LESSONS LEARNED
A teacher helps her students figure out what it really means to be Canadian
Sarah Van Dijk?” “Here.” “Benjamin Vandervelden?” “Present.” “Rachel Vanderwier?” “Yep.” It’s not every school in which half the class’s names are listed under “V” during roll call. But then, not every school is like ours.
We’re just one of countless high schools scattered throughout the small towns and cities in southwestern Ontario—but only a few schools are Dutch. Ahem. Dutch-canadian. “Ria Vanderveek?” “That’s me.” That’s me. Tall, blond and blue-eyed, I’ve the perfect DNA to make my grandmother proud. I eat potatoes for supper, go to church every Sunday and help Mom plant new tulip bulbs every year. And I go to the Dutch school. The Dutch-canadian school. It’s not officially called that of course, but we’re kind of in the majority.
“All right, class. If you can all take out your textbooks, we’re going to start the year off with a riveting history lesson. Prepare to be amazed and Canadianized.”
That’s Mrs. Beeksma. She’s Frisian (an ethnic group native to certain parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark) and has a tendency to emphasize her words, as if they were in italics—but she’s an all-right teacher. I had her for history last year, in Grade 9. There were countless amounts of riveting lessons that semester, too.
I elbowed Rachel, sitting next to me. “You seen Zack this morning?” My whispering skills were a little rusty from summer break.
Rachel shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes. “Slept in? Who knows? Maybe he’ll show up for second period.”
I nodded, but I could’ve waited. In the middle of Mrs. Beeksma’s description of the new and improved Canadian history curriculum, Zack quietly opened the classroom door and poked his head in. He hadn’t bothered to get a haircut at the end of summer and the long blond strands hung over his right eye, but you could still see the smirk on his face.
“Mrs. Beeksma, may I come in?” He asked politely.
“Oh, Zachary, really! Class has already begun!” Mrs. Beeksma looked as though her election victory speech had just been interrupted.
Zack took a step into the room and his right arm