Monday, January 11, 2016

Monday's Assignment

We all make mistakes, but how we deal with them may be different in different cultures. Making an excuse is

one of them:

Do dogs and excuses appear together in excuses in your L1? Here are more excuses in English.

Here are your tasks:

Pick a favourite.

1. Vocabulary & Pronunciation: Time Off from Work
1. Do not practise silently only. Speak aloud the new words, comparing the pronunciation carefully with the audio.
2. Make sentences using the new vocabulary.
2. Role play: Plagiarism
1. Listen. Then discuss with a partner.
2. Practise the dialogue by yourself and then with your partner.
3. Record your dialogue on Chirbit or Audioboom and place it, with these instructions, on your blog.
3. Write a brief trip report (no more than 100 words) for last Thursday's visit to TRL. 
1. If you didn't go, include your excuse and interview a classmate who did.
2. Add pictures (feel free to steal from my FB).
3. Have 2 classmates check your work before hitting the Publish button.

My buddy from college, Jack, was getting married and our friend Rob was planning a bachelor party for him in Vegas. It was going to be the last weekend of the month and I wanted to go. The trouble was, I was scheduled to work that weekend. I needed to get the time off from work or I was going to miss out on all the fun. 

I have some vacation leave, but company policy requires that my boss sign off on any leave we take. I’ve heard of companies doing that for longer periods of leave —like maternity leave or a leave of absence—but our company does that even for vacation leave. I thought about just calling in sick that weekend—I do have a lot of accumulated sick leave—but I didn’t think my boss would appreciate me leaving him hanging. 

In the end, I just asked him straight out and, to my surprise, he said, “okay.” Now, I just need to get ready for a wild weekend with the guys. I can’t wait! 

buddy: Hey ! sit your site belt, my buddy.
a bachelor party : We went to a bachelor party last weekend.
Vegas: There are lots of hotels in Vegas.
schedule: I should check out my schedule first.
sign off on: My boss should sign out on any document we make.
miss out on: I don't want to miss out on all of fun.
the leave of absence: My sister got the leave of absence and went back China last year.
calling in sick: You can just calling in sick to your child's teacher if he had ill.
maternity - paternity: If you pregnant, you have to work at least  7 months before labor and  you can get the maternity insurance.
accumulated sick leave: My sister gets the time off from work by using her accumulated sick leave.
ask sb. straight out: I asked my husband straight out for his bad hobby.
leaving him hanging: My child upsets us leaving him hanging.


Paul: All done. 

Samantha: You’re done with your paper? How can that be? I’m just getting started. 

Paul: I’m just a better student than you are. 

Samantha: Let me see that. You didn’t write this. 

Paul: No, I didn’t. I downloaded somebody’s paper from some website and slapped my name on it. The professor will never know. Wise up. Do you want me to find one for you? 

Samantha: No way! Not only is it cheating, if you get caught, you could flunk the class or get expelled. 

Paul: Don’t be such a goody two-shoes. Everybody does it. I know a guy who pays somebody in another state to write all of his papers for him and another guy who lifts his papers from old books. Don’t tell me you’ve never paraphrased ideas from a source and represented them as your own. 

Samantha: Are you kidding me? Borrowing ideas from a book with proper attribution is what you’re supposed to do. You, on the other hand, are plagiarizing your way to your degree. 

Paul: Damn straight! Look who’s done with his homework and who is still working on hers. 

Samantha: I’d rather earn what I get and know that I didn’t shortchange myself out of an education! 

slapped my name on
 Wise up
get caught
 flunk the class
get expelled.
a goody two-shoes
 lifts his papers from
 paraphrased ideas
proper attribution
plagiarizing your way to your degree
Damn straight
shortchange myself out of

Friday, January 8, 2016

Friday's Assignment  

So what else is left of Toronto Public Library? You have seen the stuff you can pick off the shelves. You have seen the stuff you can download. Now what?

What's funny? What's funnier? What's funniest?

Here are your tasks:

1. Click on Programs, Classes, & Exhibits. Identify and discuss ESL and Newcomer programs at 3 nearby venues.
2. identify 3 other kinds of programs (left column of programs home page) and discuss.
3. Write FAQs for the Museum + Arts Pass (how would you search for it?) using 3 WH questions and 3 Y/N questions. Do not include answers. Then respond to your classmates’ FAQs using blog comments.

TGIF

Wednesday, January 6,2016

Thursday January 7 2016: Field  Trip to Toronto Reference Library

Please meet before 9 a.m. at Don Mills Station so we can leave at 9:10 a.m.

9:16 AM

Don Mills

9:16 AM

4towards Line 4 (Sheppard)

 8 min (4 stops) · Stop ID: 14109 · 

9:24 AM

Sheppard-Yonge Station - Subway Platform

Walk

About 1 min

9:30 AM

1towards Line 1 (Yonge-University)

 19 min (8 stops) · Stop ID: 13860 · 

9:49 AM

Bloor Station - Southbound Platform

Walk

 About 1 min , 120 m

9:50 AM

Toronto Reference Library

789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4W 2G8

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Tuesday's Assignment

While much of our public library consists of clicks, we're going to make a visit this Thursday to the bricks:

What caption would you write here?

Here are your tasks:

1. Vocabulary and pronunciation: Visiting a Library
1. Identify 5 new/difficult words/terms
2. Make sentences using those words, and have a partner check your pronunciation of them
2. Do this listening exercise: Library Tour
3. Watch this video, and identify 3 things/places you hope to see.
4. Role play with a partner what you hope to see on Thursday’s field trip and make arrangements to meet. Practise once, and record your chirbit.

to read in the local paper / to check it out / to see the new library for myself / to walk in 
to walk around / to spot the non- fiction section / to move onto the fiction stacks
to go over to the computer / to check the online catalogue / to write down the call number
to step up to the counter / to scan the bar code on my book / to stand in line /  
the hours of operation / Monday through Saturday from 10 to 6 / in the library parking lot /  right away / right then 
I was all set  / what the loan period was for the book

I read in the local paper that a new public library had just opened two weeks ago in my neighborhood. I wanted to check it out. But first, I called the library to check the hours of operation. The librarian told me that they were open Monday through Saturday from 10 to 6 so I decided to see the new library for myself. 

I parked my car in the library parking lot and walked in. There were two library clerks behind the counter and a librarian at the reference desk . I walked around and spotted the non- fiction section and moved onto the fiction stacks. There was a pretty good collection in both of these areas. I wanted to see if they had a book I've been wanting to read so I went over to the computer to check the online catalogue. As it turns out, they had one copy and it had not been checked out. I wrote down the call number and went to the stacks. I found it right away. 

When I walked in, I also noticed that the library had music CDs, videos, and DVDs that could be checked out. I looked briefly at the collection but decided not to check out any right then. 

I had my book and I was all set. I stood in line and waited to check my book out. The library clerk said, "Next please," and I stepped up to the counter. I asked her what the loan period was for the book. She told me that the due date was three weeks from today. I gave her my library card. She scanned the bar code on my book and stamped the due date on the back of it. It was quick and easy. I was so glad to have a nice new library so close to home.

Hello and welcome to the university library. This taped tour will introduce you to our library facilities and operating hours.

First of all, the library's collection of books, reference materials, and other resources are found on levels one to four of this building. Level one houses our humanities and map collections. On level two, you will find our circulation desk, current periodicals and journals, and our copy facilities. Our science and engineering sections can be found on level three. You can also find back issuesof periodicals and journals older than six months on this level. Finally, group study rooms, our microfilm collection, and the multimedia center are located on level four.

Undergraduate students can check out up to five books for two weeks. Graduate students can check out fifteen books for two months. Books can berenewed up to two times. There is a 50-cents-a-day late fee for overdue booksup to a maximum of $15.00. Periodicals and reference books cannot be checked out.

The library is open weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The library is closed on Sundays.

reference materials (noun): generally books such as dictionaries and encyclopedias that can not be checked out

circulation desk (noun): the main desk where you check out books

periodicals (noun): magazines, journals, and newspapers
back issues (noun): older periodicals, sometimes over several months old

"thumb through" = look casually at
"I thumbed through a number of books related to my research topic, but I didn't find what I needed."

---

"bite off more than you can chew" = try to do more than you can accomplish

"I think you've bit off more than you can chew in this case. Trying to write a research paper on the history of civilization in one week is really impossible."

Monday, January 4, 2016

Monday's Assignment

Welcome back! This week we are looking at one of the most important community and
government services. 

Can you guess which one it is?

Here are your tasks:

1. Locate "Toronto Public Library" using Google All, Google News, and Wikipedia. Post one interesting item from each search on your FaceBook; don't forget to include links to sources.
2. Check out the Good Morning, Canada! Page of this blog, spending no more than 3 minutes on each item. Then identify:
1. the most surprising resource, 
2. the most difficult one, 
3. most useful one, and
4. the least useful.
3. Visit each other's blogs and add comments and suggestions on your classmates' blogs.

1. Using Google All, I'm interested in this item-- Downloads & eBooks. 

  Using Google News, I'm interested in this item--

2015 Hero: The Toronto Public Library

2. the most surprising resource--Various News Services

 the most difficult one--Chat

 the most useful one--Business Soft Skills Series

 the least useful one--Building a Better Vocabulary

               Tense Buster Grammar Lessons

Good afternoon! Now that you have discussed your past, future, and language goals, here is your writing task: Who I am and what I want to be in Canada

1. Your educational/work background
2. Your future life in Canada
3. How you’d like to work on your 4 skills (LSRW)--what are some of the most important tasks you’d like to be able to do in the next 6 months

I was a nurse before I came to Canada. My highest level of education is bachelor's degree. 
There're twenty years left before I reach the retire age, so I think it's better to improve my English level continually. 
For me, listening is the weakest item. Writing is the second one. I hope I can do more practice about listening and writing in the next 6 months.