Bob's Short English Lessons

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases FLAT OUT and FLAT BROKE In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “flat out”. When you go flat out, it means you're going as fast as you can possibly go. When Usain Bolt runs the hundred meter, he runs flat out. He can't go any faster. We also use this phrase to talk about things like work. F...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO KEEP UP and FOR KEEPS In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, “to keep up”. So you might notice that if I move over here, my camera follows me. And if I move over here, my camera follows me. I bought a gimbal because I feel like I need to keep up. I don't want to get behind. That would be the...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases CAN I...? and COULD I...? In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, “Can I...?” This is how you start a question when you're maybe at a restaurant ordering something or maybe asking if you can do something. This morning I went to this little bakery and I got a coffee and I said, “Can I have a deca...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases LIKE CRAP and PIECE OF CRAP In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase like crap. Now, sometimes when you're learning English, you need to learn phrases, not to use them, but just so you recognize them if you read them or hear them somewhere. This is a very vulgar way of speaking, a kind of a infor...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO MESS UP and TO MESS AROUND In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "to mess up." When you mess up, it simply means that you've made a mistake. Sometimes I mess up when I'm driving. Just the other day, I was driving to see my brother-in-law and I messed up. I forgot to get off...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases IT'S BEEN A BLAST and I HAD A BLAST - In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the phrase, it's been a blast. I am Bob the Canadian, and I call myself Bob the Canadian, because I'm Bob and I'm Can, and I'm, and I'm Canadian. I just wanted to pretend I was you for a second. - Who am I then? -...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases UP AND AROUND and TO GO AROUND IN CIRCLES In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase up and around. This is a phrase that we use after someone has maybe been sick or in the hospital, maybe they've had surgery, and when they are starting to feel better, eventually, they will be up and around. So you...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A NICE SET OF WHEELS and ALL SET In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “a nice set of wheels”. Sometimes we even say “a new set of wheels”, and this simply means a car or another type of vehicle. Sometimes you drive a car and eventually you need to buy a new one, and so you might say to someone, I n...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ON TOP OF THAT and TO TOP IT ALL OFF In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "On top of that". This is a phrase we use when we're talking about something that's in addition to something else. I could say this, "That I have to renew my license, and on top of that, I have to re...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO SQUEEZE IN and TO SQUEEZE OUT In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to squeeze in”. Right now I am squeezing in an English lesson. I have just finished bringing one of my kids to work and I finished going for a walk. I actually ran a little bit too. And I have just a minute or two before I have...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases JUST HAPPEN TO and IT HAPPENS TO THE BEST OF US In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “just happen to”. This is something you say if you just happen to have something. I'm having trouble thinking about how to describe this term without using this term. Let me give you some examples and that mig...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO NOT SIT WELL WITH and SIT BACK AND ENJOY! In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase “to not sit well with”. And we almost always use this... I think we always use this in the negative. When something doesn't sit well with you, it means you don't like it. Maybe your boss says that you have t...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases NO NEED TO and TO NEED TO GO In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, No need to. This is just a quick way to start a sentence that we would normally start by saying, “There is no need to.” But often in English, in spoken English, we'll say “No need to...” instead. Maybe you're going to a pa...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ENOUGH SAID! and ENOUGH TO GO AROUND In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, Enough said. This is a phrase we use when we're done talking about something, and it's time to actually do the work or do something. When Jen and I talk about what we're going to work on, on the farm each day...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO SEE FOR YOURSELF and TO BE FULL OF YOURSELF In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "to see for yourself". When you need to see for yourself it means someone has told you something and you might believe them or you might doubt them, but you want to try or experience what they've tol...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English terms BINGE-WORTHY and PAGE-TURNER In this rainy day English lesson I'd like to help you learn the English term binge-worthy. This is a term we use to describe a TV show that's so amazing, you watch episode after episode until you've watched a whole season, maybe in one night or one weekend, maybe there's eight episod...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ROCK BOTTOM and SOLID AS A ROCK In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, rock bottom. Now, when we talk about someone's life, and if we say that they've hit rock bottom, it's kind of a sad thing. It usually means they're out of money and maybe they've lost their job and they d...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English terms TLC and IT In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the acronym TLC. In English, if you say something needs some TLC, it means it needs some tender loving care. Tender loving care. We never actually say tender loving care, though. We use this to talk about, maybe, if you buy something old that just needs some rust removed...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO SCRAPE BY and TO SCRAPE UP In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, to scrape by. Now, when you scrape by it can mean you're talking about money or succeeding at something, but just succeeding by a little bit. Here's a good example. You might say, my cousin doesn't make a lot of mone...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases OH WELL! and WELL, WELL, WELL! In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "Oh well!" This is a phrase we use when something happens, but it's not something that we're upset about or angry about. It's something that just happened. I could say this, "I came outside today and...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE and I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase: Your guess is as good as mine. This is something you say when you don't know the answer to something, and the person you're talking to maybe knows the answer maybe doesn't either. We or...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English term FIRST IMPRESSION and the phrase UNDER THE IMPRESSION In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English term first impression. Your first impression is what you think of someone or something the first time you see them or see it. A good example would be this if you were to introduce me to someone in your family. My first...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO HAVE A FREE HAND and TO HAVE FREE REIN In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, to have a free hand. Now, when you have a free hand, it means you have the freedom to do what you want in a certain situation. My job's really nice, because I have a boss, but when I'm in the classroom, I hav...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO HIT A WALL and I'D LIKE TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to hit a wall. When we say in English that you hit a wall, it means you've hit an obstacle or even a feeling that makes you stop doing something. If I'm working really hard on a video and I can&ap...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases SIGN UP and SIGN IN In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the phrase sign up. When you sign up for something, it means that you want to do it and the person organizing it is asking for people to write their names down on a piece of paper, or maybe to send their name in via the computer, maybe an email or an online for...