Monday's Assignment

Welcome to a week on Canada's aboriginals!

1. Check out the conversation with Dr. Peter Storck, with transcript, at this site.
2. Google for videos on “canada aboriginals.” Watch some videos there, and embed your favourite clip on your blog. Explain why you chose the clip.
   
   
   

Friday's Assignment

One of the best things about our public library is the Museum + Arts Pass (MAP) that gives you free access to several great destinations that you otherwise have to pay for.

1. Writing: Create an FAQ from the Terms of the MAP
2. Use VoiceThread to record your FAQ with your partner.
3. Listening: Enjoy this and other introductory videos from Toronto Public Library

Wednesday's Assignment

 

1. Update your blog with a post on our field trip to Roy Thomson Hall. If you did not go, write about what you heard from your classmates who went.
2. Online Activity: A. Google for Toronto Public Library’s Tense Buster, B. put a DVD on hold, and C. look up the word "carrel" in its online Oxford English Dictionary.
3. Listening & Vocabulary: A Trip to the Library
4. Listening Comprehension: A Taped Library Tour 

Clowning at Commerce Court and Captivating Chorales

But for a tiny drizzle, the threatened snowfall and showers stayed away from Downtown Toronto today as Claire (with Benson), Young, Alia, Alice, Maxwell, Victor, Jennifer, Bernice, and some of their kids braved the forecast and headed downtown for our field trip.

First stop, Commerce Court and the Bay St. environs of Ernst & Young, Deloitte, SGX, and a whole bunch of banks.

And then it was Roy Thomson Hall, for a lovely noontime concert!

Inspiration to get through the rest of this month, hopefully! :)

Bundle Up! Field Trip on Monday April 23

On Monday, our class is proceeding to Toronto's PATH "Underground City" and a free noontime concert at Roy Thomson Hall, the last for the season! Crazy weather is predicted, but we're planning on going ahead anyway.

The perfect day to tour Toronto's Underground City!

The Hamilton Children's Choir and High Park Choirs will be performing the Joy of Singing:

Meeting on the Southbound Platform in Sheppard Yonge Subway Station a little before 10 a.m., we'll be departing on the hour for downtown. After a walking tour of the city and Underground City, we'll join the line at Roy Thomson at 11 a.m. to get into the concert.
Kids are welcome; please set their expectations right and be considerate of the audience. No videoing or picture taking is allowed during the concert, but do bring your cameras for everything else.

Friday's Assignment

More great pictures here: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/f/family_fight.asp

1. Role play with a partner: Negotiating with Dad
2. Use VoiceThread to record your role play.
3. Listening Comprehension: Divorce lawyer
   Enjoy the weekend, and see you Monday, bright and early, on the Field Trip (details below)!

Wednesday's Assignment

Continuing on our theme of conflict resolution this week, here's what we're doing this afternoon:

1. Role Play: Working Something Out
2. Writing: Listen to this podcast on vitamins (as follow-up to our Toronto Health workshop on Healthy Eating today), and write your comments on your blog.
3. Listening & Vocabulary: Raising Little Angels
   
   

Monday's Assignment

Conflict resolution and negotiation are a big part of our discussion this week.

1. Role Play: A Temper Tantrum
2. Listening & Vocabulary: Thomas Edison on Negotiation
3. Writing: Update your blog with your account of the field trip to the zoo. Also, edit your blog for spelling, comma splices, and other stuff--according to your Editing Checklist.

What a Hoot: One of the Best Friday the Thirteenths

For possibly our last field trip by school bus, a whole bunch of us headed to the Toronto Zoo on two buses and three cars.



And what a glorious day it was--great weather, safe transport, a crazy lot of people, and cameras everywhere. No owls to hoot back at, though.

Check out the video and some of the pictures (below):

Friday: Field Trip to Toronto Zoo

Just a quick reminder to those who have paid up: We're going to the Zoo on Friday. Please meet no later than 9:30 a.m. at MicroSkills LINC at 200 Consumers Rd.

Make sure you listen to instructions of when to meet, and take note of the schoolbuses you ride in as there may be other schools there with their similar-looking schoolbuses.

Bring a camera, snacks, sun protection, comfortable shoes, and a great attitude! If you'd like to ride the Zoomobile, be sure to have $7 on hand!

Wednesday's Assignment

More wonderful cartoons here: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/q/quit_smoking.asp

1. Listening and Vocabulary: Quitting Smoking
2. Role Play: Developing a Healthy Mind
3. Review and Preview the Passive Voice: Tense Buster -> Advanced -> The Passive -> Introduction
4. Update your blogs with a report on our field trip to City Hall. Edit your blogs, checking with 2 partners before reposting. Feel free to steal my pictures!

Camping Season's Coming - Do you know how to camp?

Last year we enjoyed a wonderful presentation from Ontatrio's Learn to Camp officials.



This year, the program is back, and you can sign up for overnight sessions at any of a number of Ontario's parks, including:

• Grundy Lake Provincial Park
• Halfway Lake Provincial Park
• Pancake Bay Provincial Park
• Lake Superior Provincial Park
• Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
• Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park
• Rushing River Provincial Park

Spaces are limited. So register early!

Register here! Or join this Facebook page on easy camping tips for Torontonians.

Good Friday: Why It Is Called That

What on earth is Good Friday? A Friday that you don't have to go to work or to school? A Friday when somebody was unjustly killed? A Friday that leads into a Sunday of bunnies and eggs called Easter?

Here's a short presentation that reflects on the original story:



Happy Good Friday!

Watching, Wailing, and Walking at the City Hall

Judy, Hao, Ivy, Ming, Jennifer, Hamid, Alice, Amanda, Alia, Eva, and new participants Deepani and Yang, together with alumna Jane and Julie and other MicroSkills JSW participants from upstairs, wait patiently and punctually for the arrival of the school bus to take them to the City Hall. Also in our delegation are three little girls and one little boy.

The watching begins with Paul Sharkey of Toronto Archives making a presentation on the government of Canada and focusing on the City of Toronto's operations and responsibilities.

The wailing begins and the youngest citizens find it hard to digest thoughts on the coat of arms, water filtration, and mayoral politics.

And then we dismiss for random walkabouts to buy street meat, load up on souvenirs, hit the library, and eventually make our way back to the school bus.

Thanks and kudos to Nina Nie and Kaye Broomfield of MicroSkills for making all the arrangments!

The following pictures are courtesy of Ming. Thanks, Ming!

Field Trips in April

1. Thursday, April 5: City Hall, chartered school bus leaving from MicroSkills--Meet in class at 9:15 a.m.
2. Friday, April 13: Toronto Zoo, chartered school bus leaving from MicroSkills
3. Monday April 23: Hamilton Children's Choir, meeting at the entrance of Roy Thomson Hall (tentative)

Monday's Assignment

This week we begin the theme of Canadian government and consider the topic of the Canadian celebration of Good Friday and Easter:

1. Do this CBC online listening comprehension exercise—Making Laws in Canada
2.  Role Play: Filing Taxes
3. According to your own understanding, and in your own words, relate the original story of Good Friday and Easter. 
   

Quick! Top Up Your Tank Today!!

Gotcha!

:D