Happy Canada Day!

rise up
Originally uploaded by 416style

Canada became a country on July 1, 1867. Not all the provinces joined then, but the federal government was formed. In fact, the western provinces didn't join until 1905 and the Canadian government welcomed Newfoundland in 1949. Also, there has been recent changes. The eleventh province, Nunavut, was formed up north in the 1990's. We also have two northern territories.

John A MacDonald was the father of confederation or the first prime minister of Canada. Canada used to be mostly farms and rural communities, but now there are many urban areas. Canada has several big cities and this is a picture of downtown Toronto. ' TO ' is the biggest city in Canada and one of the largest cities in the world. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has a population of over 5 million.

What do Canadians do for Canada Day? There will be lots of Canadian flags and free activities. Toronto has activities at the main squares. There is always live music and the best part is the fireworks at night. Ontario Place always has a grand show over Lake Ontario. And don't forget the backyard barbecues. Get out the cold drinks. It's summer!

Unfortunately, this year Toronto has a city strike. This means a lot of Canada Day celebrations could be cancelled, but the rest of Canada will not be affected. The capital, Ottawa, is fun place to visit around Canada Day. There's a parade and lots of entertainment downtown. It's hard to get a hotel that weekend because its such a popular holiday destination.

Strike or no strike, Torontonians and the rest of Canada will celebrate our national holiday. Tomorrow is Canada's birthday!

Music Monday: Michael Jackson Tribute

Not at all what I expected. This Michael Jackson tribute is done by inmates in CPDRC, a maximum security prison in the Philippines. It is surprisingly peaceful and I'm sure you'll recognize the tunes.

While I was listening and watching this tribute, I realized Michael Jackson's music career was more than 40 years in total. He was the lead singer of the Jackson 5 at 11 years old. Also, I remember seeing an old American award show where Michael was a little boy and already popular on stage. I don't think he ever had a chance to grow up normal.

Because he had tremendous fame at such a young age, I'm sure it was difficult to ever live a private life. He was married briefly to Elvis Presley's daughter who also grew up in the public eye. Hearing of Michael Jackson's death, Lisa Marie Presley recently wrote on My Space that Michael was often surrounded by vampires and leeches. This means other people would want to know him and use him since he was famous.

It's a sad ending, but people all over the world are acknowledging his contribution to music and his ability to perform. I watched parts of Jackson's music concerts and some music videos. He really had great dance moves. Do you know his famous moon walk? Have you seen the choreography in his spooky "Thriller" video?

So here is the inmates in Cebu, the Philippines. Byran Garcia who is the head of the prison started these choreographed exercise routines for the inmates. The first two, "Ben" and "I'll Be There", are earlier songs. The last song, "We Are the World", was written and composed by Michael Jackson.






According to Wikipedia, the dancing inmates started to become popular a couple of years ago. They used the "Thriller" video/music by Michael Jackson, and it was uploaded in July, 2007 to Youtube. Jackson's Thriller became the world's biggest selling album of all times. The 25th Thriller Anniversary Album was released in 2008.

English Mania

English is becoming more popular all over the world as a second language. Why? English is a universal language. That means English is a world language and many countries are using English to understand world issues. For some time, English has been one of the official languages for business communication.

As a teacher of English, I often wonder what will happen to the English language. Many old words from other languages make up the English vocabulary, and the English language is always growing. Each year new words are added to the dictionary. For example, technology advancements has added many new words to the dictionary. Even some expressions like "cool" add new meanings to words.

My biggest concern is what will happen to English grammar? If more people use English as their second language, will less and less people speak it well? How important is it to speak perfect English? No one speaks Shakespeare English in modern times, but in 50 years what will pass as spoken and written English?

In the following video, Jay Walker talks about English mania in other parts of the world. Mania means to have a lot of enthusiasm or excitement. Are people getting excited about learning English? Watch the video and find out.





How important is the English language in your country? Do students study for an important English test? Write a short comment about English tests in your country.

Film Festivals 3: Signs Part 2

STOP! Signs Part 2 is the ending of the story.

• Please watch Part one of Signs first. It is below this page or post.
• After you watch part one, you will appreciate the ending of this romantic comedy.

Here are two alternative endings to Signs. Which ending do you like best?

Version 2 (by Saba)

Jason slept. The next day, he got up sad and he went to work like every day. But that day, he was a little late. Just as he arrived at work, the men were taking off a note from the window. The note said, "Out of the office a 10:00 am" and she had drawn a happy face.


Version 3 (by Kiana)

The next day, Jason went to work. He tried to find the girl, but he couldn't get any information. so he got disappointed and felt sad. Finally, one day the girl came to his office and surprised him. They met a couple of times and fell in love.





Related posts:

• Film Festivals 2
• Film Festivals

Film Festivals 3: Signs

Signs is a romantic comedy directed by Patrick Hughes who is from Australia. It's part of the Shweepes Short Film Festival. It's your typical love story where boy meets girl and falls in love. However, this time its a bit different because they find a fun way to communicate.

Watch part one of Signs. Then go to "comments" and write an ending to the story. What will happen next? Write a few sentences.






To be continued. Part 2 of Signs will be shown tomorrow.


Related posts:

• Film Festivals 2
• Film Festivals

Pronunciation: Thought Groups

What are thought groups?

When we talk, we do not separate every word. This is difficult to understand. We join several words together to form a complete idea. One idea is a thought group.


Here's an example. ( / ) is used to separate thought groups. ( / ) is for a pause or a short stop. At the end of the sentence ( // ) is used. ( // ) is for a longer pause or full stop.

Yesterday, / I went swimming / with my friends / at the community centre. //


Why are thought groups important?

• It is easier for people to understand you when you speak.
• It is easier to hear people when you listen.
• Thinking in thought groups improves your reading speed and comprehension as well.

How to use thought groups?

Thought groups are part of the rhythm of the language. The last word in each thought group is stressed. To stress a word, you must say it louder, longer and clearer. Here's the example sentence again with the stressed words in colour.

Yesterday, / I went swimming / with my friends / at the community centre. //

Pausing and stressing are just part of the natural rhythm of the language, but they help a lot.


Would you like to learn more about pausing and thought groups?

Watch the video below to understand when to pause and how to group words. Remember, thought groups can improve your listening, speaking and reading comprehension.

Music Monday: Feist

Many popular musicians and actors have performed on the American television show, Sesame Street. It's an educational children's series that has been a favourite for years. The puppets, called muppets, have educated more than one generation of kids. The Canadian singer, Feist, joined the muppets in their 39th season in 2008. She taught children to count and sang with the muppets. Feist sings her song, 1,2,3,4. She uses the same music, but changes the words a bit.




Feist is a Canadian singer-songwriter and was the big winner in 2008 at the Canadian Juno Awards. She won 5 awards including Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Feist's last album was The Reminder in 2007. Leslie Feist was born in 1976 in the one of maritime provinces, Nova Scotia. Both her parents are artists. She later moved west to Calgary and eventually to Toronto. Since the 90s, Feist has been recording pop rock and indie music. Indie music is alternative rock. Indie musicians like to be independent and don't want to create main stream or commercial music.*

Below is one of Feist's songs called My Moon My Man. Under the video is also the words. It is often hard to hear the words to songs, so I have included the lyrics. Songs have verses just like poems have verses. Like poems, the meaning of songs are not always clear. Just enjoy songs. Don't try to analyse every line. I think its a love song.

My moon, my man
So changeable and
Such a lovable lamb to me

My care, my coat
Leave on a high note
There's nowhere to go but on

Heart on my sleeve
Not where it should be
The song's out of key again

My moon's white face
What day and what phase
It's the calendar page again

Take it slow
Take it easy on me
And shed some light
Shed some light on me please
Take it slow
And shed some light
Shed some light on me please

My moon and me
Not as good as we've been
It's the dirtiest clean I know

My care, my coat
Leave on a high note
There's nowhere to go
There's nowhere to go

Take it slow
Take it easy on me
And shed some light
Shed some light on me please
Take it slow
And shed some light
Shed some light on me please

My moon my moon my man
My moon my moon my man
My moon my moon my man
My moon my moon my man



Feist has her own website. To listen to more of Feist's songs press here and then look for 'video' at the top of the page.


*Biography source: Wikipedia



Related Posts:

• Music Monday
• Music Monday: Disney Nature "Earth"
• Music Monday: Susan Boyle
• A Change is Gonna Come

Wanna be Wednesday 6/3

I want to be the prime minister of Canada. That's what William Shatner, a famous Canadian actor says. Here he talks about being the governor general of Canada who is the representative of the Queen of England, and then the top position in the government, the PM or prime minister.

Our present governor general is Michaelle Jean and the prime minister is Steven Harper. His party, the conservatives are the biggest party in Canada and he is the leader of the conservative party. He leads the country because his party has the most politicians elected to parliament. He has been elected for the second time. In Canada, elections are usually every four years. I didn't vote for Harper and the majority of people in the city of Toronto did not vote for him either. I don't think he cares much about Toronto. Other major parties include the liberals and the NDP.






How did William Shatner become famous?

Television. His biggest claim to fame is the star in a science fiction adventure. He was Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise in the T.V. series, Star Trek in the sixties. He has done other series and most recently stars in Boston Legal where he plays a lawyer in his law firm.

Why is Star Trek important?

It started a chain of television programs and movies at the theatre. The latest is an excellent movie called, Star Trek.

Would you like to watch a preview of the movie?

I saw Star Trek and it was really entertaining. This science fiction movie has got a lot of positive reviews. The original character from the sixties television program, Spock, stars in the movie. In the movie trailer or advertisement, you will see two characters with pointed ears, one is the senior Spock and the other is the young Spock character. Spock was second in command and Kirk was the captain of the Starship Enterprise in the original television series. As Spock says, "Live long and prosper."

Talk Show Tuesday: The Daily English Show

The Daily English Show is presented by Sarah. She is presently living in Neseko, Japan and is from New Zealand. Most Mondays, Sarah has guests on her show, and Derek is interviewed here. He is presently working in Japan too.

Sarah starts the Daily English Show by introducing Derek, then she does "Stick News", and finally, she continues her interview with Derek. During the interview, Derek talks about two ski mountains, Niseko and Whistler. Whistler is north of Vancouver in British Columbia. In fact, I skied there a couple of years ago, and it definitely beats the Quebec mountains. Some of the trails go on and on and on. While we were there, they were preparing some of the runs for the Winter Olympic Games. One of my favourite runs was the Lady's Slalom which is where some of the ski races will be this winter. Go Canada!

Sarah ends her program with a true and false quiz about Derek's interview. After you finish the oral quiz, try the six questions below. Press "see how you did" to see the correct answers. Later on, you may want to press "transcript" for the conversation. As well, you may like to review the "notes". There, some of the expressions and words are explained.