ESL TED TALKS Quiz: The Hidden Power of Smiling

Just a simple smile can have a real impact on both ourselves and others around us. Watch this Ted Talk in which Ron Guzman explains how and why. Take the quiz to see how well you understood.

The interactive version of the quiz is below.

For a paper version of the quiz:  

• PDF Ted Talks: The Power of Smiling
• Answer Key: Ted Talks Hidden Power of Smiling

TED TALKS QUIZ: Texting That Save Lives

Nancy Lubin is the CEO at Do Something.org, an organization that focuses on using the en ergy of teenagers to tackle issues they are passionate about and participate in social change. 

Recently, her organization began to communicate primarily through texting rather than email. They discovered this method of communication is 11 times more effective than email communication because texts have a 100 percent open rate.

In the midst of texting more than 200,000 teenagers each week about instituting changes at their schools and in their communities, Lublin and her coworkers discovered an unintended consequence: Teenagers began texting back about being bullied, participating in cutting and being abused. Text messaging became an inadvertent crisis hotline.

In her 2012 TED Talk, Lublin discusses how texting can save lives and how using teenagers’ primary means of communication to speak to them provides the opportunity for crisis intervention, referrals and even prevention.

Watch the video and do the quiz.  

Canadian Dance Moves: Ask a Canadian

article from Huffington Post 

Brazilians have samba. Americans do the disco. But is there a dance that is truly Canadian?

Well, Liam Kearney and Stina Diös may have invented a dozen. Borrowing the  music from Juliav Bentley and Andrew Gunadie's You Tube video "Canadian Please,"  the pair have created a video called Canadian Dance Moves. 

A charming  homage v homage to Canada's wholesome personality Canadian Dance Moves features dance moves called the Lumberjack, the Friendly Backpacker, and even one called Carry the Two Four, which has a special meaning in Ontario and Quebec where a majority of people buy their beer in cases of 24 rather than in six or12 packs as they do in the west.

click on the link below for the quiz  

The dances are easy to do on the dance floor -- or on the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver, on the frozen  Rideau Canada in  Ottawa, or maybe backpacking in Italy - wherever the mood to dance "Canadian"  strikes. 

Liam Kearney, a digital production co-ordinator, his girlfriend Stina Dios, and Jeff Higgins created the video in Toronto over a few days. Kearney says the biggest expense was a pair of $25 red pants.

He says they created the video just for fun. In an interview with the Ryersonian, Kearny said initially they had been thin king of doing a parody of the viral video Gangnam Style from Korean pop sensation Psy, but decided against it because it didn't feel right.

"Why jump on this bandwagon when we can pick something totally new, " Dios said. 

LISTENING SPEAKING ACTIVITIES:  

In Class: 

1. Watch the video without  sound. Write as many of the "dance moves"  as you can.

2. Watch the video with sound. Do the song cloze activity for Canadian Please 

3. With your group discuss what aspect of Canada or Canadians each of the " dance moves" refer to. 

ASK A CANADIAN 
1.  Turn the list of "dance moves" into a survey. 

2. Go out and ask as many Canadians as you can what each of the "dance moves" refers to.

3. Report the answers back to your group.

4. Create your own list of dance moves for important cultural and humourous aspects

of your own cultural and country of origin.

5. Perform them for the class and be prepared to explain what they mean. 

CANADIAN PLEASE! A Canada Day Song

Canadians often get the reputation of taking each other too seriously, but we're also famous for our strong sense of humour as you can see in the song below.