Today is the second class in our current four class set. We will begin class with a casual conversation. The reading this week is about dancers. Our listening material will be a NPR story with a transcript. Please use the reading to build your vocabulary and bring questions to class. The listening is focused on time, so listen twice and be prepared to discuss the topic in class.

Click HERE for the reading

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

OK, admit it. There is at least one person in your life who you've been meaning to check in with during the pandemic, and you just haven't. I'm not judging. There are definitely a few people in my Rolodex who fit that description.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

I have been meaning to write more than a few people. But, Ari, if we lived in Canada, we would now be out of excuses. That is because Canada Post has sent a blank, prepaid postcard to every household in the country. That's about 13.5 million chances for Canadians to ping an aunt in Medicine Hat or an old college buddy in Moosejaw for free. Sylvie Lapointe is spokesperson for Canada Post.

SYLVIE LAPOINTE: We just thought we need to do something for Canadians and try to put a smile on each other's face and to tell someone that you care about them and you've been missing them for the past year.

SHAPIRO: Six different versions of the card went out to Canadians this week. Each one has a different message on the front in both French and English - messages like, wishing I were there, or, I miss you.

KELLY: Or, sending hugs. You get the idea. Lapointe says even though Canada Post just started sending out the cards, the feedback is already rolling in.

LAPOINTE: Their response has been really incredible. I have to say that it's putting a smile on people's face. We also did a national campaign with it. We ask people that are, when they're writing their postcard or when they're mailing it - to take a photo and be part of our national campaign on social media to put it up and say who you've been thinking about. Who are you sending your postcard to?

SHAPIRO: The hashtag is #WriteHereWriteNow. That's W-R-I-T-E. And, yes, there are some angry Canadians sending postcards to their least favorite politicians, but most have embraced the spirit of the project, some to the point of decision anxiety.

LAPOINTE: People have been posting who they're sending the card to and sometimes saying how difficult it can be to choose one person when you've been missing so many friends and loved ones in the past year. But it can also be something that they're doing as a family. I know for me, we're all putting a name in a hat of who we'd like to send the postcard to. And then whoever is going to win, that's the person that's going to be sent it to.

KELLY: Lapointe says they will have sent out all 13 1/2 million postcards by next week, ready for people to mail some love.

(SOUNDBITE OF YUNO SONG, "GRAPEFRUIT")