Learn English with Bob the Canadian

In this English lesson you'll learn words and phrases that you can use when talking about hospitals and health care. Recently I was admitted to hospital, but all is well now. While I was there I made sure to look around and write down all the vocabulary I could teach in an English lesson for you once I felt better.In this English lesson I'll help you learn words and phrases like: patient, hospital, emergency room (ER), waiting room, to examine, to diagnose, hospital gown, intravenous (IV), operating room (OR), heart monitor, blood test, to take blood, intensive care unit (ICU), to recuperate, to follow up, to monitor, surgeon, specialist, and more.I hope you enjoy this English lesson about hospitals! Have a great day!

Read along to learn the English phrases A BLAST FROM THE PAST and TO HAVE BLAST.In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase a blast from the past. When we say something is a blast from the past, we're talking about something that reminds us of something that happened a long time ago. The best example of a blast from the past for me would be hearing a song on the radio from the late 80s, because that's when I was in high school.If I heard a song from the late 80s, from the 1980s, it would certainly be a blast from the past. It would remind me of that time when I was younger and much lighter and thinner than when I was in high school and nothing hurt.My shoulder didn't hurt, my knee didn't hurt, my hip... Not that many things hurt on my body, but you know what I mean. So a song or a TV show from a long time ago might be a blast from the past. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is to have a blast.When you have a blast, it simply means that you are having fun. If I said I went to visit my brother the other day and I had a blast, past tense, I had a blast, it would mean that I really enjoyed visiting him and I had a really enjoyable time when I was there.So to review a blast from the past is anything that reminds you of the past. An old photo album, a song, a TV show, something from when you were younger. We would call it a blast from the past. And when you have a blast, it simply means to have a very enjoyable time, to have fun.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Jerry. Hi Bob. To be honest, I don't really get why your short videos have to be exactly four minutes long. Did I miss something? By the way, I love both your channels and watch all of your films regularly, regardless of the length of your videos.And my response, it is because of the transcript in the description. If I talk for more than four minutes, the words don't fit because there is a limit of 5,000 characters. I like the convenience for people of having the transcript in the description. So thanks, Jerry_sweden, for that comment.And yes, now you know. Now you know the secret reason why these short English lessons are exactly four minutes long. By the way, there is a bird up in the tree there. Oh, it just flew away. I can actually hear birds around me, which is one of the signs of spring.But yeah, below the video there is a box where I can paste the description for the video. And if I talk for more than four minutes, the transcript doesn't usually fit in the box below the video. And I like to include that because people enjoy having the transcript.Some of you like to read the transcript before you watch the video, some of you like to read the transcript after, and then you watch the video again the next day. But it's just a good way for you to practise your English. So that's why, yes, there is a box below and there is a limit as to how many words and characters I can put in that box.So now you know the reason. Sometimes I talk too fast and then it also gets a little challenging to fit all of the words in. But, hey, not sure if you can hear. But I could hear a number of different birds.I'm not sure if you can see them up there on the tree. There are birds on the roof of the barn. It really feels like spring is starting to happen. I'm outside without a coat on, but it's actually a little too chilly for that.Oh, by the way, there's also geese in the river. They're probably pretty far away on the camera. Probably a little too far for you to see, but yes, spring break here in Ontario, Canada. That means I have the week off work.And also, it's starting to just feel a little bit like spring. Not yesterday. Yesterday was minus 6. It was way too cold. Anyways, thanks for watching. Remember, there is a complete transcript below if you want to read it. And I'll see you next week with another short English lesson. Bye.

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases "to catch a break" and "if you catch my drift"TRANSCRIPT:In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to catch a break. When you catch a break, it means something has gone your way. Let's imagine that you're trying to buy tickets for an Ed Sheeran concert, and you know that the tickets are gonna sell out really quick.But then you catch a break because your cousin calls you and says, hey, I got, six tickets for the Ed Sheeran concert, and I only need three of them. Do you want to buy the other three? So when you catch a break, it means something goes your way. Something goes, in a positive way when you thought it was not going to go well.And by the way, the past tense is caught. Like, I caught a break. My cousin got tickets for the Ed Sheeran concert for me. By the way, that's just an example. I don't have tickets for the Ed Sheeran concert. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase, if you catch my drift.This simply means if you understand what I'm saying, but usually kind of in a sly or funny way. If I was to say, I'm trying to think of an example here. If I was to say, I'm going to... Oh, this is rare.I'm drawing a blank. By the way, do you know the phrase draw a blank when you can't think of an example? But I might say this. If I say to someone, I'm going to be sick tomorrow, if you catch my drift. Basically, what I'm saying is I'm not gonna be sick.I'm just gonna take a day off work and say that I'm sick. So to review, to catch a break means to get lucky. It means to have something go your way. And if you catch my drift, means basically, if you understand what I'm saying, you see how I'm raising my eyebrows?Like, that would be a good example, though, if a colleague said to me, I think I might be sick tomorrow if you catch my drift. They're basically saying they're not really sick, but they're gonna call in sick tomorrow. But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.This comment is from Mahenina. I don't know how to pronounce your name. Sorry. Hey, Bob, I've been watching your videos for more than five years, but I have never sent you a comment. This is my first. You really do a good job. Thanks. And my reply, thank you for watching for so long and I'm glad you finally commented.So that's very cool, Mahenina, thank you so much for leaving a comment. I love it when people leave comments. So this is a little bit of a trick here. You might be wondering, where is Bob? He's standing in front of this farmer's field.What will be planted here in the future. But then if I do this, if I start to turn, you will see a little bit of, a vacant lot area. And then you'll see my car, but then you'll see a subdivision.So I am on the outskirts of town. If you are a member on my larger channel, you know that I just talked about what outskirts are. Outskirts of a town are where the town borders on farmland or nature or something like that.But what I did want to show you is this. It says, no dumping. Let's get a little bit closer. No dumping. But then if we look on the ground, we see old cigarette packs. Even over here in the weeds.Earlier, I saw some garbage as I was walking around. Sometimes when I make videos, people talk about how beautiful Canada is. But it isn't all beautiful. Sorry, I have to get over this way really quick, before time runs out, so you can see that there is more junk.I'm not sure what that is. I hope I didn't set off some kind of alarm by looking out here. If you look here as well, you'll see an old tire over there, and you'll see just a whole bunch of garbage. Not very nice.Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little short English lesson. And I will see you next week with another one. And I'll figure out what that alarm is.Bye.

In this English lesson I will answer as many questions from you, the viewer, as I can in about an hours time. We'll start the English class at 10AM Eastern Standard Time, and you can submit questions to me as early as 5 minutes before.During the lesson I'll respond live to your questions about the English language, my life, life in Canada, strategies for learning and more.

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase pales in comparison. So when you're talking about two things and one thing is significantly bigger or better or different in a way than something else, we say that it pales in comparison.Here would be a good example. Today is a beautiful day, but it pales in comparison to the day we had a few days ago when it was 15 degrees Celsius. So this day isn't as good as the other day. You might also use this to talk about a sports team.You might say, this year's team is good, but it pales in comparison to the team from 10 years ago that won the championship. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is doesn't hold a candle to. And this is also a very similar phrase to do a comparison.If you're talking about two things and you say one thing doesn't hold a candle to the other thing, it means the first thing isn't as good as the second thing. So when people talk about sports again, they might say, you know what? Your team is good, but it doesn't hold a candle to my team, basically meaning my team is better.So to review, if something pales in comparison, it's not as good as something else, or it's not as big, or it can even be something bad. Like that storm pales in comparison to the one we had five years ago. So. So it can also be a negative thing and then doesn't hold a candle to is very similar.When you compare two things, it means the one thing is certainly more significant or bigger or different or worse than the other. But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Mohd Ags. Thanks for the short lesson, Bob the Canadian.There's been a lot of talk about banning the Canadian curling team from the Olympics because they touched the stone and people were like, that'll teach them not to cheat. Oh, nice use of the phrase. But not only did they get away with it, they even won the gold medal. P.S. phrases for the future pales in comparison and doesn't hold a candle to.Thanks for the suggestions. My response, I was a bit embarrassed about that. Not only did we double touch, we also claimed that we didn't and it was on video. Oh, well, I'm not sure it really makes a difference anyways. Maybe they should just allow double touching. Thanks for the phrases.Yeah, thanks Mohd for that. Thanks for the phrases and thanks for the comment. So, yeah, should they just allow double touching? Should that be what they do? I'm not sure if that would be the best solution. I don't know a lot about curling. You might be wondering, though, why am I here today? So this is the gas station.You might be able to guess why I'm here today. It's because I want to talk about gas prices. So gas prices are about to go through the roof. We're at $1.37.9 cents. I hope you can see that on the video.Because of things that are happening in the Middle East, it looks like gas prices are about to go through the roof. That's a good phrase. But that price pales in comparison to what we were paying over a year and a half ago or two years ago. We used to have an extra tax on it, so I think it was closer to a dollar fifty.And then I wanted to show you this bus, because someone in the last video. I forget who it was. It might have been Unsal commented on how it was cool to see the bus. The yellow bus like they normally just see in the movies. Might have been Vitor. Actually, sometimes I get people confused.I probably shouldn't say names when I'm remembering what people have left in comments, but, yes, that is what most school buses in North America look like. I would say 80, 90% of them probably look like that. I know in some US States, they might look a little bit different, but certainly in my part of Canada, that's what a school bus looks like.And that's what a gas station looks like. So, anyways, thanks for watching. You guys are awesome. Got a little bit of a loud truck going by there.

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO LEARN SOMETHING THE HARD WAY and THAT'LL TEACH'EM!TRANSCRIPT:In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to learn something the hard way. This is a phrase... It's kind of a funny phrase because it means someone has learned something in a very difficult way. I should just give you an example so you know what I'm talking about.If you have the stove on and you accidentally touch the burner, you've learned something the hard way. You've learned that you shouldn't touch the burner on the stove when it's hot. When a small child first sees a candle and they all... they put their finger close to the flame and suddenly pull their finger away, they have, they've learned something the hard way.There are many things like this. When people first walk on ice, when people move to Canada and they first walk on ice and they slip and fall, they've learned the hard way that ice is slippery. I shouldn't laugh, but it happens sometimes.People just aren't aware of how slippery it is. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is a little meaner. And it's the phrase that'll teach 'em, which is short for that will teach them or that will teach you or that will teach him or her. It simply means you see someone fall on the ice and in your mind you think that'll teach them, that'll teach them not to walk so quickly on the ice next time.Again, not a very nice thing to say. Kind of mean and kind of rude. But it's when you see someone do something where you would use the phrase to learn something the hard way. And then you say if you're really mean and rude, or you think if you're less mean and rude, that'll teach them.So to review to learn something the hard way, if you hit your thumb with a hammer, you have learned the hard way that a hammer is very hard and it will hurt you. And that if you put your thumb in a dumb spot and hit your thumb with a hammer and someone sees you, they might say, that'll teach them.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Tacagero, and the comment is, Incredibly clean sidewalks. I see no snow at all. Very beautiful. Spring is around the corner, I guess. And my response, we try to keep things tidy, but as things warm up, the mud will come.Well, we've actually, thanks, Tacagero, for that comment. We've actually gone kind, of the other way here, in Ontario, Canada. Right now, as you can see, there's snow again. It's a little bit... I think it's starting to melt a little bit.That might also just be from the road salt. But, let me check if the snow is packy. Yeah, it's packy snow. So if you wanted, you could build a snowman today. That means it's probably one degree and the snow is starting to melt a little bit.And that makes it packy. It makes it what we call packing snow. And you can make a snowman. Maybe I should do that when I get home today. But, what were we talking about? Super clean sidewalks. Even when there is snow, the sidewalks are kept very clean.And I'm not sure if you can see there's actually salt. That little crystal there that I'm moving around with my foot is actually a salt crystal. And we put salt on the sidewalks, to make sure they don't freeze and get slippery.And so people who recently moved to this snowy climate don't fall. And have people say, that'll teach them, or so they don't have to learn something the hard way. I also wanted to show you this. As things start to melt, we have quite a bit of water flow in the local creek.Sometimes this creek dries right up, but today, as you can see, it's running quite well and it will go even higher as we get more and more snow melt in the area. Anyways, thanks for watching this short English lesson. I'll see you next week with another one.Bye.