Skill from Brazil!
Ok. This video is not going to help your English, but this week we are talking about abilities with Ron and Mari and I was incredibly impressed with the soccer abilities that these guys from Brazil have.
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How to Talk About Yourself
In this week's interview, Ron and Mari talk about what they are good at. It's not always easy to talk about what you are good at because you might feel like you are bragging (acting too proud of yourself).
One way to soften your style so that you sound more humble is to use these phrases:
People tell me I’m good at...
I’d like to think I’m good at...
I’m pretty good at...
On the other hand, when you are talking about what you are bad at, it's fine to be direct and even better if you exaggerate:
I'm terrible at...
I'm the worst at...
I am probably the worst...in the world.
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This week's on ELLLO and sign up for the PODCAST
This weeks interviews and activities can be found here and here.
If you haven't signed up for the free podcast yet, then click here and do it now so you can automatically download the audio to your mp3 player every week. When you open the podcast page look for the little icon that looks like this (except it will be much smaller). 
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Thai Festival: Loy Khratong
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
"Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a small raft traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk, decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.
The festival probably originated in India as a Hindu festival similar to Deepavali as thanksgiving to the deity of the Ganges with floating lanterns for giving life throughout the year.
According to the writings of H.M. King Rama IV in 1863, the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the original Buddha, Siddhartha Guatama. Apart from venerating the Buddha with light (the candle on the raft), the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. Many Thai believe that floating a krathong will create good luck, and they do it to honor and thank the Goddess of Water, Phra Mae Khongkha.
The beauty contests that accompany the festival are known as "Noppamas Queen Contests". According to legend, Noppamas was a consort of the Sukothai king Loethai (14th century) and she was the first to float decorated krathongs.
The Thai tradition of Loy Kratong started off in Sukhothai, but is now celebrated throughout Thailand, with the festivities in Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya being particularly well known.
In Chiang Mai Loi Kratong is also known as "Yi Peng". Every year thousands of people assemble to float the banana-leaf krathong onto the waterways of the city, honouring the Goddess of Water. A multitude of Lanna-style hot-air lanterns (khom fai) are also launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the skies. These are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets.
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Protests in Thailand
Soldiers deployed onto the streets of Bangkok, the armed forces called on to help keep the peace after a day of rioting in which police failed to disperse anti-government protesters. Skirmishes continued into the night. The demonstrators refusing to back down, continuing to confront riot police.
We're late in the night and police are continuing to release tear gas into the crowd. They're trying to push the protesters back to the government house where they have been since late August. All day there have been these ongoing skirmishes between police and the protesters and it doesn't seem to be over yet.
Earlier in the evening police trapped protesters and our cameraman in the ?????? of streets surrounding parliament. A car bomb exploded nearby killing one person and injuring bystanders. It is unclear who detonated the device. The crackdown began just after 6 am, an early morning raid that caught the protesters by surprise. They'd stormed Thailand's parliament compound overnight--their second target in as many months, hours before the new prime minister was to set out his governments policies, the protesters tried to blockage the entrances to the parliament building. At around 6:20 local time, riot police moved in. Witnesses say dozens of tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd. For some, the results were devastating. This man lost part of his leg in the attack. Another man with his back torn apart was seen limping from the scene. Others injured in the chaos were carried away. Many of the protesters were seen trying to wash the stinging residue from their eyes.
"We will fight until we win, for sure. Not only me, everybody. You can ask everybody."
Senators who boycotted the parliamentary session came out to greet the protesters. They say the government has blood on its hands.
"All these people, they are here for one thing: because they love this country. They love his majesty the king. So they have their own reason, you know."
Police took about 20 minutes to break open the blockade. And Hees began arriving for the parliamentary session about an hour after the attack. The policy speech went ahead as planned. Tuesday's clash surprised many. The Thai authorities had taken a "softly, softly" approach in dealing with the protesters who stormed the government house in late August. They accused the government of being a puppet of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawat who was ousted in a military coup. The new prime minister is Thaksin's brother in law who appears to be taking a harder line. Any hopes of a reconciliation between these two sides now seems unlikely. The protest leaders are condemning the attacks. Riot police and the army remain on standby. It seems nothing is resolved here in Thailand.
Salin Downs, Al Jazeera, Bangkok
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This week's interview: Tsunami 2004
Todd talks with Tarta about the devastation she witnessed in Phuket, Thailand after the tsunami in 2004 here and here.
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Bilingual Kids
This week features an interview with Tom and I about the languages we use at home. You can listen to it here.
The following video is a very interesting study on bilingual kids and is full of vocabulary that is useful for talking about learning language.
Bon jour. Hola. Bon jour.
What could be more charming than having child who speaks a foreign language?
Whether it's French, Spanish, German, or whatever it is. Being bilingual is a skill that will reap many benefits as you child becomes an adult. From traveling abroad, to learning new cultures, the possibilities are endless. Hi I'm Sharon Elcock from parent's TV and I'm going to show you what some of the benefits are to having a child who speaks a second language.
The children can learn in a natural way without accent because I am speaking with strong accent because I learned English as an adult. But the children, they learn without any accent, without any barrier and without any problems of expression. They just talk, they don't think about, "I have to learn a new language. They just learn."
(Speaking in Italian)
When you know a second language, you know a second culture. It means that you can also see your own culture in different eyes.
(Italian)
So they don't think, "It's an Italian class, I have to learn this class. No, they just play with us in a natural way. The teacher, what they do that is important is to repeat very slowly in Italian each word showing a flashcard so the child can connect the image with the word.
My name is Neil Baker. I'm the father of Robert Baker, a 3 year old who comes here on occasion. It's not only important to me, but it's important to both my wife and I that Robbie be bilingual. First of all, because that that seems to be the way the world is evolving. It's going to be a bilingual multi-faceted world.
My wife is native Italian. She came here from Parma. Her family, all of her family is still here in the Northern Italy area. My parents, my family is from New York. And so we're trying to mesh the both worlds.
I always speak with him in Italian and I did since he was born. He started to take Italian classes last fall because I started to realize that he had to know that not only mommy speaks Italian and not only people in Italy speak Italian.
There are some families who have caretakers who speak a second language. Perhaps grandma or a foreign speaking nanny can get your child started early.
I have two daughters, Sofie who's five and Cici who's almost three. (Speaking French)
Hiring a nanny who speaks a foreign language became a priority after we started taking the classes here. And the kids like them so much and they really had a lot of fun and I thought, you know, we should really enforce it more at home. Because I don't speak another foreign language fluently and because my husband doesn't, we both really wanted our kids to have that skill. We thought it was really important and one of the few practical things that kids can learn and it's so important for them to start early.
(French)
We present everything as a playgroup with games and songs and toys and visual aids. So children think that they are just coming to play and actually that is the best way for them to learn because they are emotionally engaged. The idea is very simple, you have to compare the brain of the child to some kind of soft wax which can be imprinted with the sounds of any language. But little by little the wax becomes kind of cold and hard and it becomes more difficult to learn other languages.
If classes aren't an option in your area, there are also language learning tools that you can purchase for your home.
Professor Toto is a multimedia language educational series with DVDs and CDs and books to teach languages at home. With professor Toto they are going to learn the basics, not just words but full sentences. Like, "hello my name is..." "I'm four years old" "I go to school" and we learn the colors, the parts of the body, counting, the alphabet, all the basics. You have to engage children emotionally. That's very important. Speak to their heart. Make them laugh. I always say that children remember the words that make them happy.
As you can see, if you want your children to be bilingual, there are many options available. From language classes, to foreign relatives and caretakers, to language DVDs. Remember it's never too early to start teaching your child a second language.
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Which is the best of these 10 guys?
Ok girls. Here is a pretend speed date for you. Which of these guys, cartoon guys, is your type?
Ignore the points -- there are no correct answers, but feel free to make comments below about which guys are the best...or which guys are the worst!
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Speed Dating with Style at Fast Life International
Jeff and Jonathan talk about speed dating here. Watch the video below to see speed dating in action.
I'm Angie. I'm 26 years old, single, I have a ton of friends, a closet full of clothes, "ta da!", and shoes that's a whole different story, but the one thing I don't have? A man! So I've decided to try speed dating. Wish me luck.
So I'm here at Luck's to try Fast Life's Speed Dating with Style.
Can I have everybody's attention? Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, this is Fast Life's Speed Dating with Style at Luck's Bar in Toronto.
Speed dating is essentially like a cocktail party. There are 20 people that show up -- equal numbers of men and women.
Every five minutes I'm going to ring that gong and that's your cue, gentlemen, to get up and move to the next table. This is your personal match folder. The blue area is for you to write down the names of the people you meet this evening and put a "yes" "no" beside them.
The following day we'll send an e-mail to all the people who received a match and they can take it from there.
There are some definite cuties back there. It's nice to see some tall ones, some dark haired guys. Some tips that I've been given from the people who have been here before are to come up with some creative opening lines, something friendly, talk about traveling, so there are all kind of things that are going on in my brain.
So what do you do for fun? Do you go out and exercise? Bike ride? I work out at the gym a lot with my friends, roller blade, beach volleyball, anything. How about you?
I lied to the police once. You what? Lied to the police...at home. I think it might even be insurance fraud.
Where have you travelled? I've been to England, Norway quite a few times because my parents are from there. You have to ask a question, I've got nothing.
I know, I know, you're killing me now.
Time's up. Nice to meet you.
You're sitting here and you'll have a good question and you just want to ask it and I'm trying to find the Fast Life people so I can see out of the corner of my eye whether or not they're going to gong it.
Ask me a question. Do you have any weird collections?
My icebreaker question is whether or not a guy has a collection. If he can flat out come up with something quirky and great, I figure he's got something to him.
Weird collections? No.
I used to have one. What? I used to collect matches. Matches. Like matches from all around the world.
You know what I do have a collection of? It's not so much strange, but rocks from around the world.
Why? Do you have any weird collections? I collect Trident gum wrappers.
Trident? I used to work for Trident, but I don't have any wrappers.
Oh my god, you worked there. It's a sign!
Do you collect rocks from around Toronto, you know, like ????????
Is that like a childish...childhood thing?
Childish? Was that a Freudian slip?
It was.
Ok, "bong", did you just hear that? It's over, it's over. Oh, next...
It was nice to meet you.
Now I work for a nuclear power plant.
Aren't you worried about what it's doing to you.
Maybe.
Like, what are you doing to me right now just sitting there.
She was nice, very energetic. She seemed intelligent, outgoing. I kind of didn't feel like she maybe asked enough about me.
So you're like, I don't know, kind of sarcastic, does that like get in the way of like...scares guys away.
You're one of those people who just has to be right all the time. You're like my brother. And you could have a book of things that Michael says, and it's never right. It's like it's called bulls**t. It's a bestseller.
Michael and I were kind of like fighting and there was some tension over, you know, viewpoints, but that's passion.
I thought she was completely wrong in everything she said. She made absolutely zero sense and it was completely illogical and it didn't flow. But other than that, it was enjoyable.
You know you've got really nice eyes. So do you. Thank you. I was just thinking that. We're like brother, sister. You're killing me here. And the worst part is, is that it really hurts. It hurts me inside...muffin, pookie.
It's one of the things that I look for in a person. It's the ability to find a pet name, you know, quickly, right up front, right away.
We're at pet names and it's only been three and a half minutes.
I think that this is anything but exhausting, it's almost exhilarating because you meet so many fabulous people. You have a short period of time to do it in and you just fly through it all and that bonging thing is stressful but man is it ever fun.
Ah, ok, there we go. As if you just said there we go like...
I didn't say that. Take that hand away...
Oh!
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Tips on making yourself interesting to the opposite sex
In interview #909 Jeff talks about how he wants to meet a girl. Here is the world's top pick up artist explaining how to make yourself interesting to girls.
You know in order to get a woman interested in you, you have to be interesting. So a comedian, you know, the way he'll be funny is he'll tell one joke and you'll say, "Wow. That's funny."
But if he strings ten in a row, you'll say he's funny. It's no longer the material that gets the acclaim, but it's the man himself who gets the acclaim. So similarly--again if you want to get a woman interested in you have to be interesting--so if you say one interesting fact: it has nothing to do with sexuality, nothing to do with attraction, nothing to do with seduction, nothing to do with "the pick up". It's just a non sequitur interesting fact. If you say one interesting fact, for instance you could say, you know, "How many 9s exist between 1 and 100? How many? What do you think? How many 9s exist between 1 and 100? I'll give you a hint: more than 1, more than 3.
10? Is that your answer? Nope.
Do you know it? 9?
This isn't multiple choice, you know. Oh my god! I know it's mathematics, you know, it's quite difficult, it's called counting.
13? 14? Multiple choice again.
It's actually 20. Where is it? 9, 19. 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99 is two of them. That's like 20% right there. 1 in 5 is the number 9. Ok, it's a little bullshit babbles brains at the end. It screws with people and if you fell for that, well, you'll fall for a lot. It's nice little test for me.
Nonetheless, when I say this, how many 9s between 1 and 100 in a set, it makes me interesting...non threatening, I'm not after her, I'm not trying to hit on the girl, I'm not making any reference to her beauty. I'm not trying to, you know, brag. It's just interesting. You say one interesting thing and they'll say, "Wow, that's interesting." But you say 10 in a row and she'll say, "You're interesting." It's no longer the material that gets the acclaim, but the man himself. It's a nice way of getting a girl interested in you enough to want to get to know you so that she'll start asking you questions like, "What's your name?" Now we're on our way.
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Good carbs and Bad carbs
Once of the classes I teach right now is based on food. Here is a quiz from our most recent lecture on carbs.
This is the end of the post. Don't click.
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Better Food Pyramid, Brought to you by Harvard University
A great summary of the most current research in nutrition.
TRUE or FALSE
1. Fatty oils should be avoided in a healthy diet.
2. It is better to eat vegetable oils than white pasta and bread.
3. Four servings of vegetable is the maximum you should eat.
4. One or two glasses of alcohol everyday is just as healthy as 8-10 drinks on Friday night.
5. Nuts are lower in calories than animal meat.
6. Children and adults often don't get enough calcium and vitamin D.
7. Red meat is easy to digest but it is high calorie.
TRUE or FALSE
1. Fatty oils should be avoided in a healthy diet. FALSE
2. It is better to eat vegetable oils than white pasta and bread. TRUE
3. Four servings of vegetable is the maximum you should eat. FALSE
4. One or two glasses of alcohol everyday is just as healthy as 8-10 drinks on Friday night. FALSE
5. Nuts are lower in calories than animal meat. TRUE
6. Children and adults often don't get enough calcium and vitamin D. TRUE
7. Red meat is easy to digest but it is high calorie. FALSE
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How to Cook for Someone You Love
Here's my 3-year old son Jaden showing off his cooking skills.
Here is a link the original video.
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Does this Dress Make Me Look Fat?
This week Michael talks about Basic Training for the army. Here's Basic Gender Training for saying the right thing on a date.
Do I look fat in this dress?
Huh? Uh, I guess you could lose a couple of pounds.
What?
I mean, it's supposed to fit tight, isn't it?
You men are here to learn!
Isn't this a beautiful flower?
It's very nice?
Wrong answer maggot! Now hit the deck and give me ten!
You are lovely, you are sweet
Those are cute shoes on your feet.
How do you like my perfume?
It's you darling. It's you!
Isnt' this a beautiful flower?
Not as beautiful as you, darling!
Much better.
You haven't mentioned how you like my new hairstyle.
It's beauty stole my breath away, sweetheart.
What a sweet thing to say.
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Lending Money to Women
Rated R (Restricted for select audiences):
For strong language and sexual themes
This audio by Chris Rock fits perfectly with the theme this week: "Giving Money". It uses the "F" word which may offend some people but I believe that it is a good example of an a popular American cultural phenomenon (Stand-up Comedy), a sample of African-American slang and dialect, and an interesting visual Mash-up with a Japanese Anime. As a student of English, you need to be able to understand jokes like this, plus all of the "bad words" or else you might be the only one not laughing. If you look at it with those things in mind, it's a very educational video. Most of all, it's just funny.
Never lend money to women! And women never lend money to men! You can not lend money to people you are f#*@ing! 'Cause they think the sex is the payback. I dare any man in here to try and get back some money from some women he slept with. Just attempt it. Just step to it like, "Hey baby, what's up with that $200, you owe me." She'll look at you like, "Excuse me?!! I think I paid you last night. As a matter of fact, you owe me $150. "
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It's a woman's woman's man's world
I'll resist commenting on this version and invite you to comment:
What do you think of Christina's Aguilera's version compared to James Brown's version?
This is the end of the post. For more on a woman's world click here.
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25 years later, it's still a man's man's man's world
Can you believe that he can do it with the same intensity and showmanship 25 years later?
This is the end of the post. Check out interview #897 for more discussion about a man's world here.
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I want to be one
"Loretta" seems like he would sympathize with Katia more than Paul.
I do feel Reg that any anti-imperialist group like ours must reflect such a divergence of interests within its power base.
Agreed. Francis?
Yeah, I think Judith's point of view is very valued Reg, provided the movement never forgets that it is the unalienable right of every man (or woman) to rid himself (or herself), agreed, thank you brother (or sister)
Where was I?
I think you finished.
Oh. Right.
Furthermore, it is the birthright of every man (or woman).
Why don't you shut up about women Stan, you're putting us off.
Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement Reg.
Why are you always on about women Stan?
I want to be one.
What?
I want to be a woman.
From now on, I want you all to call me Loretta.
What?
It's my right as a man.
But why do you want to be "Loretta", Stan?
I want to have babies.
You want to have babies?
It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
But...you can't have babies.
Don't you oppress me.
I'm not oppressing you Stan, you haven't got a womb.
Where is the fetus going to gestate? Are you going to keep it in a box?
Wait, I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies without having a womb, which is nobody's fault (not even the Romans) but that he can have the right to have babies.
Good idea Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies brother...sister, sorry.
What's the point!!??
What?
What the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can't have babies?
It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
Symbolic of his struggle against reality.
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It's a man's man's man's world
I can't imagine how thrilling this song must have been in 1966.
This is a man's world,
This is a man's world,
but it wouldn't be nothing,
Nothing! Without...
a woman or a girl.
You see, man made the cars
to take us over the road.
Man made the train
to carry the heavy load.
Man made the electric light
to take us out of the dark.
Man made the boat for the water
like Noah made the Arc.
This is a man's man's man's world
but it wouldn't mean nothing
without a woman or a girl.
Man thinks about a little bit of baby girls
and of baby boys.
Man makes them happy,
'Cause man makes them toys.
And after man makes everything,
everthing he can,
do you know that man makes money
to buy from other men?
This is a man's world,
but it wouldn't be nothing,
not one little thing
without a woman or a girl.
Oh how! How a man needs a woman.
I sympathize with the man that don't have a woman.
He's lost!
In the wilderness.
He's lost!
In bitterness.
He's lost! Lord! Lord! And lonely...
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