Calling for NewsLINC Submissions

Here we go again! It's that season of the year to not only ski but also to let your words and thoughts spring forth. Complete your drafts on your blog by February 15, and we'll work on them together to submit before the official March 6 deadline.

Category	Description / Idea Prompts
Activity	Submissions reflecting sports and leisure activities.
Arts	Submissions related to the arts (visual arts, crafts, design, dance, film, literature, music, theatre). ·         Write a short story or poem. ·         Share your artistic talent/hobby. ·         Provide a review of your favourite book / movie / artist / etc.
Bios	Student profiles that exclude information about birth date or age.
Canada	Submissions which highlight Canada. ·         How do you describe Canada to your friends or family living abroad? ·         What do you like about living in Canada? ·         Write about a famous Canadian personality, landmark, historical event, etc. ·         Recommend places to visit or day trips in Ontario / Canada
Celebration	Occasions or events that result in celebration! ·         Share a personal success story (big or small) ·         Write about a special/milestone life event (wedding, birth, anniversary, etc.) ·         Write about a traditional celebration
General	If the submission does not fit with any of the other categories.
Heritage	Student reflections about their homeland or ethnic origins. ·         What do you miss the most about your homeland? ·         Describe a custom from your homeland ·         Write about where you came from
Recipe	Special recipes that have not been reproduced from the web or a book.
Seasonal	Submissions related to seasonal themes. Some ideas for spring: ·         Write a poem about rain. ·         Express your feelings about spring. ·         Compare spring in Canada with your homeland. ·         How do you celebrate Women’s Day or Mother’s Day? ·         Take notes from a website about climate change and summarize your findings.
Settlement	Student settlement stories. ·         Share a funny story about settling in Canada ·         What has surprised you the most? ·         What are some of the challenges you have faced? ·         What or who has helped you to adjust?
Skills	Tips, challenges and experiences related to finding work, working or learning in Canada. ·         Workplace culture ·         Looking for work / networking / volunteering ·         Studying / learning new skills

Four Skills for Your E-Portfolio CLB4LSRW

The following are four Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) Level 4 tasks in the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing).

1. CLB4L Listen to a short, simple commercial about a product or service to get the gist and enough information to decide whether the product is worth purchasing. Watch this TV commercial, from 1:28 through 1:58. In no more than 30 seconds, record what the message is and state your decision, with reasons, why you would or wouldn't buy the product.
2. CLB4S Introduce a teacher or employer to a family member. Imagine that you left your USB key in school, and--surprise!--your teacher came to your door at 7 p.m.--how would you introduce your teacher to your family? Record your words, in less than a minute, on chirbit.com.
3. CLB4R Find an advertisement to match a list of apartment rental requirements. In Kijiji.ca, find three apartments for rent for less than $2,000 a month, including parking and locker, that are within 1 km to Don Mills Station in Toronto. On your blog, list the information on rental, parking, and locker, with the totals, and identify which apartment is the most expensive and which is the cheapest.
4. CLB4W Write a short personal note to thank a host, friend, or supervisor for lunch. You have just attended classmate Jordan's lunch at D'Mays Trident Restaurant, 1205 Forest Valley Rd, off Hwy 401, Tel. 416 225 5553, from 12 - 2 p.m., and enjoyed a feast of lobsters, roasted seaweed, Pepsi, and apple pie. In 140 characters or less, write a text message to thank Jordan for the meal. Make sure to publish this question together with your answer on your blog.

Artefact: CLB4S

CLB4S Have you ever been stopped by the police? What could you say? Discuss your ideas with a partner. Here are your tasks for this afternoon:

1. Respond to a warning about a simple bylaw violation. (Oh, I didn’t see the sign. Thanks for telling me.) Think about what other things you could say when a police officer stops you for speeding and says, “I just saw you run the stop sign.” Record your reply in 30 seconds or less on chirbit.com and place the audio link together with these instructions on your blog.
2. Listen to at least 3 classmates' audio recordings and leave your comment on each of them.

The Weirdest Picture of Christmas

   
You've seen all the usual pictures: yule logs, boughs of holly, Christmas trees, manger scene, wise men bearing gifts, shepherds in the fields, angels, elves, Santa Claus, reindeer, candles, stockings, happy faces, snowy scenes, the works.

In some countries, all that is banned.

But have you ever seen this other picture?



Check out this most unusual picture of Christmas in the last book of the Bible. You can read the whole story here.

Who are the characters in it? Do they sound familiar? What do you think the meaning is? Discuss with a friend and share your thoughts under Comments, below.

Come Winter, Let's Get Published!

The draft deadline for the next edition of NEWSLINC is November 14, 2014. Be sure to post it to your blog by that date for us to polish it up together. Here are your recommended topics:

Category	Description / Idea Prompts
Activity	Submissions reflecting sports and leisure activities.
Arts	Submissions related to the arts (visual arts, crafts, design, dance, film, literature, music, theatre). ·         Write a short story or poem. ·         Share your artistic talent/hobby. ·         Provide a review of your favourite book / movie / artist / etc.
Bios	Student profiles that exclude information about birth date or age.
Canada	Submissions which highlight Canada. ·         How do you describe Canada to your friends or family living abroad? ·         What do you like about living in Canada? ·         Write about a famous Canadian personality, landmark, historical event, etc. ·         Recommend places to visit or day trips in Ontario / Canada
Celebration	Occasions or events that result in celebration! ·         Share a personal success story (big or small) ·         Write about a special/milestone life event (wedding, birth, anniversary, etc.) ·         Write about a traditional celebration
General	If the submission does not fit with any of the other categories.
Heritage	Student reflections about their homeland or ethnic origins. ·         What do you miss the most about your homeland? ·         Describe a custom from your homeland ·         Write about where you came from
Recipe	Special recipes that have not been reproduced from the web or a book.
Seasonal	Submissions related to seasonal themes. Some ideas for winter ·         Write a poem about winter. ·         Express your feelings about winter in Canada. ·         Compare winter in Canada with your homeland. ·         Describe your favourite winter activity. ·         What advice do you have for those with a cold or flu? ·         Write a note to Jack Frost to request cancellation of winter.
Settlement	Student settlement stories. ·         Share a funny story about settling in Canada ·         What has surprised you the most? ·         What are some of the challenges you have faced? ·         What or who has helped you to adjust?
Skills	Tips, challenges and experiences related to finding work, working or learning in Canada. ·         Workplace culture ·         Looking for work / networking / volunteering ·         Studying / learning new skills

System Downtime

Hey guys,
Sorry if you didn't get Internet service this weekend. I was checking your writing this morning when suddenly the system went dead--confirmed after repeated attempts to raise the dead:

Think of the things you can do during a downtime ... in English, of course!

So, we'll just have to do what we always do--redeem the time!--and learn English through the gathering of idioms, writing and editing on our blogs, accessing More ESL Goodies at the top of this page, reading the news and listening to the radio, and talking to friends and family!

Have a great weekend!

Fall Issue of Our NewsLINC Student Magazine + Conversation Class

The fall edition of NewsLINC (Click here to see) is out. Unfortunately, not too many of your classmates got published this time. But there's the next edition coming up, for winter. So do write up your articles, publish them on your blog, and let's start sharpening them up for submission to the next NewsLINC issue!

Another important announcement concerns the availability of Conversation Class for November through December 2014. In addition to their weekly LINC Home Study class, Conversation Class students get another call to learn and practise speaking with a dedicated conversation teacher. If interested, please email me before October 26.