Olympics Vocabulary – Curling Glossary

In honor of our fabulous 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, I am posting some sports-related vocabulary and expressions, so that you may enjoy the games more and have a better chance of understanding the plays of the sports.  Enjoy! Curling Glossary (from http://www.ecf-web.org/glossary.html ) BACK LINE The line behind the house. Once crossed a stone is […]

Confidently Asking for a Raise in Salary

Asking for a raise can be very uncomfortable, especially if you are a bit shy, new to the company or unsure of your value/worth. Let me give you some hints that have helped me along my career path, and even now during self-employment. 1 – know the industry standards. You have to know what a […]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello wonderful readers, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. It is funny that this greeting is almost becoming extinct here in Toronto, as some people are concerned with offending others who do not celebrate Christmas. Instead we use phrases like “Happy […]

English Acronyms and Short Forms for the Office

Here are a few acronyms that you most likely will come across as you work in a professional setting, like an office.  These will come in handy (be useful) as you read and write office memos, emails, texts and letters. Re:  This means “Regarding”, as in “regarding (or in regards to) your question/memo/email etc.” Appt:  […]

Christmas/Holiday Party Humour

Company Memo FROM: Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director TO: All Employees DATE: November 18 RE: Gala Christmas Party I’m happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at Calhoun’s. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks! We’ll […]

How to write a 5-paragraph report

Initial Criteria for Writing Reports Writing Conventions: These are the basic parts of your writing: the spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. Do errors make it hard to understand your writing? Logic: Logic determines the order of your writing and how easy it is to follow your ideas. Proper logic determines how well your introduction, […]

Origins of Canadian Thanksgiving (this weekend!)

Canadian Thanksgiving – How It Began The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North […]

Clink, Then Drink! Do Not Put Down That Glass!

Hello, Here is a tradition that I have always known and obeyed, yet I cannot say for sure if it is a Canadian-only tradition. I suspect not. When someone ‘toasts’ you (proposing a toast means to say something nice about you or your personal/business relationship before drinking) it is polite to listen attentively, make eye […]

American Accent Reduction Resource

Lynn Bo is the founder of Accent Master. She is an American teacher who has an interesting blog that has videos and podcasts as well as posts regarding accent reduction or accent modification. You may find them useful, if you are interested in studying or imitating pure American English. http://accentmaster.blogspot.com/ I have a slightly different […]

Mingle with Myngle to Learn Language

Hello everyone, I have had a request to introduce to you Myngle, a cool online language-learning company. I will now let a representative from Myngle describe their company: Myngle is a pioneer of live online language learning. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Myngle removes the physical dimension for language learning, allowing students and teachers to […]