
Bob's Short English Lessons
If you want to learn English with short easy-to-understand lessons then you've come to the right place. I'm Bob the Canadian and I make videos on Youtube (Just search for "Bob's Short English Lessons" on Youtube!) as well as podcasts right here to help you learn English. Four times each week I upload a short English lesson with a complete transcript in the description. During these lessons I teach one or two curious phrases from the English language and answer a listener question. Thanks for joining me and I hope your English learning is going well!
Latest episodes

Jan 15, 2025 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "to lay low", "to lie low", and "a low blow"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO LAY LOW, TO LIE LOW, and A LOW BLOWIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrases to lay low or to lie low. This is one of the situations where we use lie and lay in the same way, and it means to hide. Usually you will hear these phrases if you're watching a show where the police are chasing some criminals and the criminals might decide to lie low or to lay low. Sorry, lie low, lay low. I should say them in the right order. Lay low. Sounds kind of funny when you say it, though. It kind of rolls off the tongue in a funny way. Anyways, the criminals might decide to lay low or to lie low. That means they're going to hide somewhere where the police can't find them.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a low blow. So a low blow in boxing is if you punch below the waist. Like if you punch below the belt, it's considered a low blow. But we also use this phrase to talk about any behavior or action that's not really nice. So for instance, if I lent my brother $100 and told him, you can pay me back in a year, and then if I asked him for the $100 back tomorrow, that'd be a low blow. Like I'd be doing something that's not very nice and not very kind.So to review to lay low or lie low means to kind of hide out. Maybe you've stolen something and the police are after you, so you hide out at your cousin's place. You decide to lay low. You decide to lie low. And a low blow is anytime you do something to someone that's just not very nice and not something they were expecting.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. I'm just going to read the beginning of this comment from Know that for the sake of time. It's a great comment, but I'll read the... we'll get the gist of it from Know that every now and then you squeeze the recording of your videos lessons for us into your lunch break. Bob, I was wondering if you plan these, let's say, trips or if you do them more spontaneously, depending on what's on your to do list for the day and then you can read the rest. But my response sometimes it is on a whim, sometimes it is intentional, sometimes it is just convenient. There isn't a rhyme or reason most of the time. Sometimes it just depends on the weather.So thanks Know that for that comment and that question. Yeah, sometimes it's just, you know, how I'm feeling that day. Or maybe I'm doing an errand. So I just jumped out of the van and do an English lesson as well. Today. I came out this way because it's just a nice area to do it. I know that some of you like seeing views of the farm and some of you like seeing little glimpses of Canadian life. You like seeing trucks drive by and you like seeing what's happening in my local town. So yeah, sometimes I do it intentionally.If you watch my Members Only video on my other channel today I did that intentionally. There's a new bakery in town, so I decided to walk past it. I didn't go in, but I do know that sometimes some of you like seeing just a little glimpse of Canadian life.There's a glimpse of Canadian life coming towards me right now. There's someone walking three dogs. So I think I might actually move into this driveway and let them go past. So I'm not afraid of dogs. But do you remember that one video where a dog almost bit me? That wasn't very enjoyable. Hi. How you doing? Good. There you can see the dogs going by. If I sounded extra cheerful with my hello, that's because I recognized that person. It's a former student of mine, so I didn't want to say her name, but she was a good student. VSupport the show

Jan 10, 2025 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "You're seeing things!" and "Seeing is believing!"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases YOU'RE SEEING THINGS and SEEING IS BELIEVINGIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase you're seeing things. We say this to someone when they describe something and you find it really hard to believe. If we were driving along and Jen said, I just saw 50 airplanes in the sky, I'd probably say, ah you're seeing things. It's all in your imagination. I don't believe what you are saying. If Jen phoned me and said, hey, come to Tim Hortons right now, donuts are free, I would say, oh, you're seeing things. Basically what I'm saying is, I don't believe you.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase seeing is believing. If I said to you that the A W is the best place to eat hamburgers and you said, no, I don't believe it, and you actually came there, you might say that you now believe me because seeing is believing. Sorry, that's a bad example. Because probably when you taste it that you will believe me. Let me think of a better example. Let's say if I said the A and W has the best window decorations in the entire town. By the way, I'm standing in front of the A W restaurant. If I said they have the best window decorations, you might say, nah. And then if you actually came there, I would say, seeing is believing. So when you actually see it, then you believe what I said.So to review, if you tell someone you're seeing things, it means you're telling them you don't believe what they say they are seeing. And if you say seeing is believing, it means that when you actually see something for yourself, then you believe that it is true.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Denis. Thanks a lot for the lesson, Bob. The Great Lakes region is an incredible place. Have you had a chance to visit them all? And my response, I have not visited Lake Superior, but I have visited the other four. Someday Jen and I will make a trip way up north to see it. So thanks, Denis, for that comment.Yeah, Lake Superior is pretty far away. I have not seen Lake Superior. Let me just move this camera a little bit so it's in the center. It's a little bit of a drive. I know that other teachers from my school have been that far north, either for a camping trip or if we have student athletes or if we have a team that does really, really well. Sometimes we have to go way up north to play other schools in the provincial championships. So I know some teachers have been that far north and they have experienced that.It is a busy day here in town. I'm not sure if you can tell. The other thing is it's extremely bright out today. I'm always surprised at how bright the winter sun can be. I think it has a little bit to do with the fact that the air is thinner in the winter. That would be my guess, that in the winter the air in the sky is thinner. And so you get this. I'll just put it in the camera for a sec. This extremely bright sunshine in the winter, but I'll take it. We went for weeks and weeks with hardly any sunshine at all. So it's quite nice to have a little bit of sunshine now. I'm moving into the shade again. See, it's nice to have evergreen trees in the winter because they allow for a little bit of shade for me to stand in. But, yeah, I'll take it.What was I saying? Yeah, we had days and days on end where it was just kind of gray, like cloudy every day and not very bright. Your ability to create vitamin D is related to being out in the sunshine. So I do enjoy being out here for a bit. I know I probably need to be out heSupport the show

Jan 8, 2025 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "to takes sides" and "from all sides"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO TAKE SIDES and FROM ALL SIDESIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to take sides. Now I'll tell you this. It's actually better to not take sides. When you take sides, it means you agree with one person when two people are arguing. So let's say two of my kids are arguing, I usually try to not take sides. I don't try to say she's right and he's wrong. Instead, I try to resolve the situation without taking sides. So when you take sides, it means you agree with one person in a situation where two people are arguing or more people. Like there might be a hundred people that think one way and 100 people that think another way and you say, I'm going to take sides. I'm going to agree with these 100 people over here. But in my opinion, it's usually best not to take sides.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is from all sides. Sometimes you get in trouble from all sides. If we had leftover pizza in the house and I came home from work and no one was home and I ate all the pizza, I would get in trouble from all sides. Jen would be annoyed with me. My kids would be annoyed with me. Because in our house, leftover pizza is kind of considered super yummy. People usually like it when they come home and there's some pizza leftover in the fridge. But if I ate it, I would probably get in trouble from all sides. Everyone would be annoyed with me.So to review. To take sides means to agree with one side of an argument. At school, when I see students arguing, I don't take sides. I usually try to help resolve the situation without taking sides. And from all sides means that everyone is annoyed with you. Sometimes the government does something and then they get in trouble from all sides. Everyone is annoyed with them.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from... I printed this at school, so it's hard to get this completely open. From Yulia. Bob, good morning. Thank you for this lesson. Please tell me which province you are from and my response? I am from Ontario, Canada. I live north of Lake Erie and south of Lake Ontario, outside the city of Hamilton, Ontario. So thanks, Yulia, for that comment for that question.Hey, we're going to walk out for a bit but it's windy so I hope the audio stays okay. Yeah, I live north of Lake Erie. It's one of the Great Lakes. I've actually featured Lake Erie in some of my English lessons and I live south of Lake Ontario. So Lake Ontario is to the north of me, I live south of it. Lake Erie is to the south of me, I live north of it. I actually live almost exactly in the middle of the two. So it's about a 45 minute drive to Lake Erie and it's about a 45 minute drive To Lake Ontario.And I do like living between the two lakes. It's pretty cool. If you drive to Lake Erie, there are nice sandy beaches and you can go swimming. If you drive to Lake Ontario, there's usually a cool northern wind in the summer that kind of cools off as it comes across the lake and it makes for a really nice visit. It's a nice place to... There's a few nice restaurants along Lake Ontario. So yeah, that's where I live, right in the middle of what's called the Niagara Peninsula.Actually, If I drive 45 minutes east, I end up at the border, the border with New York State. The city of Buffalo is that way to the east of me. So it's a pretty cool place to live. I think I mentioned in another video that as I was growing up I could watch Canadian TV and I could watch American TV as well because the antenna that we had on oSupport the show

Jan 4, 2025 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "to sink in" and "sink or swim"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO SINK IN and SINK OR SWIMIn this English lesson, I want to try and not freeze my butt off and also teach you the English phrase to sink in. When something is allowed to sink in, it means that you hear it and eventually you will understand it. Sometimes when you're in school, the teacher will teach a lesson and it might take a while for what the teacher taught you to sink in. Sometimes you hear the teacher say it, you go home and you do your homework, and then eventually you understand it. You've given it some time and it was able to sink in. I hope that when you watch my lessons, eventually what I'm teaching you will sink in. Eventually you will understand it.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase sink or swim. This means to either succeed or fail. So sometimes students are doing badly in a class and they have one more assignment to do and then it's a time where they will either sink or swim. So if you imagine this, when you sink, it means you go underwater. And when you swim you are above the water and you can still breathe. So we use this phrase to talk about somebody or something that will either succeed or fail. Sorry, I should say fail or succeed, shouldn't I? When you sink, you fail. When you succeed, you are swimming. So sink or swim.So to review, when you allow something to sink in, it means you allow yourself to think about it for a bit and then understand it. And if you say a situation is sink or swim, it means you are either going to sink, fail, or swim and succeed.But anyways, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment I think is from Vino. Hey Bob, could you please teach me the meaning of the phrase let that sink in? And my reply, sure, and I kind of just did. The let that sink in phrase though is more. It means the same thing, but it's more of a saying you would say to someone. So you would say to them, let me think. Let's say I got stopped for speeding and the police officer said if you get one more ticket you're going to lose your license. Let that sink in. Basically what the police officer is saying is think about that for a bit and make sure you understand completely why you shouldn't speed anymore.But hey, I don't really speed a lot. I did get a ticket almost exactly a year ago, so I was bringing my son back to university and of all places, I got a ticket in my local town, which was a little bit disappointing. It was the beginning of a four hour trip and I got a ticket right at the beginning of the trip. That was rather disappointing. Needless to say, I was in a bad mood for the entire trip.You might be wondering why I'm sticking close to the shed. I'm gonna turn around here because it's quite windy today. I always think it's funny when there are no leaves on the trees. You really can't tell that it's a windy day, but it's a little bit cold. It's minus three and I don't know if you've watched Jen's videos on her channel, but she was just videotaping me videotaping this lesson. I'm not sure why. I think she wants to put a clip in her next video. You'll have to go check that out. Her channel is called @myflowerfarm. If you put an @ sign and then type myflowerfarm with no spaces in the search bar of YouTube, you'll find it.Anyways, I was just telling Jen when you go outside to make a video in the winter, it's always best to dress warmer than you need to because you might be out there for longer than you were expecting. And that's certainly the case today. I'm only wearing a T shirt under my winter coat. I probabSupport the show

Jan 1, 2025 • 5min
Learn the English Phrase "Happy New Year!" and the word "gingerly"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrase HAPPY NEW YEAR and the word GINGERLYWell, in this English lesson I just want to say Happy New Year. I do have another phrase or word here to teach you. There's a couple couple geese flying over. They're probably excited because of the water behind me, but Happy New Year. This is not what it normally looks like on January 1st in my part of the world. Normally there's snow everywhere. Right now it is 3 degrees outside and the river is flooded. I'll show you that in a moment. But anyways, Happy New Year. I hope that 2025 is a great year for you. 2025? Wow. That's incredible. It feels like time is really flying, but it's already 2025, so happy new Year.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"✅If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other word I wanted to teach you is the word gingerly, which I mentioned in my last non English lesson. Gingerly means to simply do something carefully. If you injure yourself, let's say you hurt your foot or your ankle. When you start to walk again, you're going to walk gingerly. You're going to walk kind of like very carefully because you don't want to re injure yourself. The other day I was on some ice and so I was walking quite gingerly. I was walking carefully because I didn't want to fall.So to review, Happy New Year. I hope you're having a great day. January 1st for me is usually quite a relaxing day. Nothing is open in my part of the world on January 1st, so you can't go anywhere. So you just stay home and play games and hang out with your family and do things that are fun. And gingerly, hopefully you aren't doing things gingerly. Hopefully you are healthy and excited for the day and able to do things well.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is from Ünsal. Ünsal says it may sound cliche, but since the next video will be on the first day of the year, I'll ask. I'll ask just for the sake of formality. How was 2024 and what are your expectations from 2025? Happy New Year to you and your family. And my response. I really enjoyed 2024. It was a busy year. But alas, that is my current era in life, the dad era. It's fun for Jen and I to see our kids growing up. I'm still enjoying work and YouTube and I'm still quite excited about archery, which I started in August. My plans for 2025 are quite boring, simply more of the same.So thanks for asking, Ünsal. Yes, those are my plans for 2025. I am not an exciting person. Year to year I'm pretty much doing the same things. So my plans for 2025 are to keep working. My plan for 2025 is to keep doing YouTube. So I'm going to keep teaching at the school where I'm at. I'm going to keep making YouTube English lessons. I think I'm going to try and be a little more consistent this year. When I looked back on 2024 and looked at my... my output, I was a little lacking, I think, in my own estimation. So I'm going to try and be a little more consistent. And we'll see, I think it'll be a fun year. I'm looking forward to already making the next video for my next for my bigger channel and doing a live stream.So anyways, if you look behind me, you can see this is not typical for this time of year. There are geese all over the place because the river is flooded. As I mentioned yesterday on my other channel, I did a live stream. The power was out yesterday because we had a wind storm. And that wind storm also brought with it a lot of rain. And right now the ground is actually a little bit frozen. Even though it's nice and warm out here, the ground is a little bit frozen, so the water can't penetrate into the ground. And so what it does is it just flows into ditches and creeks and streams and eventually into the river.Support the show

Dec 6, 2024 • 4min
Learn the English Term "no-show" and the phrase "to show up"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English term NO-SHOW and the phrase TO SHOW UPIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English term no show. When you say someone is a no show, it means you planned to meet with them somewhere and they didn't come. Maybe you and a friend are going out for coffee and you go to the coffee shop at the time that you said you were going to meet at 7pm and then that person doesn't show up. You would say they are a no show. They decided not to go to the coffee shop and probably didn't tell you either because usually if someone tells you they're not coming, then you know why they're not. So if someone is a no show, it means that you planned to meet them somewhere and for some reason they never arrived.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to show up. If someone is a no show, it means that they didn't show up. When you show up somewhere, it means you arrive. I show up at work every day at around quarter to eight right now and some of my colleagues show up around 7:30. They get there earlier than me. But to show up means to arrive. So if you planned to meet with someone for coffee tonight at a coffee shop at 7pm, hopefully they would show up at 7pm and you would have a cup of coffee with them. Hopefully they wouldn't be a no show.So to review a no show is a person, a term we use for a person who doesn't arrive. If I flew somewhere on an airplane and someone was supposed to pick me up at the airport and they didn't come, I would say they were a no show. My ride was a no show, they didn't come to pick me up. And to show up means to arrive somewhere. So hopefully if I go somewhere on a plane someday my ride will show up and pick me up and not be a no show.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Axel. Black T shirt on Bob. Something new. And my response, yes, many of you noticed this. It's actually an official school shirt that I wear when I take students somewhere. Today we went on a walk to town to study local businesses. So I wear my black school shirt. I actually should have put so I wore my black school shirt. I kind of switched tenses on you there. That was a little bit of a mistake. So scratch that out. And instead it should say so I wore my black school shirt.Yes, we're encouraged as teachers when we go somewhere with students outside of the school day, that we wear school gear or school, it's not really a uniform. It's just a shirt with the school logo on it so that if people see us in town with a whole bunch of students, they know who we are.I'm just trying to stand with my back to the wind. You can see that winter has arrived. Should I pan around? Yeah, let's give you a good view of this. So, yeah, I was wearing a black shirt the other day. Not by choice. It's kind of required, I guess. It's not really required, but I think it is good when you take a whole bunch of teenagers out in public, especially if you're the teacher in charge that you wear something so it's easy to identify who is in charge of that, that trip and who's in charge of those students. Yeah, it's not actually that cold. My ear's a little bit cold right now, but it's definitely windy, so I'm trying to stand as much as I can with my back to the wind.You'll see there's a nice little bit of snow on the ground. It was almost a snow day today. Yesterday, there's a website called this called the Snow Day Predictor, and if you punch in your address, it tells you what they think the chance is of you having a snow day. And it said 99% yesterday. It said thSupport the show

Nov 29, 2024 • 4min
Untitled Episode
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESSIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, it's none of your business. So I was walking out of class today, and there were two students in the hall. And the one student said, what did you get on your math test? And the other student said, it's none of your business. In English, when you say it's none of your business, it's very informal and it's a little bit rude, but you're basically telling the other person that they're asking a question you don't want to answer. They're asking for information that you don't think they need to know. A test is a great example. If I took a test and you said to me, if you were a friend of mine and said, hey, how did you do on your math test? I'd probably say, hey, it's none of your business. Basically, what I'm saying is, I don't want to tell you. Maybe I did really good. Maybe I didn't do very good at all. But in any case, it's none of your business. So remember, it is a. It's a little bit rude. It's very direct. It's not a kind way of answering someone.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase mind your own business. This means exactly the same thing. And I think I taught this already about four years ago. If someone said to me, hey, Bob, when are you going to buy a new car? I would say, mind your own business. Again, a little bit rude, very informal, and very direct. Like, it's not a happy way of saying it. If someone said, hey, Bob, when are you going to buy a new car? And I said, oh, I don't know. I haven't really thought about it, But I actually had. That's kind of a nicer way to do it.So anyways, to review, it's none of your business and mind your own business, they mean the same thing. It's a way of telling someone that the questions they are asking are too direct. They're asking for more information than you're willing to give them.But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is from Denis Pizza ut. It's a product placement in Bob's short. And my response, they should sponsor me. Yeah, I think in the last video, there was... I was walking around town, right? So you saw probably Pizza Hut and Gino's Pizza and... No, not Gino's Nino's. There's a Gino's pizza and a Nino's pizza in my town. But yeah, lots of pizza places. In fact, Smithville, the town of Smithville, has five pizza places. A little bit strange.Anyways, you can see here it's this time of year. It's the time of year when we put the little markers along the driveway and we bought some extra ones this year and there's some on this side as well. We put these along the driveway because eventually it's going to snow. And then eventually it gets very, very difficult to see where the driveway is both when driving in and out, when there's a bit of snow on the ground, but also when using the snowblower. I need to know where the driveway is so that I don't go off the driveway and into the lawn. So not sure if you can see them very clearly. We bought some bright orange ones and then this type here we have a few of these. I think we have four of these now. This one is actually a reflector. So the light coming from your headlights or from your reverse lights lights that up.And by the way, if you didn't know what headlights were, the headlights are on the front here. We call those fog lights. I don't really always use them in the fog. And then on the back you have these, which are your reverse lights. So when you drive backwards or when you drive in reverse, you can see a litSupport the show

Nov 27, 2024 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "to hit the spot" and "in a tight spot"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO HIT THE SPOT and IN A TIGHT SPOTIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to hit the spot. Sometimes you are craving something. Sometimes you really want something to eat or to drink. And then after you eat or drink it, you say, oh, that hit the spot. When something hits the spot, it means it satisfies you. For me, right now, this is kind of a bad thing. I've become a little bit addicted to diet soda. I know it's not good for me, and I know it has strange ingredients in it instead of soda or instead of sugar, but I find when I drink a diet ginger ale or a diet root beer, it tends to hit the spot. I feel very satisfied. Jen doesn't like it, though. She doesn't like artificial sweeteners. So I only have one a week. But right now it's really seeming to hit the spot for me. I really, really enjoy it.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a tight spot. When you are in a tight spot, I should have put the word in there because you're often in a tight spot. It means you're in a difficult situation. Let's say that I'm trying to think of an example here. You borrowed someone's car and you put a dent in it. You're kind of in a tight spot because now you have to tell them that you did something to their car. Let's say that you owe someone a thousand dollars and you also have to pay all of your bills and you're not going to have enough money. You are then in a tight spot. So you're in a difficult situation.So to review to hit the spot means something is very satisfying. When I have a chocolate bar, it really tends to hit the spot. And then when you are in a tight spot, you are in a very, very difficult situation.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Rosario and the comment is: Great Bob. Sometimes I like to push it too far and I eventually get in trouble. And my response, it happens to us all.I think we all, at some point in our lives, push it a little bit too far. We work a little too hard, we stay up a little bit too late. We maybe should rest and we don't. Maybe we work over the weekend. We push it too far and then you get into a little bit of trouble. Maybe you get sick, maybe you're just exhausted. For me, when I push it too far, it often results in me taking a sick day. So it's like, it's kind of counterproductive.But hey, someone asked, I think in a previous video whether my town had Christmas decorations up yet. There's some in this window. You can see there. That's not the town though. And if you look across the street. Let's walk this way. I think you'll get a better look if I go this way. I think they look much better at night. I think there are these really tiny, small snowflakes. If you look up on this pole up by the green light there. And then if you look at the other side of the road, I bet you you guys can hardly see them.Let me flip around. I bet you you guys can hardly see them. But I'll get as close as I can and then you'll be able to get a better sense. Again, I think they look much better at night. You can see right here there is a bit of a snowflake. There's a little chicken below it too. Because this town is known for having a of poultry farms around. In fact, we used to have... I'll walk backwards here. We used to have a festival called Poultry Fest in this town. We don't anymore. It used to happen every year in June. It was pretty fun, but I think they were having trouble getting organizers and so eventually we didn't have it anymore. So yes, there are some Christmas deSupport the show

Nov 22, 2024 • 5min
Learn the English Phrases "to push through" and "to push it too hard"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PUSH THROUGH and TO PUSH IT TOO FARIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to push through. This past weekend, Jen was sick and I was a little bit sick, but I decided to push through. I took one day off work and I probably went back to work one day too early because I decided to push through. When you push through, it means you do something when you're not quite strong enough or have enough energy to do it. When you're training for a sport, when you're lifting weights the last 10 or 11 times you do the weight, you might have to push through. You have to give a little extra energy. And sometimes when you're sick, you just decide to go to work and push through. And sometimes that's a bad idea. It actually led to me not getting as much work done as I wanted to this week. So to push through simply means to kind of just dig deep, find the energy somewhere to do something maybe you don't have the energy for or you're just a little bit too sick to do.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to push it too far. This is what happens when you push through. Sometimes you push it too far. Let's say this past week, if I had done everything that I wanted to do, I probably would have lost my voice. I would have pushed it too far. When you push it too far, sometimes things go wrong or sometimes things break. Let's say your car is making a funny noise and you're like, I'll get that fixed in a week or two. Maybe you are going to push it too far and the whole car is just going to stop working.So to review, to push through means to find the energy somewhere to do something even though you don't have the energy for it. Or maybe you're a bit sick or you just don't have the enthusiasm. You just decide to push through. And to push it too far means to simply keep doing something or keep using something beyond when you should have stopped or gotten that thing fixed, or if it's like your throat looked at by a doctor. Anyways, I feel great now by the way. I took the hood off because can you hear the. I just thought it was probably making a funny sound with the microphone.But hey, let's look at a comment from from a previous video from Brent. From American English with this guy or with Brent. Oh, very cool. Your students are allowed to leave campus during lunch. Not true for my students. They are stuck bringing a lunch from home or eating school lunch. Thankfully, our school lunches are edible. And then Konstantin, who does the same job as Brent as I, as Brent and I. Same here, Brent. Our school students can leave school only if we have written or phone permission from their parents. And then my response, it's age related here. The lower grades must stay at school. The older grades, grade 11 and 12, are allowed to go to town. So my school is in a town, but it's on the edge of town and sometimes we refer to the center of town as the town. But thanks, Brent and Konstantin, for giving me a bit more insight into how your schools work.Yes, our older students are allowed to go. In Canada when you are in grade 11, or what the Americans would probably call junior year or the 11th grade, that's usually the year where you get your driver's license. At some point you get your learner's permit or beginners around grade 10 into grade 11. And some students in grade 11 right around now are starting to get their driver's license. So their age, I think age 16 and then 8 months. If you went to driver's education school at age 16 years and 8 months, you can get your driver's licenseSupport the show

Nov 13, 2024 • 4min
Learn the English Phrases "in a little bit" and "it's going to be a while"
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases IN A LITTLE BIT and IT'S GOING TO BE A WHILEIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase in a little bit. Now, when we say in a little bit, we mean a small amount. And we can be talking about time or an actual thing. Here's a good example. Let's say that my mom is coming over to visit and one of my kids says, when will Grandma be here? I could say, she'll be here in a little bit. If we're having a nice meal and someone says, oh, there's a really nice pie for dessert and I'm feeling really full, I could say, oh, I'll just have a little bit, meaning that I just want a small piece of it. So I don't know why we use this phrase. It is used quite commonly. I heard it a few times this week. But when we're referring to a small amount of time or a small amount of something, we sometimes just say a little bit.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianAnd then something that's kind of the opposite in terms of time would be the phrase it's going to be a while. If one of my kids said, when is Grandma coming? I could say, oh, it's going to be a while. And if I said it quickly, I would say, oh, it's gonna be a while, meaning that she's not coming in the next five or 10 minutes. It will probably be a bit longer. This is a common response that parents give to children when driving in a car going a long ways. If the kids say, are we there yet? We often say, oh, it's going to be a while. It's going to be another hour or two before we're there.So to review, if you say in a little bit, you mean a small amount of time or a small amount of something. And if you say it's going to be a while, it means that it's going to be probably like an hour or two hours.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from MRfisheri. MRfisheri, I'm not sure how to say it. And the comment is this hair wise and beard wise someone needs a bit of a trim and then a smiley face and just the word joke. So I think MRfisheri is joking. My response soon, although I might grow it out a bit more.So I'm assuming you're talking about the scruffy beard I have and the hair is getting a bit long for me. But thanks for that comment. Yeah, I think I'll get a haircut soon. I'm not 100% sure when. I was thinking about growing it out a bit more, I haven't done that for a long time, like letting my hair grow longer. And then I was wondering, do I need to start to part it in the middle or on the side? Because when you have longer hair, you have to start to comb the hair. And I don't actually comb my hair. I just get up, have a shower and dry my hair with a towel and off I go. So we'll see. The beard, though, I think I need to trim. There's some stray hairs sticking out here and there.But hey, anyways, I'm back where I was last Tuesday night. I thought it would be fun to come back here and shoot a video in the daytime. I did a lesson last week, Tuesday night, I think I did by day and by night, and I did that at night. And my camera was actually struggling to stay nice and crisp. The image was a little bit fuzzy because of the low light conditions. But today it's the opposite. I'm actually having trouble seeing because it's so bright. But the other thing I can show you, though is that Tim Hortons definitely has people going through the drive through.If you remember from the video from last week, it was quite empty. I think there were just some parents and kids selling things as a fundraiser at the front door. But other than that, it was pretty full. I bet you some of these cars have my students in them because it's lunchtiSupport the show