Halloween Assignments

It's Halloweeen today, muahahahaha!

Okay, back to work!

In preparation for the movie Luther, check out the words in the second half of your handout, beginning with "After seeing."

 
Record music and voice >>


Then listen to this conversation about Advantages and Disadvantages of Life. Record your dialogue with a partner on Vocaroo.com.

Wednesday's Assignment

Bonjour! Here are your tasks:

1. On your blog, write your feedback (in about 5 - 8 sentences) on yesterday morning's workshops on Employment Rights and Behavioural Interviews. Be sure to mention specific things you learnt as well as any areas for improvement.
2. Listening and Vocabulary: English Cafe
3. Role Play with a Partner: Limiting Free Speech
4. Extra: Record your role play on Vocaroo.com and embed it on your blog.

Monday's Assignments

Good morning! Welcome to a week on Employment Rights!

Here are your tasks for this morning:

1. Check out your instructor's DVDs from the Toronto Public Library. Feel free to place them on hold on your account.
2. Update your blog on the field trip to the Ontario Science Centre or your weekend activities.
3. Check out the links on this employment rights page. Post three questions and answers on your blog.

Friday's Assignment - HOMEWORK DAY!

While the good news is that you can stay home in your pyjamas, the not-so-great news is you've got work to do before 2:30 p.m. for attendance.
Here are your tasks:

1. Call 211 or 311 and find out if there is any employment, legal, or dental assistance in your neighbourhood available for your family. E.g. where can you talk to a free lawyer about an immigration or workplace problem?
2. Share what you learnt on your blog and record your reading of it on Vocaroo.com. (If you don't have a blog, like two of our new classmates, you can send me an email containing the same information.)
3. Read your classmates' new posts today and write a comment on one or two of their blogs.

Happy Homework Day!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING WHO WERE PRESENT: Fides, Sana, Yoo Lee, Maribel, Marjan, and Mohammad! See you all on Monday--have a great weekend!

Wednesday through Friday, October 23 through 25

WEDNESDAY

Mohammad, Marjan, Noori, Shaheena, Habiba, Chang, Ying, Louis, Maribel, Vincent, Cheyenne, and Fides look at various business ventures!

It's time to register for Enterprise Toronto's annual Small Business Forum, and you can do so online through this link. Please be sure to forward me your confirmation note by email.

Following are the details:

What

Here's the Agenda for the day. Think about what interests you the most in terms of starting a small business and choose a relevant session to attend. As a class, let's all meet at 11:30 a.m. at the Trade Show entrance for a photo opportunity and to exchange notes.

When

Wednesday October 23, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT 

Where

Metro Toronto Convention Centre 

222 Bremner Boulevard
South Building, Level 800
Exhibit Hall "E"
Toronto, ON M5V 2W6

To get us thinking in advance, what do you think of these stories of starting a new business (Hint: Psst, did you remember to click on the Listen Button?)?

THURSDAY

• 
1. 

On Thursday, all the students in our school are going to the Ontario Science Centre. You should have paid $2 for an adult ticket (kids go in for free). If not, please pay the teachers when you get there.

Go MicroSkills! Yay!

Those going by bus from Don Mills Station should meet Peter Vale at the coffee shop inside the station (on the floor just above the subway platform) at 9:15 a.m.
Those going by car should meet at Ontario Science Centre's entrance at 9:45 a.m.
Bring good indoor walking shoes, a camera, pocket money or snacks, and all twelve of your kids, and be prepared for a wonderful educational day at one of Ontario's favourite indoor destinations!

THURSDAY UPDATE:

Hope everybody's had an awesome time at the Ontario Science Centre! Meanwhile, some of us teachers were at an ESL teachers' conference at the Exhibition Place. It was there I was privileged to present a poster on the use of our special checklists to help us edit our blogs and stuff. Check out the pictures here and on the Foxes Bagged blog.

Anything look familiar?

Congratulations alumni Ghafour and Katie, who bagged those foxes!

Jenny and Vincent did a great job! Way to go, guys!

There were over 1,000 ESL teachers there. How many teachers can you recognize?

FRIDAY

This Friday is Homework Day. Be sure to check the blog on Friday morning for an assignment that you will complete by 2:30 p.m. the same day.

Tuesday's Assignment

Good morning!

Halloween 1517

Today, we continue looking at a cultural celebration but from a historical viewpoint. Not everyone celebrates Halloween in the same way, or at all!

1. Watch this Video (focus on 1:08 - 2:09): Can you list 3 modern approaches to Halloween and 1 historical one that affected the nation of Canada? Listen again, following with the transcript. Compare your answers with a partner.
2. Check out the Good Morning, Canada! section, and identify one library resource on word meanings. What does the Oxford English Dictionary say about the word Halloween?
3. If you haven't registered for tomorrow field trip, this is your last chance! Make sure you forward me your confirmation email.

Thanks, Nora and Company!

Thank you, dear friends. This is far better than I deserve! Happy Thanksgiving to you all, too!

Hello Who? Halloween! Monday's Assignment

Come next Thursday evening, you will be seeing children dressed up in costumes going trick o' treating in the neighbourhood. You will see some houses dressed up, too, like a graveyard. And between now and then, you won't be able to avoid stores selling treats by the cartons and pumpkins and all sorts of scary stuff.

Here's your afternoon assignment:

1. Register for this Wednesday's Small Business Forum if you haven't already done so; be sure to forward me your confirmation!
2. Blog about your Thanksgiving Week and/or our Field Trip to Four Seasons Concert.
3. Listening and Vocabulary: Halloween
4. Role Play with the living person sitting to your left: Believing in Scary Things

Here's your morning assignment:

1. Register for this Wednesday's Small Business Forum; be sure to email me your confirmation!
2. Check answers to your T/F quiz: US and Canadian celebration
3. Explore any new stuff on the Good Morning, Canada! and Resources Pages at the top. Tell a partner if you find something surprising.
    

11 Tips for Computer and Cell Phone Users

 

Did you know:

• To highlight a word on your computer, double-click it instead of 'wasting your life dragging across it'.
• To highlight a whole paragraph, triple-click it.
• Using the mouse to scroll is 'a terrible waste of time'. Instead, scroll down a webpage by hitting the spacebar, and Shift+spacebar to scroll back up.

 To read the rest, check out the rest of the article.

  

Friday's Announcements

1. Please note that it's the Thanksgiving Break all week next week. So Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to show up in class bright and early on Monday, October 21, at 9 a.m.
2. Peter Vale has very kindly forwarded his notes on relative clauses. Please to check them out.

"That’s the bank that was robbed yesterday."

Thursday's Assignment: Follow-Up Lesson on Business Structure

Maribel, Ying, Cheyenne, Shahinah, Jie Ling, Noori, Fides, Nora, Kent, Ming, and Chang with Michael Snow sculptures

Good morning, everyone! Hope everyone had a good time on the field trip yesterday.

Today, we continue our English studies with Kent's Follow-Up Lesson on Business Structure.

Do stay tuned for instructions!

For more pictures from the field trip, click below:

Field Trip to a Free Concert Downtown on Wednesday October 9

COC Ensemble Studio to perform Benjamin Britten

Our field trip to a concert at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts happens on Wednesday, October 9.

We'll be meeting at and leaving from the Westbound Platform of Bayview Subway Station at 9:45 a.m. Mr. Kent Ng will be introducing us to the language and landmarks you will find in Downtown Toronto. Don't be late! 

Bring a pair of good walking shoes, perhaps an umbrella and some snacks, and definitely your camera! Be ready for a surprise itinerary!

Tuesday's Assignment

1. Do the listening exercise on Types of Business Entities.
2. Write down the vocabulary you feel difficulty learning in terms of pronunciation or meaning.
3. Discuss the vocabulary in groups of three. Pay attention to Kent's instructions.

A Thank-You Note from Kathleen

Hello Level 4,5! 
Let me convey my thanks to you for a fantastic week of learning and fun!  I hope that you found the things we talked about to be helpful, and that you will be able to put them to good use in your daily lives.
There was some good discussion and great participation from all of you.  Keep practising your English;  set goals for yourselves, be self-confident and you will make real progress.
Take time to reflect on what you have accomplished!  It was so nice to be able to celebrate together at lunch on Friday.  Remember to celebrate all your successes, large or small.  
Thank you Joseph for allowing me to take over your class for the week (and maybe next time, you'll be able to join us for lunch!).
I hope we will be able to spend more time together soon.

Best regards - Kathleen

Thanksgiving Thoughts 2013

John A. MacDonald, then Attorney General

The Ecclesiastical Gazette, Nov. 8, 1859
Courtesy of research at York University in 1999.

O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the people what things he hath done. Psalm cv 1
O let your songs be of him, and praise him: and let your talking be of all his wondrous works. Ver 2
The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all that have pleasure therein. Psalm cxi 2
His work is worthy to be praised, and had in honour: and his righteousness endureth for ever. Ver 4
He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he shall ever be mindful of his covenant. Ver 5

Rather than offering largely random, undirected thanksgiving, the original framers of the Thanksgiving Day petition to Queen Victoria clearly knew who they were giving thanks to: "Almighty God." Their choice of quotations from the Bible reflects that.

They also remembered those who were in need, asking for:

grace that we may learn alike from Thy mercies and from Thy judgments our entire dependence on Thee for the supply of our daily bread and that being fully persuaded that whatever blessing we receive at Thy hands is designed for our trial as well as for our comfort, we may impart a share of Thy bounty, in dutiful accordance with Thy holy will to the afflicted and indigent, the widow, the orphan, and the aged, and thus obtain for ourselves that mercy which Thou in Thy word hast promised to the merciful: through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 

This Canadian Thanksgiving, 150 years on, can you think of anything better than to give thanks to this same Almighty God who still vouchsafes (gives) to "Canada the blessings of an abundant harvest" and gives "meat (food) unto them that fear him."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2013!

Monday's Assignment

Welcome to a new week and a new class schedule! The theme for this week, our last before the Thanksgiving Break, is Starting a Small Business.

Here are the tasks:

1. Explore the page Good Morning, Canada! for 15 minutes.
2. Write a journal on what you learnt in Skills for Life last week. Include at least one thing that you found surprising, one new skill you learned, and one aspect of the training that could be improved. Post your writing on your blog. This should take you 15 minutes.
3. Conveying our thanks with a good thank-you note is part of being Canadian. Watch this video, and then, over the next 15 minutes, post a short thank-you note to Kathleen on your blog:




4. Check out Enterprise Toronto's website. Did you see their new video? What major event is coming up on October 23? Discuss for 5 minutes how you feel about it with a partner.
5. Complete this online survey. Check with your partner or google for the meaning if you don't understand anything.

Hip Hip Hooray! Time to Makan! + Field Trip Announcement

Chicken rice

Famous stars who have been to the restaurant

Makan is the Malay word for eat.


To celebrate our successful completion of the Life Skills in Canada course, we'll be going out for lunch with our teacher, Ms. Kathleen Dearing.


Here's the lunch menu:

Gourmet Malaysia Lunch SpecialsMonday - Friday, excluding holiday and long weekend, from 11AM - 2PM. Dine-in Only with Cash Payment
(With Soup OR Ice Tea)

Special $6.88	L1馬來炒飯 Nasi Goreng Fried Rice with Belacan Sauce	L2海南雞飯 Singapore Special Hainanese Chicken on Rice	L3薑蔥雞飯 Chicken & Ginger, Green Onion on Rice	L4马拉栈豆仔饭 Green Bean with Belacan Sauce on Rice
Special $5.99	L5星洲炒米 Singapore Special Fried Noodle	L6雙丸雞河 Mixed Meat Balls Noodle in Soup	L7牛丸湯河 Beef Ball Noodle in Soup	L8 時菜牛河 Seasonal Vegetables & Beef Noodle in Soup
Special $6.88	L9炒貴刁 Char Kwei Teow Flat Rice Noodles Seafood in Dark Soy Sauce	L10馬來炒麵 Mee Goreng Yellow Noodles Seafood in Sambal Sauce	L11海鮮滑蛋河 Seafood Scrambled Egg Chow Fun	L12雜燴炒河 Hor Fun w Mixed Meat
Special $5.99	L13鹹魚雞粒炒飯 Salted Fish with Chicken Fried Rice	L14麻婆豆腐飯 Ma Po Bean Curd on Rice	L15辣汁豆腐飯 Tofu & Chili Sauce on Rice	L16涼瓜牛肉飯 Beef & Bitter Melon on Rice
Special $6.88	L17黑椒雜菜扒飯 Mixed Veggie with Chicken on Rice	L18黑椒牛肉或雞肉飯 Black Pepper w Beef or Chicken on Rice	L19咖喱雞或牛腩飯 Curry Beef or Chicken on Rice	L20馬拉棧牛肉苦瓜飯 Beef & Bitter Melon w Belacan Sauce on Rice

Here's the address for those who are car pooling:

Gourmet Malaysia Restaurant

Chicken satay

(near the northeast corner of Brimley and Sheppard)
4466 Sheppard Ave. East, Unit 101
Scarborough, Ontario M1S 1V2
Tel: (647) 764-1188
Tel: (416) 291-1883
Tel: (416) 332-8765

OUR NEXT FIELD TRIP

Just a heads-up, our next field trip  a concert at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday October 9.

Wait for the details next week, but chances are, we'll be leaving from the Westbound Platform of Bayview Station at 9:45 a.m. Mr. Kent Ng will be introducing us to the language and landmarks you will find in Downtown Toronto. Don't be late! Bring a pair of good walking shoes, perhaps an umbrella and some snacks, and definitely your camera! Be ready for a surprise itinerary!

Wednesday Morning's Assignment

Good morning latecomers,

The theme for this week is Life Skills. Let's look at the topic of Team Building today.



Is the above a team-building activity you might like to try out in class?

Here are your treats for this morning:

1. Go to Good Morning, Canada! and do your reading for 15 minutes.
2. Listening and vocabulary enrichment: Different Work Styles
3. Based on your activity in No. 2, write five sentences using the vocabulary that you've just learnt. Post them on your blog.
4. Learn the dialogue on Teamwork, and practise it with a partner. At 10 a.m., present your dialogue in pairs to the class.