Dr. Seuss once said: "Reading can take you places you have never been before."​ Twenty-three Grade 5 French Immersion students at Harvey Elementary School are proving the famous children's author is absolutely right. They have been travelling the globe throughout the school year as part of the Reading Around the World program. 

To visit a faraway land, the students must read for 3,000 minutes in French at home in order to achieve their travel goal. When they have collectively accumulated their minutes, they are able to visit a destination of their choice anywhere in the world. The entire school day is then dedicated to the country or location of their choice and their lessons and activities throughout the day are linked to become part of the math, social studies or languages arts curriculum. 

During the school year, the students visited France where they studied the size, dimension and tilt of the Effiel Tower and learned about the flag, food, culture, and people of the largest country in Europe where French is the official language. They visited Hawaii where they learned about islands and white sand beaches with palm trees and flush flora, music and luau celebrations and flower necklaces called leis, given as a token of welcome or farewell in the coffee state. Their next trip will take them to Mexico  where they will learn about the geography, clothing, culture, holiday traditions and Spanish language. They also plan to visit China and Japan later this year.

Teacher Tanisha Johnson said her Grade 5 class embarked on their Reading Around the World journey to enrich their learning experience, increase their reading ability in the French language, and broaden their perspective​ of the world. Learning activities include videos, postcards and photographs of the countries being studied as well as talking with staff and parents who have travelled to these destinations in person. The students carry passports and have them stamped for every country they have visited through the Reading Around the World program.  

"With all the storm days that have come our way, the Grade 5 French Immersion class still managed to find the sun!" Tanisha Johnson said.

The Reading Around the World program is also taking place at Park Street Elementary School in Fredericton. Shown in the photo below are Harvey Elementary students celebrating their trip to France.