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View: 321 | Sep 17, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The juice is loose!
The original Beetlejuice movie, a quirky blend of horror and comedy, came out way back in 1988 (whe...
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View: 440 | Sep 12, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: slide vs. slider
The word “slider” is sometimes used in Japan to refer to a long, smooth structure that one can slid...
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View: 414 | Sep 5, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
My top 5 fun activities for autumn
Exploring When the weather cools down in the fall, it’s time to get out and start exploring again!...
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View: 423 | Aug 29, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
The little monster that’s not so scary
We don’t have a lot of scary or dangerous insects in Canada, but the house centipede is one that mi...
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View: 476 | Aug 20, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: learn vs. learn about/of
This is a tricky one because both “learn” and “learn about/of” refer to gaining new knowledge/infor...
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View: 432 | Aug 19, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
No-see-ums attack!
Have you ever heard of a “no-see-um”? Until just a couple of days ago, I hadn’t! They’re tiny insec...
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View: 483 | Jul 30, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about festivals and holidays in English
This week’s column topic is Summer festivals, so today I would like to share some ways to talk abou...
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View: 529 | Jul 29, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
The Canadian National Exhibition
The Canadian National Exhibition is a festival that takes place in Toronto and marks the end of Sum...
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View: 582 | Jul 23, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Summer meals in Canada
People often ask me about the food that is typically eaten in Canada, and I usually answer that Can...
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View: 631 | Jul 8, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Hot topics in Canada
Photo by Ali Tawfiq on UnsplashIn weather news, heat alerts and warnings have been issued across Ca...
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View: 659 | Jul 2, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Happy Canada Day!
Photo bysebastiaan stam onUnsplash July 1st is Canada Day, so let me share a few facts about my co...
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View: 625 | Jun 28, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: pregnancy
As one of my students pointed out to me recently, there are many ways to express the idea of being ...
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View: 637 | Jun 25, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: have + time vs. spend + time
To talk about the quality or duration of your experiences, you can use “have + (quality adjective) ...
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View: 591 | Jun 24, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Visiting Niagara Falls
This week I visited Niagara Falls for just the second time in my life. The bus ride from Toronto’s ...
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View: 684 | Jun 19, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Canadian sweets: Nanaimo bars
Dating back to 1953, the Nanaimo bar is a Canadian dessert that is named after the city of Nanaimo ...
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View: 622 | Jun 5, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Plans for summer 2024
The days are getting longer in Toronto (sunset is around 9 pm now) and summer will be here soon. Be...
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View: 524 | May 30, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Studying with textbooks: Survey
Today I’d like to ask some questions about people’s experiences learning with textbooks! I would lo...
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View: 573 | May 28, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about humour in English: Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the basics, some common phrases, and different types of humo...
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View: 495 | May 27, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about humour in English: Part 1
Since the weekly column topic is about humour and laughing this week, I’d like to share some vocabu...
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View: 460 | May 26, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Doors Open Toronto
Photo: Me in front of the ostrich food stall at the Evergreen Brick Works farmers marketThis weeken...
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View: 422 | May 23, 2024 | 1
Zach McLaughlin
Too close for comfort
Although Toronto is still relatively safe compared to other major cities around the world, it has b...
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View: 415 | May 22, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
It’s heating up over here!
It’s the day after the Victoria Day long weekend here in Toronto and the weather is really heating ...
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View: 441 | May 17, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 3
(Unfortunately, the first time I wrote this article, I lost the file, and it has taken quite a whil...
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View: 720 | May 1, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Tim Hortons turns 60!
Tim Hortons is a cafe chain that can be found across Canada and also in 12 other countries worldwid...
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View: 712 | Apr 27, 2024 | 1
Zach McLaughlin
3 weeks in Japan
I recently returned from a 3-week trip to Japan and I have to say that it was quite an adventure! ...
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View: 888 | Mar 21, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: cheat vs. cheat on
What’s the difference between cheating someone and cheating on someone? It can be a big one! Basic...
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View: 956 | Mar 20, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
One thing that makes me happy is…
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash Although there are, of course, many things that make me ha...
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View: 665 | Mar 16, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: fish vs. fishes
Should you say “two fish” or “two fishes”? Well, it depends! Typically, “fish” (without “-es”) is t...
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View: 683 | Mar 15, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
New year, new books: Searching for Franklin
After getting through two very interesting books in January, it took more than a month to get throu...
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View: 1052 | Mar 5, 2024
Zach McLaughlin
What I'm looking forward to this spring
Photo byRayia Soderberg onUnsplash One of the things that I was really looking forward to was watc...
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