Field Trip July 31: Scarborough Ribfest

Last summer's?

The Scarborough Ribfest is an annual affair showcasing some of the favourite outdoor delights of North America.

The money raised, some $800,000 so far, goes to the support of local charities.

So come and enjoy, and raise some money for the needy! Bring a wallet (if you have one), a camera, and a healthy appetite for food and summer outdoor fun.

To get there by 11 a.m., you can car pool or leave on the TTC from Don Mills Station.

Thursday's Assignment

Do you usually go dutch when you have dinner with your friends?

You have just paid for a nice dinner for everybody. Now write a polite email to collect $23.17 from each person via Interac e-Transfer. Have a partner check your draft before publishing.

Wednesday's Assignment

If you don't like to pay bank fees, you may wish to get a no-fee bank account.

What does the term showdown mean? What is the meaning of showdown?

Check out tangerine.ca and pcfinancial.ca.

1. Which offers a better deal? Consider these:
1. What are the interest rates?
2. Where are their ATMs?
3. Are their websites easily accessible and navigable?
4. What promotions are currently offered?
5. How much would you save by going online with your banking?
2. Then select and read 3 reviews before writing writing a comparison of the two online banks in 5 areas.

1. Which bank do you prefer?
2. List 5 areas of comparison (click on the numbered list button): e.g.
1. Toll-free number
2. Number of Interac transactions and any fees
3. ATM network ...
3. Include a screenshot using the PrtScr button and cropping it on snag.gy.
3. Leave a comment on at least 3 classmates' blogs.

Tuesday's Assignment

How do you normally deposit a cheque? Have you ever taken a picture of a cheque to deposit it?

Here are your tasks:

1. Review the steps here, and leave a 3-minute voicemail for a roommate who is upset that you wouldn’t have time this afternoon to go to the bank.
2. Then, in your own words, publish a list of instructions in a poster for newcomers who have never e-deposited a cheque before. Include a relevant picture.

Monday's Assignment

This afternoon's task:

1. Complete and publish your work for this morning if you haven't already done so.
2. Practice with a partner and create a chirbit based on this dialogue.

Have you ever called a bank phone number? How did you like to hear a machine talk to you on the phone?

This week, we venture into the world of telephone and Internet banking.

Here are your tasks:

1. List the 5 options on this menu.
2. Call 1-866-222-3456, press 2 to avoid using a bank card, and take notes on the banking options.
3. Compare notes with your classmates.

Friday Morning's Assignment

Don't forget to tag your photos on our Facebook album!

Here are your tasks:

1. Writing: Report on the ROM field trip in 3 paragraphs: 
1. Who went and why;
2. What you did/saw there; esp. the aboriginal exhibits;
3. How you feel about Canadian history
2. Include some pictures from your camera or from your classmates' Facebook albums.
3. Check with at least two classmates before publishing.
4. Write comments on your classmates' blogs.

Thursday's Assignment

What's your secret to getting a good business deal?

Here are your tasks:

1. Role play with a partner, and record this on Chirbit: Negotiating a Business Deal
2. Work on actions/gestures. Practise with your partner, and act out the conversation to the class.

Monday's Assignment

Welcome back! This week, we'd like to think about starting a small business like planting a seed and growing a great big tree. If your seed is $5, how big would your tree be?

Check out this video: listen first from beginning to end, and then listen again with CC: on and adjusting the speed setting to your comfort. Write down any lessons learnt, and discuss them with a partner!

Here are your tasks:

1. Google for entrepreneurship and Toronto. Discuss with a partner 5 things you discover about starting a new business here.
2. Make sentences with 10 new words from this article. Have two classmates check them, and then publish them on your blog.
3. Read your sentences aloud at last three times before recording them on Chirbit.

Field Trip Friday to the ROM

Please be sure to arrive at Don Mills Station on time (around 9:20 a.m.) to leave with other students on the eastbound subway train at 9:30 a.m.
If you are going direct, be sure to arrive at the ROM entrance by 10:30 a.m.
If you have any questions, ask a classmate.

Don't forget to review the Museum's Visitor Policies.

Thursday's Assignment

When Canada was invaded by a foreign army, the Indians were at hand to repel them.

Check out all the meanings of the word scalp. Is the above illustration funny?

Here are your tasks:

1. Read the story of Tecumseh, and write 5 WH questions.
1. Post the questions on your blog.
2. Then answer those on your classmates’ blogs under Comments.
2. Role play this dialogue, and record with partner on chirbit.com.
3. Write dictation from video on totem poles: 2:16 - 2:33.

Terms to Learn for Next Tuesday July 21st's Presentation

ESL/LINC Vocabulary on Great Lakes

1. Conservation: The act of protecting nature – water, animals and plants
2. Creek: is a small river
3. Drainage Basin: An area drained by a river system. A drainage basin acts like a funnel collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channeling it into a waterway, like Lake Ontario
4. Ecology: the study of the relationships between living organisms (plants, animals) and their environment
5. Ecosystem: A collection of living things and the environment in which they live
6. Estuary: is a wide body of water formed where a large river meet the sea. Estuaries experience tidal flows and their water is a changing mixture of fresh and salt water
7. Endangered Species: Animals or plants facing possible extinction
8. Fertilizer: Any substance, such as manure or a mixture of chemicals, added to soil to increase its productivity
9. Food chain: The series of steps by which energy is obtained, used, and transformed by living things. For example: sunlight helps grain to grow, the grain feeds cattle, and humans eat the cattle
10. Food web: A combination of food chains that integrate to form a network
11. Habitat: A place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism
12. Herbicide: A chemical substance or preparation for killing plants, especially weeds
13. Insecticide: A chemical substance or preparation for killing insects and bugs
14. Invasive Fish: A fish brought from another country that eventually out-competes the native fish, as it thrives in the new environment
15. Invasive Plant: A plant brought from another country that eventually out-competes the native plants, as it thrives in the new environment
16. Invasive Specie: Any species that is not native to an ecosystem, and whose introduction causes environmental harm to the ecosystem
17. Lake: A body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams
18. Mollusk: An invertebrate animal of the phylum Mollusca, usually living in water and often having a soft body, protected by a hard outer shell
19. Native Plant: A plant that naturally grows in a given area or region
20. Native Fish: A fish that naturally breeds and lives in a given area or region
21. Neutralized Plant: A non-native plant brought from another country that adopts to the new environment without affecting the native plants
22. Ocean: The large body of salt water surrounding the continents or land masses, The Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans
23. Organism: An individual form of life, such as a plant, an animal, or a fungus
24. Pesticide: A chemical preparation used for destroying plant, fungal, or animal pests
25. Phosphate: A major nutrient required for good crop nutrition and plant growth; it is highly reactive and quickly binds to other elements. It is also found in commonly used soaps. A large buildup of phosphates can remove the oxygen from natural bodies of water
26. Pollutant: Any substance, such as chemicals or waste products, that makes the air, soil, or water harmful or unsuitable
27. Predator: An organism that kills and consumes another organism (prey); includes animals eating other animals, and animals eating plants
28. Prey: An organism that is killed and eaten by another organism
29. River: A large natural stream of fresh water flowing along a specific course, entering into Lake Ontario
30. Stream: A moving course of water, like a river
31. Threatened Species: Animals or plants that are likely to be endangered if factors threatening it are not reversed or removed
32. Wetland: A low-lying area of land that holds water naturally. Ponds, swamps, marshes, bogs and fens are examples of wetlands.
33. Water cycle: The process, involving evaporation and condensation, by which the Earth's water circulates through the environment
34. Watershed: A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is on it or under it, drains into the same river, and eventually into a larger body of water, like a lake or ocean

Wednesday's Assignment

FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO EMBED A LINK ON YOUR BLOG, CLICK HERE.

Welcome back from one of the most interesting field trips ever! Did you have fun? We'll be doing a trip report this afternoon, but for now, please share your pictures on your blog or your Facebook.

So, continuing on our theme of Canada's aboriginals, in which Indian areas (see map below) do you think the following cities are found:

1. Vancouver, BC
2. Winnipeg, MB
3. Iqaluit, NT
4. Ottawa, ON
5. St. Johns, NL

Here are your tasks:

1. On a separate piece of paper, write answers to this e-book.
2. Please be nice. Do not cheat. Check your answers with the e-book's answers on pp. 33f.
3. Publish a picture of your handwritten answers on your blog together with a link to the e-book.

Tuesday July 14's Field Trip: Pan Am, Art, and Organ, Plus Possible Extension

Word to the wise: prepare for the weather!

Tuesday's field trip comprises several parts, beginning with the sailing event at 11:30 a.m. at Sugar Beach and possibly extending throughout the day.

Let us meet on that day at 9:30 a.m. on the subway platform underground in Bayview Station. Please be on time as there is no cell phone signal there. Dress comfortably for the weather and for serious walking (see map). If you'd like to buy some snacks or drinks from the Loblaws supermarket there, bring some pocket money along.

Arta (not Art) Gallery

Arta Gallery

No. 14 Distillery Lane is the address of the Arta Gallery, where some of the works of our dear classmate Mohammad are exhibited. It would be a great opportunity to have a look at the cool artistic and gourmet offerings in Toronto's Distillery District, our very first visit there.

Pan Am Games

One of only two non-ticketed events, the sailing competition is held off Sugar Beach.

Bring a camera, and enjoy this event for free!

Ah, just gripping.

Organ Concert

Just northwest of St. Lawrence Market, St. James Cathedral offers free organ concerts on Tuesdays.

Enjoy yet another wonderful free cultural activity in Toronto!

Possible Extended Activities

It might be fun to get a bunch of classmates and go visit the other Pan Am Games sites and cheer for Canada! Those who are able can enjoy additional sporting activities while we are out:

1. $20 Women's Soccer in Hamilton
2. $45 Gymnastics (Artistic) at Exhibition Place (tickets at that price mostly on the right side)
3. $20 Beach Volleyball <-- Some of us have bought tickets for this already in the southeast (SE-B) corner to watch teams from Canada, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Cuba compete with each other (see schedule below).
4. Any other suggestions?

You can get into the Beach Volleyball competition for $10 if you are old/young enough!

14:35	PBV	Women  Preliminary		Canada	Planned
				Puerto Rico
15:35	PBV	Women  Preliminary		Mexico	Planned
				Cuba
16:35	PBV	Men  Preliminary		United States of America	Planned
				Cuba
17:35	PBV	Men  Preliminary		Mexico	Planned
				Aruba

Monday's Assignment

The word aboriginal comes from the Latin, meaning "from the beginning." Do you think the English and the French got to Canada first? Of course, not. Watch the following video and make a list of Indian words from 0:55 to 1:16 (check it using the CC function in Youtube).

So what are some important aboriginal contributions to Canada in terms of culture and defence? What about the area of sports and the Pan Am Games?

Here are your tasks:

1. Identify native participation in this article.
1. Identify the athletes.
2. Identify the First Nations involved.
3. Identify job and business opportunities.
2. Role play this dialogue, and record with a partner on Chirbit.

Friday's Assignment

How do you feel when you sing, "O Canada, we'll stand on guard for thee"? Proud? Neutral? Confused? Angry? Hypocritical?

How much of Canada's GDP should go to the military? We currently spend CAD$20.1 billion, or 1.15% of our GDP.

Here are your tasks:

1. Read any three operations updates, writing and speaking sentences with 5 new words.
2. Compare the two main types of jobs in the Canadian Forces.
3. Role play with a partner: Basic Military Commands

Thursday's Assignment

Any idea what the above cartoon is all about? Who are the people, and what are they thinking? Here's a clue.

Here are your tasks:

1. Find these on the DFATD site, and locate them on a blank map:
1. Five Canadian embassies
2. Five countries facing Canadian sanctions
3. Five countries with Canadian trade agreements
4. Five countries with Canadian international development projects
2. Publish the map on your blog.

Wednesday's Assignment

Listen to one of Canada's beach volleyball athletes in the video below. What challenges does she face, and what does she do to overcome them? Can you take dictation of 4:15 - 4:36? Put your transcript under Comments, below.

Here are your tasks:

1. Locate the participating nations on a blank map.
2. Role play this dialogue, changing Olympic to Pan Am and cheering for Canada.
3. Practise recording a Chirbit.
4. Watch and discuss this short video. Select and reserve beach volleyball tickets in the S-B section.

Tuesday's Assignment

Here are your tasks:

1. Watch this video and make sentences.
2. Find online the meanings of NAFTA, NATO, APEC, GATT, OECD, UNHCR, WTO, G-20, and G-8. 
3. Discuss with a partner:
1. What is Canada’s part in these organizations?
2. How about your country of origin?

Monday's Assignment

Welcome (back), everybody! This week, we are considering Canada in the global village. What do you think the term global village means? Would this be a good story for us to read together?

Write an account of an interesting or significant event in the previous week.

Half the world are coming to Toronto next week! Which half?

1. If you have not created yourself a blog, do so now. You may ask a classmate and make a new friend!
2. Tell about a place or a person that had an impact on you this past week.
3. Compare the experience to something similar that might happen in a different country.
4. Include one picture that represents your feelings about the event.
5. Have a classmate check your writing before publishing.