Answering Your Questions about Me (with @TeacherMikeEnglish and @AmericanEnglishBrent )

- So today's English lesson will be a little different. Last week, I asked on Facebook and YouTube for some of you to ask some

questions

about me and in this English lesson I will answer them. It's an English lesson in the sense that you can study the way I answer these

questions

. These are all questions about me, as if sometimes they are talking about myself. So as I answer the questions, you might be curious to know the answer, but you should also look at how I prepared my answer, how I answered the question. So, welcome to this English lesson about me.

Hopefully, it will help you learn to talk about

your

self. (upbeat music) Okay, here we go. Triskelion's first question from YouTube. I'd like to know who

your

favorite teacher at school was and why. And my second question is what personality trait do you value most in people? Well, my favorite teacher was my French teacher in high school. He was very encouraging. He was always happy and very encouraging. So I really liked him. In fact, much of my teaching is modeled after how he taught. He was a really nice person. And what is my favorite personality trait? It would be something called perseverance.

I'm not sure if you know that word. It's when someone does something, they do it very well and they don't give up. They have a lot of obsession. It's a real English word. Maybe I'll put the definition on display here, but yeah, my favorite character trait, perseverance, and maybe second would be competence. When someone is really good at something, because he practiced it a lot. Question number two from MajkeL from YouTube. How do you stay motivated to do what you do? Are there times when all you want to do is stay in bed and not worry about anything?

How to avoid procrastinating? So there are a couple of ways to avoid procrastinating, but I'll back up and say this. There are days when I would love to just stay in bed, but I can't. I think because I'm a dad, because I have a job and I have to support my family. There are many obligations that I have and that I cannot ignore. If I weren't married and didn't have kids, and if I were 21, I would lie in bed a lot more often. But since I'm 51 and have obligations in life, that helps me a lot, and I've never been a procrastinator, so I don't really know how to answer that question.

I have always made plans and then I stick to them. The next question is from Doina from Facebook. I saw your childhood photos last time. I'm curious to know what life was like then in Canada compared to life today. Well, life back then wasn't so easy. That would be the biggest difference. When I grew up, my parents didn't have much money. My parents worked very hard. We work very hard. Even as a child, I worked on the farm. Life was much harder back then. It's certainly a lot easier now, although food prices are going up and there are other things that make life difficult, life for me is very different now.

When I was a child, it was much more difficult. The next question is from Olga from YouTube. I'm interested in knowing a little about your childhood. What did you like to do when you were a child? What games did you play? Did you like learning at school? Thank you. So, my favorite game as a kid was a game called “Kick the Can.” It's very similar to hide and seek. I played it with my brothers, sisters and cousins. It was fun. And did I like school? Yes, I was one of those people who always liked school. I liked to read and I liked to learn new things.

I still do it today. I like to read and I like to learn new things. The next question is from Soregi. How often do you go to a restaurant, maybe once a month? What do you like to eat, Asian, European or American food? We go to a restaurant about once a month. You're probably right. We order pizza two or three times a month, but we go to a restaurant about once a month. When we go, I usually order a burger and fries. It's pretty boring. I guess I prefer American or North American food. The next question is from Tammy from Facebook.

Do you get more satisfaction from being a farmer or teacher? If you had to choose one, which one would you choose? Oh, that's a great question. Here's the funny answer. I love teaching, but if I had to choose, I would choose agriculture. I think I like being outside more than inside teaching, but it would be a very, very difficult decision. My ideal life would be to farm and teach on YouTube, and one day not teach in a school. I still really like it, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can teach on YouTube and then work on the farm.

That would be ideal. The next question is from Mary from YouTube. If you weren't Canadian, what other nationality would you like to be and why? Oh, that's a great question, but if I answer it, I'll upset over 185 people. I don't know how many countries there are in the world. I would love to be from France. I would love to be French. I love the French language. If I had to choose, if I had to be from another country, which is obviously impossible, I would choose to be from France. I'm sorry for all of you from all those other countries in the world, but that would be so much fun for me.

And the reason is that I love the French countryside every time I see it. I would love to visit your country someday, if you are from France. Well, we're halfway there, but make sure you watch until the end, because the last two questions are from two other YouTube English teachers. I think you'll be surprised to see who they are. The next question is from Makhbuba. What do you think about immigration? In particular, today many people go to Canada to work or stay permanently. It seems some Canadians are not happy about this. I would like to know your personal opinion and feelings about this situation.

Thank you. I think it's okay. I like it when people come to Canada. It is a really big country. And yes, there are probably people who don't like it. That's how the world works. Have you ever noticed that there will be a large group of people who don't care or don't like something, and then there will always be some people who don't like it? So I would say this. Go to the Canadian government website, go to the immigration section, research how you would immigrate here and come. That's my opinion. The more the better. The next question is from Javed from Facebook.

How do you manage your time? Well, in our kitchen we have a gigantic calendar and I put everything I need on that calendar. Jen puts things there, my kids put things there, and we talk regularly about what's going to happen the next day. Often when we finish dinner as a family, we look at the calendar and talk about who needs transportation where the next day, and all that kind of stuff. Personally, I am quite organized. I can remember what I need to do for work or YouTube for the next few days. But I keep lists. I love lists and they are very helpful when it comes to staying organized.

The next question is from Peyman from YouTube. What is the best lesson you have learned as a teacher? Probably the best lesson I have learned as a teacher is that whatever behavior you see, there is always a story behind it. It is worth knowing the students to understand them better. If you see a student acting out or not finishing their homework, it is always good to first address the behavior, but also make sure you understand why the student is behaving that way. So I would say that's the most important thing. And then the other thing would be this: repetition is boring, but it's a great way to learn things and memorize them.

The next question is from a regular YouTube viewer, Judit. Have you ever thought about buying a foal? So a foal is a baby horse or a young horse. We do not have. One thing I know about horses is that they eat a lot of hay, and then they eat more hay, and then they eat oats, and they keep eating things, and they're a little expensive. I don't want to buy anything that costs me a lot of money. I'm sure it would be fun to learn how to ride horses and ride horses, but for now I think not.

We haven't thought about that, because Bob is too cheap. I don't want to spend money on hay and other types of horse feed. The next question is from Bohdan. Is there something people do that annoys you? The reason I ask is because you seem like a very kind and generous person, but I know it can't be like that all the time. Tell us some of the things that bother you. So one of the things that bothers me is when someone takes credit for someone else's work. I don't like it when people do that. It's happened to me before, when I did a certain amount of work and someone else said they did it.

Another thing that really bothers me is people throwing trash out of their cars while driving. They eat a chocolate bar and throw away the wrapper, or they drink a coffee and throw away the coffee cup. That really bothers me a lot. When I go for a walk down my street, there is so much trash in the ditch. It bothers me and we have to clean it all up in front of our farm. So those would be two things that really bother me. The next question is from Raihan from Facebook. Did you have any difficulties when you started teaching online?

Were you camera shy? I wasn't camera shy, but I would say it took me a while to feel comfortable. I'm used to speaking in front of people and speaking on camera is very, very similar. What I would say is that something that still challenges me is making a video in public. When I go to my local town to make a video, when people walk by and look at me while I'm trying to give an English lesson, it makes me feel very self-conscious, we'd say. So yeah, I had a little challenge at first in that filming in public places is still difficult for me, but everything else seemed to take care of itself.

The more you do something, repetition is good; The more you do something, the better you get at it and the more comfortable you feel doing it. The next question is from Professor Mike English. So if you don't know Mike, he teaches on Facebook and YouTube. If you ever need English lessons that explain something clearly and logically, he checks out some of his there. Excellent. However, his question is...-Hi Bob, I'm Mike from Teacher Mike English, and my question is: what's the best Canadian food that most non-Canadian people don't know about? - Then I would say this.

Nanaimo bars, a really delicious dessert. I believe it was invented in Nanaimo, BC. I would say ketchup flavored potato chips. I know some countries have them, but in Canada we have them, I love them. And let me think about it. Oh, pea soup. When I lived in Quebec, pea soup with ham. Oh, that was a really delicious soup. So there would be three. Of course, there's also poutine and some other Canadian things like maple syrup, but those would be three that people may not know about. Thanks for the question, Mike. This last question is from Speak English With This Guy on YouTube, also known as Brent, another very, very good English teacher. - In English, when you have to make a difficult decision, you can say: "I don't know." It's like you're asking me which of my children is my favorite?

Well, Canadian Bob, my question for you is about your five children, which one is your favorite? - What is your favorite? Brent, you're a parent yourself, and you know that by parent code, you never have a favorite child. You love all your children exactly the same amount. Very good question, but I think you're trying to be a bit complicated. Anyway, Brent, again, is also a teacher on YouTube. You can find his channel, Speak English with this guy, if you do a little search. Anyway, thank you very much for watching this English lesson. I hope you have learned a little.

I hope that the model answers I gave you can modify some of them to answer similar questions in a future conversation in English. Remember, if it's your first time here, don't forget to hit the red subscribe button. Give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and I want to apologize for not showing you a prettier landscape. It's another very windy day here and it was a little difficult to find places where the wind wouldn't affect the audio and microphone. So maybe next time I'll stop at nicer places. Bye bye. (upbeat music)