Tag Archives: learning

OPL resources: Lynda.com

PolyWogg.ca
March 23 2020

Many of you have heard of Lynda.com before and if you have, you likely know it as that “IT training platform”. What you may not know is that it has become rebranded as LinkedIn Learning, and depending on how you get to it, you may see different logos. The Ottawa Public Library has an option to log in through their site, for free, you just need your OPL library card and a 4 digit PIN (likely the last four digits of your phone number, unless you changed it).You… Read the rest

OPL resources: Language tools while working from home

PolyWogg.ca
March 23 2020

For those who are in language training, or who simply want to take advantage of some extra time to work on their language skills, the Ottawa Public Library has some language resources available. You’ll need an active OPL library card for it to work, and if it prompts you for a PIN you don’t know, it is probably the last four digits of your phone number.… Read the rest

OPL resources: Research tools while working from home

PolyWogg.ca
March 23 2020

If you are struggling to access decent resources while you’re working from home, here’s a quick overview of some of the resources from the Ottawa Public Library that might be of interest to you. You’ll need an active OPL library card for it to work, and if it prompts you for a PIN you don’t know, it is probably the last four digits of your phone number.… Read the rest

Stargazing 2019, outing #21 – Outing to the Fred P. Lossing Observatory

PolyWogg.ca
August 29 2019

On Monday, August 26th, Jacob and I headed out to the Fred P. Lossing Observatory (FLO) in Almonte. The land is owned by the Mill of Kintail Conservation Area, but they let RASC Ottawa put an observatory there in slightly darker skies than we have in Ottawa. There is a gate with a lock, a warming room, and a couple of buildings with larger scopes in them.… Read the rest

My experiences learning French: Part 3 – Return to Asticou

PolyWogg.ca
December 7 2015

I had been back at Asticou about five weeks when I realized that the passive receiver of language learning was not working for me, and I spent a weekend thinking about some of the challenges I had gone through in the previous year. I kept coming back to the tutor’s analysis — I wasn’t letting go.… Read the rest

My experiences learning French: Part 2 – My first tutor

PolyWogg.ca
December 6 2015

Even though all of us said that we weren’t ready (My experiences learning French – Part 1), the school sent us for the oral test.

And all of us except one failed. The one who passed? The weakest one among us. Partly as her “stories” for telling what she did for a living were pretty simple in comparisons — she was a clerk who did very basic admin work.… Read the rest

My experiences learning French: Part 1 – Intro to Asticou

PolyWogg.ca
December 5 2015

I am a not a linguist by anyone’s definition. I’m not very eloquent in speaking English, let alone any other language. I can write pretty well in English, and I edit even better, but other languages were never my strength. I grew up in Peterborough, which was not exactly the hub of linguistic diversity.… Read the rest