Happy Boxing Day!

Here's something light and Canadian, from Glenn Gould, one of Canada's most extraordinary musicians ever!



Did you like it?

Now listen to the same music without the lyrics!

Thank you, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year!

We Three Queens in front: Jenny, Nora, and Yana, plus the Powerful Five in support: Safaa, Katie, Tina, Di, and MiaoYing

We had a lovely good-bye event this morning, where collected graduation certificates, watched each class present their item, ate from a ridiculously loaded potluck buffet table, and gave our all singing We Three Kings. Despite the challenges, each choir member did amazingly, and so did the soloists, Jenny, Nora, and Yana! Looks like the hard work in class and at home (in the shower?) over the last two weeks paid off. The feedback from everyone I met on the last item was overwhelming--everybody enjoyed our singing! God be thanked, Alleluia!


Video of We Three Queens, courtesy of Tanya!



If you have, or know anyone who has, pictures or video of our singing, please share. It would be great to link it to this page.

I hope each of you have a wonderful two weeks off and enjoy the festivities of Christmas and the New Year! But please remember to come back and share all the stories and pictures--on your blog! You can keep in touch with me via email in the meantime. See you on January 7th, 2013!

Field Trip to a Free Concert

On Wednesday, we will get to enjoy another free noontime concert at Roy Thomson Hall, this time with the Victoria Scholars Men's Chorale and St. Michael's Choir. You may enjoy this preview:

Please be there by 11:15 a.m. to ensure that you get a seat reserved for MicroSkills participants. There will be a group meeting at Don Mills Station's coffee shop at 10:15 a.m.

Latecomers can join the rest of the crowd lining up in the lobby. Roy Thomson Hall is accessible by TTC via St Andrew Subway Station (see map below):

View Larger Map
See you there!

x

Monday's Assignment

Welcome to a week on Government and Community Services!



Here are our tasks for today:

1. Listening & Role Play: Getting Bad Service 
2. Interview your partner and write a memo on your blog to suggest courses suitable for your partner’s family, based on this information.
3. Create on your blog a schedule of weekday concerts that we can attend as a class, based on this schedule.

Our CIVIX Survey: Early Results

Congratulations to our first five classmates who have completed their surveys:

 

If you haven't submitted yours, please do so right away (following the instructions in Friday's assignment).

 

Following are some of the results:

We look forward to seeing increased participation as well as your Comments!

Merry Christmas!

Check out these old articles from Christmases past.

Then read the original Christmas story in different languages here.

Finally, post your comments below. Merry Christmas!

Friday's Assignment

So, after a week of brutal climbing up the vocabulary cliff, we're finally at the top of the mountain! It's time for the CIVIX survey on the federal budget!

1. Reading and Consultation: Take the Student Budget Consultation survey: http://www.civix.ca/sbc/consult/. This is our Class Code, which you'll need: ON-00015-2. The Survey should take about 30 minutes.
2. Listening and Roleplay: Voting in an Election.
3. Make corrections to your blog according to your classmates' input using the Editing Checklist.

What we did at 12:12, 12-12-2012

How often does it happen--twelve-twelve, on the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of the millennium?

 

Happy Birthday, Yana! And your granny, too!

 

Guess we'll have to wait a few more years for the next round!

 

And thanks, everyone, for your amazingly thoughtful and generous Christmas present to Peter and me! Talk about a surprise! Merry Christmas, indeed!

Wednesday's Assignment

As we prepare for the CIVIX survey, here are some activities that will help you think about the federal budget:

1. Listening and Discussion with a Partner: Watch videos of the debate on three of the issues listed.
2. Write four sentences on your blog using the following vocabulary words:

1. Sentence 1: Keystone XL ... environment ... fossil fuels ... oil pipelines
2. Sentence 2: Stimulus spending ... paying down the debt ... recession ... deficit
3. Sentence 3: Incentives ... non-Caucasian ... visible minorities ... a level playing field
4. Sentence 4: Your choice of vocabulary words
3. Research your rights and freedoms in Canada.

Click below for sample sentences using the vocabulary words.

Monday's Assignment

Welcome to a new week on the theme of Canadian Rights and Freedoms.



Here are your tasks:

1. CBC Lesson: Canada’s Queen http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/esl/lessons/lesson7_introduction.html
2. Listening and Vocabulary: 4 videos of Jim Flaherty on Federal vs Provincial Responsibilities http://www.civix.ca/sbc/learn/
3. Update and edit blogs on the 2 field trips of last week.
4. With your headphones on, listen and practise singing "We Three Kings" using these lyrics and this video.

CBC Sounds of the Season

Welcome to my first post on this new blog location.

Those of us who were there, including Jenny, Yan, Jeff, Helena, and Katie (leave a comment if I left out your name), and countless others from MicroSkills and other places, got to enjoy the music and the atmosphere, including the free coffee.

What a grand introduction to Christmas in Canada!