1 Hour to Discover English Culture

want to speak real english from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at englishclass101.com knock knock who's there orange orange who orangey going to teach me english so the joke here is that the word orange sounds like aren't you so orange you sounds a little bit like aren't you going to teach me english that's the joke here orange who orange you going to teach me english knock-knock jokes hi everyone how's it going i'm alicia have you heard of knock knock jokes these jokes follow a question and answer pattern and always end with a funny pun it starts with one person saying knock knock and the other person asks who's there the first person gives a name after that the second person asks for the surname in response the surname typically turns the first name into a play on words or a pun please note though that knock knock jokes don't always need to use first names often there are jokes that use common words or nouns that end up turning into another pun they're pretty easy and fun so let's check out some more knock knock who's there alicia alicia who i need alicia to take my dog for a walk this is a pun on my name alicia the leash in alicia sounds like the word leash which we use it's like a chain or a rope you put around a dog or maybe a cat's neck to take them for a walk in your neighborhood so in this case i need alicia sounds like i need a leash to take my dog for a walk the grammar isn't necessarily correct like i need alicia sounds like a leash uh uh it's it's not 100 perfect when you emphasize with your voice the key word that sounds like uh the other word in this case leash in alicia that's what makes the joke or that's what creates the pun the word play so it's not i need a leash to take my dog for a walk which would be the correct sentence but i need alicia to take my dog for a walk so making my name into the joke is what creates some kind of like interesting point something um funny about it knock knock who's there dwayne dwayne who dwayne the sink it's leaking okay so what is the deal with this joke why is this joke supposed to be funny dwayne in this case we use duane the sink this is actually a pronunciation joke the name dwayne sounds like the word drain the verb drain meaning to remove liquid from something so sounds like drain with bad pronunciation the joke here dwayne and drain the sink it's leaking so this is the word play duane is a bad pronunciation of drain actually this is a pronunciation that you might hear little kids use when they're first learning to speak like that r sound can be difficult so i've heard kids say like wayne instead of rain or like maybe drains like this sort of w sound can sometimes be um like you can sometimes hear this w sound among little kids who are learning english like native native level i think knock knock who's there henrietta henrietta who henrietta whole pizza yesterday that was dad that was bad that was dad that was my dad hi dad henry had a whole pizza yesterday all right what's the deal with this joke so this joke is is more complicated than perhaps the other knock knock jokes this joke begins with a feminine name a girl's name henrietta is a girl's name but when the final line of the joke comes the the the word play here is that henrietta whole pizza when you put those whole those three words together we can sort of hear instead of henrietta as a name it sounds like henry ate a whole pizza yesterday so henrietta becomes henry ate a whole pizza yesterday the noun of henrietta the name becomes it's it sounds like a different phrase a different grammatical phrase when you when you put it in this sentence henry had a whole pizza yesterday sounds like henry ate a whole pizza yesterday knock knock who's there canoe canoe who can you stop telling all these knock knock jokes no okay so canoe what's the joke with canoe canoe is a long boat that you can paddle in a lake or a river but that is used in the sentence uh can you stop telling it sounds like can you stop telling can you stop telling the pronunciation sounds similar to can you stop telling all these knock knock jokes meaning please stop it's enough knock knock jokes a play with pronunciation and with grammar to make this word play did you like these jokes try it and make your own you can make your own so if you do share them with us in the comment section and maybe we can you can try them out and see if people understand those jokes if you like this video please make sure to like the video subscribe to us if you haven't already so you don't miss out on any more fun stuff that we're doing thanks so much for watching and we'll see you again soon bye how is it going my name is alicia have you heard of knock knock jokes hi everyone i'm alicia memorial day in the united states dates back to the civil war it's one of the two major u.s holidays specifically associated with fallen soldiers it was more popular at the beginning of the 20th century than it is today but it's still an important holiday in the u.s memorial day was not always known by its current name can you guess what this holiday was originally named hint the original name has to do with decorations we'll show you the answer at the end of this video cemeteries in the u.s are usually decorated with flags on memorial day memorial day is also typically marked by the firing of large guns or multi-gun salutes in veterans cemeteries the families of fallen soldiers will often times go to the grave of their lost family member to remember them on this day this holiday is celebrated on the last monday of may memorial day has expanded in its scope over the years originally only for the fallen union and confederate soldiers from the civil war it became more inclusive of the fallen from other wars over the years today it's more of a day of remembrance of the dead in general with a focus on military members memorial day parades with plenty of patriotic imagery are very common memorial day is often times the day or close to the day when schools let out for the summer in the u.s this is part of the reason that the holiday is so much associated with summer tourism families that visit the graves of fallen soldiers and those who do not often have cookouts on this day to celebrate the beginning of the warm summer months and their children's time off from school memorial day and veterans day are the two holidays in the united states that are closely tied to military members and those who fell in service both holidays have evolved over the years and now here's the answer to the quiz can you guess what memorial day was originally named memorial day was originally called decoration day the name and the holiday itself have both changed a great deal over the years but it still remains an important day for veterans and their families how was this lesson did you learn something interesting do you have a similar day of remembrance in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time [Music] hi everyone i'm alicia new year's day is on january 1st in the u.s it's almost universally a day off from work and in the u.s closed stores gas stations and other businesses are common sights come january 1st it's preceded by some of the largest celebrations in the nation and weary from being up all night enjoying the parties americans tend to take it easy on this day the song all blank sign is associated with the new year celebration in the u.s do you know what this song's title means we'll show you the answer at the end of this video new year's eve and new year's day in the united states are both regarded as holidays though only new year's day is an official one the holiday kicks off late on new year's eve when people go out to celebrate in style this holiday is marked by fancy parties and plenty of parades and other events celebrating the new year across the time zones that cross the us is a popular tradition with those who like to stay at home in times square in new york one of the biggest celebrations in the nation is held and this is typically regarded as the official new year party for the entire country though each time zone rings in the new year with its own celebration new year's resolutions are popular in the united states though often times in a tongue-in-cheek way most of the time people will resolve to give up a bad habit or adopt a healthy new habit over the course of the new year it's almost accepted as a matter of course that people will not follow through on these resolutions however and it fits well with the tradition of american sarcastic humor new year's day isn't celebrated on january 1st on all calendars according to the chinese lunar calendar new year's is usually in february depending on the culture and tradition it can be celebrated on other dates as well popular resolutions include quitting smoking losing weight becoming more ambitious with goals and getting a better job and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know what the song title old lang sign means old length sign means the good old days or days gone by depending on the translation the song is a very old tradition dating back hundreds of years the new year's day celebrations in the u.s can easily extend from before midnight on january 1st to well into the afternoon how was this lesson did you learn something interesting how is new year's day celebrated in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time hi everyone i'm alicia martin luther king jr day is held on the third monday in january every year in the united states this holiday is dedicated to the slain civil rights leader who advocated non-violent action as a way to reform discriminatory laws in the united states martin luther king jr day was not accepted by all 50 states right away it was signed into law in 1983. do you know when all 50 states adopted it we'll show you the answer at the end of this video martin luther king jr day is a federally recognized holiday but there are celebrations in some cities and not in others martin luther king jr day is tied to the civil rights struggles of the 20th century and beyond it's very much associated with the struggles of the african-american community in particular but it's also celebrated by most people in the us as a unifying holiday celebrating martin luther king junior's legacy is a complex endeavor for most people what he fought for and how he fought for it are equally important king advocated for the rights of african-americans and other groups who were discriminated against via racist laws he also advocated non-violence and the images of riot police beating unarmed non-violent civil rights protesters in the 1960s are largely credited with swaying public opinion teaching african-american history is a major component of many martin luther king jr day celebrations in fact many of these celebrations and events tried to inform people about other civil rights leaders who were instrumental in reforming exclusionary laws in the u.s martin luther king jr day is also celebrated in hiroshima japan where it is nearly as significant as it is in the u.s the city of toronto and canada also holds festivities in honor of martin luther king jr and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know when all 50 states adopted martin luther king jr day martin luther king jr day was not officially recognized by every state until 2000. though president reagan signed it into law in 1983 many states resisted the holiday or tried to term at something else such as human rights day in utah how was this lesson did you learn something interesting are there any holidays that celebrate a famous historical figure in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time hi everyone i'm alicia since 1919 november 11th has been a national holiday in the united states originally called armistice day veterans day commemorates the men and women who served in america's armed forces this holiday is marked by parades educational events and gatherings at memorials to fallen soldiers there is a specific time of day associated with this november 11th holiday as well can you guess what it is we'll show you the answer at the end of this video the holiday was originally specific to the ending of world war 1 but it became veterans day in 1954 the end of world war 1 marked the end of the first global conflict in which the united states had been involved it also marked the end of one of its bloodiest wars and to ensure that people didn't forget armistice day was signed into law in 1919. veterans day parades are popular events on november 11th today there are no surviving combat veterans from the first world war which it was originally designed to commemorate you'll find veterans of all wars as well as peacetime veterans marching in veterans day parades in the united states people who served in the united states marine corps also celebrate the birthday of their branch of service on november 11th the united states marine corps was established on november 10 1775 but the events are close enough to make veterans day an important celebration for members of the marine corps as well most members of the marine corps get some time off to enjoy this holiday veterans day was briefly moved to october in 1971. the move did not last long and by 1978 the holiday had been moved back to its original november 11th date and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know the specific time of day associated with this november 11th holiday during veterans day celebrations the most important time of day is 11 o'clock am the armistice that brought world war 1 to a halt was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month germany's agreement to the cease-fire brought an end to a war whose repercussions would be felt well into the next generation how was this lesson did you learn something interesting do you have a similar day in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time hi everyone i'm alicia on the third monday of february every year the united states pays tribute to its first president george washington washington's birthday is a federal holiday and federal government workers get the day off it's not as widely celebrated as some other national holidays however sometimes the holiday is referred to as president's day there's a rather odd tradition associated with washington's birthday and president's day try to guess what it is we'll show you the answer at the end of this video washington's birthday is not among the us holidays that are associated with large-scale celebrations there are celebrations in some cities but compared to other major holidays in the united states this one is rather reserved in nature washington's birthday is often part of the combined president's day celebration most of the time presidents day emphasizes the two people who are generally considered to be the greatest presidents of the united states george washington and abraham lincoln washington's birthday is culturally significant to the united states because of general washington's revered place in history he was the first american president and beyond that he was handed a unanimous electoral college victory to win that office he is also the most celebrated general in the revolutionary army that defeated the british the biggest celebrations of his holiday are held at the george washington birthplace national monument in virginia and at mount vernon george washington designed the first medal intended for the average soldier the purple heart one of the most respected u.s service medals in existence is given to soldiers who were injured in battle and it was designed by washington himself and now here's the answer to the quiz believe it or not sales are a tremendous part of the traditional washington's birthday and presidents day celebrations furniture stores and car dealerships are particularly notable for holding sales on this day how was this lesson did you learn something interesting do you celebrate the birthdays of important leaders in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time [Music] hi everyone i'm elisha passover is one of the most important jewish holidays the holiday is widely celebrated in the united states in areas where there is a large jewish population in areas where the jewish population is not so large passover is generally not celebrated it's not an official holiday anywhere in the united states a particular type of bread is associated with passover do you know which type of bread this is and why it's associated with the holiday we'll show you the answer at the end of this video the passover celebration goes on for up to eight days it commemorates the flight of the israelites from egypt and one of the ten plagues that the god of the israelites released upon the pharaoh according to the tradition the israelites were commanded to paint their door jambs with the blood of a spring lamb so that they would not be subjected to the death of their firstborn as the egyptians were this is where the term pass over comes from in areas where there is a large jewish population many people of other faiths spend time with their jewish friends during this holiday and learn a bit about the jewish culture and traditions passover is celebrated by secular jews though the religious connotations are obviously much less prevalent in these celebrations both feasting and fasting are part of the celebration community passover events are scarcely heard of in the united states this is largely a family holiday with a significant focus on the jewish religion itself there are many different rituals related to eating during this time of year and the retelling of the stories behind the celebration of passover while it may not be an official holiday most americans are well aware of passover and people of the jewish faith are often given time off of work so that they can observe the holiday if need be and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know which type of bread is associated with passover unleavened bread is associated with the passover holiday according to the story in exodus the israelites did not have time to wait for the bread to rise before they fled egypt because of that they ended up traveling with unleavened bread and it would evolve into a cultural symbol within the jewish community as well as an important staple of many people worldwide how was this lesson did you learn something interesting are there any holidays with religious significance in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time hi everyone i'm alicia mother's day is held on the second sunday in may of every year it's one of the most important commercial holidays in the nation the holiday is over 100 years old and was officially declared a federal holiday in 1914 originally the holiday was celebrated by hanging a flag to recognize the mothers who had a child who died in war today it has no association with war whatsoever the first mother's day celebrations were associated with a particular movement do you know what movement with which it was associated we'll show you the answer at the end of this video mother's day is just as the name implies a celebration of everything to do with mothers it's common for people to buy expensive gifts for their mothers or at the very least to send them a card showing their appreciation mother's day cards have become among the most commercially successful items associated with the holiday it's one of the times of year where card companies are just swamped more so than other occasions in the united states children will sometimes really go over the top for their mothers on this holiday this is particularly true of sons in families where there is more than one son it's not uncommon for all of them to compete to get the best gift for their mother this is truly a day where motherhood is venerated in the united states while motherhood is the main theme behind mother's day people in the united states only celebrate this holiday for their own mothers it's rare for people to give mother's day gifts to anybody but their own mother some families may include the grandmothers in the celebrations but by and large this is a holiday celebrated within the nuclear family the international mother's day shrine is a historic landmark in the united states where the inaugural mother's day celebration was held and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know what movement the first mother's day celebrations were associated with some of the first mother's day celebrations were connected to the temperance movement the movement behind the prohibition laws that went into effect in the early 20th century today however mother's day is completely apolitical how was this lesson did you learn something interesting is there a day dedicated to mothers in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time [Music] hi everyone i'm alicia father's day is a relatively recent holiday in the united states having come into existence in 1972 it's celebrated on the third sunday of june every year though it's not as commercially important as mother's day it's equally important to many families father's day can be a bit more irreverent than mother's day in many regards lots of people call home on father's day guess which type of calls are particularly popular during this holiday we'll show you the answer at the end of this video father's day is all about showing father's appreciation for what they do for acknowledging the role of fathers in children's lives and in many cases simply for making an excuse to hang out with one's dad the holiday tends to have less of the soft imagery associated with mother's day and in fact it does have a reputation as being an occasion that is rather lighthearted father's day gifts tend to be not surprisingly manly in nature it's common for people to buy their dad's power tools neckties sporting equipment and so forth to show appreciation in fact getting an ugly necktie on father's day is something of a cliched joke among fathers across the nation it's been poked fun at in commercials and in other venues father's day is not quite as popular as mother's day researchers attribute this partially to the fact that there are more families with single mothers than there are with single fathers which may skew the popularity of the holiday the holiday is consistently popular however and many families find an excuse to do something special just for the father and the family on this particular day for younger children actually making a father's day gift is something of a tradition many children are encouraged to make something that they think their father would like such as artwork or crafts for example other children may opt to help their father out with chores and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know what type of calls are popular on father's day collect calls are particularly popular on father's day somewhat humorously while fewer people tend to call home on father's day than they do on mother's day many of them choose to call collect how was this lesson did you learn something interesting is there a day dedicated to fathers in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time [Music] hi everyone i'm elisha hanukkah is the most popular jewish holiday in the united states it falls on a date determined by the jewish calendar but is often very close to christmas making for a natural association between the two holidays it's also called the festival of lights and commemorates the rededication of the temple by the maccabees in the second century bc a particular toy is associated with hanukkah do you know which one we'll show you the answer at the end of this video hanukkah is one of the most important jewish holidays and is one that most people in the united states are very familiar with the distinctive menorah a candelabra that is kindled as part of the celebration is commonly associated with the holiday by most people jewish or otherwise gift giving is also sometimes a part of this holiday even though hanukkah is not as widely celebrated as christmas in the united states it's a holiday that most people are cognizant of and many non-jewish people who have jewish friends do participate in it to some extent the holiday is also sometimes celebrated by secular jews to keep the holiday season alive for non-religious reasons the name festival of lights comes from the story behind hanukkah according to tradition the lights in the temple were able to keep burning for eight straight days despite only having enough oil to keep burning for one day this tradition is remembered today by the lighting of the menorah this is the hanukkah tradition with which most non-jewish people are familiar and the menorah is widely known in the united states as an emblem of jewish people a hanukkah gilt is a small quantity of money traditionally given at this time of year chocolate coins though they possess no monetary value have become popular over the years as well and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know which toys associated with hanukkah the dreidel a particular type of top with which a game is associated is a traditional activity for children during this time of year the dreidel is very commonly recognized as a symbol of the jewish people in the u.s how was this lesson did you learn something interesting are there any holidays with religious significance in your country please leave a comment at englishclass101.com until next time hi everyone i'm alicia kwanza is a holiday in the united states that celebrates the heritage of african americans the holiday originated in 1966 and is held from december 26th until january 1st today it provides an opportunity for african americans and other us citizens to learn about each other as well as a day that serves as a uniquely african-american holiday the first film about kwanzaa was released in 2009. do you know the name of that film we'll show you the answer at the end of this video kwanzaa came out of the 1960s in the united states when racial tensions were particularly high many leaders in the african-american community wanted to create cultural events and holidays that were specific to african americans kwanzaa comes out of that desire this holiday has endured over the years and in fact has become more popular as the years have gone on kwanzaa is very much centered on community the holiday's name comes from a swahili term which refers to both tradition and reason there are seven principles associated with kwanzaa unity collective work and responsibility self-determination purpose cooperative economics creativity and faith the holiday was recently commemorated with its own stamp issued by the united states postal service over the years kwanzaa has become an ideal occasion for people to learn about african-american heritage and culture art literature music and dance are all celebrated at this time of year and shared with friends and family as well as with people outside of the african-american community while it may have come out of a divisive time kwanzaa has become a very unifying holiday and one that's widely acknowledged and celebrated kwanzaa has a seven candle candelabra that's lit over the course of the holiday this is a tradition similar to other holiday celebrations during the darkest time of year when lights are very important symbols and now here's the answer to the quiz do you know the name of the first film about kwanzaa that was released in 2009 the black candle was the first american film about the kwanzaa celebration it has been featured in other films however but not as a central element most people in the united states are familiar with kwanzaa and whether or not they celebrate it they generally do know when it's held hi everybody my name is alicia and i'm here in the studio today with michael hello and today we're going to be talking about things that every american kid knows so let's get right into it these are going to be things that we think that maybe now i imagine most or all american kids are aware of or have done to some degree um so let's compare why don't you start us off um ah this is a good one i think everybody knows this everybody still should know this is the magic word so usually when you want to like get someone to say please you're trying to teach little kids uh how to be polite teach them proper manners and so you say what's the magic word and they say please so like for example hey mom can i have a cookie what's the magic word can i have a cookie please and then you give them the cookie yep yep it's it's better than saying say please i feel like saying what's the magic word is i don't know it's kind of like a more fun way to to tell kids like be polite you know say please and thank you kind of hypocritical to be like say please yeah that's not very polite mom yeah yeah that's true nice nice one okay good uh all right i'll go to my first one i picked okay you'll see in a second maybe what i picked um let's start with let's see oh i'll start with this one i think kids probably all over the world are aware of this one or some variation i don't know what it's called many different languages but hide and seek um hide and seek is a very very basic game i mean the the game is explained pretty much here hide and seek so a bunch of kids hide and then one person usually seeks or looks for all the other kids um so this was one of those games that you'd play with a group of friends or even just you know like with one of your siblings uh if you don't have a whole lot of people but the basic concept of the game is one or more people hide and then a few seconds later you go look for those people um i i assume that you played this game i assume that every child played this game hours and hours and hours spent playing this game so i mean there's different variations of the game but like you have a home base usually and so that's where the person starts and you usually count to like what 30 100 yeah something like that yeah yeah and so you close your eyes the person who's it and they okay one two three and then when you are finished you say ready or not here i come and you try to find them um and then if you are hiding and you make it to the home base and you touch it you're free you made it you win yeah um or like i don't know multiple people can win it's it's really like a young young kid game yeah like i don't think i played it after nine years old yeah i think maybe around junior high school was probably the last time that i played it yeah okay uh hide and seek yeah play hide and seek if you haven't i don't know i bet it'd be fun as an adult too in the right in the right situation make it a drinking game something like that i don't know you said it so i didn't have to okay um let's go to your next one what's your next one um i guess talking about games thumb war thumb war so i think most people do this around the world they they know the thumb war which is like like this and you you try to catch them but the thing that not everyone knows is and i think every american kid knows is you say one two three four i declare a thumb more ready go yeah did you not have already go i don't remember that last part i had already go okay and then you try to get him so yeah you try to you try to fight and keep the other person's thumb down in retrospect that's not a very good game is it nah yeah these are all terrible game yeah yeah i did it too though i did it too though but like people would always people would always kind of like get a little bit too into it and then they'd sort of like kind of try and rip their hands out of like right or do the you use this finger you cheat what is that called the hook like no hooks i am not aware of the hood so like this and then you use this finger so you're trying to do it it's hard and then you ha you just cheat basically so yeah it's stupid game for little kids basically there's like it's like tic tac toe you can play it like a million times and usually you get a tie it's just like something to do when the teacher's talking and it's just easy you don't need a ball you're just kind of like okay let's play them you're a terrible child orange yeah it was pretty bad never listen okay all right i'm gonna go to my next one uh another game i picked dr goose yes as i was writing this card i was thinking to myself why is it called duck duck goose of all things okay so the game is very very simple i think you need you need a group of people for this one though but you form a ring a ring of children usually and then there's one person who walks around the outside of the ring and they touch each each person on the head as they walk by and say duck duck duck and then randomly this one person will select one child and say goose you're the goose and so if you are chosen as the goose you have to get up and chase the other person around the circle um and try to get back to your the place where you were sitting down before them no you have to tag them right the the person who was going duck duck duck and then goose they try to run around the circle and steal your spot right and you if you're fast enough you can run around and if you tag them then they keep going and you get your spots too right right so it's it's it's like a seated version of tag almost but i don't know why we call it duck duck goose yeah no clue i don't know okay so this one is actually i think it's like from scotland or something i don't know i forgot i looked it up but eenie meenie miney mo so usually when you're trying to decide who let's say you want to play hide and seek and you don't know who's going to be the one who's it so then you'll go eeny meeny miny moe catch a tiger by his toe if he hollers make him pay a thousand dollars every day okay you're it and there's a few variations of that um pretty much everyone knows that i still use it to this day honestly most people shorten it though because the tiger the whole tiger thing is quite long so i think eeny meeny miny mo it's just a rhyme to choose someone i mean you could flip a coin or do like rock paper scissors or something like that but for whatever reason we do this eeny meenie miney moe thing did you ever do nose goes uh as a child no as an adult for a drinking game yes you see this is the thing all the things that were like children's games become adult drinking games when you grow up slowly get perfect very very mature okay uh my last one is truth or dare um perhaps this is um more for like junior high school and high school age when you start getting a little bit more like curious is maybe the right word so the game is um you have there are two choices that you can make this game truth where your friends will ask you a question and you have to reply with the truth to that question so usually truth is like who's the person that you like or do you want a boyfriend or do you want a girlfriend usually it's something like that if you don't choose truth then you have to choose dare so dare is the choice where your friends get to tell you to do something and it's usually something crazy um so you either have the option of being in other words humiliated by sharing something secret or humiliated by doing something embarrassing it's a it's a fun game of humiliation to play with your friends um i i've i have some i actually have some good memories playing this game nothing nothing like bad really just really really silly stuff actually like singing weird songs in front of like my my friend's parents that kind of thing right put underwear on your head or something yeah yeah yeah the one i remember that just came to mind is they told me i was like okay dare and then they said to uh go outside act like a cow get on all fours and take a big mouthful of the grass and chew it so that was kind of that's a creative dare yeah yeah that was like that's why i still remember it because usually they're just kind of like i dare you to like i don't know drink too much ketchup or something i don't know just something kind of mm-hmm yeah i don't know i was pretty good drink too much ketchup no maybe yeah i've never heard daddy i'm wearing too much ketchup is that's too much ketchup i decided two tablespoons is adequate it's like the annual sorry every every time all right uh i'm out i think maybe you're out okay great so those are a few things that perhaps i think most if not all american kids know or are aware of a lot of them were games maybe you have similar games in your country so if you uh if you had some interesting experiences playing these games or if you have a game that's similar um to one of the games or one of the um ideas that we've talked about here please let us know in a comment and it would be interesting to compare any other ideas that's about it that's about it okay uh well thanks very much for joining us for this episode of english topics and we will see you again soon take care bye hi everybody my name is alicia and today i'm joined in the studio bye michael hello and today we're going to be talking about the halloween experience in the united states so we're going to share some things about our experience as children and perhaps as adults with halloween thus far so the first topic for discussion for today is our favorite costume so this is something that we've actually worn at any point in time for halloween so what for you what has been your favorite costume thus far so this was a tough one to think about because the fun costumes i've made um i had more fun making than wearing like i made like a mega man costume a mega a mega man jedi costume that was pretty cool but my favorite was the kissing booth oh so this was one of those easy you know you don't make it you go to the store and you buy it and it just has like plastic pvc pipe in a square with a red curtain and like text that says kissing boots really easy my friend had it it was last minute i didn't have a costume he said hey you should use this and it was a lot of fun but it was before you know i was still young so i wasn't this like crazy passionate drunken it was you know i was like 15. so it's just a peck but it was the first time to get kisses and stuff and it was just so that was my fun like funnest memory of wearing a costume okay okay yeah that's a good one mine i went a different route with i picked a character actually i went one year as uh tom hanks from castaway um so i had like a uh just a ripped up white t-shirt and and some i just bought like a pair of old pants at the thrift store and ripped those up a bit and i made my hair really really big and kind of put some like fake bruising on my face and then i made a paper mache wilson the volleyball that he had with him on the island i made like the hand print and everything on it and carried that around castaway was a famous um tom hanks film from oh gosh 10 or 15 years ago now i don't even know when that movie came out but uh castaway tom hanks is stuck on an island by himself his only companion is a volleyball that has a bloody hand print on it and he names the ball and like well you'll watch the movie um so yeah i chose to go as tom hanks character from that movie that year yeah that was that was like you say it was more fun to make the costume than it was to wear the costume almost how does one trick or treat by the way ah trick-or-treating is basically going door-to-door to your neighbors uh usually with your parents so that there's no you know dangerous kind of possibilities you knock on the door and you say trick or treat and you know there's five or six cute little kids and costumes and then whoever's living there gives you candy and you have you know the the most common thing is you just get a pillow case but they also have like you know they they want to sell um plastic jack-o'-lantern yeah which the jack-o'-lanterns like the pumpkin i think most people know that and it has a cut hole so it's plastic you can buy those um or just yeah pillowcase and get it full of candy and you go to as many houses as you can trying to get as much candy as you can um and you know if you're kind of uh mischievous or like whatever you're greedy or you want to maximize your your your candy profit you plan beforehand with your friends and you go okay we're going to skip that neighborhood that's the poor neighborhood they don't give anything good let's go to the rich neighborhood and we'll hit it and then if we change costumes we can go twice and get twice as much candy and like that was hardcore but you know or you can just go and hey trick-or-treat to your neighbors and yeah what was your trick-or-treating experience what i was a much kinder trick-or-treater you didn't con your neighbors i mean that's the typical united states kind of really maybe i don't know like we didn't really plan it out we would we'd just i think because i think my parents were just like let's go and let's make sure the kids have a good time but let's come home like and and then when my brother and i got old enough like we didn't really want to do it anymore so we would stay at home but one of the things that actually bothered me about that phase when when i got too old to trick-or-treat but i would stay home and like give candy to the kids there would inevitably be this you know a handful of kids who were too old to be doing it and they would come in like these what too old that's my two old of my trick-or-treating experience were you that kid that would come to the door like at like 16 and you'd have like a mask like a ski mask or something and then just like jackets would be like trick-or-treat like and there'd be like this little row of like five and six-year-old kids in their costumes like and then there'd be this guy just walks up with a pillowcase in the end and i was like come on dude like what are you doing man was that you yeah oh why why yeah well we were in the weird in between and so i was still i had a baby face you know i went through puberty later so i still look like a kid and so some of my friends were the older they were those kids and that's when we planned it when we were old enough to go on our own that's when we plan okay we should go to the rich neighborhood and this and this before yeah you just go with your parents and you know they're tired they don't want to walk around they can just buy you candy so they're just like okay let's go around and you have fun you know you go around just your neighborhood a couple times and you just love the idea of it i mean it's pretty easy to please a kid um but yeah there's that awkward in between where you once you get like armpit hair and facial hair your voice gets deep cut it don't do it anymore if you don't party too bad stay home you know do that kind of thing um yeah you're you're asking earlier you're asking what was my experience were there any costumes that were kind of hard to wear um i remember one uh i asked my stepmom i wanted to be the um what is that called the pumpkin on the head he rides a horse the wood ah the headless horseman the headless horseman yes so i wanted to be that i think there was a movie that came out i thought it was sleepy hollow sleepy hollow yeah um it was cool so she made one for me and i remember just the head you know it was an actual like pumpkin on top of my head so it would like you know bobble around and stuff and so tiny little kid bopping around i kept having to go back to the house you know duct tape kind of like add to the costume until eventually i just took it off and then you just get i think it was a jason mask you know there's always the plan b costumes yeah that's true the lazy costumes that you're like okay let's just give up you know you put a sheet on your body and cut two holes and you're a ghost you know there's the lazy like poor costumes that i think that was the plan b right right right okay so when you when you did go trick-or-treating was there anything that you that you got that you you were just so excited to receive oh yeah was their favorite candy yeah um i put the best the okay and the worst so they're very organized so the worst is tootsie rolls i don't know i hated tootsie rolls they're they don't they have like no flavor it's more of like an old people candy and it i think it's cheap and so you get those and you're like uh and that was like 30 40 percent of my bag was tootsie rolls i didn't want yeah it's like a chewy chocolate about it's real small looks like a cat turd you know like it's really in general just no good i always paid such vivid images with your words michael so and then the medium that i liked that most people didn't like but i loved but you get so many of them it's hard to really love them are the candy corns and that's like essential like halloween candy right like actually yeah that was on my that was that was my worst actually not not not because i don't like them because candy corn is perfectly good but when you get the candy corn some like inevitably it like goes to the bottom of your bag and it's just like hanging out down there and you're like i don't know if i should eat this i don't think i will candy corn is the thing that you like keep in a dish in your grandma's house not the thing that you give out and that's also one of those safety things that like they tell trick-or-treaters like don't eat any loose candy that you find in your bag because you know if it's not actually wrapped up then you know someone could have done something to it yeah so whenever if i got candy corn we were always like who did they stick together they kind of like melt and kind of like yeah yeah you get the kind of mutated mutated corn the candy okay and then what was the the best for you the absolute best and this i think is more unique to the you know united states experim experience is peanut butter i loved um either reese's pieces or the absolute best was butterfinger not because butterfinger is better than reese's but because it's bigger so you get the king size so basically you want the biggest bang for your buck um you know you want the most amount you know and so a lot of times it was the bite-sized version these tiny little you know it wasn't good enough so when you you had you know that one house it was the like you said it had the lights on it had tons of decorations you knew they meant business you knew they were generous they were like a you know newlywed couple or something or like old people who were lonely i don't know but for some reason they had tons of decorations and they invested a lot of money in halloween so you're like yeah go to that house go to that house and and you get a king-size you know butterfingers bar it was awesome and then there's the candy corn and that stuff so it just like paled in comparison yeah yeah yeah i think yeah you're right i love peanut butter reese's peanut butter cups even today i cannot buy them because i just eat them instantly all of them just like others wow that was like all of costco gone okay but um when i was a kid though now i love i'm i'm in the same boat i love peanut butter and dark chocolate oh mama it's so good but when i was a kid my favorite things to get were skittles or smarties and actually i found them i was gonna eat these before we started filming this video but i found these over in the snack corner uh over there skittles um skittles are just a fruity flavored small kind of hard candy and then smarties i feel like there are two camps on smarties smarties are kind of a chalky i don't even know what they're made of just like a chalky sugar and i when i was a kid and even now i don't know why something about the act of eating it was very pleasant it's just it was had a weird consistency to it and i liked that and so i would always just like slowly like eat them like one tab at a time and just even now i'm like no i wish i could i really want some now but yeah it's just that that was my favorite those two were my favorite when i was a kid i think that that's what we talked about is actually probably pretty typical of what the halloween experience is like for kids of course as you become an adult the experience will change to some degree you stop trick-or-treating and you stay inside and go to adult adult halloween parties which is fun as well uh any thoughts anything else do you know what you're gonna be for halloween this year by the way oh i was thinking i just watched the princess bride which is a very nostalgic movie and i was thinking about being the masked guy it's a simple costume it's like all black i just like the movie i don't know what about you yeah actually i'm trying to think about it i'm thinking usually well actually the last couple years i've kind of tried to go a little too complex and then i like like last year i did i did a robot i tried to do like an android robot and i painted all these lines on me but it would just it just came off and it just looked bad after a while so i'm thinking about going like kind of simple and like classic monster we'll see though i i really don't know i really don't know i've been thinking about it anyway uh that's all for the halloween experience for this time around please let us know if you've had any interesting experiences with halloween or a similar holiday in your country let us know in the comments for sure thanks very much for watching this lesson and we will see you again soon bye hi everybody my name is alicia and today i'm joined again in the studio by michael hello and today we're going to be talking about bad habits in english so these are some things that we've heard before or mistakes that native speakers and non-native speakers of english make and that drive us crazy so let us begin you start what's your first thing um this doesn't bug me too much until someone points it out about me and then it drives me nuts um ah yeah okay once you tell someone that they say um or like too much then every time they say it they notice it and it's really hard to get a thought out because these are filler words that you almost always use or i always use maybe americans always use but it's yeah it's really tough not to use the word like or um i think when you're just speaking casually right yeah right well yeah i mean like right now see why did you have to make it the first word why'd you have to make it the first one actually we talked about that we have a video i think probably like a year ago one of the english uh weekly words videos where uh the word like was one of the words that americans overuse uh i don't i don't know where that information came from but um that was see oh my god now i'm suddenly aware of it why um this whole thing i'm gonna be thinking about how often i say liking them okay let's see i'm gonna go to one that i think all of us talked about and all of us were aware of before we even turned the camera on but um this is a this one is written this is a written problem that drives me nuts and there are so many variations on this with other words but this is the big one your y-o-u-r this is a do not equal sign y-o-u apostrophe r e so this one your while you are uh is a possessive word this is your shirt your bag your whatever y o u apostrophe r e is a contracted form of u are interestingly enough though i will say that i rarely see non-native speakers of english make this mistake most of the time it's native speakers who make this mistake come on guys really i just it just drives me nuts yeah that that one really drives me nuts that one bugs me too because it's it's really simple i mean there's another one that still kind of bugs me but i'm more forgiving is it's and it's because they're both its and one of them has an apostrophe and in both cases it seems reasonable because you can use an apostrophe for possessive or for a contraction so both seem reasonable and you just have to do like you know mnemonic device figure it out there's rules i'm sure there's a you know english language english class 101 episode on it you know no apostrophe is the one that's the possessive the apostrophe s is the one that's stored for it has or it is right but it makes sense it's kind of tough for some people to remember um you or you're in your that that really upsets me yeah just because it's so easy it's simple that and uh there we talked about this earlier before this that they're there and there the possessive t-h-e-i-r for that's their house that's their dog t-h-e-r-e it's over there and t-h-e-y apostrophe-r-e they are there are three different there there theirs sound the same but they have different meanings and they should be spelled differently too so come on native speakers get us together okay all right next one for you what's your next one ah along the same lines of being like correct could of so i think the problem with a lot of these words is so it's supposed to be could have but when you're speaking the language any language you you make it quicker and quicker and you kind of slur the words together so like for example grandma or grandma you like native speakers you don't really say the d you say grandma grandma and so as a kid i thought that's how you spelled it and i remember spelling g-r-a-m-m-a someone told me no that's not it so could have it makes sense why people would say could've but it doesn't it's not proper and you shouldn't get in the habit of doing it i think most of these things you can be forgiving when they're kids but it's best to to nip it in the bud because you know it just becomes a bad habit yeah and i mean with could have there is a correct contracted spelled version it's just could of apostrophe v e could've i mean i i would argue that it's more casual and it's perhaps not the most correct um thing to write i would i probably would just write could have i probably wouldn't use the contracted form so much use of contractions will make you sound more casual if you want to write a formal letter you should i i feel you should not use contractions if you're writing an academic paper as well don't use contractions spell it out spell the whole thing out you'll sound much more formal and more at least in my mind more educated all right uh great this topic is getting me all like fancy okay let's see i'm gonna go to okay another another pronunciation issue that i feel like almost is cool now okay let me ask you a question this pronunciation okay so i've written acts on this card but the it's ask ask let me ask okay so this lemmy which we talked about in a previous video which is short for let me i've contracted it here to the very casual lemmy um but i've used lemmy here because this is this is typically said in a very very casual setting let me ask you a question but the pronunciation of ask should not be ax it's ask let me ask you a question i want to ask you something it's not acts it's ask ask yeah this one again so like lemmy lemmy is okay i think most people say lemmy i think that's okay but for some reason acts i think a lot of these just are not even close at all let me when you say it really fast it sounds like lemmy i mean right but when you say axe it's just totally wrong well it's reversing the the consonants in the word ask right it's not faster you're not making it quicker you're not slurring or making you know putting it into one little like fluid blob it's just you just switch the two uh yeah syllables similarly i hear this with the word uh asterisk as well the little star that's on like the number eight on your keyboard or whatever that this looking thing it's not an asterisk or what i don't even know it's asterisk so overpronunciation so this one is kind of the opposite direction so this whole time we've been kind of nitpicking when you use the incorrect version of a word i think overpronunciation can also be equally as damaging but instead of making you look stupid it makes you look pretentious so for example we don't say in english we don't use all of the syllables with chocolate so it's cha like when you spell it chocolate white chocolate right and so like maybe in spanish or something like that they would still say that like chocolate or something whatever but with english we took it out and so even though you still spell all of those syllables native speakers now say chocolate chocolate or like comfortable comfortable that's how it's spelled but native english speakers we say comfortable and this is like now it's it's i think it's like unanimous so maybe when it becomes when slang becomes so popular that it's part of the new language the language is now evolved if you don't go with the flow even though it's incorrect i think you sound pretentious that's a great one i like that a lot all right uh i'm gonna wrap it up i have two actually i'll just i think i can do them quickly though do you have any more by the way no no okay then i'll go quickly um these are two the my last two are just a couple that my students actually struggle with so maybe this this is something that you can work on as well um this one uh just an example sentence i want to go to there i've underlined the word to here um we use the word to when we're talking about a specific city or a specific country like i want to go to new york i want to go to europe but there is not a specific location i want to go to there uh is is not a specific place so we you don't need to use two in this sentence i want to go there it's perfectly fine so this is a mistake that non-native speakers it seems seem to make from time to time perhaps okay and then another one that i've heard a lot recently is this phrase in case of and then a country uh so for example in case of china in case of egypt or whatever uh where someone is trying to explain like the political situation or a policy in that country uh in case of in case of um but actually you don't need to use k-sub just in china in europe in japan whatever you don't need to use kasiv this pattern in case of is used for like an emergency situation or used uh to talk about alternate plans often to to do with weather so for example in case of rain the event will be canceled or in case of tornado please go to your nearest evacuation center i don't know something like that so it's used for like an emergency situation it's not used to talk about policies in the countries just use in plus the place it's much better much more natural so those are a few things that i've noticed that non-native speakers struggle with sometimes so perhaps they'll be helpful for you as well so thanks very much for watching if you have a bad habit that you've noticed when you're speaking english or if you've noticed a bad habit and somebody else in their english speaking or their writing or whatever please leave it in a comment uh let's compare it might be interesting to see if there are any other things that people tend to struggle with thanks very much for watching this episode and we will see you again soon bye want to speed up your language learning take your very first lesson with us you'll start speaking in minutes and master real conversations sign up for your free lifetime account just click the link in the description

Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

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Keywords: EnglishClass101, Tutorial, english, how to, learn, English culture, English Language (Interest), learn english, vocabulary, survival phrases, important, Word (Literature Subject), words, top, compilation, ask, teacher, made easy, beginner, english lesson, best of, write, read, speak, english basics, basics, continuous play, long play, auto play, autoplay, speak english, read english, reading skills

Id: toCtJ92As4c

Length: 60min 9sec (3609 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 09 2021