Monday, March 29, 2010

Happy Easter!



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

Monday, March 15, 2010

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

Monday, March 8, 2010

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.


Sunday, March 7, 2010

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?

Friday, March 5, 2010

Pronunciation: /r/ Sound

natalie dee
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.



Thursday, March 4, 2010

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!








Monday, March 1, 2010

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