Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BLOW OFF STEAM and DON'T BLOW IT! So I thought we'd start this video by watching the sander truck go by backwards. We're getting a little bit of snow here, so that's a little bit of fun. So I'll start the lesson in just a sec. Let me get set up. I wasn't quite ready. Well, there's a little bit of snow on my lens, but hopefully you can see this. In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to blow...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE WIRED FOR and TO BE PRONE TO In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to be wired for. We sometimes say to be wired to, but I actually use for more often. When you're wired for something, it means you're naturally good at it. If you think about a professional hockey player, they're wired for skating on the ice. It just seems like their brain already knew how to do that. Like, if you can...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases GIMME A BREAK! and GIMME A SEC! In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase give me a break. Which is the short, informal way of saying give me a break. This is a sentence or phrase we use in a couple situations. One is when you really need a break. Let's say Jen and I are putting flowers in the van and Jen is trying to get me to work faster. I might say to her, give me a break. I'm working as fast...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A TWO-WAY STREET and THE WORD ON THE STREET In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase a two-way street. Now, the street behind me is a two-way street. You can drive that way on that street or you can drive the other way. But this phrase also has a different meaning. It's used to describe a relationship or situation where things go both ways. Let's think about respect. When two people respect each...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases AN OPEN MIND and IN THE OPEN In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase an open mind. When you have an open mind, it means that you're willing to listen to other points of view. It means that even if you've decided you think something is a certain way, you're willing to listen to other people say that they think it's different. Here's a good example. When I was young, I remember that we had garbage...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS and TO JUMP THE GUN In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to jump to conclusions. When you jump to conclusions, it means you think something is true before you actually have all the facts or know for sure that it is true. Let me think of an example. Let's say you came to school and you went to my classroom and there were no students there. You might jump to conclusions....

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO FREEZE TO DEATH and TO BE FROZEN IN TIME Hey, I'm going to start this lesson by showing you how Canadians put gloves on with one hand. You have to use your mouth. Anyways, in this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to freeze the death. To freeze to death. Sorry, I'm having trouble talking because it's so cold. We use this phrase sometimes to exaggerate. I mean, to use the word death to...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THAT'S COLD! and TO STOP COLD In this English lesson, I wanted to teach you the English phrase that's cold. This is a phrase we use to describe when someone does something that's kind of mean, something that's not very nice. Here's a good example. Let's say your cousin is dating someone and he decides to break up with your cousin. So he sends her a text message saying, I don't want to go out with you anymore. We would say,...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases AT A SNAIL'S PACE and TO PACE YOURSELF In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase at a snail's pace. Now, I'm not going to tell you what this means right away. I'm going to give you a few seconds to think about this. If you know what a snail is, there's a good chance you know what a snail's pace is. So let me just go one, two, three. Let you think about it for 3 seconds. It means to go very, very...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO DOUBLE DOWN and TO DOUBLE DIP In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to double down. When you double down on something, it means you work harder at it. This week at school, even though the semester is almost over, I need to double down on some of my work. I'm a little behind in my grading. I have some student work that I need to look at, so I need to double down. That means instead of...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THERE'S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT and TO BE PRESENT In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase there's no time like the present. This is a phrase that we say to people when they're talking about starting something new or they're starting about maybe restarting something. You might say, hey, there's no time like the present. So let's say my brother said to me, I'm thinking of going to the gym again....

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PULL YOUR SOCKS UP and TO BEAT THE SOCKS OFF In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to pull your socks up. Or you could also say to pull up your socks. Both work. It simply means to work harder and work better. I think I did teach this phrase in a lesson on my bigger channel at one point. But when you say to someone, you need to pull your socks up or you need to pull up your socks, it means...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases IN A JIFFY and BEFORE YOU KNOW IT In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase in a jiffy. This simply means that something happens very, very quickly. It's an older phrase. I don't actually use it that often anymore. But I did hear my mom use it the other day. She said she was going to be back in a jiffy. We were playing a board game and she went to get something out of her purse and she said, oh,...

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "to shake things up". When you shake things up, it means that you change things. Sorry, Walter just came running here. There he is. That scared me a little bit. I don't know if I jumped or not, but anyways, when you shake things up, it means you change things, hopefully so things get better. Here's a good example. I watch the Toronto Raptors and last year they decided that they were going to get a new head coach. They...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE IN THE KNOW and FOR ALL I KNOW... In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "to be in the know". When you are in the know, it means that you know something is going to happen. Here's an example. If I was planning a surprise birthday party for my mom and if someone said, who all knows about this? I could say, well, my brother and sister are in the know. That means that they know that this...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THE GREAT OUTDOORS and TO GO TO GREAT LENGTHS In this English lesson. I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "the great outdoors". Well we're in it. We're in the great outdoors. This is simply a fun way to refer to being outside in nature. When I made my video on my other channel the other day, I was in the great outdoors. I went for a hike. It was a lot of fun. It's fun to be in the great outdoors. And we use this...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO TAKE FOR GRANTED and TO BE TAKEN ABACK In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to take for granted”. Now you can take something for granted, or you can take someone for granted and it means you don't recognize or notice them. Here's a great example, and it's coming up in the comment later. The sky where I live is very, very blue, but sometimes I take that for granted. That means I don't...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO DILLY-DALLY AROUND and TO ASK AROUND In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "to dilly-dally around." Now, this is an older phrase, and you won't hear it very much anymore, but my mom said it the other day. My mom said that when she goes down for lunch, she lives in an old age home, she doesn't dilly-dally around. She just goes down as quickly as possible, because if she dilly-dallies around,...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE ALL OVER SOMETHING and ALL OVER THE PLACE In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to be all over something”. Now, in English, when you say that you're all over something, it means you know a lot about it. Or it means at work that you're doing the job you're supposed to be doing. If my boss said to me, Hey, we need someone who knows a lot about computers, I could say, Oh, Dan is all over...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases SPREAD THE WORD and SPREAD OUT In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase. “Spread the word!” Now, this is something we tell people when we want them to tell other people about something. Every year the farmer's market opens at the beginning of June and we tell people, Spread the word. The first day of the market is June 2nd or something like that. Spread the word. This means that we want people to...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BETTER YOURSELF and BETTER OFF In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to better yourself”. When you better yourself, it means you do something that makes you a better person. Sorry, I'm defining the phrase by using a word in the phrase. That's not a good way to do it. Let's say you don't have a very good job. You might decide to go to school at night to better yourself so that you can get a...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO RACK YOUR BRAIN and TO PICK SOMEONE'S BRAIN In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to rack your brain”. When you rack your brain, it means you're trying to remember something. Sometimes, when summer ends and school starts again, I run into students on the first day or during the first week of school, and I have to rack my brain a bit to remember their name. Sometimes this happens at market...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO FLY OFF THE SHELVES and TO SELL LIKE HOTCAKES In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to fly off the shelves”. If you are in a store and they are selling something, maybe it's on sale and people are just grabbing it and buying it as fast as they can, we would say that that product is flying off the shelves. Sometimes at market we bring a certain kind of flower that people really like and it...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO TAKE A LOAD OFF and TO TAKE A BREATHER In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to take a load off”. When you tell someone to take a load off or when you decide to take a load off. It means you're going to relax usually after working. The last few days, I've come home and I just need to take a load off. I take off my shoes when I walk in the house and I just sit on the couch for about half an...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A LITTLE SOMETHING and A LITTLE OFF In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “a little something”. This is a phrase we use to describe something when we don't quite know how to describe it. If you watch this English lesson to the end, I added a little bit of music. I thought that my videos needed just a little something. I didn't know quite what it was, but I thought, you know, I need a little...