AS elementary, high school and college students all over Canada are embarking on their spring break, one of the pastimes to do in this vast and less populated country is to go on a countrywide one-week tour. Canada, as we know, is the world’s second largest country in area so there is really a huge tract of land for an adventure of a lifetime. Whether you’re sharing your journey with your girlfriend or with your parents, it doesn’t matter. The spring break travel is definitely awesome. To make it even more superb, if you come from the English-speaking section of Canada, then travel to the French-speaking provinces such as Quebec. While if you come from the French-speaking region of the country, it may well be your opportunity to be immersed in the urbane and culturally diverse life that is Toronto.

To prepare yourself for spring break, it may even be more enjoyable to enroll in a three-day crash course in English or French language acquisition depending on which region of Canada you are located in. You can enroll in these courses online or if you want, you can just buy language tapes. Languages tapes, whether in English or in French, are so comprehensive that it is guaranteed that you will learn about 20 words and phrases in three days of the second language of your choice. Another way of indoctrinating English or French (whichever the case) in your personality is to watch English or French movies.

Speaking of the Canadian film industry, I’m tackling it a little bit because it is a dying industry and I want it to be saved. Hollywood is still the most popular English-speaking movie industry in the world today and England and Australia lag close behind. On the contrary, the Canadian film industry is in a sorry state for a number of reasons. The first one of this is the proximity of Canada to the United States. With at least five releases on the widescreen each week, the United States is bombarding Canada with its own dosage of movies leaving smaller Canadian film productions precarious. And the Canadian film industry is not united – by language. Because Montreal-based Alliance Atlantis has not been successful in launching French-speaking film productions, it simply folded up and has concentrated in the distribution business only. So if you come here in Canada during spring break, don’t watch Jumper. Watch original Canadian productions instead such as the Carrie Ann Moss-topbilled Normal.