An ESL blog

I felt that in Hamilton, Ontario about 15 minutes ago. My computer table was shaking slightly, but it didn’t come to my mind that it was due to earth quake, until my cousin called me from Toronto. CBC says it was felt in the GTA, Ottawa & Montreal. No damage reported so far. People are calling local radio stations from all over the place. Some buildings in Toronto being evacuated already.

Here is a link for Canadian government earth quake index

Interesting News.

Some time ago, I read a book by Norman Doidge, called, The Brain That Changes Itself, I am not recommending that book here and I don’t remember why I decided to buy that book. Although I didn’t find that book very interesting, there is a section in the book discusses the effect of immigration on the brain.

In the author’s word….

Immigration is hard on the brain…..Each time the plastic brain acquires culture and uses it repeatedly, there is an opportunity cost: the brain loses some neutral structure in the process, because plasticity is competitive.

The book further adds that

Immigration is usually an unending, brutal workout for the adult brain, requiring a massive rewiring of vast amount of our cortical real estate.

When I was reading this, I didn’t think a great deal about this. Now, when I think about that, it makes a lots of sense why some people (atleast people I interact with regularly) are behaving in a particular way. I didn’t mean to offend any one and I’m not in a position to tell that my point is scientifically correct. I always have the question about the sudden changes in the behaviour and personality in some adults of my community once they migrated to Canada and it dawned to me this could be the reason.

On a different note, researchers have found that meditation increases the gray matter in the brain. The research also confirmed that those who meditate regularly has better focus and good control over their emotions. Interesting !!!!
What is your opinion?

For a language learner knowing the difference between words which sounds similar is a daunting task. DifferenceBetween.net contains this article discussing the difference between affect and effect. Although the site is not dedicated only for language and grammar, the concept looks interesting. All the articles are based on discussing the difference between similar objects or terms. Check that out, one time or another you might need this to clarify some thing.

I will be graduating this May. With more than 3 years of experience in Software and the self trained ability in PHP/MySql skills, I found many positions which are suitable for me even in the recession time. When I prepare for the interview and facing interviews, I found some of the questions are very stupid and have no value. But all of us rehearse those questions and giving the expected answers the interviewer is looking for.

I can’t completely agree with questions and methodology to hire that “talented and motivated” employee.

Here are some of the questions, I feel have no value to ask in interview.
1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? – Is it OK to say, I want to be in your seat in 5 year to the interviewer. Who would want to hire some one who will be a competition for him self in 5 years.
2. What is your weakness? – What is the purpose of this question?. Who is going to tell their actual weakness. In reality most of us will tell a fabricated answer.
3. Why did you choose our company?- Can we say that your company is one of the 15 companies I applied for last week?.

Another useful resources section for ESL students. University of Ohio,department of Linguistics,compiled a resource page for English learners.