Happy new year!!

Best wishes and choicest blessings!

See you all on Monday, January 6, bright and early at 9 a.m.

Thank you so much, and selamat hari raya Krismas

Thank you, Carol, Jie Lin, Iris, Tracy, Hasina, Cheyenne, Teresa, Bo, Hala, Pei Zhang, Marjan, Fides, Daisy, Maribel, Yoo Lee, Aseel, Ling Ji, Yang Yang, Esmail, and Chang. I'm sure I've missed out someboy--please tell in under Comments, below!

That was awful kind and generous of you all! It truly made my day after the long journey to the other side of the world. Thank you so much, and thank God for his indescribable Gift that made Christmas possible! I look forward to seeing you all when I get back.

A view of Singapore on the left in the distance, connected by a bridge to Johor, Malaysia, in the foreground

Curry laksa, a local favourite in Malaysia and Singapore

Nice spelling test!

Wednesday's Assignment

Welcome to another glorious Wednesday! What a load of listening, speaking, reading, and writing awaits!

Merry Christmas!

Here are your tasks this morning:

1. With your headphones on, practise singing "Silent Night."
2. Listen to this carol and try to write down the first sentence.
3. Listen, practise, and record on vocaroo.com your dialogue with a partner on Filing Taxes. Post it on your blog.
4. If you haven't already done this, research the tax system of Canada, complete this reading exercise, and leave a brief comment below this post.
5. Update your blogs with your field trip report (of CBC's Sounds of the Season).
6. Make sure all your blogs are edited according to the Editing Checklist.
7. Leave a comment on the corrected blogs of three classmates.
8. Take this “fun quiz” when you have finished.

Tuesday's Assignment

You've waited for the other shoe to drop. This morning, we round out our assessments with a listening test.

Take the CLB-OSA Listening Test 1 and show your instructor your scores.

Monday's Assignment

Announcement for this afternoon: As the teachers will be having a lunch meeting, there will be no classes in the afternoon. Instead, please update your blogs with a report on last Friday's field trip as homework and for the purpose of attendance.

This week we consider the theme of Taxation in Canada, and to kick us off, here's a rather taxing task for us this morning:



Take the CLB-OSA Reading Test and show your instructor your scores. Make sure a picture of the screen is taken with your name and score clearly shown.

Coffee, Curry, and Concert for Christmas - Sounds of the Season!

Announcement for Monday afternoon: As the teachers will be having a lunch meeting, there will be no classes in the afternoon. Instead, please update your blogs with a report on last Friday's field trip as homework and for the purpose of attendance.

Perhaps due to the enhanced advertising campaign this year, this year saw a bigger crowd at CBC's annual Sounds of the Season open house. Nor was the nippy weather any hindrance. After swigging our cups of free Keurig and visiting the museum and theatre behind the atrium, we snuck into the PATH underground city for lunch, several of us hitting Amaya Curry. And then it was back upstairs for the studio recording. Hope everyone had a grand, glorious time!

Welcome to Canada! Merry Christmas!



Here we come: Marjan, Iris and Aiden, Fazi, Tracy, Fides, Jielin, Maribel, Cheyenne, Aswathi, Esmail, Bo, Ling, Chang--photo taken by Mohammad on Chang's DSLR, and where's Yang Yang?

Field Trip Friday: CBC SOTS 2013

Do remember that our field trip this Friday is to CBC's Sounds of the Season.

Those leaving from Bayview Station are welcome to meet at 10 a.m. on the Westbound Platform. Those leaving from Don Mills Station should leave around 9:45 a.m. We could get off to St. Andrew Station and walk over to CBC together.

Have you picked out a non-perishable food item (like canned food) to bring along and donate? You're welcome to bring your friends, relatives, and neighbours. Don't forget a camera and lunch money if you'd like to hang out a little.

Check out the following video for a foretaste of the program:

Thursday's Assignment

One of the happy customs of Christmas is the singing of carols, or carolling. Here's one big carolling session in Downtown Toronto last year:



What carol did they sing? Do you think they broke the world record? Discuss with a partner; then click below for the answer.*

Here are your tasks for this morning:

1. Listening and Role Play: Singing Christmas Carols
2. Listen to “Silent Night” without the video (switch off the monitor), and see if you can fill in the blanks. Then check it with video on. Practise singing with your partner.
3. Now practise together with the:
1. Winchester Cathedral Choir
2. Mormon Tabernacle Choir
3. Toronto Choirs (starting from 1:30)

* Answer below

Wednesday's Assignment

Good morning! Here are your tasks for today:

1. Review the Christmas-themed tasks of this Monday and Tuesday if you didn't get the chance to do so earlier.
2. Listening Comprehension and Vocabulary: Chrismukkah or Hanumas?
3. Listening and Role Play: Christmas is Coming!

Tuesday's Assignment

You've just been through them--the pre-Christmas sales. You've seen Black Friday weekend followed by Cyber Monday. What could be as crazy as that?

Well, check this out:

1. Listening and Role Play with a partner: After Christmas Sales
2. Write brief notes on the topic of post-Christmas sales and record yourself and a partner discussing for at least 60 seconds on Vocaroo.com on the topic of: What you think of Boxing Day sales? Post or embed your recording on your blog by 10:15 a.m.
3. Check out this video. What has it got to do with Christmas? Discuss with a partner. Together, watch three other short videos on that Facebook site.



30 mistakes?!

Monday's Assignment

Welcome to a week on the theme of Canadian Celebrations: Christmas!

First, please note our field trip this Friday to CBC's Sounds of the Season. Watch this space for details, soon to be announced!

In the meantime, pick out a non-perishable food item (like canned food) to bring along and donate.

Check out the following video for a foretaste of the program



Okay, and now for your writing test:

Write three paragraphs comparing how Christmas is celebrated overseas and in Canada. Use your imagination if you're not sure. Post your writing on your blog by 10:15 a.m.

Monday Afternoon's tasks:

1. Reading: Check out Christmas and Its Impact on Canada and leave a comment.
2. Listening Exercise: The Original X'mas Story

What is Christmas about? This well-loved holiday in Canada has long roots in history. How long? Well, some people think it goes back to Santa Claus at his H0H 0H0 (Ho Ho Ho!) postal code in the North Pole. Others trace it back to Saint Nicholas of Myra (in today's Turkey), a generous church leader whose name later became "Santa Claus." Or does that history trace yet further back?






Fortunately, we still have hundreds of historical documents of the event, and they have been translated into English. Following are excerpts from a couple of those documents. Do the listening exercises, record your answers under Comments, and discuss them with your instructor.




Listen to this reading (right click and click on Open in New Tab) and take dictation on the following blanks:


1 Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, ___ ____ _______ ___ ___ ___ ____ ____. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So He became higher in rank than the angels, just as the name He inherited is superior to theirs.

Listen to this narration (right click and click on Open in New Tab) and fill in the ten blanks:

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be (1) _____________. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own (2) _____________.

4 And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was (3) _____________. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give (4) _____________. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging (5) _____________.

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were (6) _____________. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be (7) _____________, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the (8) _____________: 11 Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.12 This will be the (9) _____________ for you: You will find a (10) _____________ wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.”


13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,and peace on earth to people He favors!
15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the feeding trough. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, just as they had been told.


Check your answers in Hebrews 1 and Luke 2.

Friday's Assignment

And here are your tasks for this afternoon:

1. Finish your morning's work if you haven't already.
2. Check out these TPL videos and take notes on any new information you might pick up.
3. Either post the information on your blog or text them to a partner.
4. Then leave a voicemail on Vocaroo.com on why you’d be home late (from the library!).

Thursday's Assignment

So, what else is free at the public library?

Toronto Public Library's Sun Life-sponsored Museum + Arts Pass (MAP)

1. Google for TPL’s MAP and write an email to a friend with advice and warnings about the MAP.
2. Publish your email on your blog.
3. Write replies to at least three of your classmates’ emails as comments on their blogs.
4. Find out who has got a TPL MAP with them this morning.
5. How many classmates have used it before?
6. Anything else is free at the public library?

Wednesday's Assignment

1. Write down on a piece of paper the procedures to put a hold on the Toronto Public Library website.
2. Write down on the same piece of paper the steps to find the specific book titled Clear Speech from the Start written by Judy Gilbert, and place a hold on it.
3. On the same piece of paper write down the procedures to cancel the hold.
4. If you have extra time, go into my blog, watch the first video and see Judy Gilbert in teaching.
5. Hand in the piece of paper to Kent at the end of the CALL lesson. 

Tuesday's Assignment

Welcome to a nice, nippy Canadian day!

Winter scene by Cornelius Krieghoff

Here are your tasks:

1. Check out class policies—with a partner, compare these with the workplace culture in your country of origin.
2. With reference to the CLB-based portfolio and your existing Canadian Language Benchmarks, identify one task for each of the four skills (LSRW) that you would like to achieve and showcase. Post your answers on your blog.
3. Using your library card, check out the TPL resources at Good Morning, Canada!
4. Put a DVD or an e-book on hold and post a picture of it on your blog.

Monday's Assignment

Good morning! Welcome to a new week, on public libraries--and what better place in the world to consider this theme than right here, Toronto!

But before we begin, take a moment to watch the following video:



Now, this video is entitled, "Driver with a deathwish stops to capture Twister on video." What happens towards the end?

How would it have looked like if the title were this instead: "Driver with a deathwish stops capturing Twister on video"? Share your comment below.

Here are your tasks for this morning, to be done in the following order:

1. Complete your corrections as indicated by your instructor on your blog printouts. Make sure to click on the orange Update button on your blogs.
2. Have a look at some of the Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (LSRW) tasks on this page. Where do you think you stand? What skills are evidenced on your blog? Which ones would you like to show on your blog, and how would you like to do it? Discuss with a partner.
3. Some of your classmates visited the North York Central Library last week. Leave a comment on their post.
4. Vocabulary and Pronunciation: A Trip to the Library
5. Listening Comprehension: Taped library Tour

Christmas Is Coming: Have You Made Your Elfie?

Thanks for watching.

Okay, enough's enough. If you really want to go through that awful video again, click below.

Field Trip Thursday: Job Fair

Our theme for the week is job search, and one of the most obvious ways to do that is to attend a job fair. Our next field trip, on Thursday, November 21, does just that:

• Canada Job Expo (Winter Edition)
• Thursday, November 21st, 2013 - 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM - FREE ADMISSION
• North York Memorial Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, M2N 5V7 (Concourse Level of the North York Central Library – No affiliation to the Library or the events there) North York Centre Subway Station on the Yonge Line at Mel Lastman Square 

Let's meet there, at the entrance, one floor below the library's entrance, at 10 a.m. Those meeting at Don Mills Station can leave at 9:30 a.m.

 

One great talk to attend is:

How To Land a Job in 2013? Find a job meaningful to you. Be more successful in a career that you feel passionate about. • Go mobile. Increase your visibility by posting your information online. • Write a résumé that generates results. • Define your personal brand. • Network to discover hidden jobs:
Aline Ayoub – Human Resources Professional/Recruitment/Career Transition Specialist
10:30 AM to 11:15 AM

Bring your resume if you have one.

 

Wednesday's Assignment

Welcome back to the computer lab!

Can you find the Toronto Public Library website?

This morning, look for that website and check out the handout from Kent to find out exactly what to do!

Monday's Assignment

1. Check out class policies—with a partner, compare these with workplace culture
2. Update your blog with your Marlies game report and pictures or, if you didn’t go, a summary of your work life.
3. Listening Comprehension: Job Hunting

4. Check out this upcoming job fair in Toronto. Would you like to visit it?

Friday Afternoon's Assignment

Welcome back!

1. Based on this lesson on Answering Machine Messages, make a Vocaroo.com recording of an answering machine message for your home.
2. Research: Find the best two cell phone plans in Toronto and post the details on your blog.
3. Role Play with a Partner: Switching Cell Phone Plans

Friday's Assignment

TGIF! For today, here are your tasks:

1. Role Play: Trying to Get Off the Phone
2. Role Play (vocaroo or youtube): A Telemarketing Call
3. You buy a blender for $49.99. The cashier cheerfully informs you that the company offers you 10 days to return the product for a full refund. Is the company really doing you a favour? Or are you already covered under provincial legislation? Write a paragraph describing Ontario's consumer's rights, giving three examples.

Wednesday's Assignment

Continuing on the theme of Telephone this week, here are your tasks for this morning:

Who's this famous Canadian?

1. Vocabulary and Role Play (on vocaroo or youtube): Using a Smart Phone
2. Listening Exercise: Making a Restaurant Reservation
3. Call 416-393-7131 to find out the terms and conditions of the Toronto Public Library's special service known as Home Library Services. Post your findings on your blog.
4. What is the difference between formal and informal telephone conversation? Watch the video and take good notes!

Tuesday's Assignment

Spell my last name? N as in Number, G as in Goat. Got it?

Good morning, here are your tasks:

1. We live in a world where power brings out the worst in human nature. What does Remembrance Day mean to you? Update your blogs with your thoughts and memories of one of Canada's beloved occasions.
2. The telephone is as much a cause of communication as of miscommunication. Listen to the following audio clip and take dictation of what you hear. Check your answer with a partner:
   
   
   Voice Recorder >>
3. Listen to the following conversation, note down new vocabulary words, practise aloud, and then record your conversation with a partner on vocaroo.com: Using the Telephone.
4. Guests to a wedding once gave excuses such as "I have married a wife" or "I have bought me a cow." Make two excuses on vocaroo.com on why you cannot come to a colleague's invitation to a party at her home this weekend.
5.  Go to at least two of your classmates' blogs and check out the dictation answer (below*) and their two excuses. Place any comments or corrections by commenting under their posts.

   * Dictation Answer:

Remembrance Day Field Trip

 

Blow wind, come rain, gather the multitudes on Queen Street, yet did we get to sing most of the hymns we practised for and offer affirmation and gratitude to the sacrifice of our fallen heroes. And then it was off to the PATH Underground City and lunch, all warm, safe, and cozy beneath the opulence of Canada's Commerce Court.

Arriving on the dot, on not the brightest of days

Adrian shows the way!

All smiles, Chang, Fides, Shahina, Elyza, Cheyenne, Mohammad, and Adrian. But where's Louis, Yang Yang, and Tracy?

Why do you think that's a "fine building" back there?

Multitudes upon multitudes on this the 11th of November

Eleven was a long time coming, but at last it tolled.

In troop the colours!

Up go the umbrellas!

It's "light rain," we know.

Wreaths underground as well! Walking the PATH.

CIBC, TSX, and other financial Deloittes in Commerce Court!

Butt someone has a problem with the elephants.

Guess who suddenly materialize at the subway station?

We saw the movie, yay!

His embattled Worship Mayor Rob Ford