BOARD IN ENGLISH

[kabi]

Here we go

There is always a beginning for everything so let's start.

I just must point out some kind of rules in order to give to this "Board in English" a kindful and amazing aspect.

Everyone should feel free to express himself by using his own words, it's not necessary to copy-paste a part of a subject from a web site so as to contribute in this Board. We want YOUR own personnel contribution.

All your contributions are welcomed even if it contains so many errors : we are here between friends, and it's by doing mistakes that we learn… isn't it?

Subjects will be debated in the respect and the harmony of all. no heinous, advertising remarks or any kind of matter will be tolerated here.

Answers like " ohh That's good!!"…. " wawww wonderful"… "No or yes it's good" o such things are not allowed. We would like to have serious discussion and also a funny ones, So be creatif!! And do not be limited to "ohh thank you"

I must point out also that I'm not an English teacher neither a good speaker I still do my best so as to improve my English so if I made a mistake please feel free to correct me .

Thanks for your comprehension.

[kabi]

For a first contribution I want to debate with you about the hard truth of the "English in Québec":

The HARD TRUTH of the "ENGLISH in Québec":

We have been selected by the "government of québec" on so many criterias, but numbers of us, Immigrants, see our hopes reduced in crumbs because of our weak control of... English.

So many times I met some people saying "I have functional English on reading and writing. But with the oral examination, that becomes complicated... " and the worst answer was when someone tell me : "I had passed all the stages for a work as agent to the Safety of the income. At the end, we were two candidates. They preferred the other, who spoke English better!"

By the way, just try to take a look at the job offers of newspaper and you will find-out that bilingualism (français/anglais), with the oral examination as with the writing, is often required by the employers, in Montreal.


I can also say that, often the newcomers are astonished to note that French is not enough. At least, not for an interesting employment and well remunerated one. Others think that it, according to this situation they prefer to work hard in manufactories and they are ready to do anything, but even for that, it is necessary to speak English .

I know very well that some of you will ask " Why the BIQ (Bureau d'immigration du Québec) didn't mention that condition in the process of immigration?"

The answer?
It's not necessarily, because it doesn't support on this requirement.

The Immigration officers will tell you that with such profile, you will find an employment easily. but actually, several will have to turn to the studies, as much for the leveling of their competences than to learn English .


In other way ,..You, the Immigrant have to manage with that and work that out !!

Just think about that : English is the language of businesses it's an asset everywhere. In Quebec, English would be even more important than French in several branches of activities.

You know what ?? the strategy of so many employers simply consists in choosing the best candidate. The employer can require bilingualism, whereas English does not even represent 10 % of the working language within the company. It is an economic requirement. The companies want to make money and are allowed to require English. It is a world phenomenon .

So If I have a precious advice to give you dear "Érablistes" it's : English ! English! English! (look I said it 3 times).

Good luck.


NB: Just for some explanations:

hopes reduced in crumbs : espoirs réduits en miettes
By the way : au fait,… en fait,…. en passant …
the leveling of their competences than to learn English ". la mise à niveau de leurs compétences que pour apprendre l’anglais".
have to manage with that and work that out !! doivent faire avec (ou travailler çela) et se débrouiller !!
in several branches of activities : dans différents secteurs d'activités

[Invité]

Thank you dear kabi for this start, this heading of BOARD IN ENGLISH will be a big window to improve our English; especially we seldom use this language in our habit, moreover the professional life in Canada is English.

OK, LET'S TALK ENGLISH

[Rachel]

Salam,

Thanks kabi for this great idea ! But, don’t rely on me a lot in the correction.

I think you can be our “spellchecker”. Your English is excellent. I’m not teasing…

Nowadays, English is almost spoken everywhere. It’s a business language.

I think we loose a lot of time in asking about the importance of English in our life. It’s undeniable ! Unfortunately, we don’t go the extra mile….

I remember last week when I met BPEC’s manager (English school) to talk about attending courses of English in favour of our employees. I felt blue in the face because I couldn’t speak English along the conversation. I understood all what he said but I couldn’t talk easily with him

Why ? Because I don’t practise it enough ant I stopped reading English books since..…

But it’s never too late to mend, isn’t it ? I’m happy that we have this space to give voice to our ideas, in English !

Go ahead !

A+
Rachel

[thht]

[Invité]

Thx Kabi ..

In a conference at UQAM, a participating professor said that “Here in Quebec, our old men say that English is easy since American speaks it!
your opinion?

[believer]

My testemony is based on my first days in Montréal. It's true that most the people there speak both english and french. the first time when I speak in english it was when I have been in a gift shop in Saint Catherine Street ( in Most shops, restaurants and cafes english is spoken more than french). once I went in the shop another guy came after me and he started to take pictures for shirts that sweet him. The owner teased him and told him that taking pictures costs 1$. and then we laugh the tree of us and start to discuss. He asked the guy where he were from, whta he's doing and why he's in Montreal. Than The man asked me the same questions and he want's to know where Morocco was situated. The owner was an iraki and we discussed many subjects and I feel realy that I can handel the conversation and express my self. After the man leaves I exchanged with the owner some words in Arabic and I choose some gifts, I pay and I leave. Once outside, I was looking for the subway station and I met 2 policemen and to ask them the way I doi It in english. I don't know why but it was amazing.

I think if there is something to work out while we still be in morocco is our listning ( watching mbc2 and 4 or any american speaking channel).

For our writting skills, reading romance and web newspapers is pratical.

What the you think?

[bulls023]

Salam,

Thank you dear friends for this heading which will remain useful for us all in order to improve our level of english.

[ragtmed]

Salam,

Dear friend Kabi, About my contribution I didn’t pay attention to the rules in « Expressions heading » because at first you just proposed a discussion about creating a heading in English and the proposition was not clear about the place Expressions heading or Club. Any way, I do apologise for this.
Dear Kabi, Just a remark about one of the rules : We want YOUR own personnel contributionI Agree, but let’s say also if there is some subject which will interest people why not to post it even if it comes from the web. I think, the importance here is to give to friends some information or some facts .


for every body

[kabi]

MEA

"In a conference at UQAM, a participating professor said that “Here in Quebec, our old men say that English is easy since American speaks it! your opinion?"

Well in my opinion it's like if you said an Arabic speaking Chinese will not be as good as a Chinese speaking Chinese language , nor a Chinese speaking English will not be so much clear than American do, and neither an American speaking Arabic could use it as good as an Arabic…

It's a question of pronunciation, or if you want «accent» … but just take note that American accent is a little different from Canadian accent , I'm sure you noticed it MEA….

BELIEVER
" I think if there is something to work out while we still be in morocco is our listning ( watching mbc2 and 4 or any american speaking channel).
For our writting skills, reading romance and web newspapers is pratical.

What the you think?"



Yeah I totally agree with you BELIEVER ,I have nothing to add but as soon as you will establish yourself here in Canada moreover than listening and reading try to contact people and participate to English activities.. don't forget "by practice we perfection ourselves"


RAGTMED
I do apologise for this.

Salam RAGTMED, don't need to apologize my friend you did not something wrong.

if there is some subject which will interest people why not to post it even if it comes from the web.

Oh you know RAGTMED, nobody is against the fact to post messages coming from web site, but for that we have all "expression" part in this sweet forum ÉRABLEATLAS, For exemple, the subject " Tomorrow Can Be Too Late." By ZERCHA25 or " How good is your knowledge of english idioms ? " written by RACHEL.

[color:ce22=blue:ce22]I think, the importance here is to give to friends some information or some facts.

No I don't agree with you about that because the importance is to push our friends to express by themselves and to use their own expressions and also to express their daily living … day by day , time by time they will go to the next level on their English level… and it's not by copying message (already prepared on web site) that they will improve their knowledge in this language .
It's like practicing by themselves karate, judo, aikido.. rather than reading those techniques on web site or reading books of those martial art.

I hope you understood me, my friend.

Friendly yours

[kabi]

To build relationships

Remember this my dear "Erablist" friends :"Having the right people around you is critical because we cannot achieve great results alone."

According to this, it occurs to everyone that to build relationships or to create a network relationship is important, because that helps to create a favorable link between you, and the external world where you are going to live.

Just imagine that after you will established yourselves here in Canada you will find-out that the search for employment is done more and more by using the contacts; without network, the chances to find an employment which is appropriate are not too many.
Remember what I just said (or wrote) and one day you will say "kabi told us that before !!"

So I want to know from you, did you create a relationship with Canadian living here in Canada? I know that most of you are still in Morocco but that never means you can't create the link (thank you my God for the Internet)

I'm also sure that having such great space like ErableAtlas you had some contact around here, I know also some of you have been helped by some Erabliste and that make me feel proud. So what's next??
Yeah I'm asking because your network is not an asset, such a tree with the many ramifications, it supposes an attentive maintenance.

So what do you do for that dear friends ?

Do you keep the contact and maintain your notebook up to date ? (don't forget life separates us,… it is well-known! )
Do you support the occasions of meetings actively? assist or take an active share with your friends and member of group-meeting ? (just to be honest with you I hate people who asked for help after disappearing from you life for a long time, and just came back to ask for help. That make me upset !! )
For me nothing replaces a direct contact.
Do you think that you are available and pro-active within your network?

Because, as they say, a successful formal network is built on the exchange, confidence, the regard for competences and specificities of each one; it holds the road if each member can give one day to others as much or more than what it itself received .
Think twice about it !!!
I read a story once, (maybe you read it before) about a would-be young doctor who was in medical school.
A professor gave him a quiz. The doctor finished all the questions except one, the last one. The last question was "what is the name of the person who sweeps the halls of this building?" He was astounded.
After a deep thinking he preferred to take back the quiz to his professor and said, surely this doesn’t count and that professor taught a valuable lesson.
The answer of the professor was , “Yes, it does count. In life you need to pay attention to people. Everyone you come in contact with, is important. Regardless of whether they can advance you in your career or not they are important. By you paying attention to them, you validate them as a person. As a doctor this will be a very important thing for you to know. Don’t ignore anyone. A simple hello makes a difference to people.”

Just before let you answer this, I want to give you 2 advises that I feel it's important :

* Do not surround yourself by people who are willing to drink your bath water. In other words, do not surround yourself with a bunch of "yes" people who are simply going to tell you how great you are.

* It should nevertheless be remembered that the best contacts cannot anything against the incompetence.

I'm looking forward to hear your answers !

[Invité]

Thank's dear kabi for this focus.

This is an important subject which touch our habit, a good relationship can be decisive in our vision of life, because if we passed a bad experience it can influenced our choice of friends, I see that we have to be cautious when we think about friendship, sometimes our intuition isn’t strong enough to define a good and a bad friend, until we surprise of the real face, then our faith to the existence of friendship will be broken, i can also say, it’s a question of chance.
The needed of friends for our integration, no one can be opposite of this necessity, but what’s the price?
We have to be honest with ourselves and don’t profit the generosity of our friends, in order to create an environment of a real friendship which the first goal is the amity, this time we produce a mutual respect, and a simple relation can growth up to a strong one, but if we just see a ‘’friend’’ just a material benefit which we have to keep the relation with, may be one time I can need him, that’s an hypocrisy

Friendly

[kabi]

Good evening HATIMO,

I appreciate your answer , That sounds great .
Thank you .

I wonder what others think about To build relationships.

well, I put here again the questions :

did you create a relationship with Canadian living here in Canada?
So what's next??
So what do you do for that dear friends ?
Do you keep the contact and maintain your notebook up to date ? Do you support the occasions of meetings actively? assist or take an active share with your friends and member of group-meeting ?
Do you think that you are available and pro-active within your network?

Have a good day friends

[Invité]

Keeping Time ..

I will give you here, some words and sentences about TIME :



spend time
To use time in a certain way

save time
To use less time, or do something quickly so you have more time to do something

waste time
To use tome poorly

Kill Time
To do something because you have much time

Make Time
To schedule a specific amount of time to do something

No i want from you to discuss the following questions :

1. How do you usually spend time? Are you busy person, or do you have a lot of free time?

2. There is a proverbe "Time is money" what do you think this means? Do you have any other sayings about time ?

[Invité]

Where are you my "forum mate" ?

[kabi]

I'm here my dear still waiting for answers of my questions and thinking about yours ..

By the way did you got my message about next meeting with english/French persons in Mogador café ???
It will be a wonderful opporunity to practice our english with them .. uhh ?

[Invité]

Of course i will be there .. just give me its date

thx Kabi

[Invité]

Free E-Mail English Courses for Learners and Teachers


lien :
http://esl.about.com/cs/onlinecourses/a/a_ecourses.htm

[Invité]

Telephone English - The Phrases



There are a number of
phrases and idioms that are only used when telephoning. Let's first
take a look at an example dialogue: Here are the most common:

• Operator: Hello, Frank and Brothers, How can I help you?
  
• Peter: This is Peter Jackson. Can I have extension 3421?
  
• Operator: Certainly, hold on a minute, I'll put you through...
  
• Frank: Bob Peterson's office, Frank speaking.
  
• Peter: This is Peter Jackson calling, is Bob in?
  
• Frank: I'm afraid he's out at the moment. Can I take a message?
  
• Peter: Yes, Could you ask him to call me at . I need to talk to him about the Nuovo line, it's urgent.
  
• Frank: Could you repeat the number please?
  
• Peter: Yes, that's , and this is Peter Jackson.
  
• Frank: Thank you Mr Jackson, I'll make sure Bob gets this asap.
  
• Peter: Thanks, bye.
  
• Frank: Bye.
  

As
you can see, the language is rather informal and there are some
important differences to everyday English. Look at the chart below for
key language and phrases used in telephone English:



Introducing yourself

This is Ken.

Ken speaking


Asking who is on the telephone

Excuse me, who is this?

Can I ask who is calling, please?



Asking for Someone

Can I have extension 321? (extensions are internal numbers at a company)

Could I speak to...? (Can I - more informal / May I - more formal)

Is Jack in? (informal idiom meaning: Is Jack in the office?

Connecting Someone

I'll put you through (put through - phrasal verb meaning 'connect')

Can you hold the line? Can you hold on a moment?



How to reply when someone is not available

I'm afraid ... is not available at the moment

The line is busy... (when the extension requested is being used)

Mr Jackson isn't in... Mr Jackson is out at the moment...

Taking a Message

Could (Can, May) I take a message?

Could (Can, May) I tell him who is calling?

Would you like to leave a message?



More Telephone English:

• Telephone English: Leaving a Message on an Answering Machine
  
• How to Telephone: Tips and Tricks to Make Sure a Native English Speaker Slows Down!
  
• Practical Exercises: Exercises to Improve Your Telephoning Skills
  
• Role Plays: Role Play Dialogue Cues to Practice Telephoning with Friends
  
• Teaching Telephone English: Lesson Plan
  

[kabi]

1. How do you usually spend time? Are you busy person, or do you have a lot of free time?

To tell you the truth my friend, I am a busy person . Maybe I can say that I do more than I should, you know when you are alone and love contact with people and discover a new culture, you do a lot of activities such cultural, social and much more.

I usually - after work – go to different places before coming back home , for example : Library if we have a session of readers-circle, "café-rencontre" if we have a meeting, or just to see movies, or spend a week-end around area of Montréal, and so on, and son on ……

2. There is a proverbe "Time is money" what do you think this means? Do you have any other sayings about time ?

Yes time is money , because the earlier you have information (good and effective information ) the better you save money … an example? :

If you have 2 buyers of oranges, one of them woke-up early morning and went to the market place and sell his oranges .. and if you have a 2nd one coming to the same market place and try to sell his oranges too, he will find out that people had already bought them from the first one, so he will not expect selling a lots….
The first buyer had more time and so …..more money . Saving time make you saving money .

Do you have any other sayings about time ?

They say that time is the interval between events,… and people used units that they have chosen for the purpose, like hours, minutes, seconds etc... it's a flowing from the past through the present and into the future.

Well I don't have much to say about it but I like always to say " let time to time ".. just in order to let time show us what the future is hiding .

PS: the next meeting is next Monday, April 16th. at 18 o'clock.

[Invité]

Thank you kabi for this point of view about time I’m agreeing with you for all of that, but sometimes we haven’t the key of time, and we are oblige to wait our destiny until something new happened, after we can decide or act, like this process of Immigration, even if we try to live normally our habitual life, but we feel that time is running slowly like a snail or it’s stopped, because we fixed an objective abroad, and time become a big waiting room, I know that’s not a positive opinion, but it’s near of the fact.

Friendly,

[Invité]

PS: the next meeting is next Monday, April 16th. at 18 o'clock.

Thx Kabi .. I noted it !

[lady]

Dear friends
i read your topic about time. we say that time is money but in our country, i think that it isn't realy true.we waste time everywhere: waiting the bus, waiting the doctor, waiting friends who are often late and in our coffes is very clear people can spend two or three hours talking.we are slobbing long hours front tv and we forget time. the notion of time doesn't exist in our society. i think that reading books and newspapers is important to evolve our vocabulary, our imagination and our speaking but we read less and less. this problem of reading is caused by the time that we waste everywhere.

[kabi]

I agree with you HATIMO (by the way , we use I agree with you .... because it's a common mistake to say I'm agreeing with you... just a common use of this phrasal expression).

As you said it's painful to wait so long , and time passing by, even if you have done all you can. But let me telle you : We will never be ready how much you telle me !!
So when we have so much time ahead to wait , let's benefits of this time by: improving more our english, pull up more money, get more informations about studies, work, associations in canada . etc etc etc (you had already begin by using english in this topic and that's great !!)


For LADY , I can say that wasting time, as unfortunately it happens in our country , is wasting money ... as long as we waste time as long as we waste opportunities to performs ourselves (socially, culturally, financially...) . So if people don't even care about this notion of time take it, perfection it, and you will win surelly ... maybe not necessary money but at least a way to do it.

Sincerelly yours.

MEA , what do you think about our first meeting with Anglo-people in this sweet moroccan café? ... it wasn't amazing loll?

let me telle you that May Chiu (the chinese lady) is presently a community organizer at Project Genesis in Montreal. She is a human rights lawyer and was a commissioner for the People’s Commission that held public hearings from witnesses about the impact of the security certificates on their lives and the impact on the social fabric of our society.

and for the other gentleman the Honorable Warren Allmand is a former Solicitor General of Canada. After his retirement from federal politics he was appointed the director of Rights and Democracy (Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development). Rights and Democracy was created by the Canadian Parliament in 1988. It has an international mandate to support the universal values of human rights.


I just will make you know people in high quality

[Invité]

I agree with you HATIMO (by the way , we use I agree with you .... because it's a common mistake to say I'm agreeing with you... just a common use of this phrasal expression).

Thank you kabi, i agree with you

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