May your days be merry and bright,

And may all your Christmases be white.

Those words are taken from a traditional Christmas song, White Christmas. Christmas songs and Christmas carols are popular this time of year. Do you know the traditional Christmas carol, Jingle Bells? My favourite is The Christmas Song sung by Nat King Cole because my father loved it and sang it. My son, Nathan,likes to sing Hallelujah which was written by a Canadian singer/ song writer, Leonard Cohen. Another Canadian singer, Katie Lang, sings a current version and has helped to make this older song popular again. According to the Toronto Star, a recent version of Hallelujah hit number one in the British song charts. A popular older version hit number two and Cohen's version made number forty six. Not bad for an old song, but the holidays have people follow tradition and we look to fond memories from our childhood or our children's youth.

So, turn on your radios and get a flavour of the holiday tradition. If you turn on CHFI, 98.1, on Christmas Eve, you will catch Erin Davis's Christmas party. Her daughter and my son will be singing a Christmas carol together. Also, turn on your TV to catch some of those holiday movie classics. Three of my favourites are It's a Wonderful Life from 1946 with the actor, Jimmy Stewart and his angel, and A Christmas Carol with the character, Scrooge, and White Christmas where Bing Crosby sings White Christmas.

Finally, I'd like to leave you with a song sung by an older Bing Crosby and David Bowie. The song is Little Drummer Boy. It sends a message of peace for us all. May you have peace this holiday and find time to spend a moment with someone you love.

Practising Verbs

Verbs are important. They are in every sentence and help to communicate the main idea. In fact, nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs are the most important words in a sentence. We stress these words when we talk, so our speech is clear to the listener. Here's an example.

On Christmas Eve, Santa likes to eat cookies and drink milk, and the reindeer enjoy carrots.

The most important verbs are irregular verbs. These are the verbs that are used the most in the English language. You must memorize the irregular verb forms. The back pages in some grammar books include a list of the irregular verbs in three forms, base form, past form and participle form.

Try the verb, eat. Santa likes to eat cookies. Santa ate cookies last Christmas. Santa has eaten cookies at Christmas for many years.

Memorizing the verb forms is boring, but your spoken and written English accuracy will improve a lot. Maybe you will find this video less boring. You might even enjoy it! This verb list has sound and pictures too. The pictures should help you remember the different verbs, and the sound should help your pronunciation. If you can, try saying the verb forms out loud with the speaker. Try it more than once if you like. Repetition helps you remember. Repeating this exercise more than once a week will help you remember.

Unfortunately, there is one error in this exercise. The voice says, "lead, led, led", but the words say be "lead, lead, lead". The words should say, "lead, led, led".





However, memorizing the verb forms and verb tenses is not enough. You must use them when you talk and write. You must develop an understanding of time. When you become a strong intermediate ESL student, you will be able to change tenses often. Did you notice the last sentence talks about the future and that this sentence is in the present? This is called a shift in time. The next video gives some examples.

Also, this video has a short talk about the Olympics in China that finished this summer. You will recognize the teacher in this video. Jennifer's videos were used in an earlier blog on pronouncing the /th/ sound. This video is a higher level and is suggested for advanced ESL students. Don't worry if you find this a bit difficult. It should teach you that you must be prepared to change your tenses. When you write, edit your sentences for shifts in verb tense. As your ESL level gets higher, changing verb tenses will become easier and more natural.

Tim Hortons

I couldn't resist this video. Have you ever tried to order a coffee? How do you like your coffee? Black? Double, double? Regular? Now, try going to Starbucks. It gets more diffucult to know what to order. Okay, so what is a tall? Ordering a coffee takes on new meaning,doesn't it? According to a Star Bucks's employee, you can order a small, tall, grande (pronounced granday) or venti ( pronounced vahntee). In French, vent means twenty and a venti is twenty ounces. The company doesn't want you to order the smallest size which is the small. The small is not on the menu board and if you ask for a small, the clerk will correct you and suggest a tall. Are you still confused?

Okay, so now you are thinking why is this blog called Tim Hortons? Well, that's because there are so many Tim Hortons in Canada and there are so many Canadians who love Tim Horton's coffee. Tim Horton was a real Canadian hockey star. He started his career as a Maple Leaf hockey player in Toronto. He was still playing hockey in his early forties when he was killed in a car crash February, 1974. His widow eventually sold the coffee franchise, but Canadians continue to line up at the nearest Tim Hortons. There is even a Tim Hortons for the Canadian soldiers in Afghanastan. They requested one because they wanted to feel like they were at home. The next video is a Tim Horton's commercial that takes place in Scotland.






After watching this commercial, can you think of a food or drink that is very popular in your home country? Why do you think it is so popular? Can you get it here?

A Change is Gonna Come

This is modern version of the song, "A Change is Gonna Come", performed by the American singer, Seal. It is from his new album, Soul. Another American, Sam Cook, wrote this song in the sixties. According to Wikipedia, Cook was moved by Bob Dylan"s song, "Blowin' in the Wind", because of Dylan's empathy for Racism. In the same year, 1963, Cook wrote this song on a bus after attending a sit-in demonstration. Unfortunately, Sam Cook died the following year, but his song continues to grow in popularity.

In this song from the sixties, Cook wishes for change. There have been a lot of changes since the sixties. Do you think things would be easier for Cook in 2008? What are some changes you like and some changes you don't like? Give some examples of change and explain why you like or don't like these changes. You may give your opinion or add to ideas started by another person.



Gonna = going to
Blowin = Blowing
sixties = 1961 to 1969

Cultural Notes:
1. Bob Dylan is a singer/song writer who was popular in the sixties. He expressed the thoughts of a lot of young Americans that wanted freedom and peace.
2. Sit-ins were popular in the sixties. Many people would meet at a specific location. They would all sit on the ground to show they were unhappy with their government's decisions. For example, many young people did not believe in the Vietnam war. They were peaceful demonstrations, but sometimes the police ended them by arresting some of the demonstrators.
3. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that you can use to look up information. You can find it on the Internet at www.wikipedia.org

"TH" Sound

Who has trouble?

Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese

How to make the /th/ sound?

Put the tip of your tongue between your teeth. Air moves between the tongue and the top teeth.

Do you want a tip?

Practice in front of the mirror. Make sure your tongue goes pass your teeth. Remember to keep your tongue flat and don't let it hide behind your teeth.

Would you like to watch some videos to help you?


Video 1: Watch what your tongue must do.



Video 2: Listen and practice the /th/ sound with Jennifer.



Video 3: Listen and practice the other /th/ sound with Jennifer.



Finally, would you like to add some rhythm with these poems?

Practice the voiced /th/ with these poems. My mother was a teacher and the poems come from her collection. Poems work best if you stress the main words. The first poem shows the words to stress.

Try this one.

This is my mother, this is my father,
This is my sister, and this is my brother.
Father, mother, sister, brother
Hand in hand with one another.

Try another poem.

My father doesn't want a cat and neither does my mother,
But Cook does and so do I and so does baby brother.
Mother said, "You have a dog". Father asked us whether
We really thought a cat and dog could live so close together.

Improv Everywhere

Improv Everywhere has done over 70 events over at least 6 years. Their agents or actors create spontaneous events in public places. Each time the event is video taped. The videos are fun to watch. The events are planned and the actors know what to do. However, their audience is the people around them. They do not choose to be the audience, so often they are not sure what is going on.

In September, Improv Everywhere did an event in Toronto. Participants met at Riverdale Farm with their MP3 Players. Using their headphones, the people followed instructions. Earlier Improv Everywhere organized another event in Toronto where people rode the TTC subway without their pants. I saw it in the newspaper about a year ago. The participants looked like everyday commuters. Some were reading, others were talking quietly, but all had no pants or skirts. It made me laugh as I was riding the subway when I saw the photograph.

The most popular video was done at Grand Central Station, New York City. The News station, ABC's Nightline showed this video to their television viewers. Another popular video is the food court video which takes place in a mall in Los Angeles, California.

I have downloaded three Improv Everywhere videos for you to view. Look at the three videos. Which one is your favourite? Why? Write your answer in the comment section. You may also wish to comment on other people's answers.




The Mp3 Experiment Toronto from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.




Food Court Musical from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.




Frozen Grand Central from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.