Learning English

I have been Calgary for almost one year. Since I came here, I have been learning English in EAP program. I will be done my English study. Happy!!!!! However, as non-native speakers, we must keeping learning English all the way even though we graduate from EAP program. Although we can understand what professors speak and communicate smoothly with native speakers, we still have a gap with native speakers, such as vocabulary, pronunciation and so on. Like my uncle, his English is very awesome. Actually, he is a PHD and works in Husky Oil. He can work in this big company, not only does he have a higher degree, but also his English is wonderful. It is certain that communication is very important at work. What if his English is not very good even though he has a higher degree? If we want to live in English-speaking countries, English is the basic skills. My uncle said:" There is no problem that I can deeply talk about professional knowledge with native speakers. However, I cannot understand the jokes spoken by native speakers at all. When one of my workmates talked about a joke one day, everyone around me laughed except for me." He said that the big reason is the different cultures and languages. He said that he/she is close to native speakers if someone can understand the jokes. Therefore, everyday my uncle listens to radio when he is on the C-train. Also, he listens to radio when he cooks or do anything. Oh, my gosh!!! Actually, in our home, we have several radios. One is in the kitchen, one is in the living room, and there is a radio in every bedroom. He even asks me to listen to radio every day. Oh. my god~~~~Actually, I am not interested in what the radio says.

Personally, learning English should totally immerse into English environment. For me, even though I speak English in the classes and at work. However, I speak Chinese after I get home, and most of my friends are Chinese. Maybe I will find a Canadian homestay next summer. I think that that is not enough for me to understand what professors said in the classes and the simple communication. I want to know more about Canadian culture and more language, such as slangs and idioms. I just want to try my best to immerse into Canada. Actually, it is hard for us to have foreign close friends due to different cultural background and languages. However, for us, we just try our best to live and study here. Another thing is that we study academic English. Sometimes, I found that we speak in English formally, but people in the daily life say something informally. Therefore, we should understand some expressions which are local. Like Chinese, we speak informally in the daily life, not use formally expressions.

I am writing this blog because I want to tell you guys that we must learn English all the way as non-native speakers even though you pass TOEFl exam or EAP program.

Try Our Beat!!!!!!!

Random writing

Today, we had a pizza party. It was our last pizza party in EAP programme, but some people did not come. Actually, EAP programme holds a pizza party at the end of every semester. I suggest that EAP programme should have various parties, not just pizza party. Another thing, we should have more communication in English, not just eat, eat and eat. Not only do we improve our English but also boost friendship. That would be awesome. Actually, the happies thing was that we did not have classes because all of us are tired of doing homework and testing, but we have to stick it out. Everyone wants to go to university as soon as possible. However, what we learned in EAP programme is useful for university, like writing because whatever you study, you usually should write projects to instructors. You can imagine whether or not you can get higher marks if instructors can not understand what you mean???? Therefore, writing a academic essay is to teach us how to express our opinions clearly, isn't it? For me, I take every course in EAP 3 seriously, particulary take writing class more seriously. Actually, every course is equally important. Reading is to teach you the comprehension. If you can not comprehend the textbook, you cannot study very well. Moreover, listening and speaking are also important. If you can not understand what instructors say, you can not study very well, either. If you have questions, you can not express your problems clearly, instructors cannot help you solve them. How sad it is!!!! English is a basic skill if you want to study or live in English-speaking countries.

Guys, two more weeks left. The Christmas is coming. Cheers!!!! Merry Christmas, everybody. Oh, I say it so early?? After final exams, maybe I will not have a chance to see you guys. So I want to say "Merry Christmas" ahead. I hope that we can keep in touch with you guys through the blog. Moreover, final exams are also coming. It is time to prepare our final exmas. Good luck to everyone. Study harder. That would be awesome~~~~~~~~~

Lust, Caution

This afternoon, my friend and I went downtown for wathcing a movie called "Lust, Caution". Actually, it is a Chinese movie with English subtitles. So it is good for us to understand it. Now, the movie is very hot in China. It is directed by An Li who is a famous director in China. The movie is starred by Chaowei Liang, Lihong Wang and Wei Tang. Actually, Chaowei Liang is a famous actor in China, and Lihong Wang is a famous actor and singer in China. But Wei Tang is a new actress. She is famous for this movie, the director said that her appearance is similar to the main actress in his imagination, so he picked out her as main actress in this movie. Wow, she is so lucky. Many audiences said that she must become famous if someone is chosen by An Li. Actually, Lihong Wang is a cute guy, not only does he sing very well, but also he acts wonderfully in many movies. There is no doubt that Chaowei Liang is an awesome guy, his performance in many movies is sooooooooooo perfect. It seems like that he has an inborn ability as an actor. Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The movies tells us a story between a woman and two men. The story happened in the hard time of China-----the time when Japan invaded China. There are very complex relationships among the three persons. However, it is a sad movie at the end. The woman saves her best love who is one of the men, and betrays another man and her friends, but her best lover has to kill the woman, another man and her friends due to his position even though he also loves her. So sad, so sad~~~~~~we believe that she will keep alive in his heart forever even though she is dead. Sad ending~~~~~

Personally, the translation in the movie is terrible. I do not think that foreigners can totally understand the deepest meanings in the movie. Many translation is mechanical and it loses the original meanings. However, I bet many foreigners likes the beautiful clothes----Qipao which are traditional clothes in China. It is soooooo beautiful.

Many people predict that the movie will get the Oscar Awards. I hope so!!!

Yahoooooo!!! Today, no classes in school

Yahoooooooo~~~~~~all of us were so happy today because we did not have classes in school. We went to Glenbow museum. Actually, everything is study opportunity, not just in the school. We learned a lot of knowledge including appreciating the pictures in the museum. Today, we totally immersed into art atmosphere so that we had a good mood. Even though I am not an artist, and I do not know what kind of pictures are the best, but I can keep calm mood and forget everything around me when I see wonderful pictures or listen perfect music. I believe that it is the common feature for all of people. From seeing these pictures, we deeply knew Emily Carr including her thoughts, emotions and so on. She expressed her feelings according to drawing the pictures. Seeing her pictures is knowing herself. There is no doubt that she is an awesome artist. This chapter we are learning is about arts. After we saw some picures, maybe we will have more interests to study this chapter. Gooooooooood~~~~~~~~~ Also, in our group, we knew a person named Rainer who works in the museum. He is a kind old man. He gave us a lot of help. At first, we did not know what these pictures stand for, so it was hard for us to finish the project which was given by Soctt. We had to ask him. He told us a lot of information about these pictures. And he told us his thoughts and feelings about these pictures. Later, he told us a lot about himself. He said that he is form German, and he lives in Canada half of year and lives in German half of year. He was also interested in us------international students. He asked us if or not stay in Canada after graduating, and the language in China because he knows there are so many dialects in China. Anyway, he was very helpful. And we chatted smoothly like old friends.

After visiting the museum, I got home earlier. Because I have not yet recovered from a bad cold, I got a good sleep after home. That would be perfect relaxation. Gooooood~~~~~ Guys, it will be colder and colder, take care of yourselves. Look at the ground, it has been covered by snow. I am looking forward to next spring and summer.

Al Gore and his film

This Thursday and Friday, we watched a film called " An Inconvenient Truth". Actually, it is a popular film. In 2006, Al Gore starred in the Academy Award-winniung documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, which discussed global warming and the environment. Of course, the film won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It is certain that Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Wow, so lucky!! I believe that all of us learn a lot of information about global warming and environment according to watching this film. In the film, he answered 5 "w" questions and one " how" question. Actually, discussing an academic topic is boring, however, Al Gore talked about this topic lively. He was funny. I believe that all audiences, who were watching the film, were fully absorbed in the film. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. So everyone has the responsibility for protecting our environment. You can imagine, how can we live if the environmental system is destroyed?

After watching the film, I searched much information about Al Gore on the Internet. Al Gore was the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is not only a politican but also an environmental activist. In the past, he focused on his political career. Now, his job is promoting environmental awareness. However, somebody asked him if or not he will participate as a candidate in the 2008 presidental election. He did not answer this question, so the possibility is not rejected.

I think, environmental crisis, which was put forward by Al Gore, will be paid great attention to by people in the world. If everyone makes a voluntary action to protect environment, the threat of environmental crisis would be alleviated.

My Friday

So sad, so sad!! This Friday, I was absent from school because I got sick. This was my first time I have been absent since I studied English in EAP. This Thursday, I helped one of my workmates work because she went to Vancouver. I am such a nice person. Since I need to work on Thursday, I finished my Annotated Bibliography on Wednesday evening. After school, I really do not want to go to work, but I promised her that I would help her work. Therefore, I still went there. Unfortunately, there was a concert near our store ( By the way, I work in Jugo Juice of student centre). So we were so busy that night. I worked for 6 hours. When I got home, it was almost 11 o'clock. Actually, I never worked over 5 hours. It was challenge for me. You know, concert usually makes a big noise. When I made juice, I need to have a big voice to call customers in order that they can hear me to pick up juice. I really felt tired. As soon as I got home, I went to bed. In the morning, my aunt woke me up. After I got up, I felt headache, and I got a sore throat. I told my aunt, my aunt let me take some medicine. Then I go back to my bed. Later, my aunt came to my bedroom, she said:" You must gave your teacher a call or send an e-mail to your teacher if you cannot go to school." It was very hard for me to get up again. However, I still got up and sent e-mails to Scott and Sandi. After that, I went back to my bed. I kept sleeping until 12 o'clock. I felt a little bit better. I checked my e-mail. Even though I lost much information about knowledge that day, I still learned a little bit from Scott's email reply. In my email, I said:"Can I ask for sick leave?" You guys know what I mean, however, "sick leave" refers to major illnesses that take weeks to recover from. If someone needs one day off, that person cannot say "ask for sick leave". I should thank Scott to tell me that. I believe that I will not have the same mistake next time.

I got a good rest on Friday and Saturday, I really feel better now. Thank goodness!!!

Halloween Day

Halloween was in the school.
Wednesday was Halloween Day. Since I have been here, it was my first Halloween Day in Canada. This Monday and Tuesday, Sandi told us a lot of information about Halloween including the history of Halloween, Jack-O-Latern, Trick-or-Treating and so on. This Wednesday, in the class, Scott got some Halloween games for studying and gave us Halloween oranges. Wow, it was awesome!!! Now, I like this word "awesome" which is usually spoken by Scott. Now, I like to say this word to somebody who does good job. Sounds good~~~~Right? In the listening/speaking class, Sandi brought many costume, candies and chips, as well as a big pumpkim. Sandi wore a pretty costume, like a pumpkim. Some students tried on the costume. Wow. it is funny. Some students told us the horrrible stories. Also, Lisbeth gave each of us a bag of candies. It tastes yummy!!!

Halloween was in my house.
Actually, my uncle bought costume including hats and clothes. Before that night, we had a good plan. My uncle and aunt stayed at home for handing out candies, and my big cousin, small cousin and I went Trick-or-Treating. My big cousin even told me that she wanted to dress herself as a witch. However, what a pity. I had to work. So I can not join them. Actually, after school, I really did not want to go to work. But I promised my boss that I would go to work that night. So sad!!! After work, I got home at almost 12 o'clock. They had slept. I saw tons of candies on the table. That must be their harvest, I thought. Good job. I picked out some of them and ate. Yummmy, yummy. I ate such sweet candies that I can not sleep that night. So sad!!

Even though I did not enjoy the first Halloween Day, I ate the sweet candies, I felt so sweet in my heart. Next Halloween Day, I will enjoy it. Hope that everyone has Happy Halloween Day~~~~ every year.

Sad for pop reading quiz and second major essay

Yesterday, we had pop reading quiz. Unfortunately, I had seen the back of the last page until the last two minutes. I had no time to finish that, which made me so sad. My goodness. It reminds me that I should check how many pages first, then do it in the exams.

So sad, I just got 78% about my second major essay. I tried my best to do it, but I did not get above 86%. Actually, I really do not want to exam effective writing after I go to university. From the beginning of this semester, I always focus on my writing, I wish I could improve my writing above 86%. On the writing class of Thursday, I looked some essays from my classmates who got higher marks and who got lower marks. I found that somebody who got higher marks ususally had perfect organizaiton and grammar. For me, I wrote too much information which made organizaiton unclear. Hence, when I wrote my essay on mid-term examination, I focused on organzation which made readers easier to catch information. Guys, writing is really important for your university. In the university, you guys should hand in many homework, like lab report, if you guys write perfectly, it is easier for professors to understand. Maybe you can get higher marks. In EAP programme, it is a good chance for us to improve our writing because it is the basis of our reports of univesity. If we do not get higher marks, we should really pay attention to writing. The most important thing is that we should find the reason why we can not get our satisfactory marks. Next essay, we can correct our errors so as to improve it. Good for us.

From today, we have mid-term examination, good luck to everybody.

Mad

Mad, mad, mad~~~~~~~ everything makes me mad. These day, I am mad. On Monday, there was something wrong with my computer because I cannot print anything. So I had to save my homework----Speaking Journal in my USB, then transfered it to my uncle's computer, and printed it. Until now, I have not yet had time for repairing it. Secondly, these days, I am trying to register my courses, but I cannot register my math course 249. On Tuesday morning, I went to Admission Office to check the reason, they told me that I did not get 70% for math in high school. At that time, it drove me mad. Actually, I do not understand how they evaluated my grades, why is it so low? I do not believe that. Mad. On Wednesday afternoon, I went to math science for getting some solvable methods. That guy told me that nobody can evaluate the grades again and change it, so I must attend a diagnostic test and pass it, then I could take that course. So sad. Actually, I attended the math course 249 when I did my first attending the lecture, I found that it was not difficult, it is even easier for me. Thirdly, I do not know when I can transfer into business because the requirements in business are so high, I am afaid of that. Mad. I really want to study accounting in business. So mad. Actually, now, the most important thing for me is that I should study harder in English because English plays the most important role in taking professional courses, we can say that English is the basis of understanding professional courses.

Mad. I told my parents these stuff, they told me that nobody can predict what happen in the future, I must work hard on everything now. When this semester starts, I am always absorbed in my English study. However, this week, I really did not want to go over my study because of bad mood. This weekend, I will readjust my mood for my study.

Thanksgiving day & Heritage Park

Today is Thanksgiving Day. Since I have been Canada, this is the first Thanksgiving Day I celebrate. When I was in China, I had heard the famous traditional festival---Thanksgiving Day. And I have known that Canada celebrates Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October, but the United States celebrates the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. So we have a three-day weekend, and we do not have too much homework. How happy it is!!! We can enjoy the long weekend. In the morning, my aunt said we should have some activities on the special day. So my big cousin suggested to go to Heritage Park where it has many antiques. Hence, we five ( my uncle, aunt, and my two cousines and I) went to the Heritage Park in the afernoon.

Actually, Heritage Park is like a peaceful village, no noise, and it has big lawns, beautiful sea. When seeing these stuff, everyone could feel comfortable. We saw many antiques such as ship, train, and houses, we even saw chickens and geese which were playing happily. well, we took two horses drawn wagon-ride. Wow, the two white horses look so strong. The driver, Bob told us that they have been Calgary for 15 years from England, such a long time. I thought they should miss their hometown very much, like me. Even if I have been Calgary for 9 months, I always miss my family members, my friends, food and everything in my hometown. I all the way think that animals have strong emotions as humans. Anyway, it took us about 20 minutes on enjoying two horses drawn wagon-ride, as well as enjoying the "village" scenes. Then we took the old train. This kind of old train I saw in the movie. Today, I saw a real one and took it. How exciting!! You guys could see the picture on the top of my this blog. It is not very too long, but so heavy. When working, we can see the smog coming out from the train. When I saw the train, I felt that I came back many many years ago, hahahahaha. After that, we took the SS Moyie ship, it is not very big, it just has two floors. Upon boarding, my big cousin and I went directly to the second floor because we standed higher, we could see further. I felt that the sky and the sea was connected together. Wow, wow, I could not believe. Such a good day, we were close to the nature.

Actually, Thanksgiving meals feature turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkim pie, but we do not have enough time to prepare them, what a pity. So, before coming home, we just bought turkey from Superstore. I wish that I could have a real Thanksgiving Day next year, like the Thanksgiving Day in the movie. Cheer~~~~

Calaway Park

Usually,when September comes, the leaves turn more and more yellow, then they drop to the ground, finally trees become bald men. It predicts that winter will come. I believe that everyone in Canada likes summer in which we can have a lot of fun, such as camping, picnic, travel, and so on. During this summer holiday, I went to Baff with my uncle, aunt, and my two cousines, and we went outside for barbecue and picnic. How happy it is. I believe many people have a lot of activities in summer holiday. However, as September came, we did not go anywhere because of bad weather. The lucky thing was that the weather was fine today because it had a lot of sunshine. Maybe people have not a chance to enjoy sunshine any more until next summer. So many people treasure the good weather to go outside for fun including us. As a result, my uncle decided to take us to Calaway Park, but my aunt could not go there because she had to work. What a pity!!!!

Actually, Calaway Park is an amusement park. And the park features a variety of rides. This was my first time to go to Calaway Park when I have been Calgary. So I tried every ride in the park except for childish rides. What fun!! Both my big cousin and I like thrill, we tries thrill rides first. When we reached the areas of thrill rides, we heard the screaming here and there from people who were riding thrill rides. My favorite thrill ride was Roller Coaster which did not make us scared, on the contrary, it made us excited. So we rode it twice. My uncle said that we were two crazy girls. My another favorite was Boat Ride which made us become us dripping from head to legs. How exciting it is!! There were many rides which cannot be called English names by me, I can just call the Chinese names. So I had to ask my big cousine, I cannot remember most of names, I can just remember some names which are easier to remember, such as Biplane, Storm ride and Chaos. But it does not matter, geting a lot of fun is the most important, isn't it?

Next summer, I want to Calaway Park again. Yahoo!!!!

Mid-autumn Festival

Yesterday, September 25th, it was Mid-autumn in China. All Chinese know about the story of Mid-autumn Festival. I also want you guys who are from different countries know Chinese traditional festival----Mid-autumn Festival. Long long ago, there was a man called Houyi and a beautiful young girl called Chang'e who was Houyi 's wife. Actually, Houyi was a famous archer. Now at that time, there were 10 suns that took turns to circle the earth---one every 10 days. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. After completing his task, the emperor gave him a pill which could made people keep young forever. Houyi took the pill home and hid it. Later, Chang'e found the pill and ate it. Immediately, she found that she could fly. When Houyi came home, he dicovered that Chang'e was flying into sky. After that, they were separated in different places, one was in the heaven, another was on the earth. Once a year, on the 15th of the full moon, emperor of heaven awolled Houyi visits his wife. This is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.

These days, I was busy with my study and work. Unexpectedly, I forgot Mid-autumn Festival. The luck thing was that Wei reminded me of Mid-autumn Festival. Yesterday evening, I phoned Wei after I came home from work.
She asked me:" Did you eat Moon Cake?"
At that time, I did not know what she said. I asked her:" Moon Cake?"
She said " Today is Mid-autumn today, do not you know that?"
" Really? I forgot that."

After that, I checked the calender. It was Mid-autumn on September 25th. Oh, my god!!! I really forgot it. In China, on Mid-autumn Festival, all family members should get together, eat Moon Cake, and enjoy the full and beautiful moon. If you can not get home to get together with family members, no matter how far it is, you should give a call to your family members in order to greet them. However, I did not forget calling them. Too bad, so sad~~~~~

Today, before I wrote blog, I talked with my parents and saw them through the webcam. They told me about the acitivities of Mid-autumn Festival in my hometown, and how they enjoy the festival. Sounds good~~~~hahahahaha~~~~~

Sleep Tips of reducing stresses (3)

Ok, a person needs at least 8 hours for sleep to function properly, in this case, he/she could reduce stresses.

Sleep
This is probably the single most abused aspect of peoples lives when it comes to creating stress because of our “rushed” lifestyle, which tends to encourage not sleeping. Many decide to sacrifice sleep for the sake of deadlines, work and social outings. Not sleeping for the sake of a work deadline is something you probably already aim to avoid, sometimes unsuccessfully, but the idea that missing sleep because of a great party or a big night out may not seem like such a bad idea to you. You are probably willing to make the sacrifice, potentially wiping out your next day from being excessively tired, in exchange for a fun-filled evening. Everyone else does it and you don’t want to miss out on all the fun. In your case you know your body best. The only suggestion I have is that if you currently feel less than 100% take a look at your sleeping patterns and see if you can find a correlation between feeling your best with a good night’s sleep. I’m sure you will find that sleep is as important as food and exercise and deserves just as much attention when it comes to reducing your stress.

According to three blogs about tips of reducing stresses, I believe that you have already knew the right ways of reducing stresses. Hope that you could keep them in your mind because it is good for you!!!

Musicand Food Tips of redcuing stresses (2)

Now, I continue introducing tips of reducing stresses. In fact, muisc and food are also good methods about reducing stresses.

Music
The best companion for exercise is music. Music soothes the soul as they say, and I’m sure I don’t have to convince you of the powers of music to reduce your stress.

Food
Eating well benefits you in two ways - the obvious, it works because it’s healthy for your body, but also I find it healthy for your mind too. Knowing that you are eating well and sticking to certain self-imposed restrictions, means that you feel good mentally and physically about your food intake. This is great because these two areas of your life reinforce each other positively. When you are eating well you mentally pat yourself on the back, have more confidence and find it easier to continue to eat well. When you break from this you feel worse mentally way before your body experiences any obvious negative effects from eating badly. you very quickly get back on track because your mind wouldn’t let you stray for too long. Some people call this self-discipline, but others call it maintaining peace of mind. Overall I believe in a balanced diet - fruit, veges, nuts, breads, a little dairy, meat and plenty of water - always drink plenty of water. There’s enough information out there on eating right and I’m sure you know what parts of your own diet you would like to change. Eating right comes down to discipline. When you change something for the long enough it becomes a habit and you face resistance to change it. The trick is to make all your habits positive.

Exercise Tips of reducing stresses (1)

In modern society, everyone has more or less stresses from family, work and study. The more important is that we should know the right ways of reducing stresses. Today, I will talk about the tips of reducing stresses.

Exercise
This is probably the single most important change. If you aren’t exercising, and this means something rigorous that makes you breath heavy for a good 20+ minutes per day, then you need to add it to your life immediately. You will know when you have worked hard enough because after you feel absolutely buggered but the adrenaline and lovely endorphins are flowing. I’m convinced that regular exercise is the key to happiness . It creates a natural high which you don’t pay for in the morning (once you get used to it) by feeling worse like you do from other, not-so-natural highs, such as drugs and alcohol. Exercise helps you sleep better, increases your overall energy, makes you chirpy, you think clearer, can work and play longer, increases your general confidence and best of all - it keeps you living longer with less trips to the doctor.
If you haven’t adopted a regular exercise pattern then this should be your number one priority. Make sure it’s regular - aim for every second day to start. You will start to enjoy it so much that you will want to do something everyday, in fact you will crave some form of exercise and it just won’t feel right not exercising. Once you get confident in your physical health you will be more eager to try other sports too. If you are just beginning start with what you know you can do, perhaps walking at a fast pace to get your heart rate up, then up to some jogging bursts, then maybe try some tennis or whatever takes your fancy.

Calgary Zoo

Today, sunshine was so beautiful. So my uncle, aunt, two cousines and I went to zoo. The zoo is so large, and we could see many wild animals in the zoo. Before I went to zoo, I just knew animals' Chinese names; however, I knew many animals' English names by watching introduction about these animals. It was helpful to boost my vocabulary. For example, "ostrich" was one of the words I knew from animals'introduction in the zoo. Actually, we study in Canada, so we have good English environment and atmosphere. Whenever it is and wherever we go, we could study English as long as we pay more attention.

Since it was hot, some animals, like lions and tigers, were so lazy, they did not want to stay outside and just stayed their rooms so that we could not see them. Too bad, so sad!! In the zoo, I saw the real gorillas. You know, we studies primates at the beginning of this term, so I just saw what the gorillas are like in the picture from our textbook. But I saw the real gorillas in the zoo, how exciting!!!! There were just two gorillas in captivity. When arriving in there, one of gorrilas was eating a banana and did not see anybody. Also, chameleons, which had not been seen before, were so small. Meanwhile, I saw the process of becoming colourful about one of chameleons. There was a green one, all of sudden, it became red, like it changed its coat. How interesting it is!!!

Of course, I saw many kinds of animals, and I can not introduce every one to you guys. If you have time, you can go to Calgary Zoo for watching these cute animals, at the same time, you could learn some words about animals. Sounds great!!!

To Speak or Not

Now, I will continue telling the story.~~~~~~~

In a short while, everyone arrived at the drinking place. There were two bowls on the ground. One was a beautiful gold bowl filled with clean water. The other was a broken wooden bowl filled with dirty water. Everyone looked at the water in the wooden bowl, each species squinted and said, " I am not going to drink this dirty water!" Then they looked at the beautiful gold bowl that was shining in the bright sun. It was so beautiful! Everyone could not help thinking, "What a beautiful bowl! It must contain the talking water." Therefore, they all rushed to drink it. Only the little frog who grew up in the pond knew which bowl was the "talking water". He whispered to Man, "Go to drink the water in the broken wooden bowl. That is the talking water. Do not let the others drink it." Man said," No! You should drink it." The little frog said, "I can only swim in the water and hop on the land. I can not do as much as a human can. It really does not matter whether I talk or not." When the frog finished speaking, it drank the water in the golden bowl with one big gulp. The man then drank up the talking water in the broken wooden bowl. From then on, only man was permitted to talk. Everything else remained silent.

Here, the story is over. Maybe it is not true, but these stories make life become more colourful. Meanwhile, it also gives people many imagination! Why did people creat the story? I think, because people in the old days could not explain how humans had the ability to talk an other forms of life could not, they created this story. Though the little frog's narration, the man in the story is unselfish, and helpful. Because of these traits, he was respected and granted the opportunity to talk.

Actually, you can give full play to your imagination for creating your own stories. That would be interesting!

To Speak or Not

Wow, you know, China has a long rich history, of course, it has many traditional folktales. Today, I will introduce one folktale called " To speak or not" from China.

It was said that in the early days not only people, but tigers, lions, elephants, trees, stones, in short, everything could talk. One day, everybody was talking at the same time. This woke up the God of Heavens. God angrily said, "Too many things can talk. I think I will just allow one species to talk. This way it won't be so noisy." But , who should talk and who should not talk?
To be fair, the heavenly God called everyone to assemble in front of him. He wanted everyone to drink the magic water. There were two kinds of magic water, one was the "talking water." If one drank it, he might continue to talk. The other kind was the "dumb water." If one drank this, he would not be able to talk anymore. So he scheduled a date for the water drinking event. When the day came, every object hurried to the pre-arranged place to drink the water. Since everyone was afraid that the supply of "talking water" would be completely consumed by those arriving first, they hurried and ran. Only the samll frog was left behind, hopping along. Because it was so slow, it became very worried. When Man saw it, he held up the little frog and kept on walking. The little frog was so thankful. He thought, "Only man has the kindest heart in this world. Man is so thoughtful, if he does not get a chance to drink the "talking water", it would be such a pity! I should think of some way to allow him to drink the water. But only one species could drink the "talking water". If Man drinks it, then I would not have any to drink. And I would not be able to talk anymore. The little frog thought and thought. He did not know what
to do. He looked up at Man. Man smiled at him and said, "Do not worry, little frog, I will get you there quickly." When the little frog heard this, he felt so embarrassed by his selfishness that he lowered his head. He thought, " I am too greedy. Man did not even think of himself. He only thought of getting me there in time. I have to get the talking water for Man to drink."

What happened? Would the little frog let Man drink "talking water" ? If you want to know the ending of story, please pay attention to my next blog. Thank you!!!

Canada Day

This year, Canada is 140 years old!!!!!

As international student, we study and live in Canada, at the same time, we should also know it well and deeply. Anybody knows what Canada Day is?

Canada Day is Canada's national holidays, marking the establishment of Canada as a self-governing country on July 1, 1867. It is a federal holiday generally celebrated on July 1, annually by all provincial governments and most businesses across the country. July 1, a day off from work and study for most citizens and residents. Canada Day is Canada's main patriotic holiday, often a time for outdoor activities in the early Canadian summer. So most cities have organized celebrations, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues and free musical concerts. The celebrations in Ottawa are particularly large and lavish. Every Canada Day, hundreds of thousands gather on Parliament Hill to celebrate Canada' s birth. Pay more attention, however, in 2007, the new official site for Canada Day celebration was at Rideau Hall.

In Calgary, the festivities include daytime family fun entertainment on three stages at Prince's Island, and main-stage musical performaces at Olympic Plaza throughout the evening. Around 10 o'clock, all kinds of beautiful fireworks are let off. A number of people stand there for watching it until 2 o'clock! How happy~~~~~

Enjoy sunshine

Hi~~~guys!!! This week, the weather is perfect!!! Is that right?? How beautiful sunshine it is!!!!Enjoy it!! In Canada, the summer is very short and approximate 3 to 4 months. The daytime is very long and it becomes dark about 10 o'clock. Do not waste the nice time, guys! I have enjoyed the first summer since I came to Canada. Every day, my uncle, aunt, two cousines and I go to park for playing after supper. There is a small park where it is close to our house. From 7 pm to 9 pm, there are many people in the park, including children, young people and old people. Some children even play soccer as matches!!!!

Yesterday, my cousine who is in China now gave us a call. He said that he would come to Canada this summer. And he will go to Beijing in order to apply for VISA. We are so happy!Meanwhile, he told us that he had examed Enter High School Examination at the beginning of this June. He received the proficiency of the best high shcool in our city last week. We congratulated him on his exam results by phone. If he successfully apply for VISA, maybe we will visit Vancouver. How happy it is!! So I wish he could come to Canada and enjoy the summer together!!!

At last, you guys, have a good summer!!!

After Midterm Exam

Wow~~~Wow~~~Wow~~~~Time flies!!!! We has finished half of this term. Busy, busy, busy!!!

Even though we are busy, we learn much more about English. We experienced the midterm exam for three days. After that, we have five days for break. Relax~~~~Is that right? Now we are breaking. I hope that you guys have a good rest!!!

Until now, we have not yet known the results of exam. These days, I always worrying about the results of exam so that I am not very happy. However, there is a saying:" The most important thing is the processes, not the results." Maybe it is right. Whatever the results are, anybody should face it bravely. There are many experiences in everyone' life, the exam is just a small test! In the future, we would face much more, maybe that is the test of life, career. For us, we should enjoy sunshine, clouds, rain and so on every day. No matter how the thing is, good or bad, everything can not affect our moods. Thank for everything in our lives!!!

Finally, I hope that everyone' English has a great improvement this term and all people enjoy every day. Have a good result of examination!!!

Bad News

Look at this picture, his name is Huang Ju who was the Vice Premier of State Council in my country.


This time, I will tell you guys a piece of bad news happened in my country. The Vice Premier of State Council called Huang Ju. He was an outstanding leader in my country. He helped Chinese people to do many good things and solve many isuues in China. All these stuffs made China stronger and stronger. As well as, he tried to promote peace and understanding between nations. However, he died on June 2nd, 2007 in Beijing due to his illness which was not cured. He just was 69 years old. So sad~~~~What a pity~~~~~~~~~ All Chinese people are mourning for his death these days.


Even though he died, I believe that he would live in every Chinese person' heart. He and his contribution for China and Chinese people will be written down in Chinese history.

Although we are not in China, we should mourn for his death, like all of Chinese people in our country. Meanwhile, blessing him in the heaven is happy forever!!!!!

My idol

Alan'file
Chinese name:Luo Zhi Xiang
English name:Alan
Sex:male
Birthday:July 30th, 1979
Hometown:Taiwan
Profession:singer,host,actor and dancer
Height:180cm
Weight:79kg
Blood Type:A
Hobbies:play basketball,swimming
Favorite Music Type:HIP-HOP
Favorite Fruits:watermelon and papaya
Favorite animal: dog and cat
Favorite season:winter

When he was 3 years old, he began learning to beat the drum. He had a genius for music because he did better than others. Later, he studied to play the piano and dance. Whatever difficulties he met, he never gave up. He just wanted to enjoy the music which gave him happiness, so he thought that difficulties are a kind of challenge. He believed that his dream would come true all the time. When he was 15 years old, he became a host . During hosting programmes, the director found he did well in singing. So he was given a chance to sing songs and he did pretty well. Then he had his the first album. At that time, he was hosting while singing. Because of his humor and good songs, many fans were attracted by him so that he became popular. After becoming well-know, he worked harder than before. He tried to develop in different fields. So he played the dramas and movies. He was known by all people besides Taiwan in my country. Even so, he still work hard now. Not only does he like them, but also he wants to relax people after people's hard work.

So far, he has hosted many interesting programmes and released 4 albums, as well as played many dramas and movies. On Novemeber 17th, 2006, his new album was released called "Spe Show". The music style is China-Pop. One of the songs in the album is a English song called "Twinkle". I hope that everyone appreciate his songs.

Intelligent Game

Questions:
　　1. Why are giraffes the cheapest to feed?
　　2. Why are dogs afraid to sunbathe?
　　3. Why is the pig always eating?
　　4、Why are politicians no longer concerned with snowball fights?
　　5、Why don't women get bald as soon as men?
　　6、What can pierce one's ears without a hole?
　　7. What's the longest word in the world?
　　8. Why does time fly?
　　9. Where can a dog get another tail?
Can answer the nine questions? If you can answer all of them, you will be excellent. ~~~~~Hurry up!!! Do not waste time!!!
If you finish them, now you can see the following keys.
　Keys:
　　1. They make a little food go a long way.
　　2. They don't want to be hot-dog.
　　3. He's making a hog of himself.
　　4、The cold war is over.
　　5、Because women wear hire longer.
　　6、Noice.
　　7. Smiles. Because there's a mile between the letter 's'.
　　8. To get away from all those who are trying to kill it.
　　9. At a retail store.

Well done!

Special Food From My Hometown

I am from China and I live in SW. of China: Sichuan Province. Every Chinese knows that province, but not everyone knows my hometown, which is a small city, is called Nanchong. My hometown is famous for spicy food. As a Sichuan' girl, I am good at eating spicy. My friends said me:" You are crazy about spicy." That is true. Eating spicy, maybe no one can win me. In my hometown, there are many kinds of special food, such as hot pot, rice noodles, barbecue and so on. I like all of them. Generally speaking, people in China call these food "Sichuan food". You can also eat "Sichuan food" in Chinatown of Calgary. When I was in hometown, my friends and usually sat along the bank of river while eating barbecue and drinking beer. Different from Calgary, people like barbecue by themselves. However, people sell barbecue as a kind of business, we did not barbecue by ourselves. When we go there, we just ordered whatever we want. Then we were chatting while eating, drinking, appreciating the scenery from the river.
Welcome to my hometown and enjoy the food.

Happy~Happy~Happy

Hi,guys

I am very happy that I can know all of you and we study together. I believe that our English can be improved under Regina, Jeannie and Pam'helps.

Good luck to all of you! Have fun!

by Tina