Best of NTC: Victoria Day (Canada) and Memorial Day (USA)

North America and the beginning of summer: in Canada it is one week earlier than in the USA. Read on and find out some other facts about these two countries.

Victoria Day in Canada and Memorial Day in the USA: these two public holidays mark the beginning of summer for our friends across the Atlantic. This year, Canadians will be celebrating Victoria Day on Monday 23rd May and their southern cousins in the USA will have their festivities a week later, on Monday 30th May.

Click on the left button below if you would like to know a little more about these two national holidays and do a short quiz on Canada’s provinces in your lesson.

And if you would like to do another short quiz for A2 level upwards about the USA and Canada, then click on the right button below.

 USA or Canada? (level A2 and upwards, 10+ mins)

• On the board write: Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister of Canada.
• Give students half a minute to decide whether this is true or false. (It is true.)
• Then read out the following ten statements and ask students whether they are true or false:
   1 The USA is bigger than Canada.
       (False. - Canada 9,984,670 sq km; USA 9,826,630 sq km.)
   2 Justin Bieber is Canadian. (True.)
   3 The Niagara Falls are in Canada and the USA. (True. - The falls are on the border.)
   4 The Canadians use the American dollar. (False. - 1 Canadian dollar = 0.75 US dollars.)
   5 The USA won the most medals ever at the Winter Olympics, in Vancouver in 2014.
       (False. - It was Canada.)
   6 Madonna was born in Canada. (False. - She was born in Michigan, USA.)
   7 French and English are spoken in Canada. (True.)
   8 Alberta is a state in the USA. (False. - It is in Canada.)
   9 Memorial Day is celebrated in Canada. (False. - It is celebrated in the USA.)
  10 Thanksgiving is celebrated in Canada. (True. - It is celebrated in Canada on the second Monday in October and in the USA on the fourth Thursday of November.)

Extension activity:
You could ask students to add more questions to the quiz. These could be based on knowledge from journeys to Canada or the USA (e.g. where famous National Parks are situated etc.).