35 Facts About Me | Teacher Tom

Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome back to another lesson with me Tom. Actually today isn't really

a lesson because it's a special day today. It's my birthday. Ok.

Because it's my birthday I wanted to do something slightly different. I'm going to tell you

thirty five facts about me. So I wanted to do this video because I wanted to share a

little bit more about me and to help you guys get to know me better. So what I'm hoping

is that we are going to get to know each other better because in the comments below I want

you to tell me which facts are also true for you. Now why is it thirty five facts? Well,

it's a really simple reason. Today it's my thirty fifth birthday. Alright, that was fact

number one. There it is, we've started. Ok, here we go. So fact number it's my thirty

fifth birthday today. Wow! It's ok, it's fine. I'm ok with that. Alright fact number two.

I was born in London, I am a Londoner. However the hospital that I was born in was bulldozed,

it was destroyed a week after I was born. That's right! I think I was like the last

baby to be born in that hospital and then it was gone. And it's not there anymore. I

am six foot tall, which is a perfectly good height. I quite like being six foot. I've

always been six foot. Not always obviously, when I was a child I wasn't six foot. But

six foot works for me yeah. After university I worked for the BBC. That's right. The British

Broadcasting Corporation. I worked on a TV show called What Not To Wear. It was like

a fashion show and I was the runner. So I was doing all the little things like driving

the presenters to the studio or getting them their food or holding the sound boom. I kind

of did everything. I enjoyed it but I decided that TV wasn't really my thing and so I became

a teacher. I've been a teacher for ten years. So I started in 2007 and my inspiration was

my Mum. She was a teacher and was a fantastic teacher and I kind of, I got in to teaching

through her. I actually have done a vlog all about why I became a teacher so you can watch

that if you want. My teaching has taken me to three countries so i lived in Spain for

one year. I lived in San Sebastian in the north. I then moved to Argentina. I lived

in Buenos Aires for one year. So between them I've picked up a little bit of Spanish. 'Hola

me llamo Tom. Tengo treinte y cinco anos. So I think that means 'my name is Tom and

I'm thirty five years old.' As you can see, it's not great but I picked up some. So I

also lived in Hong Kong and i taught at the British Council for three and a half years.

Absolutely loved it. I loved all the countries that i lived in. Hong Kong was particularly

special for me I just really connected with the city. And yes I can speak a little bit

of Cantonese. Here we go (Cantonese) Which I think means where is the swimming pool.

Really useful if you need to know where the swimming pool is. Otherwise totally useless.

In fact I learned a lot of Cantonese from my students. So i used to teach little kids.

Kindergarten kids and i'd hear them. I'd create an activity where they had to run around the

room and they'd run around and they'd be like 'fai de la' and I'd be like 'what does that

mean?' and it means like hurry up so yeah I learned a lot of my language, a lot of my

Cantonese from my little kids. Alright a secret skill that I have is that i can touch my nose

with my tongue. You want to see it? Alright. Get ready! That's pretty useful, right? The

only problem is i get a wet nose straight after. Eat Sleep Dream was originally a podcast.

A podcast is a radio programme that you can listen to at any time. You can get it on iTunes

and various other places. And so I started Eat Sleep Dream English in 2012. It was a

podcast of me walking around various famous places in London trying to describe them and

as I described them people could download worksheets with the important vocabulary.

It was pretty good. I quite liked it. I had to stop it because I moved to Hong Kong so

it came to an organic end but it was the beginning of what now is Eat Sleep Dream English. I

don't do the podcast any more, in fact I only did about twelve or thirteen but I really

enjoyed it and it gave me the experience to then start this YouTube channel. I started

learning to play the guitar when I was fourteen years old. My dad taught me which was fantastic,

really cool. There was a guitar in our house and used to pick it up and be very frustrated

with it because I didn't know what to do and one day I just asked my dad. I said can you

teach me? And he did. He's a great guitar player, plays lots of like folk music, really

nice stuff so yeah he kind of taught me and we've sort of played together which was fantastic.

Alright my biggest fear, I think my biggest fear is sharks! So when I was about five I

went to Universal Studios in Los Angeles. There was a ride there with Jaws from the

movie Jaws. You are in this tram and this shark just comes up and attacks you and I

was really scared. Then that evening, that evening me and my sister are in the hotel

swimming pool, we are swimming around and she says to me 'oh my god! Jaws! Jaws!' I'm

five years old I start panicking. I'm like 'oh no!' I get out of the pool as quickly

as I can and she's laughing, she's like 'ah I got you, I tricked you!' And ever since

then I've had this fear of sharks. So it's thanks to my sister for that one. So yeah

so even when I go into swimming pools now I'll check to see if there are any sharks

in there. If I'm in the sea, yeah I'm always thinking about sharks so it's not enough to

stop me going in and swimming because I love swimming, I love surfing but it's always on

my mind. Yeah! Does anyone else have a fear of sharks? Let me know.

Ever since I've started doing Eat Sleep Dream English there's one famous person that you

all think I look like. Harry Potter. I've never heard that before, no one has ever told

me that i look like Harry Potter but allegedly you guys think I look like Harry Potter. Which

makes me think that I should do an English lesson dressed as Harry Potter. If you want

to see that video you let me know in the comments below. I write a journal every single day.

I've written one for the last eight years. I started when I went on holiday to Thailand.

I wanted to remember the holiday, I wanted to remember every single day so I started

writing my journal and I've just carried on ever since. And I love it because what I'll

do is I'll go back to the year before andI'll have a look at what I was doing this day last

year and it's great. My memory isn't fantastic so for me it's a great way to remember what

I've done in my life. Alright, every day I have the same breakfast. Yeah it's a bit funny,

I don't know why but I like routine, maybe I like waking up and knowing exactly what

I'm going to have. And what I have is the most delicious thing for me. So I have a boiled

egg, I'll have two slices of toast one with jam and one with peanut butter. I'll have

some spinach, I'll have avocado, a bit of grated cheese and a cup of coffee. Well I

say a cup of coffee, it's a bowl of coffee. I'll always have coffee in a bowl. Why? Well

when I was young I was told that that's what French people did and I thought that sounded

really cool so I've continued doing that ever since. It tastes better maybe that's the thing.

It tastes better when you drink it out of a bowl. Try it! Don't laugh until you try

it and then yeah then you can laugh. I love making top five lists. I don't know why but

for example top five trees. What are your favourite trees? I have a top five list of

my favourite trees. What about places you want to visit? I have a list of the top five

places that I want to visit right now. The top five cities or countries. I guess I think

it makes for an interesting conversation. You can debate with somebody. What's your

favourite? Why is it your favourite? Yeah I find it interesting.

I support Tottenham Hotspur. Now the reason I support Tottenham. Well there are many reasons.

They are my local team so i grew up in North London and they are from North London. Also

my great grandfather was one of the original founding members of Tottenham Hotspur. It

was founded by a group of school boys and he was one of them so I kind of has to support

Tottenham. It's in the family. Also they are the best so that's an easy one. Oh and Harry

Kane, that one.

I have many favourite films but the number one favourite film I think it would have to

be Home Alone. I mean it's super funny like I've never laughed as much as when I first

saw that film I was rolling on the floor absolutely in stitches. You are not going to believe

this one but it is true. I once had a tooth in my head for six months. It's true honestly!

It is true. So it was somebody else's tooth, I was playing football with my friend Ben

and we had an accident and our heads collided and his front tooth went into my head. And

it was really painful but I didn't realise that it had gone in there and then six months

later I was kind of watching TV I was sort of scratching my head and I was like that

feels strange and so I went to the doctor and he went pop and it was my friend's tooth.

Really! The real tooth. I couldn't believe it. So I put it on a piece of string and then

made it a necklace out of it. Actually that bit isn't true I didn't do that but i should

have done. But I did give it back to my mate Ben. So yeah and now I have a little scar

in the top of my head.

My dream is to live by the sea. I think this is a dream that is shared with many many people.

But yeah I would love to live by the sea. I'm not quite sure where but I love the idea

of being by the beach, being able to go into the sea, hopefully with no sharks and see

the horizon.

I have one or two nicknames. My niece and nephew call me Uncle T which I like, Uncle

T, Uncle Tom. When I was teaching kids they used to call me Teacher Tom. It's not really

a nickname but I really liked it. Teacher Tom. I was teaching them about Space and this

little five year old goes 'Teacher Tom, Teacher Tom my sister likes apples.' Ok, that's great

information, thank you for telling me that.

I have one sister, her name is Anya and you guys have probably met her. She's been in

a couple of my videos already. We walked around London a couple of times and we walked around

the countryside together. She's awesome, she's obviously the best sister that I could wish

for and I know that you guys love her as well so hopefully I'll get her on another video

really soon. Because yeah, she's awesome.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a rollercoaster designer. I didn't really know what it meant

but I'd been to a theme park where there was an amazing roller coaster and i loved the

idea of designing one so I used to get paper and pens and just draw these crazy designs

and it never went beyond that but yeah that was kind of what I wanted to do as a kid.

Oh and obviously be a football player, of course.

This one is a hard one to admit but I have never watched Star Wars! I know! I know! I

should, I really should! But I've kind of got to the point now where I kind of don't

want to. Maybe this is me being stubborn but every time I tell someone that I've never

seen Star Wars I just love their reaction. They are like 'oh what! You've.. what!' and

I enjoy seeing their reaction so maybe I should never watch Star Wars. Let me know if you've

never watched Star Wars, please let me know in the comments below. If I could meet any

famous person, I would love to meet David Attenborough. Now David Attenborough is a

national treasure here in Britain. He presents nature documentaries so if you have ever seen

Planet Earth or Blue Planet, he was the voice and presenter for those programmes. He does

amazing amazing TV. He has shown me the world, so I have been able to sit in my living room

and he has shown me the world. He's gone to every corner and shown me how beautiful the

world is so I'd love to talk to him to ask him questions about you know what he's seen

and what he's done and all his experiences. At my sister's wedding I wore a kilt which

is traditional Scottish dress. Now I'm not Scottish but my sister's husband is Scottish

so we all wore kilts to the wedding. I have had every bad haircut that you can imagine.

Literally everything. I've shaved my hair off, I have had bleach blonde hair, I've had

cornrows, I've had it all. I've had a mohican, I've had every terrible haircut there is possible

and I'm glad that I have because you've got to try these things once, right? So yeah,

every haircut you could imagine.

One of my first jobs when I was about fourteen or fifteen. At Christmas I worked in a shop

that sold Christmas trees. So I would help families, they would come into the shop. They

would want to buy a Christmas tree and I would help them choose the Christmas tree that they

wanted and then I would put it on my shoulder and carry it to their car. It was a really

fun job, it was really festive and i kind of thought I was helping families find their

Christmas tree which is kind of magical so yeah that was a really fun job. It was quite

tiring but yeah I enjoyed it. But my worst job, well that's easy that's very easy. So

after leaving school I was temping, so i was doing different jobs every day and one job

that I was given by the temping agency was to go about fifty miles north to a town called

Milton Keynes. The night before was an Eminem concert and it was a huge venue, outdoor venue

and we got there and the manager just said you need to clear this field of all the rubbish.

And this field was covered with rubbish. Everything. Cans, bottles, just...it was awful. And it

was a sunny day so I thought well I'll make the best of it so I took off my top and I

tried to get a sun tan. Obviously in summer that's a pretty silly thing to do if yo haven't

got any sun tan cream. So we were working there for eight hours, picking up these bottles,

putting them into plastic bags. Finally we finished and then my friend looked at me and

he's like 'Tom you are super red. You look like a lobster!' And indeed I was covered

in sunburn. So the journey home, it was the worst. I couldn't touch the back of my seat

because it hurt too much I just had to stand up right. I was absolutely shattered from

the day at work. It was the worst day ever. Definitely. Definitely the worst job I've

ever done. It's made me appreciate how hard some jobs are and you know, and the tough

things that a lot of people have to do every day. So yeah, it was a good experience, a

good learning experience. When I was a kid I was obsessed with WWF which is wrestling.

And my favourite wrestler was the Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior, he was the

ultimate wrestler in my eyes. He was strong, he was fast, he was cool.

I've been in two bands. Well I say two bands. One was a group where we did like one terrible

concert we were singers, it was awful. And the second one was a punk band, again not

very good but we played one concert in the same venue that Coldplay have played so that's

kind of cool. I've played in the same venue as Coldplay. When I was a little kid I was

definitely very mischievous. A little bit naughty but I was also a little bit cheeky

so i kind of got away with murder really. So I'd get into the food draws and I'd just

eat the chocolate that was there or any sweets that I could find. And then my Mum would find

me and be like 'tom what are you doing?' And I would just smile and grin and have this

cheeky face and she would start laughing and I got away with it.

And the final one and the most important is that I have a niece and nephew. My nephew

is Stanley and my niece is Isla and they are awesome. I love hanging out with them, we

do all kinds of fun things. So we play football, we do musical statues, we play Uno. They are

much better than me at these games but I love playing with them they are super fun. That

was thirty five facts about me. I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know in the comments

below, were any of those similar for you. Do you have a niece and nephew or are you

afraid of sharks? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to know more about you guys.

Remember guys I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday teaching you fresh modern

British English. Remember to hit the subscribe button, hit the like button and of course

if you are on Instagram or on Facebook I'm there as well so go check those out as well.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me today, I've really enjoyed this one. It's

been a personal vlog today but I hope you have enjoyed it. Anyway, this is Tom, the

Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.