gingerbread lane 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Vancouver

Rea and Leila were talking about the annual gingerbread house display/competition that takes place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Click here to find out more about this fun event.

End of term Testing Information

Here is some information about the schedule for this week and next week. Both the writing and reading tests will be done in our classroom.

Thursday November 22: Writing test

*Everyone must arrive on time (6:45). The test will begin promptly at 7 p.m.

Lower Advanced students will write a multi-paragraph composition (approx. 200 - 250 words) and will have until 8:30 p.m. to finish.

Upper Intermediate students will write one paragraph (approx. 100 - 150 words) and will have until 8 p.m. to finish.

Tuesday November 27: Reading test

*Please check your time and make sure you are on time and ready to write.

Lower Advanced students will write the ART from 6:55 to 8:05 p.m. So, please get to class by 6:45 p.m. so you have some time to get settled.

Upper Intermediate students will write the Gates test from 8:15 to 9 p.m. Please get to class by 8:05 p.m. so you have some time to get settled.

Thursday Nov 29: One-on-one consultations with Sara - please sign up in advance for a meeting time to discuss your progress, placement, and next steps. Bring all of your writing and reading work that you have done this term (freewriting journals, practice writing, in-class freewriting, etc.)

Circle Craft Christmas Market

I had a great time this afternoon at the Circle Craft Christmas Market! There are so many things for sale. I think I will go back tomorrow morning. Sorry I forgot to show you what I bought!

Click here to go to the Christmas Market Website. If you buy tickets online, it's $2 cheaper than at the door. 

Click here to see a list of all of the different craft fairs in Vancouver in November and December. There are so many!

Click on the arrow below to look at the Christmas Market information booklet.

Open publication - Free publishing

Hallowe'en Safety Tips from the Canadian Red Cross

Click on this link to see the Hallowe'en Safety Tips from the Red Cross.

Notice the introduction and the conclusion. Also pay attention to how each tip begins with the imperative (give, instruct, prepare, etc.).

ESL Grammar Workbooks A & B

The VCC Bookstore sells these VCC-produced workbooks for Upper Intermediate grammar practice:

ESL RESOURCE BOOK: UPPER INTERMEDIATE - $19.05

ESL GRAMMAR WORKBOOK A: UPPER INTERMEDIATE - $19.45

ESL GRAMMAR WORKBOOK B: UPPER INTERMEDIATE- $19.75

Ask at the Downtown campus bookstore if they have these in stock. Also check the library to see if there are copies available for borrowing.

What do you call law degrees & medical degrees?

Good old Google! This is the information I found on the internet:

Law degree: "Juris Doctor - J.D. or D.Jur, graduate degree and professional doctorate in law offered by universities and law schools in a number of countries. Law schools still call the law degree a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). It is considered to be a graduate degree. The three year law school program covers the same areas of law as do law schools in other jursidictions. Update: Some Canadian law schools are now converting, retroactively, the LL.B. degree to  D.Jur." (from http://wiki.answers.com - click here to see the original page)

In Canada, a doctor will have an MD, which stands for Doctor of Medicine. According to Wikipedia, "In Canada, the M.D. is the basic medical degree required to practice medicine." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Medicine)

Preparing for an Earthquake in BC

Click here to read the whole text about preparing for an earthquake. We read this together in class tonight.

Message in a Bottle - News Story from CBC

Click here to read the article about the Irish boy who found a message in a bottle that was sent from Montreal, Quebec, 8 years ago.

Colour or Color? Rumour or Rumor?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/8105691407/in/pool-96904420@N00/lightbox/

Ah, spelling!

Take a look at this website that shows the different ways of spelling words in English. I like this chart because it has a column for British English, Canadian English, and American English. You can see that the Canadian English list takes a bit from both British and American English spelling patterns.

This would be a great site to bookmark so you can refer to it quickly when you need to.

Click here for the "Differences Between British, Canadian and American Spelling" page.

Reaching the mid-term point

Hi everyone,

I got back from Kamloops late last night and I am full of new ideas and enthusiasm for my profession! I will fill you in on my trip when I see you Tuesday night. Remember that we have class on Tuesday this week but NOT on Thursday, as it's VCC day and all classes are cancelled.

Gratitude and Appreciation

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend, there's a lot of talk about gratitude and appreciation. I was just listening to one of my favourite radio shows on CBC Radio called the Vinyl Cafe and this week's program is about thanking people in our lives who have helped us in small but important ways. Click on the Vinyl Cafe link in the sidebar and listen to part (or all) of the show!

My Thanksgiving Includes a Chinese Turkey

Thanksgiving has always been my favourite holiday. My mom cooks a 'Chinese' turkey (which means she marinates it in soya sauce with ginger and orange peel stuffed inside), and my birthday is around that time. My mom often tells the story of when she was near the end of her pregnancy with me, and she was too big to lift the turkey out of the oven. She says that every time she takes the Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven, she thinks about that special time.

This year we're having Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's place, and my mom will cook the turkey there.

Click on the link below to read an article from the Vancouver Sun about Randy Shore's Thanksgiving:
Thanksgiving dinner a frozen moment in time. 

I love the part about the phenomenon of the 'Vegetarian Daughter'! :)

Vocabulary self-study activities

Vocabulary self-study activities

Events Around Vancouver

Here are the links to the events that you quickly looked at just before you went home tonight (click on each event to go to the website):

• Word on the Street Festival (various locations, but Sunday's events will be at the downtown library)
• Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 
• Mid-Autumn Moon Festival at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens
• Free Style Chinese Brush Painting Workshop in Richmond, BC (Part of Culture Days in BC)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Understanding Plagiarism

Plagiarism - What Is It?

On our first night of class, I mentioned that cheating and plagiarism are considered serious offences in an academic setting. Please take a few minutes to watch this video from commoncraft.com about Plagiarism. Click here to see the video. Questions? E-mail me or post a comment below.

Welcome - Fall 2012

Welcome to the blog for the Outreach UI/LA reading and writing class! I hope you will use this blog by clicking on useful links, reading the posts and adding your ideas and thoughts in the comment boxes.

Please click on the different pages of this blog as I will be updating them with new information and links over the course of this term.