Sick of winter? Break up with it, Winnipeg teacher tells students

With wild snowstorms and some bitterly cold temperatures, a lot of Manitobans haven't found much to laugh about with this winter's weather.

But when Winnipegteacher Scott Durling assigned his Grade 8 English students at O.V. JewittCommunity School in The Maples to write a letter breaking up with winter, he didn't quite anticipate how funny some of the responseswould be.

"I still love you, you were cute in the beginning but now you are just annoying," said one student's handwrittenbreak-up letter to the frigid season.

"I know we've been through a lot but yesterday was a whole new experience, I just can't process the feeling that you could've killed me yesterday," said another.

Others used clever wordplay.

"Maybe we should see other people? You and autumn seem close."

It's lines like those that Durling said were a pleasant surprise for the first-year teacher. He said when he first gave his students the assignment,there were a lot of sighs from his class.

"Grade 8s, they are going through hormonal changesand changes in thinking about partners and relationships, so I didn't really know what to expect but I knew it was probably going to be humorous," said Durling.

Taleigha Joseph, 14, said she isn't typically creative and doesn't usually enjoy writing, but thought her assignment turned out OK even though it was a little awkward for the teenager.

"Some of us haven't really experienced what it's like to be in a relationship and we're writing a paper about breaking up with someone," said Joseph.

There have beenheavy weather storms this winter in Manitoba, and Durling said he first came up with the idea to task his teenaged students to write a break-up letter a few weeks ago, after hearing Marcy Markusa, host of CBC Manitoba's Information Radio,asklisteners how would they break up with winterafter one of those storms.

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Tobi Martens said she didn't really want to do the assignment at first, but had fun and sourced some ideas from friends. The 13 year old said even though she enjoyed writing the letter, and it's mostly lighthearted, there was some truth to her not "hearting" winter.

"I don't like it. No one does. It's Winterpeg. It's cold here. I want to be in Florida," said Martens.

Durling said the assignment turned out much better than he thought it would and after he read the letters to his class, the students started thinking about more creative ways to approach their writing and even how to incorporate morepuns into their work.

And for the record, Durling said he actually loves winter.