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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Bilingual Kids
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. "
This is the end of the post.
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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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Packing Light
In this week's interviews, Jonathan talks about traveling all over the world with just one suitcase here. Several airlines have announced that they will be charging extra money for not only a second bag but your first bag too. Here's an amazing way to put all your clothes in just one carry on bag so you can save some money. This video also has tons of useful vocabulary about clothes that doesn't usually appear in textbooks.
Hi, I'm Jon Holloway. I'm with packing light dot com. Thanks for coming to our website. We're here to give you an abbreviated packing demonstration of our method so you can take this and use it at home and pack in our famous packing light method.
We start with two pairs of shoes in the carry-on size suitcase, for those who are bold enough to go in a carry-on. We're going to wear one more on board the airplane for a total of three shoes. For cover our shoes so it keep the clean clothes clean. And we put the flats of the shoes up against the side of the suitcase. Now we have a cavern to fill. What we are going to put in that is our hanging organizer by Bagellini. It carries the underwear, the socks, the scarfs for different looks with those black outfits, maybe perhaps some of your toiletries. All of that going into the front of the organizer and the dirty, soiled clothes will go in the back to keep them rotated and organized, and separate and segregated from the clean clothes. What is great about this organizer (is that) it lays flat in the middle of your bag. When you get to your destination, you pull it out and use it as sort of your roaming dresser, without having to unpack everything. The flats of the shoes, the organizer in the bag.
We start with the pants first. The general order of things and the requirements of this method is to pack in the order, for guys, of pants and then shirts. For our women travelers, we're going to start with pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, and tops. Alternate the direction every time you put a garment in. Zipper and button everything to its fullest so it holds its shape. The first pair of pants goes with the waistband up against the side of the suitcase and the pant-legs hanging out. All the shapes of baggage these days if it's an upright suitcase, if it's a backpack, or if it's a duffel bag are rectangular in shape. It makes sense with the long and narrow that you use the long and narrow pants hanging out on one end. Alternate the direction with the waistband of the next pair of pants up against the side like this. They are the infamous black and khaki pants so they go with everything. The first pair of pants was a zip-off convertible pant, so already we're starting to create more outfits by having versatile garments such as this reversible skirt. This skirt will give you two outfits in one by having two sides. With the skirts and dresses we have to abandon the alternating packing method. They are a little wider and there's a little more fabric so we have to use the width of the bag from here on out with the dresses, the skirts, and the tops. With the skirt, you put the middle of the skirt in the middle of the bag. Same with the dress that I'm about to lay across. It's a very simple method that doesn't really require a lot of forethought in advance of where are you going to put things. We simply stack and at the end we're going to fold over and bundle these garments into a bundle.
Alright, now we start with out tops. The first top we're going to lay out towards the front with the collar up against the length of the suitcase, the sleeves where the pant-legs are going. Go back to that alternating method so the collar of the next shirt goes up against the other length of the bag, the sleeves still going in the pant-leg direction. Finally, the sweater, that you want to have access to, laying in the other direction.
Now we start to alternate as we go back in the bag. We take the second from the top and fold it up over the top one. The top sweater will come back up over that shirt and as you do the tail of the garments, with the blouses and shirts, bring in the sleeves. Alright, now we're working our way back in and we are creating a rolled effect. We're not rolling every garment. That doesn't work for woven items, so this method will give you a rolled effect and a cushion effect by helping each garment helping cushion each on before it. Then go in with the dresses and bring in the top of the dress, then the tail of the dress and you can start to see that we are using the configuration of this 22 inch bag. Certainly, this method works in a larger suitcase, but it works terrifically in a 22 inch as well. We bring up the skirt, now we just have the pant-legs to go and you just bundled 12 outfits with 7 garments. If it mixes and matches, if you have some reversible things, if you have some convertible pants and so on, we have created a lot of outfits in a very small space. We could keep going and pack multiple bundles if you wish. It really comes down to your particular trip and the destination in which you are traveling to. If it's different cultures or different weather conditions, you can pack in multiple bundles and pack efficiently with little to no waste of space.
We really appreciate you coming to Packing Light dot com. Hopefully we can help you in years to come and happy travels.
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The Center of the World for Backpackers
Jonathan talks about backpackers and the famous Khao San Road in Bangkok here. Here's a chance for you to get used to listening to a Thai accent if you ever decide to journey to Thailand.
Khao San Road is a short road in Central Bangkok. "Khao San" means wild rice in Thai.
Khao San is one of Bangkok's most vibrant cities, host to people from around the world. One Thai writer described the road as, "a short road that has the longest dream (?) in the world." It is located in the Banglampoo neighborhood about 1 kilometer north from the Grand Palace with Wat Prakaaw.
Khao San Road is getting busy right after the sun falls. The road is closed and the whole street is set for people, food stalls, cafes, bars, street performers, and those who enjoy sitting on the sidewalk drinking with a bottle of beer in hand.
The most famous activities on Khao San Road are shopping, braiding hair, drinking, and sightseeing for joker (??) performance.
The most famous food on Khao San Road is Pad Thai. A trip to Khao San Road wouldn't be complete without sampling the street vendors' take on this popular, tasty, and nutritious cheap Thai dish. There are Thai style spring rolls too. If you are brave or drunk enough, you can try to eat fried insects.
There are many styles of shops, for example, clocks, paintings, clothes, DVDs, fruit, second hand books, as well as many items useful to backpackers are among the common goods traded along the road.
Most accomodations on Khao San Road are box style (??) hotels to full western style and luxury hotels. The price is cheaper than other hotels that are appropriate for backpackers.
There are many optional ways to Khao San Road. The visitors can go by Tuk-Tuk, taxis, motorcyles, and by foot. Khao San Road is not located close to the Sky Train or underground station but that certainly hasn't put a damper on the areas popularity.
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Musical Warm-up: Images of Myanmar
Click below to read the text of the video.The whole total external environment.
We treat it as an enemy. We try to beat it into submission.
And if we do that, comes Disaster.
-Alan Watts (influenced by Asian Buddhist Philosophy)Help me somebody.
There's no escape from it.
He so low, you can't get under him; he's so wide you can't get around him; he's everywhere!
Help me somebody.
-Anonymous black preacher
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Natural Disasters
MB talks with Matthew about working with Habitat for Humanity, an organization committed to stopping poverty housing all over the world. The cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China destroyed millions of homes. Habitat for Humanity is taking action to organize teams to rebuild homes and lives. Lack of housing, lack of food, and lack of clean drinking water is in Myanmar is turning out to be more devastating than the cyclone. Take the quiz below to learn why...
This is the end of the post. Don't click below.
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Why are gas prices increasing?
I'm often asked this question by friends and family. I sometimes answer them by reminding them of the little sign that pops up in the local coffee shop from time to time. It usually says something like, "Due to a poor coffee bean harvest, the price of coffee beans has gone up." So your morning cup of coffee will cost you a few pennies more. We throw an extra nickel or two on the counter but usually don't think twice about it.
Gasoline prices really aren't much different. The main ingredient, crude oil, is traded on the same commodity exchanges that those coffee beans are. And when demand for any commodity is greater than supply, the price goes up. As you see in the news, many oil producing countries are facing an uncertain future. Unfortunately, those concerns translate into higher crude oil prices. In fact, oil prices have tripled since 2000. Then, adding complexity, refined gases and other fuels are also commodities trades on the same floor as coffee and crude oil.
Demand for gas in the US and Canada has continued to grow despite the fact that refineries across North America are running flat out. While there is no shortage, there is little room in the system to meet the excess demand. In short, that is largely why the price of gasoline has gone up in the past few years. But instead of putting a little cardboard sign on the counter announcing the price, we think it's important to put the price on the big signs out front.
Well it may be hard to believe but there's a lot more money to be made selling a cup of coffee than by selling a liter of gasoline. That bigger profit makes it easier for the coffee shop to absorb increases in the price of coffee beans than for crude oil. But think about it, has the price of your morning cup of coffee ever gone down?
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Manhattan Farmers
After taking the Rising Food Prices Quiz, a reader writes:
Developing countries could benefit from producing their own biofuels but they will need assistance to do it. First, they need the infrastructure for mass production (farming equipment, techniques, education, processing tools, etc.). If, in addition to producing their own food energy, they can also sell to foreign markets without having to pay high tariffs then biofuels can have a positive effect.
I definitely agree. It doesn't make any sense for the US (and other developed countries) to be spending tax dollars to subsidize "farmers" who are already millionaires living in Manhattan. Click here to see the map of how many there are. Obviously, a little money in the direction of those eating mud cookies would have a greater impact.
Even better, how about a subsidy for English teachers?
This is the end of the post.
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