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.