Toronto in December, 2010

Where are we? Downtown TO

Well, this is Ashbridges Bay. It's quiet in December, but the parks along Lake Ontario are still open.

Do you notice Toronto's landmarks?

The CN Tower can be seen from many directions including the lake.

Check out the CN Tower here.

Pronunciation Pairs: /s/ and /z/

Who has trouble with the /s/ sound?

ESL learners who have trouble with the /s/ sound may speak Cambodian, Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese.

How do I make the /s/ sound?

1. The teeth are lightly closed. The lips are in the smiling position.

2. Start by making the 't' sound. Place the tip of your tongue on the skin above your front teeth. Say, "Two, two, two, two, two."

3. Now move your tongue off the skin, but keep the tongue behind the top teeth. Say, "So, so, so, so, so." This is a lazy 't'.

4. Your breath should flow over the tip of your tongue. The sides of your tongue should not touch the sides of your teeth because this will change the air flow.

How do you make the /z/ sound?

's' and 'z' are pronunciation pairs. Both have the same mouth position. 's' uses only your breath. 'z' uses your vocal chords in your neck. Try this pair to hear the difference.

Say, "bus buzz, bus buzz, bus buzz, bus buzz, bus buzz"

Practice the pronunciation pairs with the video.

Having problems? Common errors.

** "th" for "s" - Your tongue is outside the mouth. Keep the tongue behind your teeth.

To correct, try this.

1. Practise - Say,"EE, EE, EE, EE-S, EE-S"

2. Say, "Th, Th, Th" - Move your tongue back gradually and close teeth for "S--------S"

3. Practice - Say, "two soo, two soo, two soo, two soo, two soo

** "sh" for "s" - Breath does not pass over the tip of the tongue, but over the side of the tongue.

The tongue may be touching the teeth or the tongue may be behind the lower teeth.

To correct, try this.

Practise - Say, "Th-ssss, Th-ssss, Th-ssss, EE-s, EE-s, Sh-----a-. Change position of the lips.

Related Post: Learning English:Sink or Think

Mayor Hazel and Rick Mercer

Mayor Hazel is the oldest mayor I know. She has been the mayor of Mississauga since the late seventies. Mississauga is the city to the west of Metropolitan Toronto while Scarborough is on the east side. Next Monday is the Toronto elections. Hazel McCallion is hoping to get reelected for mayor. In 2006, Hazel won 92% of the vote.

Rick Mercer is from the television program, Rick Mercer Report. He interviews Mayor Hazel on television on February 26, 2009. In 2009, Hazel McCallion was 88 years old. Watch her play hockey, go bowling and star in a music video. I think Rick Mercer and Mayor Hazel have a lot of fun together. Enjoy their time together.

Watch the video again. This is an interview, so Rick Mercer asks lots of questions. Here are some of the questions. Listen to Mayor Hazel's answers.

1. You have been elected two or three times?

2. How do you stay in office for 31 years?

3. Your debt is?

4. How many mayors have bobble heads?

5. Have you ever been injured? What happened to the truck?

6. Are you someone who doesn't campaign or someone who never stops campaigning?

7. What is this? (He is looking at a miniature city.)

8. Why haven't you retired?

9. What is your approval rating? (She talks about votes.)

10. Any regrets?

Weird Nature:Drunk Monkeys

Do people and animals mix well? Do animals pick up our bad habits? Here we see how some animals enjoy drinking and frequent the bars.

Spring in Toronto: Pillow Fight 2010

It's time for the annual pillow fight! International Pillow Fight Day is April 3rd, but the Toronto pillow fight takes place on the second Saturday in May. It's at Yonge-Eglinton Square on Saturday, May 8th. You can start swinging your pillow at 3:00 p.m. Bring a soft, feather free pillow and remember to take off your glasses.




The pillow fight is free for all ages. For more details, go to last year's pillow fight. Press here.

Dare to Dream. Work to Achieve.

30 Years Ago in History:Terry Fox

April 12, 1980, a 21 year old university student started his run across Canada. Terry Fox had lost a leg to cancer and was determined to run a marathon a day on his one good leg. According to CR24, his goal was to raise 1 million dollars for cancer research, but he later changed that goal to 24 million which represented one dollar from each Canadian. Unfortunately for Terry, he never completed his run. He started in the east coast and his popularity grew as he ran through many towns and cities. By the time he reached Toronto, thousands of supporters met him at city hall, but he never made it out of Ontario. The return of his cancer, forced him to return to his home in British Columbia. In memory of Terry Fox, people all over the world participate in the Marathon of Hope.

To mark the 30th anniversary of his run, the Fox family are meeting in St John's where his marathon began. Hopefully, the Terry Fox Marathon will continue until a cure for cancer is found. Here is a news report that tells Terry's story. Since 1980, Terry Fox has helped raise over 500 million dollars for cancer.

Happy Easter!

To learn more about the history of Easter and how Canadians celelbrate Good Friday and Easter, press here.

Music Monday: Irish Folk

The harp and Celtic harp music is part of Irish history. The harp was on the old flag of Ireland, but now it only remains as a symbol on the Irish Guinness beer. With St Patrick's Day coming on March 17th, it's time to be Irish again. Everyone is Irish on St. Patricks Day!


Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer who is famous for her Celtic music. She is from Scottish and Irish roots. Here she sings, "She Moved Through The Fair". The words for this song follow the video.


Loreena McKennitt She Moved Through the fair by paradixman

My love said to me,
My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you
For your lack of kine"
And she stepped away from me
And this she did say:
It will not be long, love,
Till our wedding day"

She stepped away from me
And she moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here and move there
And she turned her way homeward
With one star awake
As the swans in the evening
Move over the lake

Why he dreamt it last night,
That my true love came in
So softly she entered
Her feet made no din
She came close beside me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love,
'Til our wedding day

Culture Shock

Anyone who moves from one country to another country experiences culture shock. Your old culture and your new culture are very different. This creates pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

In the following video, Derek Sivers points out some differences between countries. Watch and learn.

The Avatar Director at the Academy Awards

Photo of James Cameron by jurveston, Flickr

Okay. So the Academy Awards are for American movies, but a few Canadians make it to the red carpet. For example, James Cameron is the director of the great movie, Avatar.

Did you know Cameron's understanding of avatars come from his love of the underworld? After, Cameron completed the movie, Titanic, he became involved in researching the real Titanic ship. To see around the sunken ship, the Titanic, mechanical movie cameras or avatars were made and they moved around the ship. Cameron felt like he was there exploring the ship even though he was far away. In Avatar, the main character, Jake, has an avatar. His is a ten foot tall blue skinned man who is half human and half alien. This avatar helps Jake explore the planet, Pandora.

If you would like to see more about Avatar, check out an earlier blog called Wanna be Wednesday 1/13/2010

Another Academy Award movie, Star Trek, is part of a post from 2009. The original Captain Kirk was played by a Canadian actor, William Shatner. If you would like to see a short interview with William Shatner and see a preview of the Star Trek movie, take a look at Wanna be Wednesday 6/3.

......and just to end totally off topic. When is Meryl Streep going to win another Academy Award?

Pronunciation: /r/ Sound

nataliedee.com

Qwab? Do you mean crab? If you say "quab", you "pwabably" have "twouble" with the consonant sound, /r/.

What languages have trouble with the /r/ sound?

Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Spanish and Vietnamese

How do you make this sound?

Roll the tip of your tongue back. Make sure your tongue doesn't touch the top or roof of your mouth. The sides of your tongue should touch the inside of your top molars or back teeth.

Try this exercise.

Put the tip of your tongue on the tooth ridge which is the skin behind your top front teeth and say, "light". Then roll back your tongue and say, "right". Now exercise your tongue.

Light, right, light, right, light, right, light, right .....

Need practise?

Here is a video with more tips and practise.




Need some more practise?

Here is some words and sentences to practice the sound /r/. The man in the video has a very clear voice. Read the words and listen to his pronunciation. Then you try. These kinds of exercises can be repeated. Try it again today or return to this video another day. Repetition is extremely important in learning new sounds.

Pronunciation: The Dark /r/

Lisa Mojsin, author of Mastering the American Accent, talks about the difference between the British /r/ and the North American /r/. She adds some tips and practise. Enjoy!

Related Post: Pronunciation: /r/ Sound

Canada Gets 14 Golds

I wanted to present a look back at the Vancouver Olympics 2010 via a video, but the Canadian Broadcasting Station, CTV, 'owns' all the best moments. Here's the best I could do which is a link to OlympicsCTV. This video shows some of the greatest moments and the collective energy felt by all Canadians. Press here

The final gold metal was from the Canadian Hockey Team. Hockey is our national sport, so it was important to Canadians to win this final gold. The arena was one big mass of red as so many fans dressed in their Canadian colour or wore their favourite hockey players sweater to cheer on Team Canada..... a tie breaker that ended in overtime. What a storybook ending!

Then the closing ceremonies brought the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to an end. The ceremonies showcased some of our most popular celebrities. It was fun to see Canadians make fun of themselves. Yes, we have the beaver, moose, mounties, maple leaves and yes, we tend to be polite and say sorry a lot. Did you see how many Canadian Olympic participants apologized for not winning a medal? Yes we say ,"I'm sorry" a lot, but we also say, "Thank you". So, thanks for blessing Canada with so many healthy determined young athletes. May we all strive in our own ways to be the best at what we do.

....and celebrate those moments.

Street Party Photographs, February 28, 2010: (bottom)Downtown Toronto by Scorlirk and (top) Downtown Vancouver by Ecstaticist,Flickr



Related Posts:

Who lit the flame at the 2010 Olympics?

Wanna Be Wednesday 6/3

Juno Awards 2009

Tim Hortons

Music Monday: The Olympic Song

Who is the singer?

Nikki Yanofsky was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1894. She's a jazz-pop singer who has her first album coming out soon. She sang Oh, Canada, our national anthem, at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics.

Whose in the video?

Past medal winners and this year's hopefuls.

Where did the song come from?

Steven Moccio is a Toronto composer and has written songs for Celine Dion and Josh Groban. According to the Globe and Mail, Maccio composed the song about four years ago after Vancouver won the Olympic Games. The lyrics were added by Allan Frew from the band, Glass Tigers. It's called I Believe or in French, J'Imagine.

What's it about?

The lyrics or words are at the bottom of this video. It's about believing in yourself and your abilities and I think a bit of team spirit is there too.

Who lit the flame at the 2010 Olympics?

Photo by erieliou, Flickr


Before the opening ceremonies of the 2010
Vancouver Olympics, Canadians were
wondering who would light the flame?
It had to be a great Canadian hero. But we
were all wrong. It was four of our
greatest athletes.



These are Canadians who lit the fire in the stadium:

1. Nancy Greene
2. Steve Nash
3. Catriona Le May Doan
4. Wayne Gretsky

These are their sports:

a) Basketball
b) Downhill skiing
c) Hockey
d) Speed skating

Now, can you match the sport and the superstar?


Look in "comments" below for the answer. Also, for some great photos of the opening ceremonies, press here.

Winter in Toronto: The Olympics

Andrew Hesp, Flickr

For me, the olympics started about 2 months ago when the torch passed through Toronto for the first time. It was a cold night and I was heading for a meeting at Yonge and St Clair when people started to line the street. In 10 minutes, the crowd was able to see the flame coming. It towered above the runner as it does in this photo. It was a small event, but I felt lucky and honored to have seen the historical flame.

For Valentines Day: Free Hugs and Sick Puppies

"Free Hugs" that's what Juan Man put on a sign. He decided a good way to warm up this cold world was to reach out and hug someone. Using his sign, Juan was able to get free hugs from strangers. In return, he put a smile on many faces in a mall in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, life can never stay that simple. Watch the video and see what happened next.

As of today, almost 56 million have watched this video and at the time, it became video of the year. The Sydney rock band, Sick Puppies wrote a song for Juan Man to cheer him up. They made the video and put it on YouTube. The song is "All the Same"





Happy Valentine's Day

Here's the song, "All the Same".
Listen to the music and follow the words.





Other posts for Valentine's Day:

• A Love Story
• Winter in Toronto 5
• Film Festivals 3: Signs
• Film Festival 3: Signs Part 2

The Next Decade: Renault Twizy ZE

Would you like to take this car for a spin in the city? The Renault Twizy ZE is a zero emmision electric car. Check out the wheels of this futuristic car. When the Twizy is moving, it looks like it is hoovering. Also, there are no traditional doors, but there are side airbags built in for added safety. How big is this car? The Twizy ZE is 2.30 m in length by 1.13 m in width.

Wanna be Wednesday 1/13/2010

I want to be a native of Pandora. This is the setting of the popular science fiction movie, Avatar, which is written and directed by James Cameron. He won an Oscar for the movie, Titanic. Avatar is best seen in 3D. When you wear the 3D glasses you feel like you are there.

The natives of Pandora love their moon and respect all living things. They have no machines and use powerful creatures to transport themselves. The natives are able to move easily on land and in the air. They move up and down mountains and the tallest trees with ease. They live freely in a forest that they will never leave. They enjoy many stories about their ancestors and live peacefully. Their life has nothing to do with money, but their survival is dependant on understanding nature. They are not the highest creatures on the food chain. There are dangerous animals in the forest, and they must respect them to live safely. Could life really be this pure?

Here is an interview by the actress, Zoe Saldana, who plays the native, Neytiri. Her mother and father are the leaders of the natives called Navi. She describes Neytiri and the culture of the Navi in the movie, Avatar.





Other movie posts, 2009:

Wanna be Wednesday 6/3

Music Monday: Disney Nature "Earth"

Ottawa: 50 People One Question

This short film is an example of a participating YouTube video. The original film was done on a hot day in New Orleans, United States. The producers came up with the idea to ask as many people as possible the same question. It was called 50 People One Question and was posted on YouTube September, 2008.

Then people in different states used the same idea and posted their films on YouTube. Also, it went global. For example, there were films made in Canada and Australia. Here is response video that was filmed in Ottawa, Canada a year later.




.***Cultural note: The word, Beaver Tail, is pastry. It's a kind of flat donut in the shape of a beaver's tail. To see the animal, a beaver, check out the Canadian 5 cent coin.



How would you answer this question?

Winter in Toronto 6

My feet are cold.
By Grant MacDonald

A picture is worth a thousand words. Winter has hit in Toronto. It's one of those Sundays, it's best to cuddle up with a good book or a laptop and wrap yourself in a warm blanket. Just looking outside makes me feel cold. The newsman says the cold weather is going to be around for a few days.

However, there is no snow yet in Toronto. Further north like in Ottawa, it's very white and beautiful. Right now, it's too cold to snow, but the snow storms will come. Soon enough, the snow ploughs will be humming up and down the streets and the homeowners will be shovelling heavy snow. There is actually a law in Toronto that requires all sidewalks to be cleared after a snow fall. Luckily, senior citizens can have their sidewalks cleared by the city. So right now, is the calm before the storm. Lots of snow brings chaos to the city!

Feel like venturing out this winter, check out the winter activities organized by the city. Toronto's WinterCity Festival starts end of January. Press here.

Related Posts:

Winter in Toronto