Bob's Short English Lessons
Bob the Canadian
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Bob's Short English Lessons Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Bob's Short English Lessons episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Bob's Short English Lessons for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Bob's Short English Lessons episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Learn the English Phrases TO BE IN HOT WATER and TO MUDDY THE WATER
Bob's Short English Lessons
07/16/21 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE IN HOT WATER and TO MUDDY THE WATER
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to be in hot water. We sometimes also say to get in hot water. When you are in hot water, you are in trouble. When you lie to someone and then they find out that you lied to them, you might be in hot water. If I was to say to Jen that I was going out to visit a friend, and instead I went to the casino and started gambling, if Jen found out, I would definitely be in hot water. By the way, I would never do that. I would never lie to Jen. That's just a bad thing to do when you're in a relationship. But certainly, when you do something that someone doesn't want you to do, that person could certainly be annoyed with you and you would then be in hot water. Not a good situation to be in.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to muddy the water. When you muddy the water, it's when there's a conversation and you introduce new information that makes everyone a little bit confused. Here's a good example. Let's say we were trying to figure out who stole something from the kitchen cupboard. Well, stole is a strong word. Who took something from the kitchen cupboard. My example is usually the last cookie. We're trying to figure out who took the last cookie. Well, if I said to my son, "Did you eat a cookie last night?" and then I said to my daughter, "Did you eat a cookie last night?" and then if my other son started to talk about how much he likes brownies and whether we should be buying brownies, and if we had brownies instead of cookies, then this wouldn't be a problem, I would say that he is starting to muddy the waters. He's starting to introduce information that has nothing to do with the current conversation, and it's making everyone a little bit confused. So he's starting to muddy the water. We also sometimes say, and I just said it, to muddy the waters.
Anyways, to review. When you are in hot water, if you are in hot water, or if you get in hot water, it means that you are in trouble of some kind, usually because of something you did, maybe a lie or maybe just something that you did to someone. And when you muddy the water, it means that you introduce information that kind of confuses all the people who are having a conversation or a discussion.
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Athanasios, and the comment is this. "Thanks for these useful phrases, Teacher Bob. I have a funny feeling that Teacher Bob is going to buy a pizza for the whole family tomorrow at night. LOL! Bon appetit, sir." And my response is this. "Your guess is very close, although it might actually be tonight," which today is Friday, if you're watching this on Friday. "We usually buy pizza on Friday nights, about two times per month. It's the most reasonably priced food from a restaurant."
So thanks, Athanasios. That was a great use of the phrase a funny feeling or the term a funny feeling, but that was excellent. Yes, good job. I was gonna talk a little bit about the pizza that we get every once in a while. I've talked about from time to time, that sometimes, about twice per month, we'll go and we'll buy pizza. I get it from the restaurant that I went into when I made my video of how to speak English at a restaurant on my other channel, because I feel like it's a good idea to support them. They helped me make a video that was quite successful, so I like to go there and buy pizza at least twice a month, sometimes longer.
Learn The English Phrases TO DUMB DOWN and DUMB LUCK
Bob's Short English Lessons
05/20/22 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO DUMB DOWN and DUMB LUCK
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to dumb down. Now I think you know what the word dumb means. It's kind of an insult for someone who's not very smart. If you say he's dumb, you're saying that that person isn't intelligent. So it's not a nice thing to say. But we do use the phrase to dumb down to talk about making something simpler, and easier to understand. Think about it this way. Sometimes you read a book, and it's a really good book, and it's very complex, and a little bit hard to understand, and then they make it into a movie, and then they dumb down the story a little bit, so it's easier for people to understand. Sometimes too they'll make instructions for something, and the instructions might be really hard to understand. So they might say to someone at that company, hey, before we ship that product, someone needs to dumb down the instructions. You need to make them simpler, and easier to understand.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase dumb luck. So luck, when you're lucky, it's just means that something goes your way for no reason. And dumb luck is the same thing basically. A good example would be this. Normally I take a certain road to go to work, but the other day I took a different road, and then I ended up finding out the road I normally take, there was an accident there, and I would've been stuck. So it was just dumb luck that I took the right road. There was no reason when I got to the end of my driveway, I decided to go one way and not the other. It ended up being dumb luck that I just ended up going the way where there was no traffic, and no accident that would have held me up.
So to review, when you dumb down something, when you are going to dumb something down, it means you're going to make it simpler, and easier to understand. And when you have dumb luck, it just means that things went your way for some reason, usually just 'cause you got a little bit lucky.
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Gill. Thanks, Bob, I like lilac. In Russian, we call it a bush, not a tree. Could you tell me what you call the color of that cat of yours in Canadian English, ginger or red? My response, we also sometimes call it a bush, lilac tree, lilac bush. I think it depends on how tall it is. Also, we would say it is an orange cat. So yeah, technically the lilac trees that I showed you in the last video, technically I think they would be a lilac bush. They look more like a bush than a tree, but we've always called them lilac trees, I think because they are taller than me.
And the cat, yeah, we don't usually call a cat like that a ginger cat. We would usually just say it's an orange cat. And the other name we have for it is Tabby. I think Tabby refers to the pattern of the fur on the cat. So I would've called that an orange Tabby cat.
Hey, an interesting thing is happening at work. For some reason, we are trying to figure out how we used to do all kinds of things in May and in June. Last year in May and June, we were learning from home. Two years ago in May and June, we were learning from home. So there's all these little activities, and things that we can do now that we can do in person. And as a staff, as teachers, we're trying to figure out how we used to do certain things. I was in a meeting this morning where a lot of people were saying, well, how did we do it three years ago the last time we did it? Or how did we do it three years ago? Who was in charge back t
Learn the English Phrases TO STRIKE ME THAT / TO STRIKE ME AS and TO STRIKE A BALANCE
Bob's Short English Lessons
05/12/21 • 3 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO STRIKE ME THAT or TO STRIKE ME AS and TO STRIKE A BALANCE
In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, it strikes me that. This is a phrase that I used yesterday a couple of times when I was talking about the emojis that I like to choose, I said, well, I just choose emojis that strike me as cool. When something strikes you when you describe something as striking you in English, it literally means something hitting you, a ball can strike me in the face, hopefully that doesn't happen. But when something strikes you in the way that I used it, it means that you notice it or you've decided that it's cool. So I pick the emojis based on ones that strike me as cool, ones that I notice are cool or ones that I just think are cool when I see them. So they strike me as being cool.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to strike a balance. When you try to strike a balance, you're trying to create a solution to something. Usually you're trying to get two people to agree on something in a way where they're both happy but they don't both get exactly what they want. Sometimes there's three cookies and I have five children that want the cookies so in order to strike a balance, I cut the cookies in pieces and everyone gets a half and then I get a couple cookie halves too. But anyways, I'm not sure my math is correct but I think you understand what I mean when you strike a balance. If I wanted to strike a balance, I create a situation where everyone gets some of what they want, but not exactly what they wanted and hopefully everybody's happy.
So to review when something strikes you, it can be something that physically hits you like if my, one of my kids kicked a ball at me it could strike me in their head but it can also be used to talk about something that you've noticed. It might strike you as a little bit funny that there are goats behind me, I'm not sure you can see them today. Is that a goat right there? It might be. I know some of you noticed them yesterday. And of course the phrase to strike a balance means to create a situation where everyone gets a little bit of what they want but not exactly what they wanted but hopefully everyone's happy.
Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is a comment from Judit. And Judit says, thanks a lot, cameraman. My response was you're welcome. My camera moving skills are great when I want to show something but not so great when I want to put the camera back in the exact spot I took it from, this time it went quite smoothly.
So in my last video, I actually moved the camera while I was doing the lesson and I thought that maybe I should do that more. Maybe I should actually move the camera a little bit more so you can see more of the things that are happening right around me. I think maybe I scared the goats, maybe not. By the way, some of you thought they might be sheep, they do look a little bit like a type of sheep called a Dorper sheep but they are actually Boer goats.
Learn the English Phrases "to miss out" and "to miss the point"
Bob's Short English Lessons
04/19/23 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO MISS OUT and TO MISS THE POINT
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you understand the English phrase, to miss out. When you miss out on something, it means you don't go to that thing or do that thing. Here's a good example. If I knew that tomorrow if I stayed after work, I would get free supper, I would say, I can't go. I'm going to miss out, because I have other things that I have to do. If someone said to me, hey, we're going to go see a Toronto Raptors game next week, Thursday night, this is fictional by the way, the Raptors aren't actually playing anymore, but I might say, oh, I'm going to have to miss out because I have other things that I need to do. So when you miss out, it simply means that you can't do something because you have to do something else, and then you miss out. You don't get to do 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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, to miss the point. When you miss the point, it means you don't understand something. Sorry, there was a loud truck there. You don't understand something or you misunderstand it. When you miss the point. If I said to my students, let me think of a good example here. If I said to my students, you should study chapter one, just in case, they might miss the point, and think that they're studying chapter one just because it's fun, when the point was there might be a quiz or test on it. Don't think I'm explaining this one really good. But when you miss the point, it means you don't understand something or you understand it wrong. If you watch this lesson, thinking that you are just going to learn two phrases, you've kind of missed the point. 'Cause the point of this lesson is to learn two phrases and to practice your listening skills and to watch me walk around and show you the town and to get to know me a bit better. So hopefully you don't miss the point.
So to review, to miss out means you don't do something because you can't go or you have other obligations. And to miss the point is to simply misunderstand something or to understand it wrong. Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Aline. "Hi Bob! Thanks a lot for another really nice video! And yeah, it's amazing to see and hear nature around you during the lessons." And my response, "Today's lesson will be in town, so no nature to speak of!"
But certainly, loud pickup trucks. I think that might have been in your field of view. I'm not 100% sure, there was a loud pickup truck there. Hey, today, by the way, thank you for the comment, Aline.
So today, I'm in front of an old building. This is actually an old feed mill. In fact, I think it says that somewhere way up there. I'm not sure if you can see it. It says Niagara Grain and Feed. This was a place that made feed for chickens and cows and pigs. But it has been abandoned for a long time. In fact, you can tell it's abandoned by looking at the flower beds in front of it. You can see they're a little bit overgrown. There's not very many nature sounds here. There's a lot of truck sounds. You can see it's overgrown. You can't even use the stairs.
There are signs here like no smoking and no dumping. So they don't want people to dump their garbage here. That's why there's a no dumping sign. But anyways, we used to get feed from here when my parents were dairy farmers. This was one of the places. You can see a big green grain bin, as well. This is one of the places where we got our feed, and it's right in town, by the way. It's smack dab in the middle of town, because it's located, on the other side of
Learn the English Saying, "It's not the heat, it's the humidty!" and the Phrase "to beat the heat"
Bob's Short English Lessons
08/02/24 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English saying IT'S NOT THE HEAT, IT'S THE HUMIDITY and the phrase TO BEAT THE HEAT
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English saying, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. So it is really, really hot out here in Ontario, Canada right now. The last few days have been over 30 degrees celsius, and today it's going to be over 30 degrees celsius again. And something we kind of say jokingly when it's this hot is, hey, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Basically, what we mean is the heat isn't what is oppressive. It's not the heat that's making you feel really hot, it's the humidity. By the way, humidity is the amount of moisture in the air. So we say it jokingly, but it's also kind of true. When you're somewhere where there's a really hot day and no humidity, it's a lot nicer because you can sweat and your sweat evaporates. But when you say it's not the heat, it's the humidity, you're usually in a place where when you sweat, it doesn't really evaporate and cool you off. Sweating doesn't work the way it's supposed to. So we just kind of get through it by saying, hey, it's not the heat, it's the humidity.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to help you learn today is to beat the heat. So this is something that rhymes. And we say this to talk about things that help you cool down when it's hot like this. To beat the heat, I will go into a restaurant at market every hour just to cool off for five minutes because they have air conditioning. Maybe to beat the heat, Jen and I will get some ice cream around five or six o'clock this afternoon at market to cool down a little bit. So we use this kind of fun little rhyming phrase to talk about the things you do to cool down. If we had a pool, I could jump in the pool to beat the heat. That would be really nice.
So to review kind of a fun joking phrase to say when it's really hot and humid is to say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. And when it's really hot and you want to relax and cool down, you do something to beat the heat. Jump in a pool, have a drink of cold, cold water, all of those kinds of things.
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Eugene. Hi, Bob. I could be in the wrong, but it looks like your powerline pole needs a support. And my response we'll have a look in the next video. I think it's fine, but worth checking.
So behind me there is what we in Ontario, Canada. I've never done this before. Let me walk backwards as I talk. In Ontario, Canada, at least in my part of Ontario, Canada, we call that a hydro pole. I think in some parts of the world they would call that a telephone pole, even though they're electrical wires or an electrical pole or a power pole. It has a bunch of different names. We call it a hydro pole. This one is leaning a little bit and I think that's what Eugene was talking about. Let me spin you around and give you a little bit of a better look at it.
It is leaning, but I can tell you a few things. One, the base of the pole is in concrete, so I think that helps it stay stable. And it has been leaning like this my whole life. Like even as a kid I remember this pole has always had a lean to it. And if we look around on this side, you'll see these little things here. They come and inspect the pole. So the last time in 2002, they came and had a look at the pole and they said that everything was a okay with the pole.
So hopefully the pole doesn't fall over. Hopefully the concrete holds it in the ground nicely. And hopefully I don't have any problems because if the powe
Learn the English Terms GAME CHANGER and FAIR GAME
Bob's Short English Lessons
07/29/22 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English terms GAME CHANGER and FAIR GAME
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, a game changer. Game changer is a term we use, sorry, it looks like the garbage truck is here, picking up the garbage. I'll try to continue the lesson. Something is called a game changer when it makes the situation way better. Years ago, we didn't actually have garbage pickup on the farm. When I was a kid, we had to take our garbage to the dump. But when they started to do garbage pickup with the truck, it was a game changer for my parents. It meant that they had more time to work on the farm. They didn't have to drive to the dump once a week to drop off the garbage, so it was a game changer.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase fair game. When something or someone is fair game, it means it's okay to criticize or joke about them. Politicians are fair game. A lot of times comedians will make fun of politicians, because we consider them fair game, that it's okay to make jokes about them. Well, I guess that depends on what country you live in, but I'm not gonna get into that. For my English lessons, pretty much everything is fair game. Although, I usually don't do lessons on politics or religion. I avoid those. So I guess not everything is fair game when it comes to my lessons.
Anyways, to review, when something is a game changer, it means that it changes the situation, or changes your life in some way, that makes it a lot better. And when something is fair game, it means that it is okay to make fun of that person, or that thing, or to criticize them.
But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Mahmood. And I actually ran out here quickly to do this, Mahmood. "Hi, teacher, Bob. Thank you for the useful lesson. Why don't you take us near the road? Thank you, Mr. Bob." And my response, "I'll go out near the road today, when I make Friday's lesson, maybe."
So I am out here, and I ran out, because I really wanted to catch the garbage truck. As coincidence, as, sorry. The coincidence was that as I came out to make this lesson, I'm having trouble speaking English today, did you notice that? I saw the garbage truck down the road. So I ran to the end of my driveway, because I wanted to catch the garbage truck on the video. But yes, I'll do a video out here by the road, for sure. We look this way, we can see there's a truck going by.
If you look here, you can see all of our recycle bins on the ground. And the green bin is actually for compost. So in Ontario, Canada, you can put your compost at the road, your kitchen scraps and all those kinds of things, as well. The road is a little bit busy today. You can see there's a couple cars coming behind me, and there's a couple cars coming towards me as well. It's usually not this busy, but I guess people have a lot of stuff to do today. So they're out and about.
Learn the English Phrases GET YOUR FEET WET and MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
Bob's Short English Lessons
09/17/20 • 4 min
Read long to learn the English Phrases GET YOUR FEET WET and MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK:
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, get your feet wet. When we say that someone needs to get their feet wet, it means that before they do something big, they just do a smaller version of it. A good example would be this. My son is learning to drive. Before he starts to drive for a long time or before he goes for a long drive or before he drives on the highway, it's good for him to get his feet wet by going for shorter drives from time to time. So we actually go out once a day for about 10 or 15 minutes, and he practices his driving because I think it's important for him to get his feet wet. So again, instead of driving on the highway or driving across Canada, which would be a really big thing to do, he's just going to get his feet wet by doing short drives from time to time. I think this phrase comes from when you wanna get into a swimming pool. Sometimes if you get your feet wet, it's easier to jump in.
WANT MORE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"
#englishlesson #englishvocabulary #speakingenglish #bobthecanadian
The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, more bang for your buck. When we say that you can get more bang for your buck, it means that you get more value for the dollar that you pay. Let's think of an example here. I'm trying to think of an example with apples, for instance. If you go and buy an apple, one apple costs $1, but if you buy a whole bushel of apples, you get more bang for your buck. Basically what that means is you're gonna pay less than $1 per apple if you buy a whole bushel of apples. You can say the same thing if you are buying a car. Maybe there are two cars that have the same price tag, but one car has more features. Maybe it has power windows and air conditioning. You would say that because the cars are the same price and the one has more things in it, it has more features, you would get more bang for your buck if you bought the car with air conditioning and power windows.
So again, when you get your feet wet, it means you just try something by doing a little bit of it instead of all of it. And when you get more bang for your buck, it means that for the same dollar value, you get more things or more features or you actually get more of the items.
Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Archer Chen, and Archer says, "My life philosophy is if you are not able "to change it, then just let bygones be bygones. "You don't have to forgive and forget, "but it's better to learn something "from the bad experiences, "figure out how to do better next time and then move on." And my response to Archer Chen was, "This is very wise advice, Archer. "It can be hard sometimes, "but I agree that there is something "to be learned even from bad experiences." So that was from the video that I just did on forgive and forget, the phrase, forgive and forget, and the phrase, let bygones be bygones. So thanks, Archer, for that comment. And I do agree. If possible, if you can forgive and forget, or if you can let bygones be bygones, it is healthy, I think, to be able to do that, but not always easy.
Hey, I'm in the barn today. I haven't done a video in the barn for a really, really long time. This is what we call the haymow Some people call it a hayloft, and it's where we keep hay for our sheep and goats. But I had to come in the barn today because I was outside earlier today and made a short video, but then it got really windy, and I couldn't find a spot where I didn't wanna be in the sun and I didn't wanna be in the wind.
Learn the English Phrases "a rookie mistake" and "an honest mistake"
Bob's Short English Lessons
12/16/22 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A ROOKIE MISTAKE and AN HONEST MISTAKE
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase a rookie mistake. Now, this is a term we use when we're talking about someone who's new at something and then they make a mistake. At school, oh, by the way, a rookie is someone who's new at something. When you play a sport, you can be a rookie. It means it's your first year. But we use this in other things as well. At school, sometimes we hire a new teacher and we call that teacher a rookie for the first year. And a rookie mistake as a teacher would be to try and use the photocopier right before the school day starts. That's the busiest time. If you need to photocopy something in a school, don't do it right before school starts because there will be a lineup of teachers all making the same mistakes, including the rookie. So anyways, a rookie mistake is a mistake that someone who is new at something ends up making.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase an honest mistake. Now, an honest mistake is just a mistake that anyone would make, and it's a mistake that doesn't really harm anyone. A good example would be this. Sometimes I'll teach a student and then a few years later, I'll teach their brother. So I'll teach two brothers, and then a few years later, again, after they've graduated I'll meet one of them somewhere and I'll use the wrong name. And that's just an honest mistake. Sometimes brothers look a lot alike, especially after they graduate from high school. If you meet two brothers in their 20s, they can sometimes look quite a bit alike. So it's just an honest mistake if I use the wrong name when I run into one of them.
So to review, a rookie mistake is a mistake made by someone who's new at something. A rookie mistake for a farmer is to try and work up the soil before it's dry enough. That's a rookie mistake. And an honest mistake is just a simple mistake that anyone would make, and it's not a mistake that harms anyone or costs money or anything like that. So I make a lot of those, actually.
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Judit. "Thanks for the video. It was quite short, as usual. "Christmas is coming as well as the eagle season "in North Florida, check them out." And my response, "I'll have a look."
And I did, I actually just spent a little bit of time reading about bald eagles. And I wanted to show all of you something as well. So the bald eagle is native to North America. It's an eagle with a white head. I think it's the national bird in the United States. But if you look behind me here, there's a really tall hydro pole right there. We call 'em hydro poles in Canada. And at the very top, sometimes in the summer we'll see a bald eagle. There is a bald eagle that lives on our farm. I'm sure it's gone now, though, because I'm sure it's gone south for the winter where it's a bit warmer. But interestingly enough, Judit, thanks for that comment. I did read a little bit about bald eagles, and again, there's one that sometimes perches right at the top of that hydro pole. You might call it a utility pool if you are in America, or something like that.
By the way, I'm out here in the rain. It's a little bit slippery out here. Let's see if... So I actually ended up staying home today. We had, I guess we would call it technically, we would call it a snow day, but it's actually more accurate to call it an ice day. We woke up to freezing rain. It was very, very dangerous to walk outside. It was very, very dangerous
Learn the English Term "a breeze" and the Phrase "take the easy way out"
Bob's Short English Lessons
10/21/22 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English term A BREEZE and the phrase TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English term "a breeze." When we say something is a breeze, or something we did in the past was a breeze, we mean it was really, really easy. A few days ago, I did some work around the farm, and it was a breeze because I used the tractor. I had to move some dirt and instead of using a shovel, which would've made it really, really hard, I used the tractor and that made it a breeze. So when you say something's a breeze, it means it's really, really easy. I hope the next time you have an English conversation, I hope it's a breeze for you. I hope the next time you take an English test, I hope it's a breeze. I hope it's really, really easy and you just enjoy it while you're doing it, because it's so simple and easy to do. I hope it's a breeze.
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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase "take the easy way out." So I know the two phrases aren't really related today. I mean, when you say something's a breeze, it means it's easy so it's kind of related, but when you take the easy way out, it means you do the easiest way possible when you're doing something. I could have moved the dirt with a shovel, but I took the easy way out and used the tractor instead. That was just a lot simpler, and I wasn't as tired as I would have been if I had used the shovel. Maybe when you're studying English and you don't understand what you're reading, you take the easy way out and you copy and paste everything into Google Translate to see what it is in your own language. You take the easy way out. It's not always good to take the easy way out. Sometimes it's a good idea, but sometimes it's better to do it the hard way.
Anyways, to review, when you say something is a breeze, it means that it is easy. It's a breeze for me to make these videos usually. Today, it's a little cold though. I'll talk about that in a while, in just a little bit. And when you take the easy way out, it means you decide to do something in the easiest way possible. It's good to do that sometimes.
I don't think I- I did bring the comment out. Once again, I'm losing track of where I put the comment. Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is from write Winter. "I like the view behind you. Fall is the proof that change may be beautiful." And my response, that's a great quote. And it is, the last video was a lot of fun. I was able to walk around in the town where I work and give you a little bit of a view of what fall looks like.
Fall on the farm continues as well, and I would agree with that quote. I mean, the change that I see around me right now, if you think about it, is beautiful, but it's also a little bit sad because we're looking at things that are actually going to sleep and disappearing for the winter. So as much as it's beautiful, the change is easier to take I guess, because it is beautiful.
You can actually see there's a carpet of leaves behind me. I'm gonna take the easy way out with these leaves. I'm just just gonna let them blow away instead of raking them up. I'm just gonna take the easy way out. We don't often rake our leaves, by the way, because yeah, there's no need to. They just blow away eventually.
Learn the English Phrases TO KEEP BUSY and BUSY WORK
Bob's Short English Lessons
09/01/21 • 4 min
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO KEEP BUSY and BUSY WORK
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to keep busy. This is a phrase that we mostly use when talking about people who are retired. My mom is retired. She worked for a long time, and around age 65, she decided to retire, but she likes to keep busy. In English, when you say that someone wants to keep busy, it usually means they don't have a job, but they still like to do things. My mom, in order to keep busy, volunteers at what's called a thrift store. A thrift store is where people donate clothes, and then the people who work there put prices on them and sell them and the money's used for a good cause. So in order to keep busy, my mom likes to work at the thrift store. We could also say she likes to keep herself busy. That's another way of saying 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/bobthecanadian
The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase busy work. Busy work is any kind of work that you do that isn't really productive. It's work that you do for the sake of doing the work. Here's the best example I can think of. Sometimes, when I give my students lessons, I try to make it very, very effective. I want them to learn a lot. I don't want to just give them a bunch of busy work. If I was to give them busy work, that would mean I would make them practice things they already know. I would make them do things that weren't teaching them anything new. I would be giving them busy work. It would just look good. If the principal came in the classroom, it would look like my students were working, but they would just be doing busy work. If I was making them review things that they learned last year, or if I was making them do something over and over again, it would just be busy work.
So to review, to keep busy, or to keep oneself busy, means to do things similar to work, to stay active, to do activities, especially when you are retired or when you don't have a job, maybe you just don't need to work. Maybe you have so much money, you don't need to work, but in order to keep busy, you find little things to do. And busy work is any kind of work that just isn't productive. It's work that you do for the sake of work. I hope that makes sense.
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Roman and the comment is this. "Hi, Bob, many people shy away from public speaking. "So do I, thanks for the lesson." And my response was, "The funny thing is that once you've done it for a while, "it becomes a lot less stressful. "I think a lot of things in life are that way."
So the funny thing is when I replied to Roman, my first reply, I actually said, "Once you've done it for a while, "it becomes a lot more stressful." I typed the wrong word, so I corrected it, but I thought Roman would probably have a bit of a laugh or maybe be a little confused by that initial response.
But yes, there are many things in life that are just easier once you do it for a while. It doesn't mean it's easy to do that thing. It doesn't mean that there's no stress involved. Usually, there's lots of stress, but I have found that if I can push myself, if I can get to a point where I convince myself to do something stressful, instead of shying away from it, great use of the phrase, by the way, Roman, sometimes, you just do it for a while and you become good at it.
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Bob's Short English Lessons have?
Bob's Short English Lessons currently has 450 episodes available.
What topics does Bob's Short English Lessons cover?
The podcast is about Language Learning, Learning English, Podcasts and Education.
What is the most popular episode on Bob's Short English Lessons?
The episode title 'Learn the English Phrases "to back off" and "to go back on"' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Bob's Short English Lessons?
The average episode length on Bob's Short English Lessons is 4 minutes.
How often are episodes of Bob's Short English Lessons released?
Episodes of Bob's Short English Lessons are typically released every 2 days.
When was the first episode of Bob's Short English Lessons?
The first episode of Bob's Short English Lessons was released on Aug 26, 2020.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ