Special election
Activity to prepare in class
Special election: Five mayors on the campaign trail!
This activity presents the electoral process to the students in an accessible manner. At the same time, they will learn about the history of Montréal by means of the accomplishments of five former Montréal mayors. The activity continues at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal where, at the end of their visit, the children vote.
Length
Roughly three periods of between 60 and 90 minutes each.
Content
Students will find all the facilities they need to carry out an
activity in the Students’ Zone.
Additional materials
Poster boards 55 cm x 70 cm (22 inches x 28 inches).
Glue sticks, pencils or markers, scissors.
The poster boards should be brought to the Centre d’histoire de Montréal on the day of the visit.
Electing a new mayor takes preparation!
Five former mayors are running in a special election and the campaign promises to be exceptional! It is essential that the students understand that a campaign of this sort is a game based on real facts.
These five former mayors need the students’ help to prepare their election campaigns. Each one wants his election poster to get people to vote for him.
The candidates :
- William Hales Hingston
- Jean-Louis Beaudry
- Raymond Préfontaine
- Camillien Houde
- Jean Drapeau
How to proceed
-
Each team gets its own mayor
You will need to divide the class into five teams (if the class is very large, two teams can help the same mayor). Each team is responsible for one candidate’s election campaign. -
How do you make a successful poster?
First you should show the students the kinds of graphic and written material a poster can include (see An effective election poster). Each team then chooses the content for its poster based on its Newsletter. -
Prepare a sketch
Once the slogan, images and texts have been chosen, each team prepares a sketch of its poster and submits it to you for your approval. The students must be aware that the poster cannot include everything and that they will need to make choices. Once the sketch has been approved, they can go ahead and make their poster. -
The press conference
Next the teams present their posters during a press conference (see A successful press conference). This is the opportunity for each team to communicate the information it has included on its poster, to comment on the images and texts: each team must convince the class that its candidate is the best. The other students play the role of journalists. They can ask questions about the candidates.
At the Centre d’histoire de Montréal
Before the vote, the posters are put on display at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal for a period of fifteen minutes. This is when each student must decide who to vote for. Each student then goes to the isolation booth to vote and deposits the ballot in a ballot box.
