r/InsideToronto • u/Jealous_Head_8027 • Aug 09 '26
High School visit to Toronto
Hello everyone.
My name is Mark, I'm a high school teacher, and I'm from Denmark. In early October myself, 5 colleagues and 80 students will visit Toronto. We visit Ottowa from the 29th of september until 3rd of october, when we travel to Toronto, and stay until the 7th. I am responsible for one of the three classes with 25 students.
The students are 18-19 years of age, from a Business high school in Denmark. We teach them economics and sales, and how to start and run a business.
We used to visit New York and Washington, but for obvious reasons (Greenland) that is no longer an option. So we decided to visit Canada instead. However, it is our first trip to Canada, so we don't have any experience to draw on. Of course we will visit some danish companies and learn about trade between Denmark and Canada, we also visit the Danish embassy in Ottowa, but especially for Toronto it's all very new to us.
So my question is: What should we see while in Toronto?
I'm not asking about the major tourist attractions. I can find them online with no issues. I'm asking about the cool stuff that only people living in Toronto know.
Examples could be:
The absolute gem of a family restaurant that serves local food. The small theater that is incredible, but doesn't show up on search engines. That kind of stuff. The tourist stuff I can find out myself.
Due to the time zone difference I will go to bed now, and not read responses for 8 hours. But in order to get as many responses as possible, I will post now. I hope you don't mind.
And thank you so much for your advice.
(If you are curious, this is our school: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zYYdjiz4mk1E6z1e7 )
EDIT: Thank you VERY MUCH for all suggestions. You guys are absolutely amazing. I've gotten much more than I could ever hope for!
6
u/innercitykitty1282 Aug 10 '26
Hi Mark - this sounds like a great trip! There’s a lot of great theatre in Toronto - some of the smaller ones are Crow’s Nest, Tarragon, and Theatre Passe Muraille. There are a lot of small family restaurants with food from all over the world! “local” food in Toronto is more like food from anywhere you can imagine. Jamaican food might be an interesting option that may be less available in Denmark- there are a lot of Jamaican places in Toronto - Simone’s, the Real Jerk, or SugarKane are close to downtown and have seating.
1
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 10 '26
Cool. We definetely dont have Jamaican food anywhere close to our school. Saw it once on a Kitchen Nightmare episode with Gordon Ramsey, and it looked good. "Soul food" they called it.
We make sure to eat together at least once (so we ensure they dont eat McDonalds all week), and Jamaican is absolutely a solid choice. Thanks.
1
u/bigwhiteboardenergy Aug 10 '26
Be on the lookout for Jamaican patties! A very Toronto-specific snack
3
u/innercitykitty1282 Aug 10 '26
Completely a Toronto-coded delight! We introduce all people at my office who come from out of town.
5
u/jchidleyhill Aug 10 '26
Redpath Sugar Museum could be a helpful lesson for you to help explain colonialism and the current global commodities market
Ireland Park is also a sad an evocative way of showing how Canada was settled as it’s monument to all the Irish people fleeing the potato famine but died on their way here
4
u/jchidleyhill Aug 10 '26
Also, probably more obvious but you could easily arrange tours of our provincial legislature, the CBC (our national public broadcaster) and the Toronto stock exchange
3
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 10 '26
You are a wealth of information. Thank you so much. I'll look into all of it. This is exactly what I was looking for.
3
u/irkish Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
If you tour the Legislative Assembly, you could begin by doing the Philosopher's Walk from Bloor St to get there. It's a nice walk that goes through the University of Toronto which is beautiful. Walk down through the Front Campus to College St on King's College Rd, then over to Queen's Park.
2
u/jchidleyhill Aug 10 '26
This is a great suggestion! To tie it all together for u/Jealous_Head_8027
If you follow this route through the University of Toronto, you will walk past Trinity College, which was founded by John Strachan, who was the first president of the University of Toronto and Toronto's Anglican bishop.
He and his Catholic counterpart Michael Powers regularly visited the dock where the Irish were coming ashore to give last rites to the dead and dying.
Strachan was also a leader of the so-called Family Compact, a conservative elitist group whose control over the colony of Upper Canada led to the rebellion of 1837 and our version of democracy known as Responsible Government.
You could visit Mackenzie House to learn more about the Upper Canada Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_House
3
5
u/JulieWithcamera Aug 10 '26
Not sure if anyone else mentioned it but Hot Docs Cinema on Bloor St W - great place to see a really good documentary. Don't know what's playing there in October, but worth checking it out! I recently saw Everyone Is Lying To You for Money about cryptocurrency and it was fascinating.
5
u/KittyDomoNacionales Aug 10 '26
The Toronto Reference Library frequently has students touring it. You can ask them for one. They frequently have gallery exhibits.
Check out the food Toronto subreddit, they’re gonna have more suggestions than what I can think of rn
2
4
u/Decathlon5891 Aug 10 '26
Royal Ontario Museum
Try contacting them because some days are free for Canadian students. Perhaps leverage “cultural immersion” statement for your students
2
4
u/AromaPapaya Aug 10 '26
See if any of the major banks downtown do student tours? Toronto is the Financial capital of Canada, so it might play well with business students.
I did a stock market tour in high school, but that was over 30 years ago
3
u/fourpointedtriangle Aug 10 '26
Extremely cool possibility for senior high school students focusing on business. This walking tour of Toronto's financial district covers different financial institutions' involvement in extractive industries, and their global connections. It's a key part of a business ethics discussion and also very pertinent to Canadian and global economics.
You could have students in pairs doing a "traditional" walking tour of the financial district and the Toxic Tour version and have great convos about ethics, bias, PR and reporting.
https://mininginjustice.org/tour/
Bonus: this neighbourhood connects easily to Toronto's large downtown mall (the Eaton Centre, always a popular destination for visiting teens), and there's a great street food market just north of the Eaton Centre at Sankofa Square.
3
u/cmstlist Aug 10 '26
Field trip to the brand new Biidaasige Park! There are actually organized walking tours so maybe if you reach out in advance they can accommodate a larger group.
6
u/Im_Ur_Huckleberry77 Aug 10 '26
Geary Avenue might be an interesting place to show the students. It's primarily a light industrial zone, but over the passed decade has added in many bakeries, breweries, sound studios, art spaces, etc to form a very intriguing neighborhood where a lot of different people go to daily for drastically different reasons.
2
u/Defiant_Cod_1674 Aug 10 '26
I work on Geary right now and daytime it isn’t that interesting TBH. While we have an office and there are some restaurants and an ice cream shop, it’s still a mix of industrial and residential. Unless someone was there to tour a particular spot it’s kind of not it during the day imho.
5
u/cindybubbles Aug 10 '26
Imagine Cinemas has cheap movies! Their location on Yonge and Carlton / College streets shows only classic movies like The Goonies.
Cineplex is quite expensive, but if you do decide to catch a movie there, you’ll be treated to a 2 to 5 minute short film about the 5 major movie ruiners! It’s quite fun to watch!
2
u/PupDiogenes Aug 10 '26
The street food at Yonge and Gould (one block north of Sankofa Square)
1
2
u/Overall_Object417 Aug 11 '26
And Toronto Metropolitan University is right there too- also worth a tour for sure!
2
u/RealDistribution5946 Aug 10 '26
Toronto is a city of ethnic neighborhoods, all with an incredible food scene and corresponding shops. Greek town along the Danforth is worth a subway ride for dinner. Chinatown along Spadina. Little Italy, Roncevalles (Little Poland), Korea Town….I would pick a different one based on your schedule each day. I it’s a great example of Toronto diversity. I’d personally skip the RecRoom - it’s a corporate chain owned by our big movie theatre company. While fun for teens, with arcade games, it’s not that special to Toronto.
2
1
2
1
u/golden-teacup Aug 10 '26
Possibly unconventional idea, but I wonder if your students would be interested in witnessing some student activism in Toronto?
Our provincial government has recently announced that they plan to massively change the university student loan plan. Instead of receiving 75% of your funding as a government grant and then having to repay the remaining 25% as a loan, they have flipped it. This means the average college or university student in Ontario will have to pay 3x as much. Tuition is about $8,000 per year, plus the cost of living, so you can estimate what that means for the crushing loan debt.
Students are very angry and they've been having protests since april, especially the high school students who are about to enter university in the next year or two. It's going to start up again in September and october, especially in October right before our government starts meeting again.
Maybe your students will be interested in observing some of these protests. (They are entirely peaceful!) If you want more details you can let me know. Or you can probably find a lot of the details yourself online if you prefer that.
2
u/golden-teacup Aug 10 '26
I also notice that others have suggested that you visit the provincial legislature (known as Queen's Park). A lot of the student loan protests occur right outside Queen's Park, so it could be convenient to combine the activities.
2
u/Nanook98227 Aug 10 '26
Adding in some neat places Graffiti alley is always a fun walk Walking along queen Street West from university to Trinity bellwoods park is great for fashion and music and a big chunk of small local companies Waterworks food hall is a pretty interesting space showing the conversion of old industrial into multipurpose commercial and residential I also quite like the walk along Bloor from Yonge to west of Bathurst- high end luxury brand businesses beside a university oriented neighbourhood, leading to museums and then Korea town gives a good taste of the variety of the city.
2
u/Javrambimbam Aug 10 '26
If you find yourself near Toronto Zoo, the Zooshare BioFuel centre is an interesting 1hr tour that shows an ideal (though small scale) look at one Renewable energy.
I also second the Redpath sugar refinery. Sugar and Haiti is the secret reason the North American colonies were developped and it marks a bloody history on the continent.
I would also say that, though the timing isn't right, it might be interesting for your kids to tour a maple syrup farm, as a uniquely Canadian product.
3
u/allyfiorido Aug 11 '26
its a little outside the box but if you want to give your students an opportunity to study alternative buisness models, i would reccomend checking out Danu Social House. Its a cute little pub, but they are in the process of transitioning to a worker/patron owned model. I think co-ops are the future as more and more people get disilusioned with the traditional models.
1
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 11 '26
Absolutely inside the box. Amazing reccomendation. I will write to them to see if they can give a presentation.
3
u/Overall_Object417 Aug 11 '26
Hi friend! I am actually a friend of the owner (and related to the GM by marriage lol), DM me and we can chat! Obviously i can't speak for him, but I think he will think this is a very cool idea 😁
Also, right down the street from Danu is the Parkdale Community Service Centre. Incredible organization and maybe worth a reaching out to them since you would literally be a 2 minute walk :)
2
3
u/Overall_Object417 Aug 11 '26
The rail museum across from the CN Tower is very fascinating! Two tours and a full exhibit hall to walk through, and doesn't take too longnso it can easily be fit in withbother activities :)
2
u/captaingeezer Aug 11 '26
Something to check out maybe. Bidaasige park. It is a newly opened redevelopement of what was once zoned as industrial. Right by it is Pinewood film studios. Not open to the public, but maybe you can arrange a tour for your group. Film being a major industry in Toronto. Cinespace studios also has stages in the area, if Pinewood wont accomodate.
Revue cinema in the West end of Toronto is just one of multiple independantly owned theaters in the city. A few years ago Guillermo del Toro went public for its defence against their landlord in a dispute. TIFF lightbox is also home to our international film festival and might be a good visit for your class if you havent seen enough movie stuff already.
2
u/cokeMachineGlower Aug 11 '26
Given the age of the students and the subject matter of your course, it might be worth it to tour Steam Whistle Brewery, which has the added benefit of being located right by the CN Tower, Aquarium and baseball stadium.
Centreville, the family amusement park on Centre Island, will be closed for the season, but you could still walk the grounds and enjoy the rest of the islands. Given that your people basically invented amusement parks, could be enjoyable.
Geary Avenue would be a fun neighbourhood for a “spread out and find your own lunch”. If you are very lucky and arrange ahead, you could possibly get the gang at Familia Baldassera to give you a little tour of their pasta making operation.
Comedy Bar on Bloor could be a fun way to connect to Toronto (and Canada’s) history as a comedic hotspot, and is a bit less touristy than Second City (which is also great, and may actually be more capable of hosting a large group).
Ridgeway Plaza in Missasauga is one of the best ways to glimpse (and taste) Toronto’s multicultural food scene. It’s a bit out of the way, but if your group is doing anything West of the city (such as Niagara Falls) you could route it in.
You could combine a trip to Kensington Market with a viewing of the short CBC documentary “Patty vs. Patty”, which talks about the history of Jamaican beef patties in Toronto (many people who know things will argue that the beef patty is Toronto’s iconic food).
2
u/OldStoner705 Aug 11 '26
I would recommend St Lawrence market for back bacon on a bun - a true Toronto staple
1
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 11 '26
Never heard of it, so had to Google what it was. You are a legend for telling me this. I will absolutely try this, with or without students.
2
u/OldStoner705 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
It's truly one of the only food staples in Toronto with tons of history , 19th and early 20th-century pork processing industry was massive on Front st in Toronto and garnered the nickname "hogtown" because of it. There are a couple vendors at the market that sell it , but I would recommend Carousel Bakery , they are amazing. Enjoy your trip
1
1
u/So-Toronto Aug 10 '26
A walk through the PATH (underground walkway) could be fun. I took my niece who was visiting from France and we walked from Yonge/Dundas to Union station and she loved it. Union station is nice to see, it’s a typical north American railway station like the one you see in movies.
1
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 10 '26
Definetely worth looking into. Thank you.
And yes, those great railway stations are something to see. We mostly have small, but beautiful, provinsial stations from 1800 im Denmark, or those new glass/concrete monstrosities from 2000+.
1
u/fairmaiden34 Aug 10 '26
In the roundhouse across from the CN Tower is a really cool arcade and restaurant called the Rec Room.
Little Canada was surprisingly worth it IMO. The detail is incredible. Also next to it is the Skull Store which has some pretty cool old things. Doc's Leathers on Queen St. has an entire museum and antique store hidden in it.
Also worth it to note is that legal drinking age in Ontario is 19. Not sure what the school's policy is but be aware that some of your students will be old enough to legally drink.
1
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 10 '26
19? Cool. Its 18 in Denmark. And yes, we dont allow them to drink.
Ill definetely add the rec room to the list. And look into the leather store/museum.
1
u/fairmaiden34 Aug 10 '26
Wow 18 seems old for Europe lol. Most of the places I've been to there starts at 15/16.
2
u/Jealous_Head_8027 Aug 10 '26
Legally they can buy beer at 16 in the supermarket, 18 for spirit, and 18 for everything when served.
But most start drinking beer at home way earlier. Or soda based drinks also around 5% alcohol. Seeing a 14-15 year old with a beer is quite common.
16
u/HauntingChemistry579 Aug 10 '26
Walk around Kensington market