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Podcast Bob's Short English Lessons

Bob's Short English Lessons

Bob the Canadian

Education

Frequency: 1 episode/4d. Total Eps: 485

Hosting podcast Buzzsprout
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!
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  • 🇨🇦 Canada - languageLearning

    16/06/2026
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    08/05/2026
    #87
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    10/09/2025
    #95
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    09/09/2025
    #84
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    #99
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    11/01/2025
    #94

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Learn the English Terms "double whammy" and "double double"

Season 1 · Episode 429

mercredi 2 octobre 2024Duration 04:08

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English terms DOUBLE WHAMMY and DOUBLE DOUBLE

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English term double whammy. When we say something is a double whammy, it means two bad things happened right in a row. And I have a good example for you. I was really busy at work, and then when I was done being busy at work, I got sick. I got a stuffed up nose and a sore throat. It was a double whammy. If you haven't noticed, there hasn't been any English lessons on this channel for a couple of weeks because of that double whammy. Because I was really busy at work and then I got a little bit sick. And it's kind of hard to make English lessons when you have a sore throat. I tend to get sore throats quite a bit, I think, because I talk for a living. But anyways, a double whammy. Two bad things that happen in a row.

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And then the second term, which I think I've taught before, is double double. This is a Canadian term. This is a way to order coffee if you want two scoops of sugar and two creams in it. So I guess two shots of cream. I'm not sure how they put the cream in, but if you drive through a Canadian coffee shop, drive thru and say, I'll have a large double double, it means you want a large coffee and you want two sugars and two creams in it. I don't actually like double doubles. They're too sweet.

So to review, a double whammy is when two bad things happen in a row. Like the example I gave. I was busy and then I was sick. A double whammy and a double double. By the way, you can use it as a noun. You can just say, can I have a double double? It means you want a coffee with two creams and two sugars. Very sweet, very rich.

Hey, I don't actually have a comment from a previous video ready to go. I'm a little behind and I'm slowly getting back into this YouTube thing. I wasn't super sick, but sick enough that I couldn't get anything done. It was a little bit annoying, but hey, that's the way life goes sometimes. As Jen always says, when you're sick, you're sick. There's nothing you can do about it. It's not your fault. It's just something that happens to us all.

I think, though, it's pretty normal for teachers to get sick at the beginning of October. We spend most of our summer by ourselves. We spend most of our summer with family and friends a little bit, but then we go back to school and there's, like, all kinds of people around us. I see over 100 people every day. There's almost 350 people in our building. So it's not surprising that teachers get sick at the beginning of October. And then the second reason is because we use our voices so much, you naturally get a bit of a sore throat just because, just from use, because you're talking so much. And then I think what happens is it... it's easier to get sick when that happens.

So anyways, what was I going to talk about today? It is starting to feel like fall. You can actually see, I'm not sure if Jen wants to be in the video, but in the distance you can see that things are a little more brown than they are green. By the way, you have to look in the distance to see the brown. Everything here is actually quite luscious. Is that the word? Luscious? I'll have to look that up. Lush. That's the word I was looking for, quite lush. Lush just has a slightly different meaning. It's quite lush. Everything's still quite green, but you can tell it's almost time to start wearing a jacket. It's that time of year where it's like, oh, what do I wear in the morning? Do I step outside and see what it's like?

Anyways, thanks for watching. Sorry that I haven't been

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Learn the English Phrases "to plug away" and "to pull the plug"

Season 1 · Episode 428

vendredi 27 septembre 2024Duration 05:22

Read along to practice your English and to learn the phrases TO PLUG AWAY and TO PULL THE PLUG


In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to plug away. When you plug away at something, it means you work out it slowly and methodically until it's done. It doesn't necessarily mean it's something exciting, either. Sometimes you plug away at things that you don't actually want to do because you just want to get them done. A great example would be this. Sometimes I give my students a test, and then I have 25 tests to grade, and I don't really enjoy grading tests. But if I plug away, if I work at it slowly and methodically, eventually I will be done. I don't have to work at it quickly. I just have to plug away so that I can finish the task that I don't find that enjoyable.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is to pull the plug. When you pull the plug on something, it stops working because it doesn't have electricity. But we use this to talk about other things as well. If I'm working on a project at school and it's not going well, me and the other teachers, we might decide to pull the plug, or should I say, the other teachers and I might decide to pull the plug. Sorry to use informal English there. When you pull the plug on something, it means you stop working on it. I'm really enjoying making lessons on this channel and on my other channel. So I'm not going to pull the plug on either channel anytime soon. As I've said before, at least three or four more years, maybe longer.

So to review, to plug away means to work at something so that you get it done, sometimes slowly and methodically, and without taking breaks. And to pull the plug on something means to quit doing it.

But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. I have the comment right here. I'm kind of laughing because I've been talking for two minutes, hoping a truck would go by related to this comment. I think there's one coming now, but actually, it looks like he's turning. Anyways, from Béla. Hello, Bob. I have always wondered why the trucks are different in Europe and in North America. Do you know anything about it? And my response, I think it has to do with length. Here, there is less of a limit on length, so the cab can be longer.

So, yeah, we still don't have any trucks going by. But, Béla, my understanding is this. In Europe, many of the trucks have a flat front. Maybe I should put a picture up here. Whereas in North America, many trucks have a long snout or nose on the front. And my understanding is that the basic reason is the laws are different. Here in North America you can have really long trucks. I think the trailer can be 54ft long. And I don't know if there's a limit on the tractor. That's the front part of the truck. But I think in Europe they have laws governing the total length of the truck.

By the way, I'm still laughing that no trucks have gone by because honestly, I've been making videos in town for the last couple of weeks and I usually find it a little disturbing because there are so many trucks. But that's my understanding that I guess in North America we just have laws that are a little more forgiving in terms of length of truck.

Now there's a truck coming here. It's not the type of truck I normally talk about. And I think he's turning as well. Way in the distance there, you can see that truck. It's a garbage truck. Yeah. I'm not sure if it's too far in the distance for you to see. When I'm done with this English lesson, I might have to wait for a bit and try to get some footage of the different kinds of t

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Learn the English Phrases "All done!" and "Been there, done that!"

Season 1 · Episode 419

mercredi 21 août 2024Duration 04:29

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ALL DONE! and BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase all done. Now, you probably know this phrase. It's a pretty common one. It means that you've done a job and the job is finished. You are all done. I love it when I finish something and I can say that I'm all done. I'll give you a better view of that later. But I worked on this for a long time, and now I'm all done. I started the project, I worked on the project, and now I'm at the point where it's completely done. All done.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase been there, done that. So this is kind of a phrase we use in a funny way or a sarcastic way when someone's describing something they've done and we've already done it. So if someone said to me, oh, I went to Toronto and saw a Blue Jays game, if I was like, it's kind of funny, but also a little bit mean, or it can mean that you're not interested in what they're saying, I could say, ah, been there, done that. Basically, I'm saying, I don't really need to hear about your experience because I've already gone to a Blue Jays game and it was very, very exciting. Been there, done that. So kind of funny, but kind of rude at the same time.

So to review, when you do something and when you finish it, you can say all done. Or you can even use a complete sentence and say, I'm all done. And when you say been there, done that, it's kind of a dismissive way to express yourself when someone's talking about something they've done that you've already done and experienced. Been there, done that.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. You're probably anxious to see the work behind me, but this is from Ünsal. Hi, teacher Bob. I can't wait to see the results of your exhausting work. Thank you so much for the amazing lessons. Have a great day. Bye. And my response? I feel like I'm running out of time for my summer jobs. Thanks, Ünsal, for that comment. Yes, I feel like I'm running out of time, but that's okay. There's always more time in the fall.

So I don't know if you remember what this used to look like, but now it looks like this. I was able to take some time to remove a whole bunch of dirt and stone with my tractor and of course with a shovel as well. My son and I spent a great deal of time out here and then I laid what's called interlocking block, or pavers, or simply patio stones. Let me get in the shade here so you can have a better look. This was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed doing this. Underneath, we put down coarse stone and then finer stone that you can spread easily. And then we chose a pattern that was kind of the hard part, actually choosing a pattern so that it looked really, really nice.

But as you can see now, I have room. Oh, yes, we also put lots of new stone down over there. I have room to park both my vehicles. And Jen and I can sit out here in the morning and have a cup of tea if we want. Maybe I'll try to find a link to an older video where you can see what this used to look like.

But I am very, very happy because for a couple of reasons. Number one, we wanted to do all this, or have all this done professionally, but this was cheaper. I did it myself. Secondly, the interlocking block, the pavers that we used were actually used. My son got them from somewhere. He paid very sorry, there's a spot here that's not level. I'm very particular. He paid very little money for them, so they weren't free, but they were very, very cheap.

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Learn the English Phrases "to hit a wall" and "I'd like to be a fly on the wall!"

Season 1 · Episode 329

mercredi 31 mai 2023Duration 04:10

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO HIT A WALL and I'D LIKE TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to hit a wall. When we say in English that you hit a wall, it means you've hit an obstacle or even a feeling that makes you stop doing something. If I'm working really hard on a video and I can't think of other ideas to finish the video, I could say that I hit a wall. If I'm running a long distance, if I run for more than two or 3 minutes, eventually I hit a wall. Basically, I can't breathe fast enough to actually keep running. So I would say that I hit a wall. We often describe runners who run long distances when they get to a point where they can't run anymore, we say that they hit a wall.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, I'd like to be a fly on the wall. This is a phrase we use when we know people are talking about something in a room, maybe at work or maybe in your house and you're not in the room, but you would like to be in the room. You would say, Oh, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that room, or I'd like to be a fly on the wall. This happens mostly at work when the boss is meeting with someone else. A lot of the teachers are like, I wonder what they're talking about. I'd like to be a fly on the wall in that room, or I'd love to be a fly on the wall so I could just kind of hear what they're saying and see what they're doing.

So to review to hit a wall means to hit an obstacle that stops you from being able to do something. Here's something that happened to me. In university I took one year of math. I took calculus. But during my second year of calculus, I hit a wall. I wasn't able to understand it or do it well. That's about the limit of my math knowledge. Calc II in university is where I hit a wall. And I'd like to be a fly on the wall simply means that people are meeting somewhere and you would just really love to hear what they're saying.

But anyways, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Know that. Hello Mr. Bob. A warm welcome back from my side too. You really are a hard working man, but we know that. It's very nice of you that you lend a hand and take care of the grade nine French class. Your school is very fortunate to have someone like you, just like we do here. Anyway, I'm glad that you're at good health and back on track. Thanks for the lesson, sir. And my response: I'm happy to be back on track too. I'm looking forward looking forward to making today's lesson. Thank you. Know that for that comment. For some reason, I'm having trouble talking today. I don't know why.

Hey, we are out here having a look at the wagon. So this is the wagon that, as I've explained before, is a little bit like a greenhouse. And you can see that there are still a lot of seedlings in here that need to be planted. There are some down here getting full sun on the ground and more over here as well. And I'll show you where I'll leave you guys walking this way. You don't need to see me when I go for a walk, do you? We'll walk over here and I'll show you where some of them are getting planted.

So over here we have what is actually our first flower bed. When we started farming, this was the first flower bed that we created. You have some flowers growing here. We sometimes put down black fabric to kill all the weeds or plastic. This is actually plastic. So the heat of the sun and then the lack of sunlight will kill the weeds. And you can see here Jen's getting ready to plant. She has drip line here to water. And over here there

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Learn the English Phrases "sign up" and "sign in"

Season 1 · Episode 328

vendredi 26 mai 2023Duration 04:09

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases SIGN UP and SIGN IN

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the phrase sign up. When you sign up for something, it means that you want to do it and the person organizing it is asking for people to write their names down on a piece of paper, or maybe to send their name in via the computer, maybe an email or an online form. At school, sometimes there are sports at lunchtime and students and teachers can play if they want to, but you need to sign up. The day before or the week before they start playing basketball or volleyball or whatever the sport is they usually have a sign up sheet and you can sign up to play that sport. I don't normally do this, although last year I did play a little bit of baseball. I signed up (Past Tense) to play baseball. It was quite enjoyable. I hadn't played baseball for a very long time.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase sign in. Now, this is similar to log in if you're talking about a computer or something like your email. I have to sign in to check my email. When I turn my computer on, I need to sign in. I can also say log in. I need to log in to check my email. I need to log in once I turn my computer on. And it simply means to enter your username and your password. But we also use this for paper and pen things as well. My mom now lives in a retirement home. When I go to visit my mom, I need to sign in when I get there. They actually have a book at the entrance and I need to write my name and the time that I arrive and here's a bonus I need to sign out as well when I leave. I need to kind of write down what time I leave.

So to review, when you sign up for something, it means you put your name on a piece of paper or you give your name to someone who's organizing something. You sign up because you want to do that thing, and when you sign in, you can either sign in to a computer or a piece of software or a website or your email, or you can sign in like I described at an old age home or another place like that where they need to see your name when you get there.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. Hopefully I remember how to do this still. This is from Berevilson. Thank you so much, Teacher Bob. How I like that landscape, it’s starting to look pretty nice here. Really amazing. Or as you like to say, awesome. Thanks a lot and my response. You're welcome. I'm replying to this 14 seconds after you typed it. I'm speeding to speed today

So that was actually two weeks ago. I was speedy that day, but then I wasn't very speedy or responsive after that, was I? So I do want to thank Berevilson, thank you so much for that comment. That is awesome.

And, you know, I always like to explain when I take a little bit of time off what I've been doing, not that you guys need to know, but a few things. One, I had some stuff I had to take care of normal things, like I had to file, finish filing my taxes. And then there was some additional paperwork afterwards that I had to take care of. We didn't get audited, but something similar to that. We had to provide some additional receipts.

And then a couple of things to somehow I agreed to teach an extra class at school just for the last few weeks of the school year. I can't give you all the details about why that happened, but there was a French class and I'm now the teacher. So instead of teaching part time, I'm a little closer to full time again, but just for a few weeks. And don't worry, it's pretty manageable. It's a grade nine French class, something I've taught many time

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Learn the English Phrases "That's that!" and "That's more like it!"

Season 1 · Episode 327

mercredi 10 mai 2023Duration 04:10

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THAT'S THAT! and THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, “That's that!” This is a funny little phrase we say when something is over or when something is done. When the workday is done, you might say, “Well, that's that! Time to go home!” When you're done having a conversation with someone, you might say, “Well, that's that! See you again tomorrow.” So it's just a way to kind of sum up that something is over. It's kind of a way to end something. I could do this when I'm done my videos as well. I could say, “Well, that's that. The lesson is over.” It's not over, though. Stick around. There's a little bit more to go.

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If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadian

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, “That's more like it!” This is something we say when someone starts doing something in a better way or when something turns out to be better. Let me think of a good example. If I was doing something wrong, let's say I was watering the plants wrong and then Jen said, “No, no, turn the hose this way and go slower,” She might then say, “That's more like it!” to tell me that I'm now doing it correctly. So if someone's doing something wrong and then you show them how to do it right and when they do it right, you might say, “Hey, that's more like it!” You might get this when you're learning to pronounce an English word. When you do say it right, your tutor might say to you or your English coach might say, “That's more like it!”

So to review, if someone says, “That's that!”, it's just a way, kind of a funny little phrase to say when something is over or ending. And if someone says, “That's more like it!”, it must mean whatever you're doing, you're doing it right.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. It's in my back pocket. Oh, my wallet's in this back pocket, this is my wallet and this is my phone in my front pocket. And these are my keys because I just got home. I don't know why I'm showing you all that, but that's what's in my pockets today. Where's the actual comment? Here it is. This is from Revolution. Thanks for this valuable information. I don't know how to pay you. And my response? You do not need to worry about how to pay me. YouTube is a win-win situation. You watch my videos, I get advertising revenue. You learn English. It's a great system.

So I often mention... Sorry I dropped the comment. I often mention this to people. Some people want to thank me somehow or they want to pay me somehow for my lessons. If you want to be a member, you can, but it's not required.

There are some things you can do though, that help me here on YouTube, and those would be good things to do if you did want to thank me. Number one. Watch my video from start to end, especially on my other channel. If you do that, then YouTube knows it's a good video and they're more likely to show other people the thumbnail. The other thing you can do is watch the video twice. By the way, watching my entire video helps you and me. The second thing you can do is watch the video two or three times. This also helps you a lot because the repetition helps you to remember. And it also tells YouTube that my video is a good video.

By the way, don't do these two things if the video isn't a good video. If it's a boring video, just stop watching it. But if you did want to thank me, that would be a good way to do it.

What else could you do? You could tell other people about this channel or my other channel. That also helps me a lot because the more people that watch, and the more of

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Learn the English Phrases "a slip of the tongue" and "a slip up"

Season 1 · Episode 326

mercredi 3 mai 2023Duration 04:11

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A SLIP OF THE TONGUE and A SLIP UP

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase: a slip of the tongue. A slip of the tongue is when you say the wrong word by accident, or you use the wrong name when you're talking to someone. If I was talking to my brother John, and I called him Dave by accident, that's my other brother's name, I would say it's a slip of the tongue. I've made a mistake and I might not even realize it. Sometimes when you have a slip of the tongue, someone else will tell you that you made a mistake. So if you're ever talking and you use the wrong word in English or even in your own language, we would simply call it a slip of the tongue.

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And we also have something called a slip up. A slip up is just a small mistake that someone might make. Let's say my van needed to go to the garage and they said bring it in on a Tuesday and I brought it in on a Monday. That would just be a slip up. I got the dates wrong. That would be a little mistake that I made. This actually happened a couple weeks ago where I brought my vehicle somewhere on the wrong day, but it was just a little slip up.

So to review a slip of the tongue refers to when you use the wrong word or the wrong name, when you're saying something out loud, you have a little slip of the tongue. Sometimes when I'm talking to students, I'll call a student by the name of another student, and it's just a slip of the tongue. And when you make a small mistake, we simply call it a slip up. And we usually use the word little in front to we say, Oh, it's just a little slip up. It was just a small mistake.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. The comments actually laying in my van by here, I'm standing under or I have the camera under the back of my van because it's raining just a little bit here. But this comment is from Nutshell Collecttor. Thank you for the lesson. There is a gas tank behind you. Can you explain a bit about that? What is that for? And my response, it is full of propane and is used to heat our house. There is a line buried underground from the tank to our house and connected inside to a furnace. The furnace burns the propane.

And that makes heat for our house. So if you go back and watch the last lesson, you'll see that there is a green tank behind me in that lesson. And that tank is full of propane. It's not natural gas, but it's like natural gas. I think propane is a little bit of a different chemical makeup, and that's what we use to heat our house. It comes in a big truck and they pump it full and it's just full of propane. And then that goes through this little line underground to our house and it makes our furnace go.

So, hey, I'm walking outside here in town. I just popped over to another small park. I did make a video in this park once, a long time ago, a couple years ago. But I thought I would come here quick because it is spitting just a little bit. In English when we say that it's spitting, it means it's raining just a little bit. And I was going to show you some of the signs at the park. It says, Welcome to the township of West Lincoln's community park. So that means the town owns this park.

And then there are some rules. You must throw your garbage away. You must have your dog on a leash. You must pick up your dog's poop. No drinking, no driving, four wheelers or other ATVs and no smoking. Those are the park rules. And then what does it say down here? The township of West Lincoln is not responsible for damage or theft to vehicle or contents.

So

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Learn the English Phrases "a walk in the park" and "a cakewalk"

Season 1 · Episode 326

vendredi 28 avril 2023Duration 04:12

 In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "a walk in the park". When we describe something as a walk in a park, we mean that it's going to be very, very easy. If I say that tomorrow I'm going to go for a 20-minute walk, that's a walk in the park for me. Oh, it's a bad example. I'm using the literal example of walking to talk about this. I usually go for a 45 to 60-minute walk. If I have to walk somewhere and it's only 10 minutes, it's a walk in the park. It's really easy. Let me think of a better example. If I had to write an English test, it would be a walk in the park for me because I speak English. It would be something that's really, really easy.

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The other term I wanted to teach you today is "a cakewalk", and this means exactly the same thing. If you needed to take an English test, it might be hard for you, but I'm not trying to brag here. If I needed to take an English test, it would be a cakewalk. Well, hopefully if it was advanced grammar, I might have some difficulty, but especially if they were asking for the actual names and terms. I'm not a a super expert on grammar if you haven't noticed, but a cakewalk would be how we refer to anything that's really, really easy. If Jen needs to grow something, it's a cakewalk for her. She's really good at doing that.

So to review "a walk in the park" and "a cakewalk", both these terms are used to refer to something that's really, really easy for someone to do. When a team that's really good plays a team that isn't so good, usually you expect it to be a walk in the park when they play that game, you expect them to win easily or you expect it to be a cakewalk.

Anyways, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Vítor, I believe. "I think it's good for Bob to be a teacher. The students learned a lot from the teacher and vice versa. And I say for sure, I learn so much from all of you."

There's some truth to that. A teacher teaches students, and students learn from the teacher, but I would say vice versa makes sense here because often, I learn things from my students as well. As I talk to students, they teach me things. In fact, one of the things that's true about being a teacher is that you learn your subject better than you would if you were a student. Let me explain this a little bit. As I teach you the English language, I actually learn more and more about the English language myself. I become more of an expert, because in order to teach what I want to teach, I have to really know what I'm teaching. Hopefully that made some sense. Anyways, thanks Vítor for the comment.

I wanted to give you a look here. I usually like to show you things that are in bloom so we have not only the dandelions down here in the lawn, but we also have these beautiful daffodils. We'll probably be harvesting some of these, although it's a little late to sell daffodils, and here we have some where they haven't quite bloomed yet. That's really it for right now. There's not a lot of other stuff blooming here on the farm.

It will be a few months, probably about a month and a half before the peonies start popping up and probably a good two months before we're in the full swing of things here on the farm. When you're in the full swing of things, it means that you're working from sunup to sundown. That's what I would say. On a farm, when we're in the full swing of things, we work sunup till sundown. And I'm looking forward to a bit of shade. I use shade a lot in the summer to make my English lessons. There's always a nice shady spot to stand. Right now, I don't have any shade. Hopefully, i

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Learn the English Phrases "vice versa" and "on the other hand"

Season 1 · Episode 325

mercredi 26 avril 2023Duration 04:06

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases VICE VERSA and ON THE OTHER HAND

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, vice versa. I think this is actually a Latin phrase and it means the opposite, or the other way around. Let me explain. If I was to say I don't like my sister and vice versa that would mean my sister also doesn't like me. By the way, my sister and I get along really well. We like each other a lot. That was just an example. Sometimes I say, you should watch my English lessons with the subtitles on and then watch them with the subtitles off, or vice versa. That means the opposite. You could watch the video with the subtitles off and then watch it with them on. So when you say vice versa, it means you can do it the other way around and it's just as good as the first way it was mentioned. Or it can change the meaning to mean in both directions like the first example.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, on the other hand. This is when you add other information that might contradict what you've just said. I could say this, I'm a little worried that it might rain today, but on the other hand, if I look that way I see the sky is clear, so it might not. So you're introducing a new fact that might slightly contradict what you just said. If I said to you, you should watch these videos with the subtitles on in order to understand more what I'm saying. On the other hand, if you listen to them or watch them with the subtitles off,it's better for your listening skills so maybe you should do both.

Anyways, to review, vice versa simply means the other way around at the end of a sentence. And when you say, on the other hand, you're introducing new information to the discussion that might actually contradict what you've just said.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Iryna, I believe. "Your video is cool. "It is very good that you are helping your wife to grow flowers." And my response, many hands make light work.

Thanks Iryna, for that comment. Yes, I try to help Jen out as much as I possibly can. I just think it's nice for her to have help on the farm. The more help I give, the easier it is for everyone. And I always laugh at the English phrase, "Many hands make light work." It makes me laugh because we have another phrase, "Too many cooks spoil the broth." I think I've explained both before. The first phrase, many hands make light work, means if lots of people work on something, it's easier. The second phrase, too many cooks spoil the broth, means if too many people work on something, it can actually ruin the thing you're working on because too many people are doing things different ways or the wrong way.

Anyways, where am I today? I am out. Hopefully the wind's not blowing too much on the microphone. I am out here on our local soccer fields. I'll try to hold the the camera here so the mic's outta the wind a bit. Soccer has started. We do have to wait until the fields are dry a little bit. They are drained really well. But yeah, soccer starts. You can actually, I'm not sure if you guys can see this, but in the distance, the city workers are actually here mowing the lawns, trimming the edges. I'm sure they'll probably put the lines down for soccer. They were down last week, but I think it rained because the soccer lines are just made out of chalk. Oh, and the sun's coming out now as well.

So anyways, soccer will begin. I think when I drove by yesterday there were actually little kids having a practice here so I think it has begun. May

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Learn the English Phrases "to keep count" and "to lose count"

Season 1 · Episode 324

vendredi 21 avril 2023Duration 04:12

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO KEEP COUNT and TO LOSE COUNT

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "to keep count". This simply means to count something while you're doing it. When I put flowers in a bucket for Jen, sometimes Jen says, "Put 100 flowers in each bucket." So as I do it, I need to keep count. I put in one flower and then two flowers and three. And as I do it in my mind, I try to keep track. I try to keep count of the number of flowers that I put in so that I don't put in too many. Because if I put 105 flowers in a bucket and Jen sells it, then we gave three, or sorry, five flowers away for free, I'm having trouble doing math today. So when you keep count, it simply means to count something while you're doing it.

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Now to lose count, this is something that happens to me when I am putting flowers in a bucket. Sometimes I put in 50, 51, 52, and I get distracted and then I lose count and I forget how many flowers I've put in the bucket. I think that was 52, maybe 53. And then I have to count again so I know how many are in there. So when you lose count, it simply means that you got distracted, which often happens to me. And even though you were trying to keep count, you lost count because you were thinking of something else.

So to review, to keep count means to simply count something. There's an airplane going by today. If I was to keep count during the day, I would say about seven or eight airplanes fly by. And when you lose count, it means you were counting something and then you forgot how many you did. Sometimes I walk up and down the driveway when the weather's bad and I try to keep count how many times I've done it, but often I lose count. So I will make little marks on the van to help me keep count. Well, I think I just use both phrases a bunch of times there.

Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from UIF. To miss out, yes, FOMO, fear of missing out. You are correct is my response. That is exactly what FOMO means. This is a newer phrase or a newer term in English. FOMO, fear of missing out. I think it started a few years ago, but I've been hearing it a lot more lately.

By the way, I was gonna show you how I keep count on the van. Do you keep count this way? I think it's dirty enough for me to do this. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see that. It's probably out of focus, but this is a method of counting that we quite often use. Maybe I'll do it down here and spin you around. That way I can see it as well. I should really wash my van. I'm not sure, do you keep count that way? Like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It's a very simple way of keeping count. The other day I was bringing compost to the flower beds for Jen and she wanted 10 in each flower bed so I had to keep count. I didn't wanna lose count, so I used that method on the tractor. I would make little markings to keep count.

Anyways, I think I've just lost my train. Good thing I'm not trying to count something today, because I just lost my train of thought and I'm not sure what I was counting. What I was counting, what I was doing. Boy, this is turning into Bob making mistakes while he speaks English.

Anyways, here are many of our small flowers. I think these are actually weeds, but these are Lisianthus. I will definitely show you all of these out in the field in a couple of months. If we go over here as well. And some of you sometimes ask why we have this wagon. So if you see the little door, that door folds up and this door folds up so light can get in through the ceiling. It's a little bit d

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