ESL Reading: Canadian History Week

144 Things Canada Has Given the World

A Skimming and Scanning Activity 

Canada might not be very old, but during its 147 years, it has made a number of contributions to the world.

In honour of Canadian History week, here's a Canadian trivia reading quiz to test your knowledge.  First, try the pre-reading activity to find out how much you know already. Then, see how many questions you got right.  

Later, discuss and write about some of the most important inventions ever made. Would your life be any different without them? 

From Anne of Green Gables  to the zipper, hockey to the hydrofoil hydrofoil, here's a list put together by The Hamilton Spectator. Some things that are precious to Canadians may cause others to scratch their heads.

You may not have eaten poutine unless you’ve traveled to Quebec or Ontario, while Timbits  and double doubles  may sound like gobbledygook  outside our borders.  Have a look.

Read more 

Speak English for "Just A Minute"

Are you trying to improve your spoken English or get a better mark on an important speaking test such as the IELTS?

Are you interested in improving one specific aspect of your speaking?     

Watch the following video for some instructions on a speaking game called Just a Minute. This is a game that help you improve your speaking skills while you have  fun at the same time.

In the game, you can focus on all aspects of spoken English, OR simply one aspect at a time, for example, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation OR fluency.  In order to play. you need at least one partner, but playing with three people and even four people also works well.

This is a useful game to play in an English classroom. but the great thing about it is that you don't have to play it in class. You can play it with your friends anywhere you want - at home, on the bus or subway, at the beach or at the park. All you need is a series of topics and the instructions on how to pay the game. 

Watch and listen to the instructions:   

Watch two native speakers playing Just a Minute 

Here are a few more suggestions:

Watch or listen to yourselves

Try video-taping or audio taping yourself. For example, you could use a regular  video camera, or simply the video function of your smart phone. After playing several rounds of Just A Minute, stop, watch yourself and be prepared to discuss things you did right as well as areas where you need improvement.  Remember, many athletes do this all the time in order to improve their performance. Make sure you find both the good and the bad. No one does everything wrong, so you need to acknowledge the positive aspects of your performance. 

Focus on specific problems:

Focus on improving on specific areas you have problems with in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency. For example, if you have trouble consistently using the past tense(s) when you speak, choose topics that force you to use the past tense. Here are a few to get you started: your first day in school, first time away from home. first kiss, first date, first cigarette, first punishment, first teacher.

If you have problems with constantly saying uh...uh...uh..., focus on trying not to hesitate.  Change the rules so that instead of taking your place the first time you say ah, your partner simply counts the number of times you do it. Keep a record, and focus on reducing the number of times you stop and hesitate with ah..ah... In the Toastmasters organization, this person is called an ah counter. 

Practice New Vocabulary  

If you are trying to practice using new vocabulary, make it a rule that specific words MUST be built into your one minute speech. Even if you speak perfectly for one minute, you lose a point if you don't use ALL of the words.  These could be any kind of words: words about the environment, parenting, psychology, crime, descriptive adjectives, power verbs , etc.

Don't Get too Anxious  

As the speaker in the first video said, no one is perfect. Native speakers can have problems with this game, especially when it comes to repeating words, so don't expect too much of yourselves. Make sure you are serious about practicing, but make sure you have fun at the same time. Try to make some of the content entertaining and funny. Laugh at yourself and your mistakes.

Choose Appropriate topics

Choose topics are small and narrow enough for you to be able to come up with something without having to think too hard.  For example, the topics of  sausages, bottled water, showers, shoes, lip piercing are all topics that you can probably start talking about immediately. Controversial topics such as capital punishment and  euthanasia, however, are better topics for prepared speeches in which you can do some research.

Develop Some Strategies

There are a number of strategies you can use to help yourself improve speaking about anything spontaneously. One of them, is to keep up with things that are going on around you - not just  news, but interesting developments in the areas of psychology, science, technology, child care .....  The more you know,  the more you can say.

I will discuss other strategies you can use in another post, but in the meantime, go to the SPEAKING PAGE  for more information on preparing for important advanced level speaking tests,  making presentations or simply holding a conversation.

One Minute topics

I have several lists of potential ONE MINUTE TOPICS topics that I am currently revising. I will post them within the next day or two. 

Two Helpful ESL Sites

Five years ago, ESL/EFL learners only had a few websites specifically aimed at helping them to improve their listening and speaking. Today, there are an increasing number of sites they can click on to practice listening and speaking, and pronunciation.  This is all due to the increasing amount of technology that is now available, as well as to the good will and dedication of many ESL teachers all over the world who are designing free practice activities for learners.  

In the post I will discuss two specific sites that are helpful, but before I do, readers should seriously think about expressing their thanks to those hard working instructors out there who truly want them to have the opportunity to practice out of class.  

English Central: Learning English with Video  


 

EnglishCentral is a Japan-based company backed by Google Ventures which "aims to become the premier, web-based conversational English language learning destination for desktop and mobile users."  The site is designed to help  students  improve their spoken English by watching and listening to videos and then recording their own version of each phrase they hear. Currently there are 196 categories including daily life, social, health, education, environment etc. The site's speech recognition technology evaluates your performance and gives you a score.  Each video has three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard.  As things stand now, the site is free and lets hope it remains so. You do have to register, but this only takes a few minutes.

VERDICT:
 I haven't personally tried it out, but others who have tell me that although the system seems a little off at the beginning - probably because you are getting used to it - it seems to work well after several tries.


Here is another site you should take a look at   [via Larry Ferlazzo]

VOA News.com Learning English: The Classroom

Voice of America has had its excellent Special English section for a while now, offering accessible news stories for learners of English. They've now added a new feature: The Classroom.  Here you will find Articles and Activities at 3 different skill levels, as well as an Idiom Dictionary and a Wordbook.

VERDICT
A very attractive site, which makes good use of Flash animation and sound. The only problem I have is that all of the articles (including the Advanced level ones)  are read in
slow ESL speak. While this is helpful for lower level English learners, students at the advanced level need to  be listening to  material that has been recorded at native speaker speed..

Let me know what you think.

Smile At Them! They Might Speak To You!

This summer I hurt my leg badly and spent some time in a wheelchair. This usually happened when I was in shopping centres, in parks,or at large outdoor concerts.

Many people are uncomfortable even looking at a person in a wheelchair. Maybe they feel sorry for the person and don't want to let her see their pity. Maybe they think the person in the chair doesn't want to be looked at.

But, imagine what might happen if the person in the wheelchair smiled at them, not with "a poor little me, I'm surviving" smile, but with a real "I love life. I'm happy and I'm enjoying myself smile."

In my case,whenever I smiled, not only did I get a big smile back, people actually spoke to me. My genuine, relaxed smile somehow signalled that they didn't have to feel uncomfortable about their good luck about not being the one in the wheelchair.

These people were strangers, but they spoke to me. What we spoke about depended on the venue. At the Roots and Blues Festival in Salmon Arm, they would ask me if I was enjoying the band. That often started a five minute conversation. At a dog park, we spoke about dogs. At the beach, we spoke about the weather conditions. In Canada talking about the weather can be a five minute conversation. In Vancouver, the chit chat can last 15 minutes or mlore if you want it to. .

Regardless of where I was, the result was usually the same. When I smiled at people, they spoke to me.


Many of you are newcomers to Canada who are not comfortable speaking English outside of the classroom. You're afraid of making mistakes, or being laughed at. I will discuss some of these fears in a different post.

But, imagine if you tried smiling whilke you were waiting for an elevator, sitting on a park bench, or waiting for a bus. Someone might actually smile back and ask you where you're from.
What a great opportunity for you to practice speaking English and making small talk!

All it takes is a smile - a big one. Try practicing in the mirror.

Five Ways Audio Books Can Help You Improve Your English

English audio books are a great resource for ESL students. Now that your language and reading skills are improving, it's important to learn how to pronounce new words and to understand the way people actually speak the language. One of the best ways to do that is to use audio books. When you do this, you listen to a someone read the text while you follow along.
Many ESL learners still read English word by word. Unfortunately reading in this
way actually prevents you from understanding what you are reading because you are focusing on on individual words rather than whole ideas. A word by itself has no meaning, but when put into a phrase or a sentence, it communicates an idea.

When you listen to a book at the same time as you are reading it, you can hear an English speaker reading the whole sentence and paragraph. Your eye moves along the paragraph along with the speaker's words. This can help you to improve your understanding of what you are reading.

Audio books can also help you to understand the pronunciation of words you are unfamiliar with. When you listen to an audio book, you also learn new vocabulary in the way it is meant to be spoken, as well as how to use specific grammar skills when speaking, reading and writing.

You can also “shadow read” after the speaker on the recording Shadow reading involves repeating the sentence, or paragraph after the reader has finished.This way you can practice the new words as well as the natural English phrasing the reader will use.

Another benefit to English audio books is listening to the language spoken at different speeds. Since many people do not speak slowly with many pauses in between words you will need to increase the speed that you understand the English language.

The easiest way to do this is to find English audio books that offer one to three different speeds that you can listen to. As you gain confidence in your reading skills—you will be able to move up to a normal speed and still be able to understand the stories being read.

Finally, English audio books also provide an easy way for you to listen to a variety of action packed stories and then practice your reading comprehension skills. Once you have listened to the English audio book—you should be able to answer questions about the story that will reflect your understanding of the material. Once you are able to do this accurately—you should be able to move up to the next level.

Overall, an English audio book is an excellent method to help you improve your English. Not only can practice and improve your comprehension, but you can also learn how to correctly pronounce many everyday words, as well as how to hear the way English people naturally speak – in phrases.

Audio Books are easy to find. You can locate them online, or at your local public library.The important thing is to look for topics that personally interest you. This could be a non fiction book on how to build a boat, or about new computer. It could also be a romance, mystery or science fiction novel. Even children’s books can be entertaining. You would be surprised at the mumber of new words you can learn. The main point is to have an enjoyable experience.

Here is a list of websites that offer free English audio books .

The Librivox Free Audiobook Collection

Audio Books

Open Culture Free Audio Books

Lit to Go

Books Should Be Free

Ways to Listen

First, download the audio book. You can then, transfer the MP3 file to your IPod so that you can listen on the bus, during your break at work, or simply when you are out for a walk. Another way is to burn the file onto a CD that you can play in your car. Listening to an interesting story is a great way to use your time if you get stuck in traffic. You can also simply download the file onto your computer and follow the text as you listen.

To get a free copy of the text of the novel, go to Internet Open Library and search for the book you want.