Learn English with Bob the Canadian

Bob the Canadian

If you want to learn English you've come to the right place. I'm Bob the Canadian and I make videos on Youtube (Just search for "Bob the Canadian" on Youtube!) as well as podcasts right here to help you learn English. Each week I teach a lesson and I host a question and answer session about the English language. During these sessions I will my best to answer as many questions as I can that you have about the English language!

  1. Jul 15

    Learn the English Phrases "to feel the heat" and "to feel the pressure"

    In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to feel the heat. When you feel the heat, it means you're in a situation where you're supposed to do something and someone is making sure that you know that you're behind and you need to get it done. And they're putting pressure on you and they're telling you over and over again to get it done. So this happens a lot of times, in Ontario in the summer, because the government is supposed to fix the roads in the summer. And sometimes they feel the heat because people start to complain because their road hasn't been fixed or maybe it's taking too long for their road to get fixed, so they feel the heat. When you feel the heat, you hear a lot of people complaining. Sometimes when a coach of a team doesn't have a successful season, they start to feel the heat from the fans and from the press, the newspapers and the news reporters and sports journalists start to, really complain a lot about the job they're doing. So they start to feel the heat. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is to feel the pressure. And this basically means exactly the same thing. Sometimes I have jobs to do here on the farm and, I get a little bit behind and then I do feel the pressure, not from Jen, but from myself. So you can actually put pressure on yourself as well. And you can also use this to describe a situation where someone's expecting you to do something. Later today there's a World cup game and I'm sure the players are feeling the pressure. They're going to feel the pressure to win. The fans and their countries want them to win, so hopefully they win. So to review to feel the heat simply means to... I usually feel the heat from my boss. When there's a job I'm supposed to do that I'm not done. And then to feel the pressure is similar. It's to, have other people expect you to do something and then you kind of get a sense that you should get it done. But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Ziravan. Thank you for another great lesson, Bob. I really enjoyed learning about the expression a day off. Your explanations are always simple and easy to understand. By the way, I think you have become a little fatter than last summer. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for helping us improve our English. And my response? You are correct. I am a little heavier than last summer. The reason is mostly due to the fact that I couldn't start exercising again until about a month ago. But I'm back on track to be more... to be my normal self again. So, yes. Am I feeling a little bit overweight? Yes, slightly. Am I feeling a little bit tubby? Yes, slightly. But I do want to talk. Oh, by the way, Ziravan, thank you, for leaving that comment, but I do wanna talk a little bit about that comment. And please don't feel bad, but normally in normal English conversations, we aren't so upfront about things like that. We don't comment directly about someone's weight. Usually it's not considered super polite. So, again, Ziravan, do not feel bad. This is what happens when people from different parts of the world exchange ideas. But also don't feel bad because you are correct, I am a little bit heavier than I normally am. And as I said, I will start working on it. But when is it okay to talk about your weight or to talk about someone else's weight? Usually between close friends, sometimes between siblings, certainly between spouses. You may be able to talk about that a little more directly. Like Jen, in a very nice way, could say to me, Bob, you're looking a little heavier than normal. Are you exercising and are you eating healthy food? And by the way, that would be a better way to say it. You're looking a little bit heavier than normal. We don't usually use the word fat. It's just not considered very, polite. But, hey, I'm the teacher. I'll take anything.

    Learn the English Phrases "to feel the heat" and "to feel the pressure"
  2. Jul 1

    Learn the English Phrases "to have a field day" and "a day off"

    In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to have a field day. When you say someone or a bunch of people are going to have a field day, it means they're going to be really excited and eager and, really looking forward to doing something. I'm sorry, I'm having trouble explaining this one for some reason. Maybe because I'm doing this lesson in the morning. But here we go. Let's say that in the World cup, they found out that the referees were being paid money to decide the outcome of the games. The journalists would have a field day with that information. The people who write news articles would be super eager and excited to interview people and to find out the true story. By the way, this isn't a true story. I'm pretty sure the referees are very impartial and a good judge of the game. But if there was a scandal in World cup, there would certainly be a lot of reporters who would have a field day researching the story and writing about the story and talking about the story. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase a day off. Happy Canada Day. It's Canada Day here in Ontario, Canada. I guess it's Canada Day in the whole country. And I have a day off now. I'm a teacher, so I kind of had the day off anyways. Notice I switched to the there. When you say a day off, you're talking in general I have a few days off during the school year. I have a few days off during the school year. But if I was to be working now, I could say I took the day off today because I'm going to celebrate Canada Day. So, anyways, a day off is a day where you don't need to work. So to review to have a field day is to be really excited to do something. When Jen feeds the ducks or the chickens, they have a field day eating all of the food. But when she first puts it in their little area. And then the second phrase, a day off is simply to have a day where you don't need to work. In Canada, you get a day off almost every month. It's kind of cool. I hope your country has the same. But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Vitor. I remember you mentioned a book called Project Hail Mary a while back. I'm actually reading it now. I'm not sure if you recommended it during a live stream, but either way I'm reading it. Thank you, Bob. And my response? You're welcome. I'm glad you are reading it. It's a great book and as a bonus, it's also a great movie. If I were you, I would read it in English and then watch the movie in English. A great way to study. So thank you, Vitor, for that comment. Yeah, that's great. That's a great movie. Great book, great movie. Andy Weir is the author. I highly recommend that you, read more of his books as well. I think Jen's waiting to drive away. You can drive away. She doesn't, she doesn't want to make noise while I'm making a video. So I do appreciate her concern. But as you know, we live on an active farm. There are things happening. Every once in a while you're going to hear somebody doing something in the background of one of my videos. So you might be thinking, Bob, you just said you have a day off and now Jen is going out to work. Well, farmers don't often get a day off. Both Jen and I will be doing quite a bit of work, later today. It's simply the way it goes when you are a farmer. Plants don't stop growing. Animals need food to eat. And so when we take a day off, we usually get one of our kids to do all the work for us. And we are planning to do that a couple of times this summer. We might take, next week, Friday, we might take the day off. And, I think there's another Friday towards the end of the month. We might take that day off as well. Anyways, thanks for watching. You guys are awesome. I hope you don't mind this one being a little late. Instead of making it on a Tuesday, I'm making it on the actual Wednesday, that it comes out. So if you're seeing this, it was just filmed at 7:58am and there is a mosquito biting me.

    Learn the English Phrases "to have a field day" and "a day off"
  3. Jun 24

    Learn the English Phrases "to while away the time" and "a while back"

    Read along to learn the English phrases TO WHILE AWAY THE TIME and A WHILE BACK In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to while away the time. And I should note that sometimes while is spelled with an H in this phrase and sometimes people leave it out. And both apparently are correct. But when you while away the time, it means you spend time doing something so that time will pass and it's usually something relaxing. Here are a few examples. I have the summer off. I will probably while away the time by reading a few books and maybe hanging out with Jen and just doing some fun stuff. So I'm going to allow time to pass by doing something that I enjoy. So it's not the same as being bored. When you while away the time, you find something fun to do. If you're stuck in line, you might while away the time while you're waiting in line by going on your phone and checking up on social media. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase a while back. So when we talk about things that have happened in the past, if it happened yesterday, I would just say it happened yesterday. If it happened a few months ago, I might say, that was a while back. Or that happened a while back. I think that happened way back in December. There's another phrase way back. It was a while back. When did you file your taxes, Bob? That was a while back. I think I did that two months ago. So to review, when you while away the time, it means you spend time doing something usually relaxing and something that you enjoy. So that time goes by. And then when you say something happened a while back, it means it happened a long time ago. But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Mr. Fisheri and it says I used to mill about back then and pretend to be checking my phone, but there wasn't much to scroll back in those days, so it was actually awkward to be pretending. There wasn't much to scroll back in those days. Sorry, I kind of used the wrong cadence there. So it was actually awkward to be pretending. But now with the infinite information on the interwebs scrolling, the phone non stop is normalized and not even awkward since it's just the standard thing to do nowadays. And my response, pay attention here. Yeah, you can certainly while away the time when sitting in a waiting room or waiting in line now if you have your phone on you and if it's charged and ready to use. So thank you Mr. Fisheri for that comment. Let's go for a little walk. So I am, in the town of Grimsby, Ontario. This is the town where Jen, comes for the farmers market once a week. And I am actually at the old public library, which is no longer open. I'm not sure what that building is. And then the new public library, much more modern looking, and it's also an art gallery. And there's two things that you can see over here. There is some art on the wall and I think there's also some graffiti on the bottom right corner of the art. But who am I to actually know? Maybe that's actually part of the artwork. So maybe I take that back. Maybe the little bit of writing in the bottom corner is actually part of that piece of art. So what we have here is a historical building and a more modern building. And, this is actually the new library. And I think you remember what a library is, right? You can go to the library, you can check out a book, you can take the book home, you can read the book and all of that fun stuff. But, yeah, the town of Grimsby. I'm just here today because I'm actually going to be visiting family member, later this afternoon to help them with a computer problem. So even, even at my age, in my mid-50s, I still have older uncles and aunts who rely on me to, fix little things that go wrong with their computers. So I feel like they should have their own grandkids by now that are experts in that field, shouldn't they? Anyways, I'll leave you with this. Here is a piece of modern art.

    Learn the English Phrases "to while away the time" and "a while back"
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About

If you want to learn English you've come to the right place. I'm Bob the Canadian and I make videos on Youtube (Just search for "Bob the Canadian" on Youtube!) as well as podcasts right here to help you learn English. Each week I teach a lesson and I host a question and answer session about the English language. During these sessions I will my best to answer as many questions as I can that you have about the English language!

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