Zig Zag: Canada

📺BBC Schools TV

companyBBC

started9th Mar 1987

ended30th Mar 1987

last rpt28th Mar 1990

4 school years

episodes4

duration20 mins

subject 🌏Geography

age rangeAge 7-9

languageenIn English

Zig Zag

Previous unit: Winter FestivalNext unit: The Vikings

Canada is a unit of the BBC Schools TV series Zig Zag from the 1980s & 1990s, covering geography for primary school pupils.

Paul Coia takes a journey across Canada, from Toronto to British Columbia, reporting on modern and historical aspects of life, including the building of the railways, gold mining, lumberjacking and log birling, Totem Poles, and the beaver.

Episode List

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	The Railway	#1987-03-09-00-00-009 Mar 1987
2.	A Tale of Two Cities	#1987-03-16-00-00-0016 Mar 1987
3.	Timber	#1987-03-23-00-00-0023 Mar 1987
4.	Wildlife	#1987-03-30-00-00-0030 Mar 1987

Broadcasts

Year	Term	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Channel	Details
1986-87	Spring 1987	Monday, 11:00am		Wednesday, 2:15pm			BBC2
1989-90	Spring 1990	Monday, 11:00am		Wednesday, 1:40pm			BBC2

Credits

Presenter

Paul Coia

Resources

There were teacher's notes and a project book (called The Canadians) available.

Related programmes

Zig Zag: The EskimosZig Zag looked at the life of Inuit people in Canada a few years earlier.

Zig Zag (1983-2000)

Series Overview • Units • Episode List

Ancient Greece (1996) • The Anglo-Saxons (1992) • The Arabs (1984) • Art (1997) • Canada (1987) • Cathedrals (1989) • The Channel Tunnel (1987) • Computers (1983) • Danger Detectors (1996) • The Eskimos (1985) • Food and Farming (1995) • France (2000) • Gardens and Growth (1985) • Geography UK (1995) • Getting About (1988) • The Greeks (1986) • Hungry Times (1983) • Invaders (1997) • Kenya (1994-96) • Let's Face It (1990) • Making It Work (1997) • Mapmakers! (1993) • Mordicus (1986) • The Normans (1983) • The Odyssey (1990) • The Olympics (1984-92) • Over to You (1985-89) • Roman Britain (1993) • Rush, The Fallow Deer (1987) • The Saga of Gunnar Goldhair (1987) • Snapshots: Children in the Second World War (2000) • Space (1984-88) • Spaceship Earth (1986) • Tales from Europe (1992) • Tales from Europe (2000) • Technology (1991) • Topical Programmes (1985-89) • Trees (1993) • Trees and Man (1991) • Tudor Life (1998) • The Vikings (1987) • Village, Town, City (1997) • A Walk Through Time (1999) • Water (1990) • Water, Air, Land (1998) • Weather (1999) • Where You Live, Where I Live (1994) • Wildlife Safari (1989-91) • Winter Festival (1986) • World of Work (1989) • You and the Media (1986)

See also: Zig Zag Shorts • Landmarks • Primary Geography • Primary History

Topics

School topics covered in this programme. Click to find other programmes covering the same topics, but bear in mind topics are a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.

Social studies

Life in Canada

Keyword tags

Some features of this programme. Click to find other programmes with the same features, but bear in mind tags are also a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.

Documentary

Presenter on location

Trains

Everyday life in different countries

Canada

Children's books published

More

Do you know more about this programme?

Do you know anything that I have missed? Do you have pictures, sounds or videos that fill in gaps? Please get in touch by email!

Want more on this programme?

This site attempts to cover thousands of programmes and it will take ages to update them all. If you would like to see this one updated soon please click on the star to 'vote' for it and I will do my best to prioritise it!

Voting is currently (2026) broken. I'm not sure why. I'll fix it if I can! You can still see a list of all the votes so far.

More programmes

Some random programmes for age 7-9 from the 1980s

Music Workshop BBC Schools Radio1964-2015Music

The Greeks(from Zig Zag) BBC Schools TV1986-1991History

Radio Resource Material(from Look and Read) BBC Schools Radio1974-1985English

Topic Songbook BBC Schools Radio1985-1986Miscellany

Animals in Action ITV Schools1985-1993Science

Music Time Radio Resource Material BBC Schools Radio1983Music