Children's Education

In my opinion, a child is always a child, in particular my son, a 9-year-old boy. So I always treat him as a child. I think there are lots of toys and games in his world. I seldom think that he has the same feelings as adults. But one thing changed my opinion.

Last night, we were talking about what happened during the day as we usually do at supper.  My son suddenly asked me, "Am I silly? " I was confused and asked, "Why? What happened?" He said he spent $5 to register for the chess tournament in school. I know he is very interested in chess, but he is not good at it. So I said,"That is wonderful! I support you." He said,"You know, this money is my pocket money. I have been saving it up for a long time. I could use it to buy cookies. But now I use it to buy failure and ridicule. It is not worth it. I am really silly." I got it. He was worried about failure. He cared about what people thought of him. The most important thing was he could think about how he spent the money. I was glad he could think like that. So I encouraged him. I told him that as new learner, it was not important to win in the contest. It was an opportunity to learn from others. He should enjoy playing chess. On the other hand, as a newcomer, it was important for him to participate in all kinds of activities in school. It could help him to get used to the life in Canada. It was very worth spending the money. After hearing my explanation, my son looked happy.

Actually, parents' leading and encouragement are very important to children during their growing years. We always say that parents are the first teachers of children. That is so true. With the help of parents,  children have more confidence to overcome difficulties. In addition, from this incident, I recognized sometimes parents should not treat their child as only child. They are smarter than we imagine. We should learn to help them in an appropriate way.

                                          

Shopping Online

With the development of Internet technology, a new thing was born, shopping online. People changed their traditional shopping way. Sometime they do not go to the stores in person to buy what they need. They buy goods on the  Internet. They choose and compare goods online, pay online, and the goods what they buy are delivered directly to their home. that is shopping online. It is easy and convenient. It is also a tendency in the future.

There are many online stores on the Internet. My favorite online store is Taobao. It is also one of  the most popular online store in China. It looks like a huge mall. Of course it is a virtual mall.  But it covers nearly every things form clothing, accessories, digital products, home daily, maternal and children, digital entertainment, insurance to service. Every kind of products will provided different brands. It is good for you to compare quality and price. You can learn the goods' appearance by the picture. The features or functions are described by the sellers. There are also many comments from other buyers.

 Basically, the price of items are cheaper than them in the store. The most important thing is there are some solutions to protect customers benefit. For example, when you are buying  items, you pay it to the Zhifubao, which is the medium between sellers and buyers. When you receive the items, then check the quality of the items. If you are satisfied with it, you notice Zhifubao give the money to the sellers. If you are not satisfied with it, you return the items and get back your money. So sometimes I prefer to buy accessories, digital products and home daily in online store . It saves money and time. I don't like buy clothing or shoes in online store. Because I need try them on to make sure they suit for me. Anyway, we choose appropriate way to shop.

"Forcing a Tenant to Move"

This video is talking about a dispute between a tenant and her landlord. The Tenant, Sophia, sued the landlords Lillie and Vincent for forcing her to move and return $2570.88. They are describing the fact to a judge in the court.

Sophia had rented the basement for 14 years. She had no idea if the basement is legal for rent. There is big problem in the basement and it must be handled. She is forced to move out. When she found a gas leak, she called Lillie. Lillie asked Sophia for help by taking the stove out. The gas had gone for two weeks.

FAQ on Landlord & Tenants

A. What temperature must my landlord keep my apartment at?
Answer: My landlord should keep my apartment at 22℃~23℃. That is a comfortable temperature. If it is lower, it would be cold. If it is higher, it is easier to catch a cold when we go outside.

B. How much can my landlord raise the rent?
Answer: According to Canadian economic growth, I think the rent should increase by less 3%.

C. Can my landlord evict me for having a pet?
Answer: Before I sign the agreement, my landlord should agree with me on whether I can have a pet. If I have a pet and break the rule, I don't think he has the right to evict me. First, he can suggest to me that I give up the pet.

WELCOME TO MICROSKILLS LINC

Are you looking for a LINC school to improve your English? Well, MicroSkills LINC is a good choice. It is located at 200 Consumers Road. It provides English language programs from Level 1 to Level 7. It also provides childminding for children who are between the ages of 18 months and 5 years. So you can concentrate on your study without worrying about taking care of your kids. If you have the time, you can take writing and pronunciation classes after school. The instructors are helpful, professional and dedicated.
Furthermore, MicroSkills LINC is one part of Community MicroSkills Development Centre. There are many services and programs for newcomers, such as Job Search Workshops, HOST program, Settlement & Support Services and Newcomer Services. So if you study in MicroSkills LINC, it is convenient to participate in the other programs. For more information, please visit our website at www.microskills.ca/LINC_East.html.

A SURPRISING EXPERIENCE

Today, I would like to talk about one of my experiences. I have a vivid memory of it because it happened not long after I came to Canada. It was the first thing that surprised me in Canada. It was interesting.
Last August I was living in Charlottetown, the capital of PEI, and was studying in an English school for newcomers. It is similar to LINC schools in Toronto. Charlottetown is a very small city, and there is no TTC there as in Toronto. If we wanted to go somewhere by bus, we had to wait for one or two hours. There was no car park in the school. So the students living far from school had to drive to school and had to park in different spots for free parking every day.

One day after school, I received a call from my friend. We were studying in the same school and had landed in Canada on the same day. She said anxiously, "Lily, something is wrong! I can't find out my car." Oh, my God! She couldn't find her car.

To be honest, I had had a similar experience. Once, I parked my car behind a building. But I didn't notice the sign on the wall. It said something like "authorized parking only". When I came back, I couldn't find my car. It had been towed. I spent $80 on a fine to get it back. I thought her case was the same as mine. It was urgent. I asked her where she had parked and went there in a hurry. When I arrived, I found my friend standing there helplessly. She was upset. I looked around. The car park was beside a printing centre. And there was no sign on the wall or in the car park. So I had no idea what happened. We decided to go into the building to ask for help. The receptionist was very nice and asked the security guards if they knew anything about the car. Nobody knew. The receptionist went out with us and had a look around. He also didn't know what happened. Finally, he said we could call 911 in this situation. We were worried that we couldn't describe it clearly on the phone, so we asked the receptionist to called for us. The police asked for some information about the car. It was a new red Dodge car. My friend also told them the car's model and plate number. Just a few minutes later, the policeman told us the car was about 100 metres away from the car park. It was in next block. Really? We couldn't believe it and looked at each other. But we had to go see. After we arrived there, my friend laughed and said, "Sorry, Lily. I forgot that I haid parked the car here this morning!" I laughed too.

But it was so surprising. How could the police find out where the car was so quickly? On my way home, I tried to think of the answer. Maybe there was something in the car, and the policeman used the satellite positioning system to find the car. It was just my guess. Anyway, it was lucky that my friend didn't lose her car.

          

Federal Bridge

holiday parade

TRIP TO NIAGARA FALLS

I had looked forward to visiting Niagara Falls for a long time. Fortunately, the opportunity came last Saturday. It was a nice day for a trip. My friends and I, a total of 12 people drove to Niagara Falls at noon. Actually, before I set out, I looked for some information about the Falls. I was eager to go to see the most famous waterfalls in the world.

Niagara Falls is located nearly half-way down the Niagara River on the international boundary separating New York and Ontario. We took about one and a half hours to get there. Standing just 58 metres high, I saw a completely different waterfalls from that which I had seen. Niagara Falls is not one of the Top 10 highest waterfalls in North America. But you can imagine that one-fifth of all the fresh water in the world pours over the edge of the falls. As it flows down the river, it makes a big sound and a huge mist. The mist sprays into the sky about 100 metres high. How powerful it is! I was shocked by the scene. Nature is unbelievably great.

The water in Niagara River is from the four upper Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Erie. The river is split by tiny Goat Island before dropping over two giant falls: the smaller American, and the larger Canadian. The Canadian waterfall is often called the Horseshoe Falls, because its rounded U-shape looks like a giant horseshoe.

After visiting the falls, we had a nice lunch. Then we divided into 3 groups: four people went to the casino, four went shopping, I visited Downtown Niagara Falls with the other three people. It was not long after dividing up, when my friend called to say that those who want shopping were detained by the American customs. Because they took a wrong turn, they had gone to America! They had to be inspected for a long time. And we had to wait them. Although it was bad news, but I had time to go shopping. So it was also good news. Of course, they came back safely. It was almost midnight when I arrived home. But I enjoyed the tiring and exciting trip.