English Language Students go Bungee Jumping in Canada

 

  Camber College Students go BUNGEE JUMPING!

 

 

Here is a fun Youtube video of 5 of our students going Bungee Jumping. It sure looks like these international students had a great time in Canada learning English. Join us at Camber college and "Live the Edventure".

 

http://www.cambercollege.com/Activities.html

 

 

Canadian Christmas Traditions

CANADIAN CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

 

 

Canada is such a large country filled with people from many different cultural backgrounds. In fact, Canada's multiculturalism, is one of the things many Canadian are most proud of. Because of this, there are many different Christmas traditions in Canada.

 

Christmas in Canada is about spending time with family and friends. Slow down and enjoy the company of loved ones and exchange gifts with the people you care about.

 

Canadian children believe in Santa Claus. Canadians are proud to say that Canada is home to Santa Claus but I'm sure people in Finland or even Turkey would disagree. ;) Many children are dressed up in their finest clothes and taken to the Shopping Mall to have there picture taken with Santa and get the opportunity to tell Santa Claus what they want for Christmas this year. This picture then gets sent to Grandparents and distant family members. 

 

One of the most important traditions is the Christmas Tree and the decorating of it with lights and shiny Christmas decorations. The family get together and go out to pick their tree and spend the evening drinking eggnog, warm apple cider or hot cocoa and decorating the tree. 

 

Many Canadian families have cookie-baking parties. They each bring a recipe for Christmas cookies or baked good, then bake them and exchange them with the members of their family. Each family, at the end of the party goes home with a variety of different cookies to enjoy over the Christmas season.

 

There are many parties to attend leading up to the Christmas holiday. Work holiday parties are when companies take their employees out to dinner and give them gifts as a token of their appreciation for the last year of work. Friends will sometimes throw a party or get together with friend and family that they will not have a chance to see over the holiday break.

 

If this is your first Christmas in Canada then hopefully this blog entry helps to keep you informed during the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

www.cambercollege.com

 

Halloween Costume Ideas 2012

Halloween Costume Ideas 2012

 

 

For some of you this might be your first Halloween and first time in Canada. Your ESL school is throwing a Halloween party and you need to dress up....What/Who are you going to be? Most ESL schools will be having a contest for the best costume and you want to win. You might even be a little nervous or shy but trust me it will be a lot of fun! Start thinking creative!

 

You may also be going to private parties or clubs and bars that you will need a Halloween costume for. For Canadians it is the one time of year you get to be whoever you want. Whether you decide to go as something spooky and scary or funny/sexy like your favourite hollywood celebrity or Disney character you will have a good time. I listed some costume ideas and links to other sites for inspiration.

 

 

Vampire

Vampire Woman

Britney Spears

Deadmau5

Gangam Style

 

For more inspirational ideas check out sites like pinterest. Or click here for an A - Z list of costume ideas.

 

www.cambercollege.com
 



Top 5 Tips to Learn English

 

With English now being a global language with over a billion people speaking it. (on at least a basic level) It is becoming more and more important to learn English. It's required for certain jobs and to get into good schools and universities. Below are the top 5 most helpful tips we could find to help you learn English.

Tip #1
Listen to English Music - Listening to English music while doing something else can help to get used to the natural rhythm and tone of English speech. The more and more you listen to a song the more you will learn. So put your favourite English song on repeat!

Tip #2
Travel to an English Speaking Country - Traveling to an English speaking country will force you out of your comfort zone. You will have to try and speak English just to get directions. It's amazing how much of the language you will learn in even just a week.

Tip #3
Read an English Book - Read a book written in English. If you are a beginner start with a children's book. Maybe even a story you are already familiar with. Any words you do not understand you can look up in a dictionary. Practice reading this book until you can read it all the way through and then move on to something harder. ***reading out loud will also help you with pronounciation***

Tip #4
Watch an English Movie - Watch an English movie with subtitle in your own language. It will help you become familair with the words. Have a pen and paper close to write down any new word you learned to practice later.

Tip #5
Find an English Speaking Pen Pal - Find a native English speaking pen pal. This is a great way to learn new words, practice grammer and make a new friend. There are sites for free language exchange. http://www.speakmania.com/index.php?language_id=1

BONUS TIP
Come to Camber College - The best way to really learn English is to join us at Camber College. (lol) You will learn English, make new friends, see a new country and learn fun new activities like skiing, scuba diving and horseback riding. Come Live the Edventure!

ENGLISH 101

10 COMMON ENGLISH LANGUAGE ERRORS

Because English is such a complex language, it is loaded with traps that we all frequently fall into (even native speakers).  I hope this list is useful and will help clear up a few of the confusing words we use almost everyday.


1. Practice / Practise
In US English, practice is used as either a verb (doing word), or noun (naming word). Hence, a doctor has a practice, and a person practices the violin. In UK english, practice is a noun, and practise is a verb. A doctor has a practice, but his daughter practises the piano.

2. Bought / Brought
Bought relates to buying something. Brought relates to bringing something. For example, I bought a bottle of wine which had been brought over from France. The easy way to remember which is which is that bring start with ‘br’ and brought also does. Buy and bought start with ‘b’ only. This is one of those difficult ones that a spelling checker won’t catch.

3. Your / You’re
Your means “belonging to you”. You’re means “you are”. The simplest way to work out the correct one to use is to read out your sentence. For example, if you say “you’re jeans look nice” expand the apostrophe. The expanded sentence would read “you are jeans look nice” – obviously nonsensical. Remember, in English, the apostrophe often denotes an abbreviation.

4. Its / It’s
As in the case above, the apostrophe denotes an abbreviation: it’s = it is. Its means “belongs to it”. The confusion arises here because we also use an apostrophe in English to denote possession – except in this case; if you want to say “the cat’s bag” you say “its bag” not “it’s bag”. “It’s” always means “it is” or “it has”. “It’s a hot day.” “it’s been fun seeing you.”

5. Two / To / Too
With a ‘w’ it means the number 2. With one ‘o’ it refers to direction: ‘to France’. With two ‘o’s it means “also” or refers to quantity – for example: “There is too much money”. A good way to remember this one is that too has two ‘o’s – ie, it has more ‘o’s than ‘to’ – therefore it refers to quantity.

6. Desert / Dessert
This is a confusing one because in English an ‘s’ on its own is frequently pronounced like a ‘z’ and two ‘s’s are usually pronounced as a n ‘s’ (for example: prise, prissy). In this case, desert follow the rule – it means a large stretch of sand. However, dessert is pronounced “dez-urt” with the emphasis on the second syllable – ie, something we eat as part of our meal. To make matters worse, when a person leaves the army without permission, it is spelt desert. So, let’s sum up:

desert (pronounced dez’-it): dry land
desert (pronounced dez-urt’): abandon
dessert (pronounced dez-urt’): yum yum! – remember, two ‘s’s because you want second helpings!

Oh – one more thing – another very common mistake is using the word dessert (two ‘s’s) to mean pudding – pudding is a sweet course, often consisting of some kind of cake or icecream. Dessert is fruit or cheese – normally taken after the pudding course.

7. Dryer / Drier
If your clothes are wet, put them in a clothes dryer. That will make them drier. A hair dryer also makes hair drier.

8. Chose / Choose
This is actually quite an easy one to remember – in English we generally pronounce ‘oo’ as it is written – such as “moo”. The same rule applies here: choose is pronounced as it is written (with a ‘z’ sound for the ‘s’) – and chose is said like “nose”. Therefore, if you had to choose to visit Timbuktu, chances are you chose to fly there. Chose is the past tense, choose is the present tense.

9. Lose / Loose
This one is confusing. In this case, contrary to normal rules of English, the single ‘s’ in loose is pronounced like an ‘s’ – as in wearing trousers that are too loose. Lose on the other hand, relates to loss – for example: “I hope we don’t lose this game”. A good way to remember this is that in the word “lose” you have lost the second ‘o’ from loose. If you can’t remember a rule that simple, you are a loser!

10. Literally
This one is not only often used in error, it is incredibly annoying when it is used in the wrong way. Literally means “it really happened” – therefore, unless you live on a parallel universe with different rules of physics, you can not say “he literally flew out the door”. Saying someone “flew out the door” is speaking figuratively – you could say “he figuratively flew out the door” but figuratively is generally implied when you describe something impossible. Literally can only be used in the case of facts – for example: he literally exploded after swallowing the grenade. If he did, indeed, swallow the grenade and explode – that last sentence is perfectly correct. It would not be correct to say “she annoyed him and he literally exploded” unless she is Wonder Woman and her anger can cause people to blow up.

Bonus: I could care less
I have to add this one as a bonus because it is one I especially hate. When you say “I could care less” you are saying “I care a little so I could care less”. Most people when using this horrific sentence mean to say “I couldn’t care less” which means “I care so little I could not care less”.


~ http://listverse.com/2007/09/19/10-common-english-language-errors/ ~

Tips on practicing your English after your classes are finished.

USE IT OR LOOSE IT!

A few helpful tips:

1. Read an English book out loud
2. Practice speaking English in the mirror. ***Do this alone or you might look weird! LOL***
3. Find a partner to practice with! Stay in touch with fellow students/friends you met at Camber College and Skype/video chat.

Check out this article for 10 more tips on practicing english.

How can you continue learning English once the classes have ended? Most students say that they find this is difficult after a lesson have finished. It becomes harder to maintain the interest and energy associated with classroom learning, as this diminishes many fail to continue developing their English skills.