VEGGIE PATCH ADVENTURERS
LEAD PARTNER:
Combining literature, music and ecology, Veggie Patch Adventurers provided 52 school children with a unique second-language learning experience. Anglophone students from the French immersion class at Allion primary school and francophone students from the intensive English class at Sainte-Bernadette-Soubirous primary school benefitted from 8 second-language workshops, representing a total 2,652 hours of linguistic duality. Workshop and project themes featured healthy life habits and the environment.
The project also involved a presentation from a professionnal working in the field of ecology. The students’ adventures in the veggie patch even inspired them to create a song (text, rhythm and music), a rendition of which they performed and recorded together at Patro Villeray auditorium with the help of a professional videographer, sound recordist and director. The final result: a “Veggie Patch Adventurers” music video launched at the 25th anniversary edition of the Blue Metropolis Festival and which has been viewed over 7,069 times!
THE PROJECT AT A GLANCE
/ 2,652 hours of linguistic duality for a combined 52 anglophone and francophone primary school second-language learners
/ A viral music video created by participating students and viewed over 7,069 times
/ 9 writing activities, featuring rap and musical composition, with rapper Shanthony Exum and writer Nisha Coleman and including one stage performance
/ 6 workshop hours on ecology and healthy eating habits and involving 4 organizations working on ecological issues
/ Project evaluated by participating teachers as having met 100% of its objectives. The objects were: to improve second-language skills and foster bilingualism among students, to stimulate their interest in healthy eating habits and ecology, and to bolster their interest in literature.
The musical video of the Veggie Patch Adventurers
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE PROJECT
Children tend to demonstrate significant interest in gardening and fruit and veggie picking (Bergan et al., 2021), interests which in turn encourage their curiosity and fosters the development of their scientific spirit (Heggen et al., 2019).
Representing know-how that will serve children in other areas of life (Pecaski McLennan, 2010), the childhood development of gardening knowledge significantly contributes to the formation of an ecologically, environmentally and culturally mindful identity for the child (Luna and Green, 2020). It also makes them an “active learner,” one that learns out of choice, not obligation (Lew-Levy et al., 2017).
Indeed, as children engage in a holistic and collaborative activity, such as taking care of plants, their personal motivation and taste for discovery grow, and their social, emotional and cognitive development reaps the benefits (Miller, 2007).
In this way, engaging with gardening and knowledge of food sources provides each child with learning opportunities that increase curiosity and wonder (Zuiker and Riske, 2021). Necessitating active focus, participation, and perception, these educational experiences enable kids to establish a relational bond with the task at hand, resulting in optimal circumstances for learning (Myrstad, 2018).
By combining second-language and gardening skills learning, this Blue Metropolis educational program aimed to create a concrete learning experience that stimulates a taste for knowledge, all while featuring a setting rich with linguistic duality and therefore conducive to second-language learning.
THE PROJECT COLLABORATORS
MAIN PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS
NISHA COLEMAN
Nisha Coleman is a writer, storyteller, and actor based in Montreal. Her stories have been featured on CBC, Moth Radio Hour, and Risk! podcast, among others. She facilitates community writing and storytelling workshops both locally and internationally. Coleman is the co-founder of Strand Storytelling School and co-artistic director of the French-language storytelling series Enfabulation. Her memoir, Busker: Stories from the Streets of Paris, was published by Radiant Press in 2016, and her children’s book, Dear Humans, was published in spring 2023 by Linda Leith Publishing.
ALARIC BOYLE-POIRIER
Alaric Boyle-Poirier is videographer and video editor at Prod J and has 6 years of professional experience as a television and video post-production freelancer. A documentary and reality television specialist, Alaric deploys this experience to recount the stories and emotions that matter most. By concentrating on the emotional components of storytelling, Alaric has put his BFA in Film Studies from the Hoppenheim School of Cinema to good use. While Alaric may spend his days in the editing suite, it’s his passion for and challenges of telling a good story that gets him up in the morning. When he isn’t working, Alaric loves to spend time taking pictures, filming videos, and climbing across Quebec, his native province.
HÉRITAGE LAURENTIEN
Héritage Laurentien is a not-for-profit organization founded on an environmental and sustainable development approach that prioritizes consultation and collaboration between various community actors. The organization’s mission is to participate in the protection and showcasing of the natural heritage, environmental sectors, and biodiversity of the Saint-Lawrence Valley, particularly in Montreal’s Greater Southwest.
SHANTHONY EXUM
Shanthony Exum, also know as Miss Eaves, is a Montreal-based mutimedia artist at the intersection of activism and art. Passionate about celebrating confident women and nonbinary people, Exum uses artmaking to champion feminist questions, self-love, and the environment. Her work, most notably her music, has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Billboard, New York Magazine, Elle, Glamour, Jezebel, and others. The goal of her practice is clear: to support marginalized people in the fight against oppression. Exum is the illustrator of Dear Humans, a children’s book written by Nisha Coleman. Published in spring 2023, the book aims to create awareness about climate change and environmental sustainability among children.
PATRO VILLERAY
Patro Villeray is a community centre that aims to create a living space for individual and collective development via community action, including both leisure and mutual aid, and in constant engagement of the collectivity.
Y’A QUELQU’UN L’AUT’BORD DU MUR (YAM)
YAM is a social economy business that implements environmental projects designed to significantly impact the colllectivity. Through urban agriculture, economic greening, and eco-consultancy services, we work to accompany and equip citizens, organizations and businesses to ensure the success of their ecological transition initiatives. Moreover, we hope to foster the socio-professional integration of young people and collective engagement, impacts that are dear to our hearts.
OTHER COLLABORATORS
PATRICK TOUSIGNANT
Technical Director / Recordist
ÉMILE LAFORTUNE
Stage Technician
LA SOCIÉTÉ ÉCOCITOYENNE DE MONTRÉAL
Ecological workshop expertise
THE PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
École primaire Sainte-Bernadette-Soubirous
Located in the very pleasant Rosemont―La Petite-Patrie borough, Sainte-Bernadette-Soubirous school is surrounded by a huge green space, Sainte-Bernadette Park. It has a large outdoor courtyard and a school park, where children can stretch their muscles during recess, for example. It offers its 660 preschool and elementary school students stimulating and enriching projects. Very dynamic, its teachers favor an active pedagogy. Why? Maintain the desire to learn and discover children. The word “collaboration” is our leitmotif. The values we favor are curiosity, autonomy, perseverance, politeness and, of course, pleasure!
ALLION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Another year is on its way with many adventures ahead and Allion is looking forward to instilling a passion for learning in its students through nurturing and challenging the students socially, emotionally and academically. As a STEAM (Science, technology, engineering, art and math) school Allion is looking forward to the amazing projects and explorations this year throughout all the grade levels.
READING RECOMMENDATIONS (Only in French)
Des fruits et des légumes… de toutes les couleurs, Lina Rousseau (textes) et Marie-Claude Favreau (illustrations), Dominique et compagnie, 2017
Le jardin de Jaco, Marianne Dubuc (texte et illustrations), Casterman Éditions, 2018
La saga des trois petits pois, Pierrette Dubé (textes) et Yves Dumont (illustrations), La courte échelle, 2018
Mon beau potager, Anne-Marie Fortin (texte) et Julien Castanié (illustrations), Éditions de l’Isatis, 2019
L’abeille à miel, Kirsten Hall (texte) et Isabelle Arsenault (illustrations), Éditions La Pastèque, 2018
La soupe aux lentilles, Carole Tremblay (texte) et Maureen Poignonec, La courte échelle, 2018
Le fan club des champignons, Élise Gravel (texte et illustrations), Les 400 coups, 2018
L’eau, Annie Groovie (texte) et Alexandra Hontoy (illustrations), Éditions Groovie, 2016
Les enfants de l’eau, Angèle Delaunois (texte) et Gérard Frischeteau (illustrations), Éditions de l’Isatis, 2019
Notre environnement, Jacques Pasquet (texte) et Yves Dumont (illustrations), Éditions de l’Isatis, 2018
La nature du Québec, Jérôme Carrier, Auzou, coll. Mon premier doc, 2019
Les arbres du Québec, Jérôme Carrier, Auzou, 2017
Mon très grand herbier du Québec, Jérôme Carrier, Auzou,
Mon très grand animalier du Québec, Jérôme Carrier, Auzou, 2019
Les insectes du Québec, Jérôme Carrier, Auzou, coll. Mon premier animalier, 2019
