One part of the video on Monday afternoon

Going to school. It's a exciting time. There is so much to do, so much to learn, so much for a child to try cope with his new country. This radio is about one of important ways that a parent can help their child to succeed in their school.

(the teacher said:) "Hi, boys and girls. I have a letter here and want to your parent to complete it. It's advice that your parents come to the next parents, Interview. Ok, and it's really important and I would like to see every one of them. All right? Now, tell your parent to attend the interview."

Two famous people

John Sewell was elected Mayor of Toronto in 1978. While he was a mayor, he liked to ride his bicycle to council as an environmentalist. He was called "Mayor Blue Jeans" by the Toronto Sun for wearing denim. In the 1980 election, he lost the mayor's office but won re-election in 1982. He retired from municipal politics in 1984.

Tom Jakobek is a former member of the Toronto City Council, who may be best remembered for getting free trips to Disney World from his completed leasing deals for the city. He was first elected to council in 1982, serving as a school trustee, and remained a member until 2000. When he became a city budget chief in 1990, he delivered nine consecutive budgets with no tax increases. He retired from politics in 2000.

One part of my new life

I have never done three things before I came to Canada: Reading English newspaper, Cleaning fresh fish and Renting house to live.
I liked to read newspaper very much in China, which can learn international, national, city and local newspaper. Now I have to read Toronto’s newspaper such as Metro. I am always tired because of many words that I don’t know and have to look them for in dictionary, so I almost can’t finish reading a complete article.
Cleaning fresh fish is another hard work for me. Just when we came to Canada, I bought a frozen fish from Nofills shop, It was a uncleaned fish. I cleaned all of scales, gill and organs. It spent me almost one hour to finish it.
Renting a house to live is an experience. I have never done before. We considered some aspects: elementary education, convenience and rent price.
For me, it is very difficult to do above things at first time. But I think they are some part of my life.
Three things which I plan to in last three years include:
. learning English
. travelling Montreal
. learning skating

I hope they will be interesting one part of my new life.

A Mysterious Radio

It was my first white Christmas! All of us were very excited, especially my son, who looked forward to receiving Santa’s gifts.

After my son was asleep, we put the Christmas card into his sock, and downloaded a program to play a radio message from the North Pole.

I were gladed that the technology was advanced. I only put my son’s name and age into the program, and chose one question that my son wanted to know--how Santa Claus could give Christmas gifts to all the children of the world in one night. After I finished doing that, the radio program was set. In the program, Santa Claus was in an old house in the North Pole, He spoke to my son with an elegant music in the background. He said, "It is difficult to find you, Daniel." The Santa Claus pointed out my son’s location on an old map. He opened a thick book with flashing lights and checked if my son had been nice at school. Then he told the secret about my son’s question. Finally, Santa Claus said," This is a secret between us." The radio was very real and interesting.

When my son woke up the next morning, he found the card. He was excited because in the card Santa Claus told him that he could pick up a pair of skating shoes from Canadian Tire and he would receive Santa Claus’ radio message from the North Pole. Of course, he was proud that Santa Claus knew he was a good boy.

Yesterday, we took him to skate for the first time. Although he was very scared, he didn't give up trying to learn to walk on the ice by himself, because my husband and I don't know how to skate. I knew the reason why my son was very brave this time. Before he went skating, he told me that he would like to wear the skating shoes that Santa Claus had given him as he thought that Santa Claus would be proud of him.

The Difference between The Winter Olympic Games and The Arctic Winter Games

Both the Arctic Winter Games ( AWG) and the Winter Olympic Games are important and international events for sports. But there are many differences between them.


First, where the participants come from is different. The Winter Olympic Games is for athletes from all over the world, while the AWG is for the northern and arctic athletes. So fewer countries participate in the AWG than in the Winter Olympic Games.


Second, the competitions are different. The AWG celebrates not only sports, but also social exchange and culture. The Winter Olympic Games feature winter sports held on snows or ice such as figure skating, cross-country skiing, bobsledding and ice hockey.


Finally, the frequency of the games is different. The AWG is held every two years, while the Winter Olympic Games happen every four years.


Although the two sport games have some differences, their main goals are to develop the sprit of sport all over the world.

An interesting field trip

Although the weather was very cold and we didn't have tickets to the ROM on Friday, we changed our plan to visit the Gardiner Museum and Bata Shoe Museum.


The Gardiner Museum is located across from the ROM. It was founded in 1984, and the collection was donated by George and Helen Gardiner. Today, the collection in the Gardiner Museum exceeds 3,000 historical and contemporary pieces, including ancient American vessels and porcelain of Asia and Europe.


We visited the Chinese porcelain exhibition, where the ceramics date to the Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasty. According to the caption, the cobalt pigment was from Iran .



We also appreciated some western porcelain that was imitated Chinese porcelain. It was very fun!


After we had a break at Tim Hortons, we went to the Bata Shoe Museum. It is a special museum. It has collected 12,500 artifacts: African sandals, Chinese traditional shoes, western fashion shoes and so on, and it tells us the evolution of footwear and its symbolism through the ages.


We didn't have much time to appreciate each shoe in detail, including its time, its outstanding designs, its culture, its materials and its unusual shoemaking skills.


While some museums can help us to understand one country or one area's culture, special museums for ceramic art and shoe museum can help us to learn ceramic and footwear history and development. We can keep going back to learn more.

Friday's Field Trip: Royal Ontario Museum

This Friday we will be going on a field trip to the Royal Ontario Museum. We will be leaving at 9:30AM from the South-bound Platform of Sheppard-Yonge Subway Station.

Please arrive at the platform a little earlier, by 9:25AM. We will get off at Bay Subway Station and walk over to the museum.

Bring some snacks, water, camera, warm clothing, and good walking shoes.


Plan B: If we don't get our promised ROM tickets by 9:30AM on Friday, we could visit other museums for free.