the first day after March break

In today’s economy, more and more workers are being laid off and relying on the employment insurance program. Today we’re featuring the history of Canada’s Employment Insurance program. When did it start? Why did it start? What’s it like today?

The Employment Insurance program was launched in response to severe economic conditions during the Great Depression. The Depression lasted from 1929 right up until the Second World War in 1939. During that time, millions of Canadians were out of work. With no government aid, families were forced to rely on whatever community aid was available. Many Canadians lost their homes, and many more were unable to provide for their families.

There was a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of an unemployment insurance program (as it was then called). People who were in favour of unemployment insurance said it would give families enough income to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. But others felt that such a program would encourage people to stay unemployed.

Despite the debate, the Unemployment Insurance Act came into effect in 1941. In 1971, the program expanded, and began to cover maternity and sickness benefits. In 1996, the program changed its name to Employment Insurance. Today, EI places an emphasis on skills training. The program encourages laid-off workers who receive benefits to attend training programs before re-entering the workforce.

Employment Insurance operates like any insurance program: workers pay into a fund, and can apply for benefits under certain conditions. Workers most commonly receive benefits when they are laid off. However, they can also receive benefits when caring for a newborn or newly adopted child (maternity, parental and adoption benefits), when suffering from a long-term illness (sickness benefits), or when caring for a family member who is seriously ill (compassionate care benefits). Not all workers are eligible for benefits. Eligibility depends on how long workers have been employed and what type of work they have been doing.

 Adapted from information on www.hrsdc.gc.ca

 Task 1:

1.  Highlight the information you think you need to take notes on.

•       introduce the history of Canadian's employment insurance 
•       background of needs for Canadian's employment insurance
•       the disadvantage and advantage of Canadian's employment insurance
•       the changes of Canadian's employment insurance after it became an Act
•       the coverage and requirements of Canadian's employment insurance

1. Take notes on the key information.

• It was started due to severe economic conditions 
• people had money to support their family, but others thought this might encourage people to stay unemployed 
• this program was expanded and hope laid-off workers who receive benefits to attend training programs 
• there are some certain conditions people have to have if they want to apply for the benefits. this program also includes maternity, parental and adoption benefits; sickness benefits; compassionate care benefits. 

1. Use your notes to write one paragraph summary of the text.

    EI program was started due to severe economic conditions from 1929 to 1939. People who were laid off had enough money to support their family by relying on this program. However, other people thought this program encouraged people to stay unemployed. Then, this program became an Act in 1941. It was expanded and began to cover maternity and sickness benefits. At the meantime,  there are some certain requirements for people who want to apply for benefits. 

Task 2:

Listen to this presentation and answer the following questions.

1. How many parts are in the talk? two parts 

1. Write the main topics that the presentation will address. Take notes on key information.

topic: two Canadian provinces

Alberta and Saskatchewan: they are prairie provinces and same in geography 

difference: geography, climate, economic and democratic 

1. Write headings for your notes.

land locked (no access to the large body of water). board to us, 

similar in climate, s humiliate in centre and east dryer to west.  a is cooler and dryer because of rockey mountain

larger oil production. share many agriculture crops, wheat beef cattle, A produce soft wood lumber

a larger economic because of oil production. s less population than a

1. Compare your notes with two of your peers and discuss the strategies you used (listening for key words, using abbreviations, using a chart).
2.  List all the new vocabulary that you have picked from the presentation and use them in sentences of your own
   

thursday

Writing Coherent Paragraphs

Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate transitions.

Such as	Further	Finally	In addition
First	In particular	For example	Specifically
In short	But

Cancer is one of the leading causes of premature death in Canada, but there are several ways we can reduce our risk of developing it. First, we can eat better. Specifically, we can eat foods that are high in fibre and low in saturated fat, such as black beans and whole grain breads. In addition, we can be more active. For example, we can exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. Further, we can avoid smoking or being exposed to second-hand smoke. Finally , we can get screened for the types of cancer common to our gender. In particular, women can have mammograms to screen for breast cancer, while men can have PSA (prostate-specific antigen) tests to screen for prostate cancer. In short , by taking steps to reduce the risk of developing cancer, we can live longer, healthier lives.

Edit the following passage; underline all the errors in it. Then write down the correct form.

   Jaime had been applying for full–time jobs for several months,. tThe last week, he  is receiving received a call from the Human Resources director at a computer software company. tThe HR director asked Jaime, if he could he fly to Chicago for a job interview; the company is offering offered to pay for Jaime's’ plane ticket to Chicago, so that he will would not had have to paidpay for it himself. Jamie have had agreed to come for interview.

Since then, Jaime hasd been busy collected  collecting informations about the company. He also went shopping for a new suite,. Jaime and his wife has been rehearsed answers to possible interview questions, so that Jaime wlliwould be good and ready his best. Jaime iswas being nervous about the interview;, but he hashad been looking forward to working at athe new place.

   Jaime hasd prepared a lot of questions before his interview startsed last week;. his wife has been helped him a lot until he feelsfelt completely comfortable with all the questions.

wednesday

Scanning Job Advertisements

Hello everybody,

Task 1:

Pick one/two relevant jobs for yourself from each website.

Here are three good websites that you can scan: Job Bank, Monster.ca, and Charity Village

Task 2:

Summarize the three main job duties for each ad, and the main requirements as well.

Task 3:

Check this link, and write down at least five new ideas that you learned from it. 
Pick your peers' brains for their ideas, and add more to yours.

-Storytelling during a job interview is an excellent way to share your experience and skills.

-Don’t stop applying for jobs

-It’s acceptable to apply for the same job more than once

-Never say anything bad about a previous employer

-Be Yourself

Task 4:

Another excellent career site is here. Click on it and plan your career accordingly.
Then, assess your abilities through this website. After you have done, please write down a short summary about your future plan based on the information and date you have learned today. 

Task 1:

Pick one/two relevant jobs for yourself from each website.

Here are three good websites that you can scan: Job Bank, Monster.ca, and Charity Village

Task 2:

Summarize the three main job duties for each ad, and the main requirements as well.

Task 3:

Check this link, and write down at least five new ideas that you learned from it. 
Pick your peers' brains for their ideas, and add more to yours.

Task 4:

Another excellent career site is here. Click on it and plan your career accordingly.
Then, assess your abilities through this website. After you have done, please write down a short summary about your future plan based on the information and date you have learned today. 

Tuesday

Good morning everyone,

Task one:

In order to get familiar with the Canadian workplace, there are a lot of things we need to consider. Click on this link and follow the instructions given. 

Task two:

Here is a list of business idioms that are taken from this website. Please go over them and try to understand each one’s meaning and then follow the tasks below.
Pick five to six of the following idioms and use them in sentences of your own.

Take three:

Compose a short story about any event/meeting that has happened to you at your previous workplace. Use at least five to six from these idioms n your story.

Request two from your peers to check and edit your work before you publish it on your blog.

time's up	"Time's up" means that the time for something or someone has ended.	I think his time's up as the CEO. They're going to replace him as soon as they find a suitable candidate.
touch base	To "touch base¨ means to make contact with someone.	Let me make a few phone calls to try to get an answer to your question. I'll touch base with you later today.
twist someone's arm	To "twist someone's arm" means to persuade or convince someone to do something that he or she does not want to do.	The owner thought the advertising budget was a little high. We had to twist his arm to get him to agree to it.
under the table	Something done secretly (and usually illegally) in the business world is done "under the table."	To avoid paying taxes, they paid some of their employees under the table.
up in the air	If something is undecided, it is "up in the air."	We're looking for a test market right now, but nothing has been decided yet. Everything's still up in the air.
uphill battle	Something that is difficult to achieve because of obstacles and difficulties is an ¨uphill battle.¨	Winning the election is going to be an uphill battle. He doesn't have a lot of support at the moment.
upper hand	If someone has an advantage over someone else, he or she has the "upper hand."	He was more experienced and well respected, so he had the upper hand in the argument.
white collar	A ¨white collar worker¨ is someone who works in an office (customer service, management, sales, etc.) The opposite of a white collar worker is a ¨blue collar worker.¨ A blue collar worker is someone who works with his or her hands (manufacturing, construction, maintenance, etc.) ¨White collar¨ (and ¨blue collar¨can also be used to describe a job, position, or place.	There are mostly manufacturing positions here. There aren't a lot of white-collar jobs here.
win-win situation	A "win-win situation" is a situation where everyone involved gains something.	We were happy to get the contract, and they were happy to get such a good price. It was a win-win situation.
word of mouth	If something spreads by "word of mouth," people hear about it by informal conversation with friends, family members, acquaintances, etc.	A lot of local restaurants rely on word of mouth to get new customers.
writing on the wall	The "writing on the wall" refers to the evidence and clues that something (usually negative) is going to happen.	I'm going to get my resume ready. I can see the writing on the wall.
yes man	A ¨yes man¨ is someone who always agrees with his or her superiors.	The company isn't looking to hire someone who is going to try to make a lot of changes. They're basically just looking for a yes man.

It is an uphill battle for people to find a job in Canada if they don’t speak English well. Therefore, a lot of newcomers try to look for the blue collar jobs instead of white collar jobs. However, if people want to succeed in this country, they have to go extra mile for learning English. English speaking will go through the roof if they can practice every day. People have to be confident and also keep their eye on the ball in order to achieve their goals. 

Good morning, our first activity this morning is on accent reduction. Do you have an accent? How thick is your accent? How much have you spent on accent reduction?

Everybody has an accent. Is your accent sin or sick, thin or thick? More cartoons here.

How important is it to have a Canadian or North American accent? Why? Discuss with a partner.

Here are your tasks:

1. Check out the following accent reduction programs:
1. Accent Master
2. Accent School
3. Accent Science Systems
4. Test Den
5. Udemy
2. Fill in the following table:

Program	Pros	Cons	Price	Rank (Best = 1)
Accent Master	free trails		1280/12 session
Accent School			255/5-60 mins lessons
Accent Science Systems
Test Den			99/3.5hours
Udemy			25

Post the table of your results on your blog. Feel free to comment specifically on Accent Science Systems. Then visit your classmates' blogs and publish your comments.

Work Habits

The Ontario Skills Passport (OSP) lists work habits in noun form, e.g. reliability or punctuality. However, when speaking about yourself, you can express these skills or work habits as adjectives.
For example: I am a reliable worker. I am punctual.

You can also describe how you demonstrate the qualities you have by giving examples.
I am punctual. I use my time effectively and produce work on time.

Task 1:      

For each of the nouns, write an adjective that can describe a person.Then put it in sentence of your own.

NOUN	ADJECTIVE	SENTENCE
reliability	reliable	we can trust her, because she is reliable
organization	organizational	It is necessary to do organizational work in the workplace.
confidence	confident	If you want to be successful, you need to be confident
perseverance	perseverant
versatility	versatile
flexibility	flexible	This job requires that people can work in flexible hours.
independence	independent
resourcefulness	resourceful
knowledge	knowledgeable	she is very knowledgeable in this field, we need to trust her
punctuality	punctual	being a punctual person is very necessary in workplace

Task 2:
Write a sentence for each of the OSP work habits you think you have. Use examples from your work and day-to-day experience.

Working Habits	Examples from your experience
Working Safely
Teamwork
Reliability
Organization
Working Independently
Initiative
Self-advocacy
Customer Service
Entrepreneurship