💐HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 💐

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

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To write about a mother,

No language is truly enough.

To all the mothers in the world,

My humble garland of words

Celebrating our third anniversary of being in Canada

Dear our Friends & Well-wishers:

Good Evening. How are you ?

Our landed paper tells us that we, my wife Vijayalakshmi and I immigrated to Canada on May 25, 2006. Today, we are celebrating our 3rd Anniversary of being in Canada. We are happy about it.

We enjoy the best of everything in this great country, Canada.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Somayya Kasani & Vijayalakshmi Kasani

Hello Somayya,

I am well as my family, too! How are you and your family?

Congratulations on your 3rd anniversary of being in Canada! I do love Canada and have been extremely fortunate to have spent my life here.

Everyone at the College is well. We will be having another class start on June 15 so we will be having 3 classes again.

Take care,
Have a marvelous Monday!
Alice

Congratulations Somayya

Enjoy. Celebrate. All the best in the future for your family.

Ciao, Jerry, from Ottawa

Thank you Somaiah, for sharing.
Glad that you have come to Canada to share your wisdom and pleasant personality with all of us.
Regards
Cynthia
Hello Somayya:

I am delighted in celebrating your third anniversary to Canada. May both of you enjoy the best of every thing in this great country. We all value your friendship and wisdom.

Wishing you the best, always.
Charan
Congratulations! Canada is a wonderful and peaceful country. Good to be immigrant of Canada.

Dr.Maiti
Hello Somayya!

Congratulations - I'm sure I am one of many New Democrats who are very happy to have you with us here in Canada!

Warmest regards,
Jeff Sloychuk
Dear Somayya,

Canada is very fortunate to have you and your family here!

How are your doing? Are you back from holidays yet? If so, call me and we can get together.

I haven’t forgotten about that reference letter and will get it done before we meet.

Best Wishes,
Sharon
Somayya,

Thank you for your email. I hope you are successful in receiving additional volunteer work at the Centre which will enhance your skills to find future employment.

I hope you find some suitable volunteer work at EMCN.

Helen Congratulations Mr. Kasani.
Very glad to hear that.
Best regards, Divakar

Many congratulations on this happy occasion which many other new immigrants find full of frustrations.
May joy fill your years to come in Canada.
Ajmer

Congratulations...

Dear Children, Good Afternoon.

I have done LINC 4 Final Test, well. I was recommended for ESL Level (5) Five. Tomorrow we celebrate Multicultural Day at school.

I got my annual bus-pass renewed and came back home and just now we had our lunch too.

With Love, Amma - Nana

Persistence Prevails When All Else Fails

LINC - Memories

Thank you for your sincere service to us

Dear Teacher Kamalah,

The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book. I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. You taught us from your heart and made us to think about.

Thank you teacher...
Somayya Kasani

Thanks to our teacher for conducting classes in a creative way

(1) To use infinitive in a sentence, in different positions is a good job, our teacher, Kamalah gave us this morning.

(2) To go to a potluck party is a new concept for me here, in Edmonton.

(3) Potluck party is a good concept to mix with people and to share our feelings.

(4) The LINC is a nice course for new comers to Canada to know new traditions of the country and to learn the language as well.

(5) The teachers working in the LINC are the most dedicated people, ready to serve the newcomers with a great zeal.

(6) I am successfully completing two sessions, here in Metro by April 28, 2008. I don’t know how to thank my teachers and the other staff members for their sincere service for us.

(7) The management is asking us every time our feedback to improve their service to us. But we don’t know what to suggest them, for our further development.

(8) We are very thankful to the management who brought the guest speakers for our classroom to make us learn the systems helpful for us in our real life in Canada.

(9) Once we join the LINC and complete it successfully, I am sure, that we will become real Canadians. To exercise our rights and carry on our responsibilities is a sincere job of every Canadian, I believe.

(10) Our teacher asked me to write only 10 sentences using infinitives. I hope I have done this, now. Thanks to our teacher, Kamalah for inventing new situations to make us learn the language and traditions of Canada.

Class Picture

Dear Mrs. Leah, You add a lot of love to everything you share with us.

Dear Leah, Good Morning. How are you?

I thank you very much, on behalf me and my pretty class for your nice Valentine Day cards and pretty bags of sweet to all of us. And I also thank you for your lessons not just from books but from life where you are.

With Best Regards, Somayya Kasani

I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there,

The clay they used was a young child's mind
And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher:
the tools she used were books and music and art;

One was a parent
With a guiding hand and gentle loving heart.

And when at last their work was done,
They were proud of what they had wrought.

Dear Somayya,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I have really enjoyed talking with you and getting to know you over the past two weeks. Your intelligence and warmth add so much to the class. I hope you and your family have a wonderful long weekend.

My sister and her family (they live in Washington DC ) are visiting this weekend so I am looking forward to spending some time with them. Again, thank you for the thoughtfulness of your letter.

I will see you on Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Leah

A paragraph written on Punctuality in today's assignment : Nana‏

Punctuality gives pious to the character.

The principal and the staff of our school Metro are very punctual. They come to the school well in advance. Their positive attitude towards their work and their students is proof for my comment.

The students like their teachers, never miss their classes without their teachers’ notice. They always participate actively in their classroom instruction. And they are also responsible and most capable in doing things as a part of their learning new ideas and new concepts. I am really very proud to be the part of this nice Metro Community.

Thank you.
- Somayya Kasani

( Words used in the paragraph are: punctual, attitude, proof, notice, participate, responsible, capable, instruction. )

My Tody's Instant Writing In The Computer Lab‏ - Task is to Use a Set of Words as Given Below

I am Somayya Kasani.

My religion is doing good. I believe in honesty. Honesty is the best policy. I am a bilingual person. I can read and write two languages. I just want to get familiarized with Canadian local English accent. So I joined the LINC. LINC stands for language instruction for Newcomers to Canada.

My younger grandchild goes to kindergarten school to learn to communicate, play and interact with others appropriately. Children usually have longer attention span when they are doing something that they enjoy. Success encourages them to do better.

A learning disability does not stop someone from learning and achieving a lot in life, if they get the right support from their parents and teachers. Children benefit more from the instruction with carefully planned classroom activities.

Thank you,
Somayya Kasani
LINC 4

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Honesty
religion
bilingual
attention span
learning disability
instruction
successfully
benefit
kindergarten
fluently
confidential
encourage

LINC4 Topics

Dear Children,

Some of the following topics we discuss in this LINC4 session, besides learning Language Skills LSRW in English:

( 1 ) Business Networking
( 2) Geography of Canada
( 3 ) Government
( 4 ) Native People
( 5 ) Cultural Diversity
(6 ) Customs and Social Behavior
( 7 ) Environmental Issues
( 8 ) Citizenship
( 9 ) Family Law
( 10 ) The Police
( 11 ) Community Resources
( 12 ) Public Library
(13 ) Volunteering
( 14 ) Effective Learning
( 15 ) Adult Continuing Education
( 16 ) Job Interviews
( 17 ) Skills Assessment
( 18 ) Finance & Banking: Bank Accounts, Budgeting, Credit cards
( 19 ) Hunger, Population, The U N and Canada
( 20 ) Global Issues: Emergencies, Healthy Life Style, Relationships, Family roles, and Responsibilities

Love, Amma-Naana

Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.

Dear Monica,

How are you? How is your study at MacEvan College? Please tell me something about your present curriculam.

The above picture is from the movie " I am David". We watched that movie on last Friday in our class. I am sure that our Paul might have told you the story, already. The movie was really very nice. All of us kept our poor eyes wide open all the time, from the beginning to the end of the Film.

We will discuss about this movie later in our classroom.

The real tragedy is that we can understand the history, easily. But we cannot identify and understand the would be history (present), which goes around us in our day today life. Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards. If we can read the people well, around us we can find many Davids. But it is not easy to read people alive (present) well, rather than we can do it well their past.

More in my next e-mail. Please convey my best wishes to Mr. Paul.

With Regards,
~Somayya Kasani

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Hi Somaiah,

It's so nice to hear from you. I am fine and my studies are going well.

We have speaking, reading, writing and listening classes. I felt little bored at the beginning because it seemed to be too easy for me, but it became more interesting now. The level is little more complicated but not impossible. I like that, because it keeps my mind working all the time.

We have different topics: arts, computers, sociology, medicine, etc. We have also researches and presentations.

One of the research's topic is "A famous person". I choose to research about Mahatma Gandhi because he has been a spirit of peace and truth, even after his death.

I am glad to hear you liked the movie "I am David". I was also impressed about it and I went immly to the library and borrowed the book, that the movie is based on. I would like to recommend you to read it. It's amazing in a way of telling the story. When you start reading it, the time just flies and you cannot leave it from your hands.

I hope everything is fine about you and your family. I wish you all the best and I wait for your reply.

Regards,
Monica Ciobanu

I Am David - View Some Pictures

Dear All,

Feast to our heart - View Some Pictures from the movie " I am David".

With Love,
Amma-Naana

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I Am David By Anne Holm (1963) - A Movie Synopsis

My Dear Children,

Today we all watched a movie called "Iam David" in our class room. Here is the synopsis of the movie.

With Love, AmmaNaana

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This is a story about a young boy's epic journey across Europe, and his budding emotions and sense of the wonder of life.

The facts are simple. David is a 12 year old boy. He has lived all his life in a concentration camp somewhere in eastern Europe. He does not know anything about his parents or where he comes from, or why he is in the camp. All he knows is that he is David. One day, without any explanation, a guard arranges for him to escape. The electric current is switched off from the perimeter fence for half a minute, just long enough for David to climb over. He is given bread and water and a compass. He is told to head south for Salonica, stow away on a ship sailing to Italy, and then walk north until he comes to a country called Denmark. And that is what David does.

Now, what kind of person would you be if you had spent all your life in a concentration camp? The first thing you may notice about David is his extraordinary isolation. He has survived in the camp by never allowing himself to think further than the next meal. After the death of his friend and teacher, Johannes, he never permits himself to have any affection for anyone. Out of the camp and on the run he believes, not unreasonably, that 'they' are after him. Of all the people that he meets on his long journey, he doesn't feel able to trust anyone. And so he shoulders the burden of the journey alone. Consequently, of course, all the judgments he makes about other people and their actions, and his own actions, are governed entirely by his own moral standards.

He has very high moral standards. For instance, he refuses to accept payment for a small service that he renders voluntarily to a stranger. For him, I think, to chose to observe high moral standards is a symbol of his new-found liberty. And should anyone fall below his own exacting standards he is an unforgiving opponent:

Haven't you seen that David hates Carlo? Not like boys who fight and then forget about it because there is really nothing serious to fight over. David hates Carlo as a grown man hates. He talks to him only when he has to, and then he speaks politely and coldly and refuses to look at him.

But as David journeys across Europe he begins to comprehend that he cannot live life entirely alone. He does need other people, Maria, whom he saves from the fire, and the dog, and perhaps a mother of his own ... And it works the other way round - other people may need things from him. It is not good enough for David simply to hate evil when he finds it in others. If others say they are sorry for their evil acts then he must also learn to forgive, because relentless unforgiving is another kind of cruelty.

The book is not set in a real time or place. Although the circumstances seem real enough, David's background is a synthesis of all the terrible persecution that happened during the Second World War and the subsequent years of cold war communism. This helps to make David a very powerful and pure figure. I don't think he is particularly real. Anne Holm uses him as a blank canvas on which can be drawn the first experiences of life - beauty, knowledge, trust, religion, love, everything.

And what pleasure he discovers in the simple things of life:

Before he had come to the town he had known about nothing but death: here he had learnt to live, to decide things for himself; he had learnt what it felt like to wash in clean water in the sunshine until he was clean himself, and what it felt like to satisfy his hunger with food that tasted good; he had learnt the sound of laughter that was free from cruelty; he had learnt the meaning of beauty -

More of a discussion paper than an adventure story, but atmospheric and quite thought-provoking. If you want to know whether David eventually finds a place to settle down, you will have to read the book.

Read the background article About I Am David

http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/ideas.php

Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions

Morning, dear all.

Yesterday we discussed some English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions in our class. We enjoyed the instruction well.

Our course book is a guide, not the Law. It’s really good to deviate and bring in - "student centered content". Real English is outside the classroom.

With Love, Nana

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1) "Quit beating around the bush! If you don't want to go with me, just tell me!"
beat around the bush: evade an issue; avoid giving a direct answer.

2) bent out of shape: needlessly worried about something.
"I know you're worried about your job interview, but don't get bent out of shape. You'll do just fine."

3) at the eleventh hour: at the last minute; almost too late.
"Yes, I got the work done in time. I finished it at the eleventh hour, but I wasn't late.

4) be on the road: be traveling.
"You won't be able to contact me tomorrow because I'll be on the road."

5) as easy as pie: very easy.
"I thought you said this was a difficult problem. It isn't. In fact, it's as easy as pie."

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A few links : http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-mngs.html
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/index.html
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/index.html

Good Afternoon

Dear Children,

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart. Taking the first footstep with a good thought the second with a good word and the third with a good deed. Nothing is more highly prized than the value of each day."

I had my lunch, just now. Our LINC4 class is very interesting with a good teacher and with some new pupils as well.

I reached the school by 8:30 am. The class was at work at 8: 45. Before I came to my school, I had a cup of tea and read the Newspaper.

Given below is an instant writeup assignment in our class. Please read this at your available time.

More in my next, e-mail:
With Love, Nana

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January 8, 2008

My new friend: Gulchehra

My new friend in LINC 4, this session is Gulchehra. We call her Gulya. She sits beside me on my left in the class-room. She came to Edmonton, Canada on immigration from Turmennistan. Her husband Mr. James sponsored her to Canada. His native town is Marrhead. It is about 100 miles away from Edmonton city. She lives with her husband in Edmonton, near Southgate. Her in-laws live in their native town Marrhead.

Her parents Mr. Bahram and Mrs. Gulkamar live in Seydi, in Turkmenistan. She is the only daughter for them. They often greet her over phone to comfort her. She worked as a Typist in an office after her Grade 10. She also did some courses before she joined as a typist, in Turkmenistan.

Presently she is doing LINC 4, after successfully completing LINC 3 and LINC 2. It is great that she could attend two sessions with in a short span of time. She came to Canada only eight months ago. She is not only doing her Language Instruction Class but also working in a Restaurant, part-time.

Gulya is an active and intelligent girl, and I hope that she can adopt the new way life soon and will over come the challenges that come on her way, easily with the support of her husband and her new friends in Edmonton.

Thanks to Metro and its staff for offering all of us the link by its worthy LINC program.

Somayya Kasani

Congratulations...

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year...

Dear Our Sweet Children, Good Afternoon.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and good tidings to You, wherever You are our children!

Your dear mom and I are good. I came home just now with my LINC 3 Certificate and Progress Report. I got 94.5% on my final assessment examinations. I was recommended for the next session: Level 4. I showed the reports to your dear mom. She told me to try for 100% in next course.

Our teacher Estella wrote “Thank You for your persistent effort. You are a good model for the younger students!”

Please find couple of pictures below taken at our school.

With Love,
- Nana

Naana with his LINC class mates

Naana with his LINC class mates Naana at Bowling with his LINC class mates

From School

Dear Children, Good Afternoon.

Thank you for your e-mails.

I had my lunch just now. We have festive atmosphere in our school due to two reasons - One: the vacation is fast approaching. The second one is Christmas is around the corner. The classrooms and the surroundings of our School are all decorated with beautiful color papers.

Here are some nice words for your reading.

With Love, Nana

Social Customs in Alberta, Canada

Dear all, Good Evening. How are you?

Social customs change over time and depend on the situation. Following is a list of some Canadian customs that may not be familiar to you, our dear people. We discussed these in our LINC3 class today.

With Love, Amma - Nana

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Social Customs in Alberta!

Following is a list of some Canadian customs.

1. When you are introduced to someone, it is customary to say, “Hello, how are you?” Some people put out their right hand, expecting you to shake it with your right hand. Some Canadians consider it impolite to refuse to shake hands.

2. When you are talking to someone, stand 60 to 100 cm away. Many Canadians feel uncomfortable if they do not know very well touches them or stands closer than 60 cm away.

3. Be on time for appointments. If you have any appointment (for example, to see a doctor, teacher, or a friend) try to be there at the agreed time. If you will be late or unable to keep an appointment, telephone a head of time and let the person know.

4. Smoking is not permitted in public places (for example stores, theatres, office buildings and many restaurants) except in specified areas. Look for signs indicating where smoking is acceptable.

5. It is generally acceptable for young children and parents or a man and woman to hold hands or walk arm in arm in public. However, some other physical displays are not acceptable. It is not common for two men or two women to hold hands.

6. It is unacceptable in most circumstances to be loud, aggressive or violent. This includes carrying on a loud conversation in a public place, calling people names and spanking a child in a store. Hitting or threatening another person is against the law.

7. Unless you know a person very well, it is considered impolite to ask certain types of personal questions. For example, it is generally not acceptable to ask the following. a) How much money do you have? b) How much did you pay for your house or car? c) Why aren’t you married? d) How old are you? e) How much do you weigh? f) Why don’t you have any children?

8. Most Albertans do not approve of littering (discarding garbage on the floor or ground in public place). Some communities have laws where a person can be fined for littering. Garbage cans are generally available in public places such as malls and parks.