Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Want To Improve English? There Is a Whole Continent Waiting For You

It has been French, and then German, but for a good time now, the English language has stepped in as the commonly acceptable way people from all over the world communicate among each other. The English language is so wide spread that term as “selfie” is now recognized by probably almost 99% of the Earth’s population. The globalization of course comes of help here. So, no need to tell you twice, get a pen and pick some of the below advises we have for you!

 

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A teacher once said: One can say that he is fluent in a foreign language only when all the following three are present - one counts in his head in the foreign language, one dreams in the foreign language, and one feels uncomfortable when swearing in the foreign language. But how to learn a language so good so the mention of the F-word can make our non-English and TV obsessed personalities feel bad?!

 

Well, what’s better than to travel and learn from the source? What is the source though and where is it? Is it Great Britain? Is it the English Shakespeare wrote on? Or is it Waugh’s beautiful way of describing… a house?

 

Although England and the British English is what we think of when choosing to improve our language skills abroad, we kind of forget that some miles on East there is a whole continent that offers some really funny and interesting ways of learning and improving our language skills. How does it sound an English language course in a cooking course? Or an English language course together with a music lesson? What is sure to be true, speaking in a native environment is one of the best and easiest ways to learn and improve one’s language skills.

 

Let’s start with some theory. There are several kinds of English learners and they can be split into five categories:

 

  • Jedi master

The Jedi master will make you feel like you will never learn English even if you have all the time in the world. People who belong to this category are generally the ones who have achieved a high level of fluency and are close to being perfect in English language in terms of grammar. One important note – these people have a pure linguistic interest to the language. They never stop learning. As the language itself is keen on developing, they follow it constantly. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. This perfectly applies to the Jedi master.

 

  • English speaker

The common English speaker has a good knowledge in the language. However, he is not a Jedi master due the lack of interest in focusing on the development of the language. The English speaker uses the language as a tool only.

 

  • False beginner

These people always refrain from speaking in English in public or even while conversing with other English speaking people even though they have the basic knowledge of the English language. This has generally happened because one have had a bad experience while speaking in English at some point in time and this has lead to the destruction of his confidence. Also they have more knowledge of grammar instead of spoken English skills.

 

  • True beginner

The true beginners have learned to speak at school, from internet, by picking this and that from everywhere. They also speak in slang pretty well.

 

  • Failed student

This is that last category. The curious thing about people who fell under this category is that they claim they lack skills for studying any foreign language. They have tried and given up after. When one tries again, he or she will most likely quite at the same place/lesson where he/she has quitted the previous time. However, if more constant, one can learn to ignore its previous experience and continue to the next level.

 

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Nowadays, you can get several courses which can improve your communicative English as well, and will make you efficient in writing skills. These will generally help you in business interactions. But before starting them, remember that it is very important to finish them or otherwise all your hard work would go in vain. Some of the types of courses are:

 

  • Practice writing with professionals

This is a type of course which will mainly help you to carry out your business interactions. This course mainly focuses on improving your English language. You can write emails to your clients in a good English language. This course will provide you with certain tips on how to write in a professional way. This will surely help you to improve your vocabulary and grammar. Not only this, the course will help you know about the different cultures where your clients belong. Each and every email needs a different style of the formal level, analyzing tone and use of words.

 

You can enrich the type of content you intend to mail to your client by improving the style of introduction, requests, announcements, etc. Ultimately, at the completion of the course, you will understand the mistakes which you used to make initially. You will be able to see the changes in your earlier emails and the later ones. You can now rectify all your punctuation marks, understand the formality level, and write all the professional writings and business emails.

 

  • Practice spoken English online

Everyone wants to be an expert in spoken English. This course will surely help you to achieve that goal. Try to speak in English online and also on calls. This will surely make you a professional at speaking English. This is basically a 5-week course. Also, try to participate in all the group discussions. This will help you to understand what you should reply when you are asked a particular thing. This will also enhance your ‘role play’ game.

 

This course will definitely make you more accurate in choosing the right kind of words. This course includes a combination of lectures, vocabulary quizzes, comprehension, etc. This will eventually make you more confident in spoken English. If possible, try to learn all the commonly used phrases, questions, and settings in spoken English.

 

  • Build e-Portfolio in English

Majority of the population is engaged in some of the other kind of online activity. Thus, it is very important to be unique in the digital world. The best possible way to do this is to make an e-portfolio. E-portfolio states your resume, presents your background, etc. This course teaches and helps you to improve your grammar, writing skills, vocabulary, etc. This will also help you to learn how to write your resume for several educational and job-based sites and of course in LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. You can easily get connected to the professionals now.

 

This course will also make you correct the mistakes of others and ultimately will make you learn some good vocabulary skills. At the end of the course, you will know how to write a proper headline, precise writing. One of the most effective things which this course helps you to do is that now you can present your resume in a professional way and know which particular words should be used for a particular audience.

 

The above things generally improve your spoken English. But to improve the writing part, you may have to enroll yourself in some of the short-term courses. You can also check out some sites which will provide these free of cost. This will help you to write fiction as well. Some of them are mentioned below:

 

  • Creative writing for everyone

In addition to enriching your vocabulary, this course will also increase your creativity.

 

  • English style grammar

In this course, you will be taught the basics of grammar which is actually very important for proper sentence construction. You will be able to write in English confidently now. You will also be able to suffice the high level of writing needs.

 

  • Punctuation and grammar

The most common thing which happens is that we often forget the basic English grammar rules, which we had to learn in the elementary schools. This short-term course will help you to master your punctuation and basic grammatical skills.

 

  • Essay writing

Essay writing is one of the best things which can be done to improve your writing skills. You can choose a random topic and start writing on it. This will eventually improve your vocabulary and writing skills.

 

As said before, there are many sites which can help you to learn quick English language skills. You can find some of the sites which are specially designed for learners to know about the rules of writing English. Some of the basic things which these courses include are: elementary English courses, coffee culture, common culture, etc. These courses encourage the learners to socialize with people so as to increase one’s communicative skills. It is mostly an interactive session while getting connected to millions of people online. Some of the popular institutions generally offer these courses.

 

These courses generally occur in regular intervals like in a week or twice in a month. They will not only help to learn basic English but also will teach you a high level of English skills which is useful for TOEFL exams or example.

 

Some of the other types of courses are:

 

  • Courses of sentence connectors which will help you learn English of pre-college
  • College readiness which will let you choose your own field of interest.

 

Conclusion

The above courses can be opted if you want to learn English for dealing with your day-to-day activities. It can be business transactions, school-level activities, college-level activities, etc. These courses will surely help you to learn the basics as well the high level of English.

 

See also: Canada – Our Top Budget Accommodation Tips

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Saturday, February 2, 2019

Visiting Canadian North – Travel to the traditional Inuit Culture

Introduction: The term, Inuit, means “the people.” Inuit is a a group of indigenous people living in Greenland, Alaska and Canada, all of whom share a wide range of cultural similarities. Historically, they faced struggle against nature by surviving in the harsh climate of the place, and there were many significant steps in their history of survival that point to their endurance levels. Over time, the culture has gone through a number of significant changes, but it has never left its grassroots. Assimilation has definitely influenced their culture, but the Inuit people still hold their unique values and beliefs to carry forward their identity. Let’s know more about these people.

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Geography: Inuit people live mostly in Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Russia also shares a part of the Inuit geography, as their Yupik people are indigenously close to the Inuit tribe.

Home: Since times of history,  the Inuit people have lived amongst the most hostile environment. In the tundra, since not all construction material is available for building a home, the snow itself has become a building material in order to build a home which we know as the “igloo”. The term “igloo” means a block of snow. Due to extreme cold, no trees can be grown there, and if wood is needed, it has to be transported from other places.

However, in the summer season, the scenario somewhat changes. The ice starts to melt and hence, huts do come into the role of giving shelter. These huts are primarily a frame which is covered by animal skin. But as time has passed and mode of transportation also has been evolved, other building material can be transported now, and thus, some of these people have started making permanent homes for protection.

Food habits: Food habits do play an important role in shaping a culture. The area is characterized by extreme snowy weather, which is why it is almost impossible to cultivate any trees or other vegetables. Thus, the food habits of these people is entirely dependent on meat. The Inuit people hunt and catch fish in order to have a meal on the table, including whales, walrus, seals etc.

Transportation: The area is mostly covered by snow, due to which Inuit lack a transportation method that can move them easily in the snowy area. Sleds made of animal bones and skins pulled over by the snow dogs are the primary methods by which the people move from one place to another. The dogs are of the special breed which is known as the “Huskies”. With strong thick fur, these dogs have immense strength to pull these sleds over the snow and survive in this chilled climate.

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Language: The Inuit speak several different languages, which include Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun and other languages of Greenland. Inuktitut is spoken in Canada among the Inuit people. The speaking language differs from place to place, for example, Inuit in Alaska and Northern Canada do speak English. A special mention also goes for the Inuit sign language which is used by the deaf Inuit. This language though, is at the verge of extinction, and is used by only a very small group of Inuit people.

Industry: In terms of industrial field, the Inuit revolve around animal hides, driftwood and bones. Since the harsh climate doesn’t give much opportunity, there’s a little platform in order to develop industry in other areas. The clothing is made from animal skins which are sewn together by needles. The needle itself is made up of animal bones. “Parkas” plays an important role in the winter, which is basically a thick coat with a big hood. This style of clothing has also spread to other parts of the world and hence, it has somewhat become a trending fashion in other areas.

Traditions: As time has passed, the traditions are changing, though the Inuit still hold the core value of their ancestors. Traditional storytelling, mythology and dancing still take an important role in shaping the culture of the Inuit. The family and the community play a big role in the life of an Inuit.

Once, they had very rare contacts with the outside world, but now the scenario has changed a lot especially after the cold war. Till 19th century, the Inuit used to hunt whales and their goods included trading furs. They also used to change places in summer and winter. As it has been already mentioned above, they used to live in “igloos” in winter and in a hut covered by animal skin in the summer.

But as time has progressed, these places have become strategically very important. With an aim to build settlements and gain influence, lots of structures were built in the community, including schools, airbases, radar stations etc. This in turn allowed Inuit people to communicate with the outside people more frequently. As Inuit people started getting access to better modern medical facilities, their health and longevity improved significantly. With the building of schools, the whole lifestyle of Inuit people also started to change, as the children started to go to school and become accustomed to the culture from other parts of the world.

Due to permanent settlement and building of permanent homes, the opportunity did arise in which Inuit people could think about living in a place permanently, instead of moving from one house to the other in winter and summer. With better education, the jobs also started to come, as a result of which drastic changes were introduced in the lifestyle of the Inuit people.

See also: Canadian Culture: What You Need to Know

Though, there is somewhat a struggle in the younger generation between the modern culture and the traditional values, Inuit people have still maintained a balance between the two very well. Hence, one could see the progress in Inuit without giving up on the core beliefs. With the rich history and culture, the Inuit have always been an important community in the northern part of Canada, Alaska and Greenland. If you are visiting north Canada, spending a couple of days with the Inuit tribe would be a lifetime experience for sure.

 

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