Last year the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) hosted "This I Believe," a fascinating radio program. The theme of the program was to explore the personal values of 50 different Canadians. The directors of the program encouraged Canadians to write a short essay -- about 400 or 500 words -- about their personal values, and mail it in. Of the thousands of essays they received, the directors chose 50 and presented one a day on the radio for 50 days. The individual read the essay. The directors then posted the written essays on the CBC website along with the voice recording of the essay. These essays are a great way for ESL learners to learn more about Canada while practicing reading and listening.
I suggest that you start with an essay by a true Canadian hero, Rick Hansen. Rick grew up in BC. As a young man, he was in a traffic accident that left him paralysed and in a wheel chair. Instead of giving up in despair, he spent much of his life raising money and awareness for people with spinal cord injuries. Some of you may have heard of his Man in Motion world tour. A high school in Abbotsford is named after him. He has raised about 180 million dollars for research.
Here is the link to his essay. Read it a few times, make sure you understand the vocabulary, and then listen to it a few times -- first with the text and then without it.
http://www.cbc.ca/thisibelieve/essays/may24_Rick_Hansen.html
There are many other interesting essays on this site. Reading and listening to them is an excellent way to practice your English and learn about some fascinating people.
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3 comments:
Very good, very good, Phil! I accessed this website. Various people with various job is telling me beautiful stories. I can read and listen again and again. It must be helpful for my English skill. Thank you.
Hello,Phil.I read and listen to this essay.These essays are beautiful life stories,easy to understand, and really helpful to explain values, feeling and emotion.
Hello, phil. Really really long time no write comment in here. I was very busy that my cousin's academy had a seminar. So I had to prepare someting and participate there. I will be in the class on thursday. See you ~
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