the lunch hour. “They’ve written letters of support to people in our community,” Fillion said. “Now, they’re working on a garden plan, setting up a little reading area in the library and doing things like recycling batteries and collecting tabs for wheelchairs.”

Bonnycastle teachers made videos showing how to sign O Canada in English and in French.

To view the videos, see bit.ly/2XyR4Wv (English) and bit.ly/3sjDDbe (French).