The Weather in Canada

Hi there!

I've seen this video over and over again, and every time I see it, I have to laugh. I played it yesterday in the talk about Canada, but here it is in case you want to see it again. Some useful vocabulary follows below...

bundle up - put on warm clothes

windchill (factor) - an estimated measurement of the cooling effect of air and wind, esp. when applied to the loss of body heat from exposed skin; or "sensación térmica"

wallowed with another winter storm - 'to wallow' is what a hippopotamus does in the mud, enjoying the moment. Here the verb is used ironically, of course

to hover around - being nearly

8 balmy degrees - used ironically, since "balmy" means pleasant, soothing

swear words and colloquial expressions - holy crap!, you have to be freaking kidding me; tabernac!; suck it! ('Tabernac' is one of the worst words you can use in French Canada, where there is a strong tradition of Roman Catholicism. This sacrilegious word takes the word 'tabernacle' in vain)

Yes, we...

...make a fool of ourselves if we boast of how well something is done when it wasn't well done from the very beginning. The new campaign for bilingual schools contains, as you may have heard, a grammatical mistake. Yes, we know that grammar is not the ONLY important thing in language learning and usage, but as a teacher I have to insist on the need to communicate and do it correctly at the same time.

Do we want to pursue this objective?

Yes, we do! or

Yes, we want to!

(Btw, could people stop repeating Obama's motto for a while? Such lack of originality is getting on my nerves...)

Review - Telephone conversations

Hi there!

Here are some links for further practice of telephone conversations.

1. Revise the useful vocabulary.

2. Complete a dialogue where someone makes an appointment, and another one where someone leaves a message

3. Listen to this conversation and do the exercises.