Sunday, May 15, 2011
Vocabulary – Are You Triskaidekaphobic?
Are you afraid of the number 13? Do you think it’s an unlucky number? If so, you are triskaidekaphobic!
A phobia is an extreme fear of something (or someone!). For example, claustrophobia is a fear of being in small, closed spaces. Acrophobia is a fear of heights. You can see a list of more phobias here.
In English-speaking countries, 13 is an unlucky number. There are no 13th floors in most buildings. Friday the 13th is believed to be a VERY unlucky day! There is even a series of horror movies called Friday the 13th.
No one is quite sure why the number 13 or Friday the 13th is unlucky. It’s a common superstition. Some people believe that 13 is unlucky number because there were 13 people at the Last Supper – the last supper Jesus had with his 12 disciples before he died.
I have heard that in some countries, Friday the 13th is a lucky day! What about your country? Is Friday the 13th a luck or unlucky day?
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Vocabulary Spotlight on: Election Day!
Monday May 2nd, 2011 is Election Day in Canada! We will elect a new government of Canada.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. The Queen of England is our head of state and the head of our government is the Prime Minister.
We do not vote directly for our Prime Minister. The entire country is divided into ridings (an electoral district). There are 308 ridings in Canada. Each riding elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to represent their riding in the House of Commons. The political party with the most MPs will form the government, and the leader of that party will become Prime Minister.
On the day of the election, I take my voter identification card (sent to me in the mail) and one piece of government-issued identification (driver’s license, passport, etc.) to the polling station. I vote for my MP by filling in a ballot similar to the one in the picture above. At the end of the day, all the ballots are counted. We have a first-past-the-post system. This means that whoever gets the most votes wins the election.
In the evening, the election results are reported on TV. Canada has 5 time zones, so it takes a long time for all the polls to close and for all the ballots to be counted!
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