Saturday at the TESL Ontario Conference

Last Saturday I spent the day at the posh Sheraton hotel downtown attending the annual TESL Ontario Conference. Although I missed the free lunch, given only to those who signed up for the plenary session--as the rest of us found out later!!--I was glad to have found some useful resources that I acquired using the generous budget allotted. Among these were conversation books, storybooks with audio CDs, and "English Verb Discs," which cost $3 for those with Chinese captions and $4 for those without. Asked why, the sales guy said that it's cheaper to make them in China, which is where those $3 ones came from. So I picked up all of them, all five discs that he had, which, with GST, came to $15.75.

I'd intended to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario after that, but having marched over there in the relentless rain, all I could see was a snake of people encircling the AGO. Even though entrance was free Friday through Sunday, worth $18 per person, there was no way I was going to queue up for the next couple of hours. I resolved to tour the place via youtube, which I did (see clip).


Instead, I kept going northwest, to Chinatown for lunch and then to Honest Ed's, where I picked up two pairs of winter gloves. By the time I got home, I was totally wasted. I'm glad to be back in my normal habitat of the LINC classroom, and to welcome two new students this morning--Tao and Mersedeh!

HAPPY ESL WEEK 2008!

Learning a second language is never easy, especially for adults. So I'm proud of the progress being made by the learners in my LINC class.

As ESL learners, you will have many experiences that you will cherish and bring with you through life. Some may be good or bad, or funny or weird. It's always a good idea to keep a record of your thoughts and feelings during this time of your life so that you can review them in the future.

Even better, this week being ESL Week, you can publish your writing by sending it to TESL Ontario, organizers of ESL Week:

http://www.teslontario.ca/esl-week/website-writing-contributions/

Writing Contributions 2008
In the upcoming months, weeks, and days leading up to ESL week, November 9-15 2008, we want to thank both ESL teachers/instructors and students for all the hard work that they do throughout the year. As a way to connect our members, learners, and communities alike, we are asking all those involved with ESL to submit a written work related to ESL in Ontario.

We are hoping to post and share your writing on our website as a way to inspire both ESL teachers/instructors and learners by reading the thoughts and stories of others. This is also a great opportunity for our members and their students to have their writing “published”. In fact, we will be choosing a few submissions that will become part of our ESL week display, along with some of our poster contest entries, at Toronto’s City Hall on November 12th-15th.

Here are some possible writing prompts you may wish to use as a meaningful classroom activity:

My ESL class is…
The best class ever was…
My favourite ESL teacher is…
The funniest thing happened in class one day…
My classmates…
Learning English is…

Please feel free to be as creative as you want with your writing! Why not even use this opportunity as a way to teach poetry or even write a song?

All writing should be e-mailed to: administration@teslontario.org . Please include:

The student’s name, teacher and school
or
Your own name and school for teachers/instructors

Be sure to check out our website http://www.teslontario.org// to get other ideas and updates on happenings for ESL week 2008. We truly look forward to receiving your submissions and can’t wait to read what you and your students have to say!

So, what's keeping you? Make sure, when you send your writing to TESL Ontario, to CC: me as well, okay? All the best!!

P.S. Check out the posters at the Poster Contest website--which are your favourites?

Who could climb out of this hole?

I love this short movie--in three short minutes it cuts through all religions and philosophy and gets right to the heart of the matter: life, death, and salvation:


How could one know if any of this is true--who told you, who showed you, so what?

PS: Be careful about following a church or church leaders rather than the Bible. See what happened in this most "holy" place. "Churchianity" is not Christ-ianity.

Just updated the Class Page: Famous ESL Learners

Tough job, but the list includes successful ESL learners from:

Korea


Romania


Iran


And more! Check them out: http://tinyurl.com/6pn78u

Welcome Robert! Goodbye Andreea!

Today, we had a new student come to class. His name is Robert. He's from Tianjin, China.

Unfortunately, Robert isn't fully registered for class yet, but we hope to see him in two weeks.

Also, very sadly, we had to say goodbye to Andreea, who's going back to Romania. We hope to keep in touch with her by email and maybe, if Amir creates a weblog for us, then by weblog.

Free stuff at Tone Tai Supermarket

"Lai ah, main fei de! Lau ban song da jia nan gua!" hollered the guy at the entrance when I arrived.

And true enough, he was touting free pumpkins to passersby right in front of the place. People were carrying away as many as they could, and the guy continued to call out.

I got mine, went in for my soy milk, and he was still haranguing the crowds--well, not really a crowd as most were out, I suppose, trick-or-treating tonight. So I swapped my moderate-sized jack-o-lantern-wannabe for a monster-sized one.

About died carrying and rolling the thing through the little mall, across the car park, and over to the car, other groceries in hand. Anyhow, glad I wasn't tone deaf at Tone Tai! What a loot!

Halloween Enuff Already!!

For me, it's Reformation Day all the way!

Why celebrate a bunch of ghosts and darkness when there's freedom and light to celebrate. Freedom and light from the Good News of the Bible, which Martin Luther merely pointed us to on that fateful October 31 of 1517.

So what did I dress up as for Halloween today? Well, if I'm going to have to dress up, I might as well remind my friends of that great Halloween. So on with the old blanket, a mini-coffer in hand, and I was all ready--Dr. John Tetzel, Seller of Indulgences--crying, "As soon as the TTC token in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs!"

Gotta fight fire with fire! Those who knew the odium of samhain and those who knew the blessings of the Reformation understood. The fact we can blog this is due to what Martin Luther did on Halloween 491 years ago, nailing his 95 debate questions on the church door.



Now, what shall we do for the next crazy fest ... All Hallows' Day?!