Hello everybody! We are "The Canadian Beaver" and we will be giving you information about Canadian English. We have chosen the name"Canadian Beaver" because the beaver is one of the most representative symbols of Canada.
We hope you'll enjoy reading us !
S.U.S XO XO!




Monday, January 14, 2013

PODCAST!


 Listen to our podcast! 
 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kkuw8087mpfnmf/Podcast.WAV

Virginia -. Good morning everybody! I’m Virginia and today I have with me the rest of my group “The Canadian Beaver”. We have with us Rick, a student from the University of Canada who is studying communication .He will tell us some important aspects about universities in Canada.

Virginia -Hello Rick!

Rick -. Hi

Virginia -. First of all, how many days a week do you go to university? Here in Spain students usually go to university from Monday to Friday. Is the same in Canada?

Rick -. Well it's the same in Canada we go to  school from Monday to Friday just as in same in Spain

Virginia -. And how many hours a day do you spend at university?

Rick -. Well usually I spend like six hours a day at university

Virginia -. Oh! In Spain students usually spend four or five hours

Giulia -. Listen Rick we wanted to ask you something, for example in Spain there is a special festivity which is called the “Feria de Abril”. It's a week of practically party in Seville, we  wanted to know are there any particular days or holidays in Canada that you celebrate?

Rick -. Well the big one is the first of July when we celebrate our independence so it’s a very nice thing because we celebrate and we party a lot.

Giulia -. Another question Rick on average how many students are there in a class? In Spain It depends maybe on the lessons and on the cities as in a big City there are more students and in a smaller city there are less students that go to university and in Canada?

Rick -. Well it depends on the classes as well but it can go up to one hundred people in a class

Giulia -. Yes in Seville maybe it's something less than 100 maybe 60 or 50

Giulia -. Do you think that being many students in a class affects the quality of the lesson or not ?

Rick -. No what affects the quality of the lesson is the behavior of the students and if they behave quietly and silently there is no problem at all.

Giulia -. Thank you

Carmen-. Do you often have many team works and how useful do you think they are?

Rick -. Yea, we have a lot of team works and I can think they are useful because that's what we are gonna do in our future. We use team works in our jobs.

Carmen-. Which is the most common foreign  language studied in Canada?

Rick -. Well, it's French because of French Canada.

Carmen-. In Spain people study English but also French.

Carmen-. Are most universities in Canada public or private?

Rick-. Well, there are both of them, and both are exceptional due to our public system.

David-. Which are the most important universities in Canada?

Rick-. The most important ones are the University of Quebec and the University of Toronto.

David-.  Ok, How many years do people usually spend finishing a degree?, In Spain there is a Plan Bolonia which establishes that degrees must last between four and six years. Its depends on the kind of degree.

Rick-. Depends of the curse you are taking but usually it’s like four years of college.

David-.  Finally, do you think that there is anything that should be improved in Canadian Universities?

Rick -. Not at the moment, I believe Canada is one of the strongest countries in the world and it’s because of their education system.

David-. Well Rick. That’s all for now, thank you very much for coming

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Celine Dion


Celine Marie Claudette Dion is one of the most famous Canadian singer. She was born on 30 March, 1968 in Quebec. This singer has songs in two languages, her natural language French and English language. Her first international recognition was in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. She achieved worldwide fame after signing with Epic Records and releasing several English albums along with additional French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history. Celine Dion is a representation of the bilinguilism of Canada, the use of two official language. Her first song was ‘’Ce n'était qu'un rêve’’ and was and was a success that gave him fame in Quebec. We achieved her world fame with her English albums but before that she was one of the most famous person in Canada. In 1997, My Heart Will Go On, the song from the film Titanic, was bestseller with millions of copies sold and became world famous.

Discography
- 1981: La voix du bon Dieu 
- 1981: Céline Dion chante Noël 
- 1982: Tellement j’ai d’amour pour toi 
- 1983: Les chemins de ma maison 
- 1983: Du soleil au coeur 
- 1983: Chants et contes de Noël 
- 1984: Mélanie 
- 1984: Les oiseaux du bonheur 
- 1984: Les plus grands succès de Céline Dion 
- 1985: C'est pour toi 
- 1985: Céline Dion en concert 
- 1986: Les chansons en or 
- 1987: Incognito 
- 1990: Unison 
- 1991: Dion chante Plamondon 
- 1992: Celine Dion 
- 1993: The colour of my love 
- 1994: À l'Olympia 
- 1995: D’eux 
- 1996: Falling into you 
- 1996: Live à Paris 
- 1997: Let’s talk about love 
- 1998: S’il suffisait d'aimer 
- 1998: These are special times 
- 1999: Au coeur du stade 
- 1999: All the way... A decade of song 
- 2000: The collector’s series Vol. 1 
- 2002: A new day has come 
- 2003: One heart 
- 2003: 1 fille & 4 types 
- 2004: A new day... Live in Las Vegas 

- 2004: Miracle 
- 2005: On ne change pas 
- 2007: D’elles 


Niagara Falls


Niagara Falls is the collective name to the three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and United States. We can see these waterfalls from the two parts of the frontier between Canada and United States.Canadian people think this natural phenomenom can represent the two cultural vision of Canada, the union between two differents countries. Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. On the Canadian side we can find the Queen Victoria Park where the people can enjoy an spectacular vision of the waterfalls.



Top ten canadian food!



If you’ve got a healthy appetite andyou wantto learn about the typical fromCanada, here you are the top 10 Canadian foods you’ve got to try:




1- Poutine

It isa kind of dish called poutine, a Quebec staple that’s a melange of greasy thick-cut fries, squeaky cheese curds and warm peppery gravy.



2- Smoked meat

Smoked meat originated in Jewish delis in Montreal, and it became so popular that the city became known for its coveted smoked meat sandwiches (served warm, on rye bread, with a bit of mustard and a dill pickle on the side).



3- Nanaimo Bars

Named after the city in BC, Nanaimo bars have layers upon layers of sugary goodness – first a thick crumb crust, then a layer of vanilla frosting or custard, and then it’s topped with melted chocolate.



4- Dill pickle chips

Americans eat ranch, in England they snack on roasted chicken flavoured chips, and Canadians love their tangy home-grown dill pickle chips.



5- May West

It consist a round cake with a creamy center enrobed in chocolate. Can’t get much better than that!





6- Maple syrup

Sure, maple syrup may be in pantries across the globe, but this yummy concoction was first discovered and used by Native Americans in north-eastern North America, so Canadians will gladly take credit for making maple syrup a sweet staple.





7- Labatt Blue

It may seem strange to have a beer on a top 10 Canadian foods’ list, but when suds are their own food group in a country, you can’t deny acknowledging Canada’s favourite local brew.



8- Tourtiere

Tourtiere, which is a Christmas dinner staple on the tables’ of Quebeckers, is a meat pie often made with ground pork, veal or beef.



9- Beaver tails

A whole wheat pastry is flattened to resemble a beaver tail and is cooked by “floating” on top of hot oil. Then they remove it, slather it with butter, and add your favourite toppings (the classic is sweet cinnamon sugar).



10- Tim Horton’s iced cap

You know summer has arrived when you see Canadians across the country clutching their frosty, creamy Tim Horton’s iced caps, a blend of Tim’s signature coffee, cream (or milk), and ice.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

How to understand a canadian slang?


Canadians are influenced far more by Americans than they want to admit, Canadians have their own words that have no literal translation in any other language.
Note that not all Canadians use all of these terms. This guide is intended to prepare you to know what these terms mean if you hear them; it does not guarantee that these terms will be understood everywhere in Canada.

General terms:
·       
      Loonie It is the currency used in Canada. One loonie is the same if we say in Canada one dollar ($1)
                                                                                          
Kerfuffle - a chaotic situation which is usually negative in nature; a loud or heated dispute.
·        
      Homo Milk - A commoner's slang for homogenized whole milk; 3% milk.
·      
     Rattled - When someone is embarrassed or angry. A term hardly unique to Canada
·       
     Sook or sookie - Oftens means a weak, self-pitying person; a person who won't go along, especially out of spite; a crybaby or sore loser. Can also be a term of endearment for pets or children who are extremely affectionate. (Newfie term not used in rest of Canada unless used by Newfies.)
·        
     Beaver Tail - A pastry, most commonly sold by the chain Beaver Tail Canada Inc., indicating a flat, flaky, fried pastry in the general shape of a beaver's tail. It is often served with a variety of toppings: ice-cream, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and  fruits. Originated in, and pretty much limited to, Ottawa.                                                          
                                                                                       

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Ice hockey



Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Canada.  It is necessary  two teams with six players each one to play and an ice rink . Players which are called skaters have to use a stick to hit a hard rubber puck into their opponent’s net. The word "hockey" is probably derived from the French hoquet ("shepherd's crook"), referring to the shape of the stick.

Those are some words that belong to the ice hockey vocabulary:
backhand shot: a shot or pass made with the stick from the left side by a right-handed player or from the right side by a left-handed player.
flat pass: when a player passes the puck to a teammate along the surface of the ice.
goalkeeper, goalie or goaltender: the heavily padded player who prevents opponents from scoring.
on-the-fly: making player changes while play is under way.

There is a National Hockey League which is made up of 30 teams, six of them belong to  Canadian cities. Some of them are:
Calgary flames.
Toronto Maple Leafs 
Montreal Canadiens
            
                 
There is also a variation of Hockey called: Sledge hockey, played by athletes with a lower extremity disability. Canada first participated in this category in 1976 but the teams of that period didn’t won any medals. In 1996 the Canadian Sledge hockey won a bronze medal at the world championships and in 2000 the team won a gold medal. 

Sources:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/hockey-ice