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I was born and have lived most of my life in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. I live on a lifestyle block with two teenage children and my husband, one dog, one cat and we share some sheep with the next-door neighbour. The 'Bay' is well known for its great weather, easy lifestyle, fruit and wine. The capital of NZ is Wellington, this is also where Parliament is. NZ is part of Oceania and the Pacific Ring of Fire, which means that we have a lot of volcanoes (most are dormant or extinct - but not all!). NZ also has many fault lines which run through it making it very prone to earthquakes.  The North Island of NZ is very different from the South Island, in both climate and landscape. There are many national parks, forests, lakes and rivers to visit.

Christmas is in the Summer, so we spend most of our time with friends and family at the beach or enjoying a bbq at home.  We enjoy seafood, fish and chips, ice-cream (hokey pokey), camping and sunshine. My family go camping at the beach every year. Being on the coast near the sea and swimming, surfing and sleeping outside is really important to us.

There is a lot of open space outside of the cities too. Farms have sheep and cattle. There are so many sheep! Growing food is really important; fruit, vegetables, herbs and plants.

We are a multi-cultural country  of about 4.2 million people. Two thirds of the population live in the North Island, and the other third live in the South Island. We speak English and Te Reo (Maori). Everyone knows the 'haka' and are proud and loyal 'kiwis' when it comes our sports.

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Hi! I’m Alana. I’m both Canadian and American. I’m a grade 3 teacher on maternity leave. My baby girl Mackenzie is 8 months old now.

Part of my American heritage is kind of Southern. My grandma was Irish (Flanagan was her last name), anyhow she used to make a dish called Ham n Beans. She’d use a ham bone with som meat on it and cook it slow for a long time with some beans in it like a soup. She also made fried taters (potatoes) and cornbread to go along with it. We’d strain out some ham and beans to go with our cornbread and taters. Usually everyone out vinegar and raw diced onions on their ham and beans and butter on the corn bread. It’s so yummy! (See the pic below as I just made it recently.)

Sometimes I use the word y’all when talking here in Canada. My husband says I use a southern accent when talking to my family in The States. 🤷🏼‍♀️

My other half is Canadian, but that part is full Ukrainian on my mom’s side.
We celebrate the traditional meatless Ukrainian Christmas meal on Dec 24th and go to midnight mass with the candles lit. I learned some Ukrainian words as my Baba (grandma) knows quite a bit of Ukrainian. Here in Canada my mom and Baba are gardeners. They’re hard working and very frugal (not wanting to waste anything). They like to make lots of homemade food and do canning to preserve garden vegetables and meals like soup. We make perogies together and always try and make decorated Christmas cookies too. I don’t like some of the traditional Ukrainian foods, but I’m happy to know and celebrate my culture and heritage, even if some parts aren’t as yummy or fun as others. It’s what makes me unique!

I mainly speak English at home, but my mom taught me some French and German and so studied French, Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin) in school. I love languages and hope you do too!

I hope you’re having a great day, learning a whole lot and most importantly behaving well, thereby keeping your teacher and others happy, by being kind, using your manners, and caring for others like you’d want them to treat you. :-)

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I am born and raised Canadian however, I am only second generation Canadian while my three children are sixth generation. Some of our cultural traditions include eating shortbread cookies, ginger snaps, trifle, sausage rolls and Nanaimo Bars at Christmas. This is from my English background. On the flipside, we also enjoy eating pickled herring, pickled carrots and onions, rosettes and lutefisk which comes from my husband’s Scandinavian roots. I also enjoy making and eating bannock which comes from some of my family members who are part of the Coastal Salish tribe in BC.

I am a middle school French as a Second Language teacher. My oldest daughter attends a French Immersion school. At home we speak Frenglish! Primarily English with a smattering of French thrown in.

We live in a 2100 sq ft home with a finished basement, 4+1 bedrooms, and 3.5 bathrooms. There are 5 people in our family plus a dog and a cat. We have a large backyard that backs onto a storm pond. The city we live in has a population of approximately 36 000 people.

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I am from Norway, which is in Scandinavia north of Europe. We are a small country with around 5million people. Our capitol is called Oslo. We have 4 distiguished seasons throughout the year, with only 2-3 months of summer. I think it resembles Canada in this way. You'll find fjords, mountains, lakes, northern light, the midnight sun, reindeer and salmon amongst other things here. No Santa though, he is in Finland, our second neighbour. Half of Norway is within the Polar Circle. Paper clips, aerosole spray cans, floating docs and handheld cheese slicers were invented here. Norway is the land of the Vikings, but we don't behave like vikings anymore. Now we are a friendly people who usually trust eachother. On the countryside people often leave their houses and their cars open, because nobody is going to steal anything anyway. We have a good economy (but it is expensive here) and a high standard of living, and maybe that is why most people don't need to steal. Often our food is quite boring. we love ourbread and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, and dinners are often some kind of meat with boiled potatoes with vegetables and sauce. They say we have the cleanes and freshest tap water you can find anywhere, direct from nature. Up north of Norway we have a minority group called 'Same' or Lapps. They are like the eskimoes or inuitts of our country. Usually they  are in the fishing industry  or reindeer industry. Their language is Sami, and is one of three languages in Norway. The third language is a mix of all our dialects, called Nynorsk (Our main language is Bokmål). Our alphabet is like the english alphabet, but we have three extra letters at the end: æ,ø,å/Æ,Ø,Å. Most norwegain houses are built with wooden materials, although we also use brick and concrete. The fjords, mountains and the large areas of forests that covers Norway, has given inspirations to our folktales up through the ages. About trolls and gnomes and kings, queens and princesses, pesants and supernatural powers like making everyone say yes to what you ask for. I love Norwegian fairytales about the Ashlad, like this one https://youtu.be/1dMbxrspfoU

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Hello there I was born and raised in South Africa. South Africa is so beautiful, we have 14 official languages. I speak Zulu . I’m from zululand province(kwaZulu Natal). South Africa is so diverse , different cultures. I was raised in church, I learned how to speak English in high school even though there are multi racial schools where u just grow up knowing the language . But because my parents were not able to send us to those schools I still managed to learn. Today I’ve travelled in different countries : London, America , Germany , Ireland ,sharing my culture through performing arts. We have a selection of foods that we really enjoy : pap, beans , meat , rice , chackalaka , bunny chaw , curries etc...... I’ve attached a picture of my traditional outfit ! As u can see the necklace made of beads , headwear trimmed with beads . These are specific beads that represent a Zulu tradition. South Africa has many places u can visit that can teach about our different cultures . I love my country ❤️

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I was born in Canada. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents were also born in Canada, but if you back another generation or two my ancestors came from Germany, Switzerland and England. They worked very hard for not much money so they wanted a better life for their children. So they came to Saskatchewan to farm and raise their families. It would have been a long boat ride and a long train ride. No airplanes ya know! I’m happy they made that sacrifice many years ago. I’m happy to live in Canada!

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I was born in the Philippines, and then immigrated with my whole family to Canada when I was 8 months old. I still grew up with the Filipino culture: I joined the local cultural dance group called Maharlika (Mah-har-Lee-Kah), ate many popular dishes, and my family taught me the main dialect spoken there as well, it is called “Tagalog” (Tah-gah-loh-g) - there are a total of 8 major ones. I tend to visit my homeland every decade, and I do hope to visit again soon. In the attached photo, we were visiting the island of Palawan in the Philippines, to the city of Puerto Princesa. It was very beautiful and humid on our visit, and it also has its rainy seasons as well.

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My brother and I were originally born here in Regina Saskatchewan but my parents are from a beautiful country called El Salvador. Now this country is located in Central America, It's known for its Pacific Ocean beaches, surf spots and mountainous landscape.  It's main language is Spanish and it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, nothing but hospitality and smiling faces from all the locals . Definitely worth a visit if you're down in Central America.

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I was born and raised in Copenhagen the capital of Denmark a small country in Northern Europe. We speak Danish. Copenhagen is a beautiful city with a rich history. I now live in Helsinge north of Copenhagen. The photo is of the church in Helsinge where I work as a pastor. This is a very typical Danish country church and it is nearly 900 years old.
A traditional Danish food is smørrebrød. Basically an open sandwich of dark brown rye bread topped with various ingredients usually eaten for lunch.

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Hello Grade 3's!

I am originally from England and moved to Canada almost 7 years ago. I am a dual citizen which means that I am a citizen of 2 countries (Canada and England).

I grew up in a small touristy town called Stratford-upon-Avon. It is located right in the middle of the country in the country of West Midlands. A county is England's version of a province. The famous playwright William Shakespeare was born there so it is always full of tourists. It's a beautiful town with loads of old buildings with straw thatched roofs and timber beams in the walls of the buildings. My home was not like this but the tourist buildings are.

There are also 3 theatres there. It was here that my love of theatre started when I was about your age.

Every year the town holds a massive celebration commemorating Shakespeare's birthday. There is a parade where schools and local organizations walk down the streets in their uniforms and display a banner. There are local events like country dancing, Morris men, and actors from the local theatres acting on the Bancroft garden which is a big park area by the canal. The Avon in the town name is from the river Avon. There are lots of canal boats and barges that are always travelling along the river. It is a very picturesque town.

Obviously I grew up speaking English. The difference though is that I learned different words and pronounciations for some things to what we say in Canada. For example eggplant = aubergine, zucchini = courgette, trunk = boot, bonnet = hood, etc. It's been fun but also challenging, and sometimes confusing, learning the difference between "Canadian English" and "England English".

One different tradition I have adopted is Thanksgiving. In England we do not celebrate Thanksgiving so that is one tradition I have learned to celebrate with my Canadian husband and daughter.

There are lots of things I miss from England like all the greenery and the smells. One thing I do not miss is the rain though. People say England is rainy and April is known as "April showers". Let's just say that is absolutely true!

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I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and I was adopted at 6 days old! So, biologically, I do not know exactly my cultural background; however, based on my adopted parents, we are Scottish and French. When I was younger, I had the chance to visit Scotland (which is in Europe) and saw many old castles, churches and artifacts! It was a really cool place to visit!

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My grandparents come from Greece. My grandma is from a town called Σκαφιδακι (Skafidaki) and my grandpa is from a town called Παραλιo Άστρος (Paralio Astros). My grandpa was a ψαρας (psaras) which means fisherman. The picture is a picture of my grandpa’s town. 

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My grandparents come from Greece. My grandma is from a town called Σκαφιδακι (Skafidaki) and my grandpa is from a town called Παραλιo Άστρος (Paralio Astros). My grandpa was a ψαρας (psaras) which means fisherman. The picture is a picture of my grandpa’s town. 

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Originally from Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, Canada. My mother's side is French. My first language was English but I went to French Immersion so I am bilingual. Raised with French Catholic traditions like midnight mass then enjoyed a "réveillon" afterwards with lots of family around. I always hated that kiss on each cheek from every person when we arrived. A French thing!!!! Lots of French Canadian and homegrown food was shared. Most of our meals were from "scratch". No processed stuff in our house like nowadays. We couldn't leave without playing cards anytime family was around. On all the other holidays of the year, it was always an amazing turkey meal with a only few family members. Even though the turkey was cooked, everybody pitched in for a potluck during these get togethers. Nobody ever showed up with no food in their hands. My mother was raised on the farm so she showed my brothers how to skin muskrats, beaver, and coyotes to name a few. Lots of deer hunting was done so we did lots of cutting and wrapping in the fall season. Going to church was a ritual every Sunday.... in French of course as it was way easier to understand seeing that religion class was in French in school.

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Brazil: The biggest country in South America, full of beautifull beacthes, native florest, wild animals and also famous cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazilians speaks portuguese.