Winter is fast approaching in my part of Canada, so I thought I would do an English lesson about how to prepare for winter. As and English learner you will learn words and phrases like: to put on the snow tires, to get out your winter coat, to stop a draught, to get our your gloves, to warm up the car, and many more!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbnItEAOr8 or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Ready for Winter"

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English acronyms ETA and FOMO

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English acronym or abbreviation eta. This means estimated time of arrival. When someone is coming to your house, and you don't know exactly when they're going to arrive, you could say, what's your ETA? And they will then say, I'll be there in 20 minutes, or I'll be there in an hour. Sometimes when Jen and I are driving to her parents, they'll text us and say, what's your eta? And then we'll say, oh, we'll be there in about 10 minutes, or we'll be there in an hour. So estimated time of arrival. That's what this acronym or abbreviation stands for.

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The other acronym or abbreviation I wanted to teach you is fomo, and this stands for Fear of Missing Out. Fear of Missing Out. This is a situation where you know something is happening and you don't want to miss that thing. Maybe everyone's investing in a certain stock on the stock market, and you don't have any money, and you have this fear of missing out, so you borrow some money to invest. That's one example. Maybe everyone's going to a really cool event, and you really don't want to be the one who doesn't go. Maybe you want to go to a Taylor Swift concert. So you spend $2,000 to go because you have a fear of missing out. You don't want all of your friends to go and do something fun, and you're just sitting at home doing nothing.

So, to review, ETA stands for estimated time of arrival. I'm actually waiting for a truck to arrive right now. I texted the person who's coming, and I said, what's your ETA? Actually, I just typed the letters ETA with a question mark, and he said 20 minutes. ETA, 20 minutes. And then FOMO stands for fear of Missing Out. Anytime there is something happening and you want to be there, you do everything you can because you have a fear of missing out.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Ruslan. Thank you for another cool lesson. Dear Teacher Bob, have you already put on your winter tires? Winter is coming, my Lord. And by the way, the my Lord is a reference to Game of Thrones. There is a... There's lords and ladies. And so Ruslan is referencing that. That's how you can... You can tell because of the little wolf there. And then Yep, all the vehicles have their winter tires installed. Now we wait.

So, yes, a few weeks ago already. Actually, a few weeks, two weeks ago, each vehicle went to the garage and had winter tires installed. Let me give you a closer look here. And if you're wondering, yes, this is... well, it's a used vehicle, but it's new for us. A few weeks ago I found a nice 2015 Ford Escape. I don't know if all of you are fans of Ford vehicles.

I like to buy every kind of vehicle. I've owned Nissans, I've owned, Dodge vehicles I've owned, Chrysler, I've owned. I think that's a Chev. I think that van is a Chev. But as you know, I have a lot of kids. Those kids need to drive places. And we were getting to the point where that van. Trying to point to it, that van is not as reliable as it needs to be when we go on long distance trips. That van is not very reliable. So I drive that van to work now.

And we bought a third vehicle. So my insurance is a bit expensive. But I found a 2015. So it's nine years old. Nine years old with 100,000 kilometers on it. So not as low as I like, but low enough that I thought it was a reasonably good deal for Bob the Canadian. So, yep. So we're driving three vehicles now. We'll probably do that for a while because we just have kids that need to drive places. Eventual

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In this English lesson I will help you learn how to talk about the things you check in life, or at least the things you should check.

You should check the forecast before planning a weekend trip. You should check the temperature before eating a cooked chicken. You should check the oil in your car.

There are many things you should check in life, and in this English lesson I'll talk about many of them. Enjoy!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8dpUPSFg5U or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Check"

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When you are learning English you often are taught how to describe normal things. Normal weather. A normal day. A normal night out. You should however, in my opinion, also be learning how to describe abnormal things.

In this English lesson I will help you learn words and phrases like: out of the ordinary, odd and unusual, wacky, weird, strange, and more!

After this English class you'll be able to describe any strange, weird, and wonderful thing you have seen or experienced!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZogYzgtdeo or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Odd"

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In this English lesson I'll help you learn how to talk about your spare time in English and in particular the things you choose to do. All of us are busy, but every once in a while we have some spare time. For me this usually happens in January and February, and there are many thing Jen and I do during that time.

In this English lesson you'll learn words and phrases like: to reinvent yourself, to take up a hobby, to join a club, to volunteer, to make plans, to rest, to host, to try something new, to renovate, to rearrange, and many more.

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRiteFSErNc or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Spare Time Activities"

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In this free English lesson I will help you learn the one word name for many things that have more than one word in their name, or a really long word.

It's a bit hard to explain, but you probably already know that we call eyeglasses glasses, but did you know we normally call a remote control a remote, or refer to windshield wipers as wipers? There are many things in English that have a long proper formal name, but we regularly use a much shorter name when talking about it.

In this English lesson you'll learn the shorter versions of: web browser, eyeglasses, blue jeans, padlock, pickup truck, shopping mall, photocopier, wristwatch, light bulb, gymnasium, refrigerator, and many more.

I hope you enjoy this English class about short names of regular things! Have a great day!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onpbr5wt-FE or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Say More with Less"

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A very common thing to be asked when practicing your English conversation skills with a partner is to describe your typical day. In this English lesson I will help you learn the exact sentences you'll need to describe your day. You'll simply need to change the time and it will work for you! You'll learn the English phrases you can use to talk about all the things you usually do each day from Monday to Friday.

In this English lesson you'll learn phrases like: to wake up, to hit the snooze button, to get up, to get out of bed, to get dress, to make lunch, to grab your keys, to head out the door, to get to work, to chat with colleagues, to head home, get ready for bed, and more.

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIBXFihD09A or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Typical Day"

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In this English lesson I will help you learn how to describe things in an imprecise way. Sometimes you don't know the exact quantity, measurement, or amount of something, and in English we use a few different words and phrases in those situations.

In this English lesson you'll learn words and phrases like: give or take, roughly, just over, just under, close to, approximately, around, somewhere around, and more than I can count.

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hJVrczAvkA or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Imprecise Numbers"

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In this English lesson I'll help you learn the names behind over 25 common facial expressions. I'll also describe the feelings or emotions that cause those facial expressions.

In this English class you'll learn words like: frown, sneer, scowl, happy face, grimace, smirk, wince, stare, eye roll, wink, puppy eyes, squint, glare, put, and many more!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5s3rBGgCx8 or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Facial Expressions"

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This past week two words came up in a conversation: an eyesore, and lacklustre. I thought it would be fun to think of a few more English vocabulary words on the same theme and create a lesson out of them.

Welcome to this English lesson about describing things and places. In particular, we'll be learning how to describe old, ugly, aging things and places.

In this English lesson you'll learn words and phrases like: an eyesore, lacklustre, seen better days, ratty, worn out, decrepit, ramshackle, dated, a rustbucket, a gut job, neglected, in shambles, and many more.

I hope you enjoy this English class about describing things and places!

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