What's Common: Soldier, Teacher, Teller, and Seven Other Jobs?

Well, in the United States at least, they represent "10 industries where the jobs aren't coming back"!

1. What about Canada--how similar or how different is our employment situation?
2. What opportunities do you see for yourself?
3. How about becoming a boss in these industries?

Think about it, and blog away!

Login to the Number One Country in the World

We have always had the longest coastline. We make the most apologies per minute. We ruled the hockey world at the most recent Olympics. Now what?

How about camping out the longest on the Internet?

Check out this article and list the number of ways we're Number One in the online world!

So, how Canadian are you in this regard?

Christmas and Its Impact on Canada

There are many myths about Christmas. There's Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. There's Santa Claus, the obese, bearded guy in red who jumps down chimneys. There's yule logs and chestnuts roasting on the open fire. There's even a manger scene, the creche, where shepherds and farm animals stand around a man and woman and their little baby. But all this makes no sense--it's like dropping in on a telephone conversation already in progress. What are they talking about? So we need to start at the very beginning.
The story of Christmas begins with the story of the world. Actually, it goes way before that. It starts before the beginning of time itself! You may wonder: Who is that babe in the manger? Was he an ordinary child? A prophet, perhaps? A king? Or something more? Why did he come? Why so suddenly?
The answers lie in history and the documents of the ancient world:

1. The baby was long expected. It was sudden, but people knew he was coming. God, through prophets living hundreds of years before Jesus' birth, had told them who exactly would be born, where exactly he would be born, and how exactly he would be born. But God did not say when.
2. He existed before he was born. He existed 1,000 years before he was born. He existed 2,500 years before he was born. He made everything. He was not created--He has always existed!
3. He came for a reason. Because God made human beings to praise Him, and human beings turned away from Him instead, we deserve the punishment of being separated from Him forever. Yet God chose to save some and sent Jesus, the Son, to come as a human being, a little baby, to save His people--anyone who believes and receives Jesus as their Master and Saviour. What happened next was witnessed by many and recorded for us as well: Jesus' life, works, death, burial, and resurrection. And so are the prophecies of his Second Coming.

There are many stories about Christmas, but now you know the original one. Canada, like some other countries of Western Civilization such as Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and USA, was founded on these facts. Together, these facts are known as the Good News, or the Gospel. The story of Christ-mas--which is about Christ--affects the laws and the culture of these places. Love and sacrifice, repentance and forgiveness (see Ontarian and former refugee Kim Phuc's amazing story), obedience and submission, freedom and industry, faith and hope--all these are based in response to what God did for human beings through Christ. To some degree, these principles still characterize countries like Canada. Not everybody likes to hear the original story nowadays, and some strongly oppose it and prefer to substitute it with one that honours human beings rather than Christ. Things are changing, indeed. But that's how it happened in earlier Canadian history, what all Canadians knew a few generations ago, and why Canada is the way it is.
Welcome to Canada!

Thinking of Climate Change in the Deep Freeze

True or false? Human activities are the main cause of climate change (formerly called global warming). Or is it vice versa? You've heard the David Suzukis and the Al Gores making their grave predictions. You've seen the temperature graphs comparing temperatures on earth with the amount of CO2 in the air. Everyone, every government, every scientist, and every prophet seems to be singing the same tune.

Now check out this 1 hour 16 minute-long documentary that my son first watched in middle school, taking a different tack on the scientific data. It's called The Great Global Warming Swindle:




Feel free to comment or blog your feelings after watching the video. Then have a look at how freedoms in the free world are not as free as you think in this movie entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed:

Ready for Friday's Concert?

Following are the lyrics to our chosen carol, voted in by the class last week:

O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL

1. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

Refrain

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

2. True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;

3. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

4. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

We have just two days to get our act together--so please don't be absent but "O Come" and practise our singing before the concert! After the concert in the Child Minding Room on the ground floor, there is a potluck reception back on our fourth floor. Remember to bring a big dish to share!

For those who wish to know the documents (in various translations) behind each of the stanzas above, simply click on the links provided.

Love Thy Neighborrower

Sign up to lend and borrow things at the FREE MicroSkills LINC Neighborrow Site. Some of the things you can list for exchange include:

• mountain board ($$3)
  
  

  • George Foreman Grill ($$3)
    

See what others say about Neighborrow, e.g. this Time.com article titled "Borrow, Don't Buy."

Listen to this Grist interview with Neighborrow founder Adam Berk

In an email, Adam welcomes our participation for free:

It would be my pleasure. Your feedback will be better than money anyway. I'll get the group set up right now, what do you wish to call it. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Other sites to compare:

• Trading Goods

• Swaptree.com
• Zwaggle.com
• Bookmooch.com
• Swapbabygoods.com

• Renting Goods

• Snapgoods.com
• Frombagstoriches.com
• Avelle.com
• Borrowedbling.com
• Allthatbags.com
• Rentmeahandbag.com

•  Borrowing Goods

• Neighborrow.com
• Borrowingcircle.com
• Your Local Library

• Taking Goods

• Freecycle.org
• Freesharing.org
• Freeuse.org
• Sharingisgiving.org
• Handmedowns.com
• Reallyreallyfree.org

Field Trip on Tuesday, December 14, to Roy Thomson Hall for Another FREE Concert

Directions: Let's meet on the Southbound Platform of Sheppard-Yonge Subway Station and depart from there at 10 a.m.



Once again, MicroSkills Language Centre introduces its LINC participants to Roy Thomson Hall’s 14th Annual Free Noon Hour Choir & Organ Concerts with the

Elmer Iseler Singers
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 – 12 Noon
A Seasonal Celebration
Lydia Adams, conductor
Shawn Grenke, organ

Here's the map of Roy Thomson Hall, showing St. Andrew Subway Station, which is connected to the hall via the PATH underground walkway, and other buildings in the vicinity:

If you go there by yourself, be sure to ask the ushers for the MicroSkills Section so that you can sit with the rest of us. As usual, wear warm clothing and footwear and bring along your stuff (a camera's okay, although photography is not allowed in the hall).

Pronunciation Challenges for Farsi Speakers

While Farsi native speakers are relatively fluent in spoken English, they do face a couple of adjustmentsin pronunciation. These are listed in a masters degree dissertation from Australia.

In terms of syllables, Farsi speakers sometimes add the syllable /E/ before words starting with the letter s, such as spell and skate. Or, for consonant clusters (groups) beginning with letters other than s (as in clap, club), they may split up the grouping of sounds:

Although Farsi speakers generally do well with consonants, they're actually missing a few English sounds in their native language (shown in the squares below):

So, similar to some Mandarin native speakers, they should be careful about pronouncing thin as sin, and these as zees. Helpful resources include paired sounds like th/s, Th/z, v/w from this site.

The "ng" sound at the end of words like "sing" seems to be a problem, too. It should not end with a hard /g/ sound (such as in finger), especially in the middle of words like singing. It's a soft nasal sound at the back of the mouth rather than like a hard /g/, as in "sin-Ger." Apparently, the researcher herself, a native Farsi speaker, does not seem able to distance herself from saying the hard /g/, as seen in her description of "singing":

The problem with vowels is that of (not) contrasting long and short (or, tense and lax) English vowels:

So they may need to make an extra effort to distinguish this and these, ship and sheep. Useful vowel exercises include: i/I from this page.

Of course, there's also the problem of intonation (the musicality of the language), which afflicts all ESL learners, but let's save that for another day. For now, our Iranian friends can have fun trying out these different sounds in the English language!

Your Book Can Borrow Me Or Not?

Is the title correct? Check out the answer by watching the video:



Also, take a look at the other videos, on grammar, pronunciation, etc.
 
Or did you get all distracted with the sights and sounds of Singapore?

Discover Canada and Its New Cit Test! But Can You Pass?

The new citizenship test is based on Discover Canada, a new book by the Conservative government to replace the previous one by the Liberal government. Besides updated information, it features a higher passing mark, 15 out of 20. The Toronto Star conducted an informal test with questions such as the following:

1. What are the three responsibilities of citizenship?
a) Being loyal to Canada, voting in elections, serving in the navy, army or air force.
b) Obeying the law, taking responsibility for oneself and one’s family, serving on a jury.
c). Learning both official languages, voting in elections, belonging to a union.
d) Buying Canadian products, owning your own business, using less water. 

 For the other questions and the answers and all the results, click on the links on this line.

 Feel free to do the test and then post your results under Comments. All the best!

Latest Class Photos

Thank you for saying a unanimous yes before saying a unanimous cheese to these pictures for our LINC school calendar. In all likelihood, it will be the top picture that will be included. Hope you like it!

Field Trip Friday Dec. 3 - CBC Sounds of the Season

Led by Teacher Donald, our MicroSkills Language Program will be participating in CBC's special open house on December 3 (random videos available here).

Participants are to meet at 9:30 a.m. at Union Station under the big clock (see pictures below). Do not be late. There will be a walking tour to the CBC Broadcast Broadcast Centre's Glenn Gould Studio.



If you're late, please make your way to the Glenn Gould Studio and join the group there. Please bring along warm clothing, good walking shoes, drinks and snacks, cameras, and an open mind.

 

 

 

What a big class we have!

From left: Philly, Rachel, Selena, Lily, Daisy, Monica (thanks for the camera!), Hanieh, Yumei, Valdes, Zumurod, Michael, Cindy, Mahnaz, Mahshid, Leo, Haocheng, Daniel, Amanda, and Nelly
In absentia: Amar, Ameer, Benerd, Charles, Daisy, Keivan, Liji, Ping, Raymond

Have you ever gone to a brain surgeon?

If not, here's what it's like:



Enjoy the video clip and write down under Comments three new words that you learnt.

MicroSkills Crashes the AGO

Some 50 participants hit the Art Gallery of Ontario today at 10:30 a.m., some by car, others by streetcar or subway, and at least one on foot, for MicroSkills Language Centre's first field trip to this premier showcase of Canadian culture.

Once inside, participants headed first to the Canadian galleries, where they took in firsthand what they'd studied for days before: Krieghoff, the Group of Seven, the Indian Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, Kurelek, and more.

 

At William Kurelek's theologically strident The Rock, one Chinese-looking individual was spotted jotting down the evils attacking the mighty Romish Rock, which are listed on both sides of a gigantic dragon in the middle:

Left of the dragon

1. political intrigue
2. racial intolerance
3. nationalism
4. inquisition
5. laxity
6. wealth
7. simony
8. arrogance
9. power
10. leakage
11. properties
12. personalities
13. class
14. dearth of vocations
15. ennui
16. schism
17. superstition
18. graft
19. factions

Right of the dragon

1. absenteeism
2. apostasy
3. heresy
4. puritanism
5. obscurant[ism]
6. errors in political alignment
7. sloth
8. ghetto mentality
9. warmaking
10. modernism (shows spear plunging into sandbank with Kurelek's signature)
11. bad example
12. in loco parentis

 Some even made it over to the Galeria Italia with its wonders in wood.

Happy campers, sort of.

Field Trip on Nov. 19 to the AGO

Weeks of waiting and preparation can finally be framed with a field trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario--this Friday!

For those going by subway, we'll be leaving the Southbound Platform of Sheppard Yonge Subway Station at 9:45 a.m. For those starting from Don Mills, it might be wise to leave at 9:30 a.m.

You can arrive at any time, but for free tickets, please be inside the AGO entrance on Dundas St. West at 10:30 a.m.


The Address of the AGO:

317 Dundas Street West

Toronto, ON M5T 1G4

(416) 979-6648

Here's looking forward to a great time there: Check out the Canadian Gallery, where you will find works by Toronto's own Group of Seven.




Who remembers or recognizes the artists who painted the two pictures above?







Who created the above (not by the Group of Seven)?
Answers (clockwise from The Rock): W. Kurelek, C. Krieghoff, E. Carr, H. Moore, N. Morrisseau

United Way Volunteers Help Job Seekers from Levels 4 - 7

Volunteers from P&G, via United Way, were on hand this morning to introduce our class and Donald's class to interview skills and resume preparation. The session opened with an interactive presentation in our classroom.

Although the presentation went at a clip and listening comprehension wasn't always stay at 100%, it was useful in exposing everyone to the pace of normal spoken language.

Also inspiring was the fact that one of the presenters also learned English as a Second Language and had no discernable accent.

The session broke out after the break into groups with or without resumes, in different LINC levels.

Beyond the technicalities of resume writing, presenters and participants got to know one another better.

They're always welcome, United Way volunteers from various professions!

O yeah, not forgetting the hand-outs ... psst, from the Queen's Business School, no less!

What did you learn from our United Way/P&G volunteers today? Post your learnings on your blog or drop a comment below.

Field Trip November 11 to George Weston Recital Hall

You've watched the movie Passchendaele, but here is some recently discovered footage of that hell of a place.

Our MicroSkills Language Program will be observing Remembrance Day at the City of Toronto's service at the George Weston Recital Hall of the Toronto Centre for the Arts at 5040 Yonge St., just a block south of North York Centre Subway Station (see map below).


View Larger Map

The ceremony includes a procession, the singing of the national anthem, prayers, hymns, the laying of wreaths, speeches, a reveille, and "God Save the Queen." Time to brush up on our singing and older English forms--thees, thous, thys and wheretofores! How fun!

As the program begins at 10:45 a.m., please be seated in the Hall by 10:30 a.m.

Some of the songs in the program:

O Canada (With Lyrics)



O God, Our Help in Ages Past (Lyrics with MIDI)




Faith of Our Fathers (Lyrics with MIDI)




God Save the Queen (With Lyrics)

Are You Smarter Than a Five-Year-Old? A 911 Call

You never know when you have to make or take an emergency call. Sometimes people overseas will call you about an emergency. Do you know how to reassure them and calm them down? Can you give clear instructions? Or perhaps you need to make a 911 call or take over such a call. This girl had no choice. Her dad made the call while having a heart attack and she took over. Click and listen to the conversation.



In pairs, take dictation of the six-minute conversation. When complete, make copies.

Then practise the conversation together, before trying it out with other partners.