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



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Music Monday: The Olympic Song

Who is the singer?

Nikki Yanofsky was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1894. She's a jazz-pop singer who has her first album coming out soon. She sang Oh, Canada, our national anthem, at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics.

Whose in the video?

Past medal winners and this year's hopefuls.

Where did the song come from?

Steven Moccio is a Toronto composer and has written songs for Celine Dion and Josh Groban. According to the Globe and Mail, Maccio composed the song about four years ago after Vancouver won the Olympic Games. The lyrics were added by Allan Frew from the band, Glass Tigers. It's called I Believe or in French, J'Imagine.

What's it about?

The lyrics or words are at the bottom of this video. It's about believing in yourself and your abilities and I think a bit of team spirit is there too.

Who lit the flame at the 2010 Olympics?

Photo by erieliou, Flickr


Before the opening ceremonies of the 2010
Vancouver Olympics, Canadians were
wondering who would light the flame?
It had to be a great Canadian hero. But we
were all wrong. It was four of our
greatest athletes.



These are Canadians who lit the fire in the stadium:

1. Nancy Greene
2. Steve Nash
3. Catriona Le May Doan
4. Wayne Gretsky

These are their sports:

a) Basketball
b) Downhill skiing
c) Hockey
d) Speed skating

Now, can you match the sport and the superstar?


Look in "comments" below for the answer. Also, for some great photos of the opening ceremonies, press here.

Winter in Toronto: The Olympics

Andrew Hesp, Flickr

For me, the olympics started about 2 months ago when the torch passed through Toronto for the first time. It was a cold night and I was heading for a meeting at Yonge and St Clair when people started to line the street. In 10 minutes, the crowd was able to see the flame coming. It towered above the runner as it does in this photo. It was a small event, but I felt lucky and honored to have seen the historical flame.

Spring in Toronto

Toronto Pillow Fight by Reza Vaziri


March 21, 2009, Torontonians met downtown for some fun at Dundas Square near the Eatons Centre. Everyone brought a pillow for a massive pillow fight! There were lots of young people and parents arrived with their children. Some of the participants wore silly costumes to celebrate the free cultural event. At 3:00 p.m., the signal was given and the annual Toronto Pillow Fight began.

The participants had to follow some simple guidelines. Newmindspace helped organize the annual event and here's their suggested rules.

Rules: Please follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and fun pillow fight for everybody!

+ Soft pillows only!
+ Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
+ Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
+ Remove glasses beforehand!
+ Wait until the 3:00 to begin.
+ Pillow fight ends when the sun sets.
+ Do not abandon your pillow at the location.

Cleanup: Please limit your use of feathers. As the pillow fight grows in size, so does the mess. By participating, you are pledging to clean up twice the mess you made :)

Good news for those outside of Toronto: Tomorrow is World Pillow Fight Day!

In Canada, Quebec City and Vancouver have signed up for Saturday, April 4th. Many cities all over the world from New York City, US to Paris, France to Cape Town, Africa will hold massive pillow fights.




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Wanna be Wednesday 3/25

I want to be a supporter of the historic event, Earth Hour. To vote for the earth, turn off your lights at 8:30 pm for one hour on March 28, 2009. Leave your lights on and you vote for global warming.



Why is Earth Hour Important?

People care about the environment. The organizers wanted 1,000 cities and towns to sign up for Earth Hour 2009. March 12, 2009 the organizers reached their goal. In fact, 2,712 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries want to participate in Earth Hour so far.

What is Toronto doing for Earth Hour?

WWF-Canada and City of Toronto are presenting a free concert a Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall. It starts at 7:00 pm with lights out from 8:30 to 9:30pm. No, it's not in really in the dark , but the energy used is green, renewable energy from Bullfrog Power. Performers include Suzie McNeil, Crash Parallel rock band, The Matt York Band and Samba Squad.

Have a look at last year's concert. The Canadian singer and song writer,Nelly Fertado sang at Toronto's Earth Hour. You can hear her singing in the following video at City Hall. Also, watch the city go dark.





What will you be doing for Earth Hour on March 28, 2009.

Candles are a good idea. Last year, my family ordered pizza and it came just as everyone on the street was turning off the lights. We had a candlelight dinner. I was surprised how many people supported Earth Hour.

What else can you do for Earth Hour?

The organizers would like people to VOTE EARTH. There is an Earth Hour symbol on the right side. Press on "sign up now" below the big number,60 and type your name. WWF hopes to get one billion names or votes for the earth to give to the world leaders in Copenhagen, 2009. They are meeting at an important conference to discuss climate change .




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I want to be environmental. Earth Hour is coming March 28.






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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.