My first day in Canada

My first day in Canada is a very memorable one. I came to Canada on January 9th, 2007; this is a rather special day of my life, which I will never forget. Coming out of the airport, I saw lots of snow all around me and at the same time I felt very cold. In spite of wearing a heavy winter coat, I still felt the chills. I was born in a tropical country and had never been to any other northern countries prior to my arrival in Canada. Therefore, the concept of temperatures below zero was foreign to me. I felt so cold that I was becoming weak and feeble. Plus, I was having breathing problems due to Calgary’s elevation being so high. I was very afraid of the cold, so I entered the car very quickly. Being in a heated car I felt much better. Although the weather was cold, the view was very beautiful. On the way from the airport, I was very delighted to see the natural beauty of Calgary. I saw that the snow had covered everything such as, roads, hills, trees, roofs of houses, etc. I was very happy to witness this unique scenic beauty. Finally at the end of my scenic tour, we had reached our beloved home with all my family members.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a small but beautyful country in Asia. It is located Between Pakistan and India. It also boarders Myanmar. Bangladesh is an over populated country whose population is over 150 million. Where as, in Canada only 35 million people but Bangladesh is only one tenth the size of Alberta. Most of the people are Muslims and other visible minorities are Hindu, Christian, Buddho etc. The capital of Bangladesh is Dhaka. Most of teh people of are educated. The nation houses many rivers, hills, water falls, and the Bay of Bengle. Every year many tourists come from other countries to view its natural beauty. The weather of Bangladesh is mostly tropical. That is why the farmers plant many kinds of crops all year around. As such, Bangladesh can export many varities of fruites and vegetables abroad every year. In addition, Bangladesh exports many kinds of fish. Perticularly, it mostly exports Hilsha whish is our national fish. Anibg tgese exports, jute, tea, and cotton fabrices generate the most revenue in foreigh currency for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has some disadvantages, such as air pollution, traffice jam, water pollution, corrouption and b ad communication system. These problems are growing day by day. Though Bangladesh has some disadvantages, I love Bangladesh.

My friends

My name is Shabiha Sheela Yousuf, come from Bangladesh and I’m a recent landed immigrant in Canada. My parents and only one younger sister live in Bangladesh. My father is a journalist and mother is a teacher. In canada, I live in with my family in the NW part of the city. My husband is a softweare engineer and doing phd in Electrical Engineering at u of c. I have a baby boy of 6 months. I’ve completed my MSS in Political Science from Bangladesh. After completing EAP 1,2 @ 3, I will try to get admitted undergraduate programe in health science. I want to be a doctor, but it is very difficult for me. So I have to improve my English and study more. My hobby is playing music, gardening, cooking, playing badminton, playing computer games etc. I spend my leisure time playing music and playing with my beloved son. In holiday, I go outside to see natural beauty with my family. I have written about myself lots. Now I would like to know about my friends. So no more today.

Bye
Sheela

Five Communication Issues I have Experienced When Speaking in a Presentation

1. The main issue I face when delivering a presentation and which causes me the most grievances is the fact that my preparation is always adequate but my delivery turns out to be much worse than my practice runs. During my presentation, the sequence of ideas gets somewhat messed up, I start drawing blanks or I fumble on big words. However, the good thing is I do not stop when these happen; instead, I start improvising my own ideas into the content and recover back to the central topic.

2. An element of nervousness always plays a big role during my presentations. I get dehydrated and feel light headed. This hinders my ability to speak at my full capacity. My mind gets cluttered up by some kind of fear of public speaking, so my ability to process information and carry the discussion along suffers greatly. I have found that sipping from a bottle of water helps calm me down.

3. I have a moderate eastern accent when I speak. I have to put in extra efforts to speak clearly and to sound like a Canadian person. It is difficult enough in normal conversational settings, so one can imagine the strain I must undertake when it comes to speaking in front of a large group. Usually, I speak slowly to try to build up my confidence and reduce the accent.

4. I have a minor body gestures that could be distracting to some. If I have a piece of paper in my hands, unknowingly I would start to twist or crumble it. It does two things: it interferes with my speaking by adding noise and draws my audience’s attention to my hands instead of my discussion. Thus, it is a good idea to have nothing in my hands and have a dais to put all my scrap papers during the presentation.

5. Eye contact is an important aspect of delivering a presentation. I have a bad habit of focusing my eyes only on the instructor and kind of ignoring the rest of my audience. I do this to obtain immediate feedback on my performance from the instructor’s facial expression. It could be considered rude in some situations, so I should work on eliminating this bad habit. I think that will come from lots of practice and experience.