Be the Change You Wish to See in the World.

The other day, one of the students from the summer class and I had an interesting discussion about Canadians and their place in the world. He said that he thinks Canadians are programmed to be comfortable and that they don't take the time to care about the big issues in the world. They get up in the morning and join the other commuters to work, work all day and come home too tired to think about anything else, any of the big world issues. We only care that we are warm and comfortable, and we trust someone else will handle the big world problems.

That sounds a little sad to me. Iwould hope that is not true. However, it is true that most of us feel we don't have time to do important things, and that we are encouraged to take short cuts, and make our lives more convenient in any way we can. One of the ways I fell into that trap is with making food. I spent a lot of money, and gained a lot of weight, because I didn't think that I had time to cook for myself. So I ate a lot at restaurants, and ate convenient foods, and as a result was not any happier and certainly not healthier.

So, I think that we can make whatever changes that are important to us, regardless of how hard it is.

Do you want $20.00?

On October 9, I posted the name and phone number of a university student who is doing research on the services that the Edmonton Public Library offers to immigrants. You can read it if you scroll down.

He is now offering $20.00 to anyone who will talk to him. He will even come here to do the interview, so it will be simple for you.

His name is Daniel De Castro and his phone number 780 231-9836.

A Power Point File

I am trying to figure out how a powerpoint, or other file can be put into an entry. I couldn't find any way to do this except to first upload it to an on-line service.

Seeing The World With Canadian Eyes: Helping Immigrant Students Move From The Classroom to the Workplace. This is the presentation that Mary and I did at TESL Canada Conference at the beginning of October.

In order to upload this,I signed up for an on-line publishing service called Scribd. Think of it as being like Youtube, or Flickr, but for documents.

Okay, if anyone wants to publish their own powerpoints on their blog, you may (1)sign up for this service yourself, (2) find a different service and sign up for that, or (3) send your ppt to me, I will upload it and send you back the link for you to put on your blog. NOTE THAT WHAT YOU POST ON-LINE MUST BE YOUR OWN WORK. IT CAN NOT BE A POWERPOINT THAT YOU BORROWED FROM SOMEONE ELSE. This includes the information in it.

More about how things aren't what they seem

Blog Question #1

Yesterday in class we listened to one group's presentation on Global Warming and the unstoppable two-meter rise of the oceans. It was a bit scary!

But as was pointed out, everybody has a role to play in saving our environment. So the question is: What do you do? What changes have you made in your lifestyle to make our planet more green and healthy? And do you think that people as individuals can make a difference when so many big oil and manufacturing companies are making it so much harder?

Study on Edmonton Public Library's Services to Immigrants

I have been contacted by a Library Sciences student at the University who has asked me for help finding people who are interested in participating in a study for his graduate research project.

If you are interested in participating, please contact him directly using the email address, or phone number below.


Have you immigrated to Canada within the last ten years?

Are you 18 years of age or older?
If so then contact us and participate in research study conducted by a Library and Information Studies graduate candidate.
This study will help us to understand the library-related needs of new Canadians.
You will be asked participate in a recorded interview.

Daniel De Castro (MLIS Student)
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Alberta
Email: ddaniel@ualberta.ca
(780) 231-9836

Dr. Lisa Given
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Alberta
Email: lisa.given@ualberta.ca



The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines and approved by the Faculties of Education, Extension and Augustana Research Ethics Board (EEA REB) at the University of Alberta. For questions regarding participant rights and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the EEA REB at (780) 492-3751

TESL Canada Conference, Banff

I had a really great conference this time. I saw some great presentations. I went to one on language in the workplace, another on dictionary usage, and one on Web 2.0 in the classroom. My and Mary's presentation went really well also. We had over 65 people there. People were sitting on the floor, others had to leave when there was no more floor. And they seemed to like it. So, yay!

Friday was a beautiful day. It was wonderful being in Banff with the fresh mountain air. It was too bad that I had to wear nice clothes for my presentation and carry my heavy laptop all day. So, I didn't stray off my path. On Saturday, as you can see by the picture, the weather was not very good. It snowed, so no straying off my path again.

But, even though it was colder on

Saturday, we still took the opportunity to go for a walk along the river and look at the waterfall. It was very good for the soul.

Volunteering in Edmonton

New Survey Shows Canadians Care About Community


The 2007 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating is a comprehesive survey that looks at how Canadians give back to their communities through ways like volunteering, providing financial donations and directly helping individuals.

Highlights from the survey:
- 12.5 million Canadians volunteer, the equivalent of 46 per cent of the population aged 15 and over
-Volunteers contributed the largest average number of hours to religious, sports and recreation, social services, and arts and culture organizations.
-The top benefits cited by volunteers were gaining interpersonal skills, communication and organizational or managerial skills.
- 44 per cent of non-volunteers cited that one barrier to volunteering was that no one had asked them to volunteer.
To read more results from the survey, visit www.givingandvolunteering.ca.

Here are some places you can go to look for a volunteering opportunity.

Volunteer Edmonton

A list of suggestions of places to look for volunteer opportunities

Volunteer Opportunities in Edmonton (Mostly long-term)

In Thursday's writing class -

Do Exercise 4.8 Internet: Planning Your Message, in Excellence in Business Communication, page 118.

You can click the link below, or find it through the book. The report covers multiple pages.

Message from TELUS CEO


This assignment is to be done in the computer lab during writing class.

Email it to me!