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Getting ready for the Census: 2006 Teacher's Kit > Lesson Plans >
Activity 6: Immigration
Download activity 6 in PDF format (PDF)
Overview
Learning objectives
Vocabulary
Materials
Getting started
Census activity
Extension/enrichment
Overview
This activity provides students with an understanding of the multicultural nature of Canadian society. Students complete a series of graphs showing Canada's immigration patterns over time. They examine Canadian immigration, including place of birth, language, and the changing proportion of immigrants. They learn how this information is gathered through a census, and carry out a small survey. (1 to 2 class periods)
Note: See the Teacher's Guide for general background on the census and census vocabulary.
Learning objectives
- Develop an awareness and appreciation of Canada's cultural diversity.
- Use graphing techniques to illustrate immigration data.
- Identify changes in data over time.
- Understand language questions from the 2006 Census questionnaire.
- Compile data to make up a class profile.
- Analyse data and write a report.
Vocabulary
Census, census metropolitan area, immigration, multicultural, place of birth, population, stackedcolumn, statistics
Materials
Getting started
- Tell the students the next census takes place on May 16, 2006. Begin with a general discussion of the census — what it is and how it is carried out. Mention that immigrants to Canada come from many different countries and speak many different languages. (See the Teacher's Guide)
- Review Worksheet 1: Graphing Immigration and Worksheet 2: Map of Immigration Source Areas focusing on the categories used for place of birth, and help students locate these on the world map. The students will be learning about immigration to Canada and the changes that have occurred over 40 years.
- Make sure everyone understands the instructions for graphing. Examine the results of the graphing together as a class.
Census activity
- Look at the bar graph in worksheet 1, and identify trends in immigration. During the period 1961 to 1970, where did most of Canada's immigrants come from? How does this compare with 1981 to 1991 and 1991 to 2001? Discuss the trends of the other immigrant populations mentioned in the graph.
- Steer discussion from immigration to how it affects the variety of languages spoken in Canada. Note that the census not only requests information on the place of birth, but also language(s). Mention that all responses to census questions are kept strictly confidential. Distribute copies of Worksheet 3: 2006 Census Questions on Language to the class and have students fill in their answers. Write the names of the languages reported in worksheet 3 on the blackboard and record the number of students who speak each one. Discuss briefly the findings of this small classroom survey.
Extension/enrichment
- Students could write a brief report describing trends in immigration to Canada between 1961 and 2001.
- Students could write a brief summary (five to eight sentences) about the class survey on language.
- Working in small groups of two to three, students could prepare a bar graph showing languages spoken at home by members of the class.
- Ask students to visit Statistics Canada's 2006 Census Website. Choose the “Multimedia presentations of census data” link to view “The one hundred years of immigration to Canada (1901 to 2001)” presentation.
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