Average Life Spans in Canada

Hi LINC 7 Students,

Today we were discussing population trends. Here's the link to a CBC article on average life spans in Canada.

According the data, the average life expectancy for males born in 2012 is 80 and for females it's 84. Yes, people in Canada are clearly living longer every year!

I personally know a lady who is 102. Her name is Margaret and she is sharp as a tack mentally! My friend Franka made a short video about Margaret, who is planning to her home to a Syrian family this year!!

Bee Crisis or No Crisis?

Hi Everyone,

We were discussing the issue of "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD) in class today.

Here a link to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) website, which says "The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the USDA's internal research agency, is leading several efforts into possible CCD causes and striving to enhance overall honey bee health."

Here's the link to a Globe and Mail article that says there is no bee crisis in Canada!

Columnist Margaret Wente writes: "This year the environmental lobby scored a major victory by persuading the Ontario government to sharply restrict the use of a class of insecticide known as neonics, which have been widely blamed for the recent bee collapse."

Who should we believe?!?

Healthy food in schools!

Hi LINC 7 Students,

Here's a link to an article and video on British chef Jamie Oliver. It describes how leaders in the food industry really don't like what Jamie has to say!

Jamie produced a documentary called "Sugar Rush," showing how teenagers and children are consuming more sugar than is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

The single largest source of sugar is sugary, sweetened drinks -- like Coke and Pepsi! 

The potential danger is childhood diabetes. And a lifetime of health concerns!

Editorials

Hi Everyone,

Here's an editorial from The Vancouver Sun about the new laws on "doctor-assisted suicide" or euthanasia. This editorial gives the newspaper's opinion about this controversial topic.

I have changed some wording in order to make this easier to read for LINC 7 students:

Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was right to be cautious over last week’s report from the parliamentary committee studying physician-assisted suicide. The group offers the broadest possible interpretation of when assisted dying should be legally permitted, while offering little guidance on how to confront some of the tougher dilemmas involved. Not surprisingly, on one of the deepest moral questions of our time, the committee of MPs and senators did not reach complete agreement. But that didn’t stop the majority from providing 21 recommendations.

As hoped, it laid out safeguards to ensure that any person who requests assisted death gives their clear consent. This will work for mentally competent adults. But there is the question of under-18s (minors). The committee heard that “suffering is suffering regardless of age.” It asked whether a “mature minor" (someone younger than 18 but mature in attitude and behavior) could make a life-ending decision about herself. It then recommended a two-stage legislative process in which only adults could consent to their own deaths, but there would be more study of the “moral, medical and legal issues” around minors.

The fact that we are discussing non-adults at all so early in the new world of assisted death is worrisome.

By also including the mentally ill among those who may request an assisted death, the committee stumbles further into an unclear moral area.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Robotic Surgery!

Hi Everyone!

Here's a video on the Da Vinci surgical system in action. The video shows great examples of how the manipulation of the controls are "translated" into the movement of the precision robot instruments -- even filtering out hand-shaking!!

Please note that there are some graphic images of real surgery inside the human body!

Writing about Graphs and Charts

Hi LINC 7 Students!

Here's a video on line graphs that includes how to create a line graph.

Here's a more advanced video (IELTS test preparation) on how to describe a pie chart. It features the creation of the sentences on the screen, so it's easy to follow!

Please note that in North America, we don't use "30 $".  We use "$30".

Pie Charts

Hi Everyone,

Here's a useful video (created for IELTS test preparation) showing you how to describe a series of three pie charts with information about the use of different audio formats in 1990, 2000 and 2010.

The speaker actually writes sentences on the whiteboard, the way I've done in class. This particular video and the text he writes is much longer and uses more advanced language than you generally need for LINC 7. However, it involves the same process of turning visual information (the 3 charts) into English (whether spoken or text).

For those of you who really like this stuff, here's a wonderful video comparing the use of bar graphs and pie charts -- using the same data. Plus, it's fun! Check it out!! (There's also some math at the end if you're into that!)