New Cultural DVD About Canada

This is a must have for school.

Entire Families of the World Catalog to be Released on DVD

Cincinnati, Ohio (January 4, 2006) – Explorers of all ages need travel no farther than their living rooms to learn about the lives and cultures of children around the world thanks to the multi-award-winning video series Families of the World.

The series – 17 titles and growing – offers a documentary-style “day in the life” glimpse into how people in different countries live from a child’s point of view. The latest release, “Families of Canada,” will be available on DVD February 21, 2006 for a suggested retail price of $29.95. VHS titles are also $29.95. In addition, the entire Families of the World catalog will debut on DVD at the same time, while many titles are being broadcast on select PBS stations around the country.

“We’ve been inundated with requests for some time now to make Families of the World available on DVD,” said Selina S. Yoon, president of Master Communications, distributor of the Families of the World series. “We are pleased that there has been such a high demand for this quality series, and now it will now be available to a wider audience. Global understanding, now more than ever, must be a priority and through Families of the World, we can bring other cultures a bit closer to children and their families.”

“Families of Canada” introduces two children from differing provinces and follows them in their daily activities from waking to bedtime, all the while showing young viewers the amazing similarities between their own lives and those of children the same age living thousands of miles away: similar chores, school and extra-curricular activities and family interactions.

Seven-year-old Hannah is a second grader from Nova Scotia. When we meet her, she is in the midst of Carnival Week at school, which celebrates a different wardrobe oddity each day (today it’s “Backward-Inside-Out Day”) and is looking forward to seeing her older sister Emma participate in the “Bug on the Wall” contest at lunch (students are taped to the wall and the last one hanging wins). Hannah’s father works as a lobster fisherman and her mother as a dental assistant. We travel along with Hannah on the two buses and ferry she must take every day to school, where she checks in on the class science project (hatching eggs), partakes in a fire drill and gets help from the third graders she shares the class with. After school activities include jumping on the family trampoline and a piano lesson. The family pitches in to fix dinner, watches a little television and then it’s off to bed.

We join 11-year-old John, who lives just outside of Toronto, as he prepares to enjoy Thanksgiving (in October) with his family at his Aunt Kathleen’s house. After leisure time playing video games and a special church mass ceremony, the family enjoys a traditional dinner with loved ones. The following day, it’s back to school where John takes a spelling test, studies biology and enjoys lunch and recess as his mom and dad work their respective jobs as a computer financial analyst and loan officer. After school, John enjoys a guitar lesson and some group playing with his older brothers, Adrian and Paul. To finish his day, John enjoys a little reading before bed.

School Library Journal applauds Families of the World as “excellent,” providing “an intriguing taste of another culture.” The series, which has garnered repeated acclaim and awards from Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, Parents’ Choice and NAPPA (National Parenting Publications of America) as well as endorsements from KIDS FIRST! and recommendations from Dr. Toy’s Children’s Products, is used in classrooms around the country as a valuable tool for multi-cultural education.

Families of the World is recommended for ages 5-11. The series features families in Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico (includes Spanish and English soundtrack), Puerto Rico, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, the USA, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. To order, call 1-800-765-5885 or visit http://www.familiesoftheworld.com/.