LIVE English Lesson - 29th OCTOBER 2017 - Scary HALLOWEEN - Grammar - Anniversaries - Words

do you ever find yourself having to deal with someone with an axe to grind

this rather aggressive phrase refers to someone who is out for revenge or is

seeking to get back at someone for personal reasons

they have an axe to grind we can also use this expression to describe a person

who wishes to express an opinion against someone with whom they have had a

disagreement the person doing the criticizing has an axe to grind

they wish to vent their personal anger at someone over an issue that person has

an axe to grind the expression derives from the action of sharpening an axe

before using it of course the expression is purely figurative so no one will

actually be chopped up thank goodness

me too yip yip yip yip-yip-yip-yip oh here we go again oh my goodness it's

Sunday hello my pretties don't be afraid there is nothing to fear mr. Duncan is

here on YouTube right now hi everybody how are you today

are you okay I hope so are you happy are you happy I really really hope so don't

be scared don't be afraid everything is all right it is Sunday and we are doing

something a little different today because we are leading up to Halloween

in two days time it will be Halloween and of course many people like to

celebrate Halloween by knocking on people's doors and saying trick-or-treat

we will be talking a little bit more about that later on

lots of things to discuss today because besides Halloween we also have something

else happening today we are leading up to the anniversary of my YouTube channel

being formed so we are leading up to the 11th anniversary of my YouTube channel

yes you didn't hear me wrong you did hear me right I have been here on

YouTube teaching English to the world for almost 11 years so on Tuesday

besides Halloween it will also be the anniversary of my English lesson

starting many many years ago more about that later on also something else very

different today joining me on the other side of the studio don't be afraid don't

worry although you might want to cover your

children's eyes because what you are about to see is so

every here it is oh my gosh it's horrible mr. Steve I thought you

were going to wear some Halloween makeup today but but I can see you've just come

looking normal today so so why haven't you bothered Oh funny mr. Duncan funny

okay so there's some amazing acting there for mr. Steve

so there's mr. Steve hello mr. Steve I can see that you have got into this

spirit of things do you like that that's a joke by the way mr. Steve has got into

the spirit of things a first bad joke of today just means there will be many more

so it's Sunday and lots of different things happening today besides the fact

that we look very strange well maybe not not much stranger than normal we also

have mr. Steve joining us for the whole two hours today can you believe it well

I didn't want to waste this makeup on just one hour so mr. Steve now can you

tell me what what's happened to you there you look as if you've been in a

road traffic accident oh I just woke up like this this morning I didn't feel

very well when I went to bed last night and and I just woke up her I thought I

don't feel very well I went in the mirror and I've got all these scars and

these open wounds and I had to hold my lip together with her with a safety pin

it was just hideous but I I knew I had to get here to this studio to be on your

show so I didn't have time to put much makeup on to cover it all up so I'm

afraid I just woke up like this something must have got to me in the

night that Val is the worst case of getting out of bed on the wrong side

that I've ever seen to be honest did have a few to drink last night I can't

remember what happened but this is the result that's the story of most people's

lie what did I do last night where am I

well if you're wondering where you are at the moment you are on YouTube and

it's myself mr. Duncan and also mr. Steve there he is

Thank You mr. Steve better late than never so here we are at Sunday afternoon

for those who are wondering what the heck is going on don't worry don't panic

because it is Halloween in two days time so that is the reason why everything

looks a little bit different a little bit creepy I hope it's not too scary now

if there are any children watching I hope this isn't too scary I hope I

haven't scared them too much what a busy week it's being more of mr. Steve in a

moment by the way what a busy week it's been well first of all this morning

shall we have a look outside the window this is what it looked like this morning

when I woke up there it is the view from my bedroom window this morning looking

very lovely today the sky is blue having said that it's very cold at the moment

it really does feel as if winter is on the way so very very cold at the moment

quite chilly especially at night I have a feeling that next week we will be

lighting the fire in the house because it's getting very very cold at night and

mr. Steve there is something else it's happening now just to show how famous

I've become now because in the past I always said that I'm not famous but

apparently just to show you how famous I have become here in Much Wenlock they

have actually started a special tour this is called the mr. duncan tour so

now lots of people walk to the back of my garden and they they look at where

mr. duncan lives by the way mr. Duncan is me and here it is look there it is

can you see it mr. Duncan's tour so lots of people

walk around the back of my house and there is a guide that shows them all of

the places where I filmed my lessons in the past and there you can see the guide

he is pointing towards my house is saying over there you could see mr.

Duncan's house and that is where he produces his famous English lessons and

you can see lots of people there they fly from all around the world to come

and have a look at where the magic happens

so that that was the first special mr. duncan tour that took place this week

and if you would like to join the mr. duncan tour apparently it takes place

every Monday every Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. and the mr. duncan tour will

be running until I think it's February next year so all of these people are

coming to have a look at where my English lessons are made so as you can

see we are really famous what do you think about that mr. Steve we're famous

now well I think we'll have to start charging maybe a hundred pounds hundred

dollars for them to go through the gate at the top and have a have a look yes

because because goes on there is a gate at the back of my house and people have

to walk through it so I'm thinking of charging people so now that there is a

big tourist industry taking off here in Much Wenlock lots of people flying from

around the world all the different countries people are arriving here

they're coming here just to have a look where my English lessons are made it's

incredible I mean there could be a thousand people there by Christmas

standing at the top there with all their camera lens is pointed directly on to

you but you know what the worst thing is I don't make a penny from it well that's

why I said we'd have to start charging them I'll go up there somebody else is

making a profit fruit fruit from my my name I'll go up

there dressed like this and say look here give some money to mr. Duncan

otherwise you just get lost which is because mr. Steve

normally scares the locals isn't that true yes because yes normally I've got

lots of makeup on to cover all this up but today obviously I didn't have time

in fact isn't it isn't it true mr. Steve that next Saturday sorry next Sunday

because next Sunday is bonfire night the 5th of November is it true that next

Sunday they're going to put you on the fire let's go as guy fall that's not

very nice what do you think I think that's not very nice of mr. Duncan to

say that to me is it that's what I've heard put me on the bonfire lots of

things coming your way today it's a special day we are getting ready for

Halloween as you can see this is not what we normally look like just in case

you are wondering and also we will be celebrating in the second hour we will

be celebrating my 11th year on YouTube and 11 years miss Hettie um can you

believe it I can't believe it no it's quite a feat actually so anybody else on

YouTube that has been teaching English or even doing anything for 11 years on

YouTube for that matter I've never done anything for 11 years in my life be nice

if a you've got recognition from YouTube as well I wonder if that will happen mr.

Duncan no I can tell you now that YouTube will completely ignore this just

like last year because last year I had my 10th anniversary and YouTube

completely ignored I couldn't care less couldn't give a damn it's a good job

we've got wonderful people out there watching you now who appreciate what you

do mr. Duncan well I thought I can say I do appreciate my fans I must admit

because because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my viewers and of course now

I'm talking about you watching out there if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here

now doing this wonderful loyal viewers we have the live chat up and running

right now lots of people on the live chat Patricia is here hello Patricia a

big Bonjour from France Bonjour also a Jana Jana Hanafi is

I'm so happy to see you today hello from Mexico Abril is here

hello Abril welcome to my rather unusual livestream don't forget I am here every

Sunday every Sunday from 2 p.m. UK time and of course mr. Steve will also be

here every single Sunday lots of people seem to like it that the fact that you

are here now mr. Steve thank you very much my pleasure a little bit later on

guess what we're doing later mr. Steve Oh

tell me mr. Duncan that's some great acting by the way tell I will tell you

right now a little bit later we are going to take a look at mr. Steve's

first ever appearance in my youtube lessons the first time mr. Steve ever

appeared in one of my lessons can you remember which lesson it was mr. Steve I

cannot remember it's such a long time ago but I can't wait to see it you can't

wait to see it well guess what we're gonna have a look at it right now

now so this is mr. Steve's first ever appearance in one of my

youtube lessons and in this lesson we have mr. Steve joining in pretending to

be me and also we have some rather funny bloopers as well

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you okay

I hope so are you happy I hope so in today's lesson oh this is my lesson

just thought I'd help you a bit I don't need any help your lessons in

the English pronunciation no me thank you very much thank you okay bye bye but

sometime some bits we didn't use is it all fascinate yes huh Oh recording shall

we have a go then shall we try try one try earlier a bit the road I come in and

pretend to be you yeah you're gonna pretend to be me can you do that

Gabriella's given any conferring the glasses I need them just do it rebus if

you do hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you

okay thank you are you happy ah I hope some leave excuse me what are

you doing Oh

senior your video if I seen them they're wonderful who may help me speak English

oh I know speak English now good my English good okay it's just I was just

being offensive now isn't it yeah you see we passed the boundary of funny now

we are into the offensive realm hurry up hi everyone this is mr. Duncan in

England say it's everybody hi everybody and I'll just hit the camera as well oh

well don't worry hi everybody how are you today

are you okay I hope so are you happy ah so body language everyone will cry cry

forever this affects your bare bottom

company for the clapperboard and accent

mr. Duncan I'm mr. Duncan yes you see you is it

really you either pervious made hearts out the whole faxing but now I could

work anywhere it's just seeing you it's just so wonderful to see you in the

flesh okay this this guy's trying to be me I

can't believe it terrible Ellen I have to be my lesson now

oh right okay I hope you don't mind you know please just that's okay okay I'll

call the hospital they can take you back

crazy

so there was mr. Stevie did you see him mr. Steve making his first-ever

appearance way back in 2008 did you see that then

did you see that mr. Duncan tall apparently they've come back they want

to see more of the back of my house so mr. Steve do you remember now the

lesson it was the body language lesson how long ago was that mr. Duncan I just

said 2008 2008 all right well look what's happened to me in that short

space of time since then being involved with you and your English teaching

lessons has turned me into this hideous zombie I must admit I think it is an

improvement though you do look better I must have you've never looked better

to be honest oh thank you I must say I've got a wonderful set behind me shall

we let your viewers see this spectacular set that you've put together for me look

at that and the big question today is which which part of the set is going to

fall off first because I three days doing this three days and I realized

that that lots of the the pieces of paper that I stuck up they kept falling

down so I have a feeling today that that some of this stuff is going to keep

falling down and regular viewers of course will know that I'm always

complaining about the boring backdrop to me standing here which is usually just a

load of tripods on a green screen or today look at this I shall reveal it in

all its glory so what can you can you show us what is

actually there right well we've got balloons in various colors black and red

to be a bit scary for Halloween we've got the familiar clock we've got a skull

we've got look at these bats hanging up here

he's scary-looking bats I like the bats that's right of course

to get them flying around here all the time we get real we get real bats here

don't we yes they might they might they might come and drop in later we need the

door open so look at that trick or treat we've got a witch over here that's a

witch we've got a frog where are you going tried to stay on camera hello it's

like it's like a BBC weatherman I've noticed nowadays on the BBC when the

weather person weatherman or weather woman is is reading the weather they

sort of disappear that's better than this do it that way around a spider I've

got a pointer now a spider a frog associated with with witches and evil

doings there's the witch on her broomstick yeah the witch on her

broomstick and then we've got trick-or-treat which is something I'm

sure we will explain for people who don't know about Halloween we'll get

into that a bit later on and as I already said I forgot these lovely

balloons and a skull and these he's lovely back sort of flying behind me

they might attack me bite my neck at any minute what are the other things there

are there are other things there as well that you've missed out have I have I

missed things out the spider's webs yes the spiders went and the big orange

things a big orange thing ah mr. Duncan well that it of course is

commonly used every year in Halloween it's a pumpkin pumpkin

it's a giant it's a pumpkin a huge great I don't know if it's a fruit I think

it's a vegetable and it's cut out hollowed out and you put you put candles

inside and cut out the shape of a eyes and a nose like the candles and it looks

scary because Halloween is all about being scary it's about the afterlife is

this not mr. Duncan is Halloween about the afterlife well it's it's sort of got

it's sort of roots in the now I thought it was all about kids just being very

annoying knocking on your door and in trying to bribe you out are giving them

giving giving sweets to them yet for that the whole tradition of it goes back

of years to the Middler is it time do we want to talk about the history of

Halloween now as we might as well oh right well we're here aren't we we're

here we're here we might as well do it we're dressed up have we've gone through

a lot of effort and mr. Duncan wasn't lying when he said it's taken him three

days to put all this together it has he's been working very hard to make this

look scary for Halloween of course not everybody celebrates Halloween it's more

of a sort of a Western sort of tradition America England but of course more

countries in the world are doing it now and from what I understand mr. Duncan

I'm sure you've got a lot more knowledge about this than me the the history dates

back hundreds and hundreds of years back to the dark Middle Ages in the UK and

it's all about it's all about what this fascination that we all have human

beings have of what happens after we die yes is there an afterlife and if so what

goes on there and Halloween is really about sort of saying prayers for the

dead I think that's where it originally comes from that is it's it was actually

a pagan ritual so this predates things like Christianity being introduced to

this country so it goes back many yes you're right hundreds of years and over

the years Halloween has become something different so originally it was called

All Hallows Eve which much which was the period of time leading up to all of the

spirits and the ghosts walking around and over the years the the celebration

or the commemoration or the festival has changed and nowadays most people don't

even think about the origins of Halloween so nowadays we just think of

pumpkins we think of children knocking on people's doors asking for sweets and

of course we think of the office party where everyone gets drunk at our

Halloween parties you say that's it basically exactly because it's

been highly commercialized since the beginning of the 20th century masses in

America and of course because obviously people are making money out of this now

but it all dates back as well you imagine what life was like six or seven

hundred years ago everybody really lived in dark dingy forests there was no art

there was no real artificial light apart from dimly lit candles so all these

stories of ghosts and ghouls and zombies and what goes on in the afterlife really

became a very real and and a prominent thing in people's lives so every year

they wanted to celebrate it really to say prayers to people that had died so

that they didn't come back and and haunt them in in the material world that we

all live in what's what's also interesting is it's very similar to the

culture in China where where spirits and ghosts are almost revered so there is a

kind of spiritual sort of belief also in China so it's very similar in fact but

what's interesting now is most people don't sort of look at that aspect of it

they just look at the fun side which is of course dressing up as scary monsters

and knocking on doors walking around the streets dressed up as scary characters

and that's really it yes and a lot of people think that in Britain Halloween

isn't really observed but in fact originally this is where it all began

this is where Halloween was observed all of those hundreds of years ago and then

of course in the United States it was adopted and also adapted there so many

people think that Halloween is just a USA festival but it isn't it's also

commemorated or observed here in the UK in a very similar way people dress up as

scary characters and the most important thing of all people knock on the doors

normally children sometimes adults because we're going out later aren't we

mr. we we're going out trick-or-treating

tonight that'll scare the neighbors that will give the neighbors quite a shot

seeing two adults standing at their door dressed as ghoul apparently I read as

far mr. Duncan that this tradition hour of trick-or-treating dates back because

apparently in the Middle Ages one of the celebrations were they used to give out

sort of cake as a sort of offerings to the two dead people so that it's sort of

that I think it dates back from there the trick-or-treat because we all do

have a fascination about about life after death does it exist if so what is

it so imagine living in a dark forest with

wild wolves and all sorts of creatures that could kill out any minute living

out there because that's what life used to be like people were killed by by

wolves and wild bears and all sorts of creatures roaming in the forests we've

killed them all off now it's very safe so life's a lot safer so we don't fear

the unknown as much anymore so as you have quite rightly said Halloween has

now turned into this sort of sort of commercialized version where it's a

little scary but not that scary and and people make money out of out of selling

sweets and the whole commercialization of the whole thing but it's fun and we

like to do it every years like bonfire night which we'll talk about next week

um that's it let's not let's not do too much because we're going to be taking

away next week's episode next week's live stream of course next week we are

live on November the fifth which happens to be bonfire night and also Guy Fawkes

night so that's next week we won't talk about that because because there'll be

no point you tuning in next week you see if we talk about all of that could be

very exciting we gotta have fireworks mr. Duncan I'm not sure I'm not sure if

we're going to have fireworks well no more than normal anyway because there

are normally fireworks going off here in the studio between you and I don't know

what he means but never mind so lots of things coming today we have

the mystery idioms lots of people love the mystery idioms and of course today

will be no exception we also have the live chat very busy lemon tree says

Duncan Frankenstein yes I am actually Duncan Stein Duncan stankin start there

so I'm Duncan Stein and that over there is scary scary

Steve so he's got the scars and I've got the Frankenstein head they've actually

given me a new brain today but I don't know where it came from

but it it's worse than the one I had before do you need a new brain mr.

Duncan I certainly do I can do with a couple talking of Halloween I can safely

say that I've never been grabbed by the goose ghosts the ghosts have never

grabbed me although now and again I am grabbed by the Ghoulies I've got some

scary stories for later as well really mr. Steve will be giving us some spooky

Rhys - Halloween tales so please don't go away stay around for that as I said

we have the mystery idioms shall we have a look at the mystery idioms now mr.

Steve yes I would live never seen them actually happen live I've always been

outside waiting to come in you can now see how exciting things get around here

sometimes gets very hot I know that I'm very hot with this hoodie on so here we

go the mystery idioms are coming all you have to do is say what you see mystery

idiom number one coming right now so there it is that is the first mystery

idiom but but what is it what is it we also have a schwack and also Shireen and

Rosa here Rosa says congratulations for your eleventh year thank you very much

and here is the second mystery idiom so there it is so to

mr. e idioms there is the second one and there once again is the first one all

you have to do is say what you see they are mystery idioms well-known phrases or

expressions used in the English language hello mr. steve says lemon tree cool

costume oh that's very nice of you to say thank you very much

hello mr. Duncan can you please say hello to Brazil hello Brazil a big hello

to Brazil and also to Diego as well Ezra is here Sanjeev Reddy is here hello

Sanjeev I believe it is your first time here today I'm new here this is so

interesting thank you very much for that royal whose signal says hello mr. Duncan

from Azerbaijan thank you very much for joining me Nikolai mr. Duncan ah mr.

Steve and everyone hello rose sir is here I think I've already said hello to

Rosa melanca hello min Lanka I'm not sure how

many people from Serbia are here watching you but I promise that I won't

leave you I will stay with you thank you very much I'm very pleased to hear that

you are going to stay with me Luciano is here hello Luciano say hello to Luciano

mr. Steve I like to call him Pavarotti hello I always see what you've done that

because that there are the three tenors there's Luciano Pavarotti and there's

the other guy Jose Jose Carreras apparently Jose Carreras is is the one

that no one can remember so people always remember Luciano Pavarotti and

they always remember Placido Domingo the sea bowed Domingo it sounds like a typo

Domingo it sounds like a type of medicine have you taken your pussy play

placebo Domingo today I think it's Placido

Sedo though I think is hairy icing man not the SIBO not placebo placebo Mingo

placebo is a great word isn't it it is what is placebo the SIBO is something

that you your isn't the real thing so for example if you're in a trial of

where they're testing a medicine hmm then you want to see if this medicine

works so you give half the people in the trial the real medicine and half the

people get a fake medicine that looks like it's the real thing normally it's

just like sugar or some like sugar in the capsule

neither side knows who's getting the real one so that's a good way of trying

to find out if that new drug actually works so that's a placebo is it's sort

of a fake false it's not the real thing it's a very scientific way of finding

out if if a certain medicine really does work so I trusted methods been used for

many many years yes I think so and sometimes I mean there are people

who believe that placebos are given out normally to people who are taking

medicines so so there are people who think that a lot of the pharmaceutical

industry's do that so right I'm not sure how true that is

well that is very true well I don't think that's true but I think a lot of

doctors give out for example a very cheap simple medicine like aspirin or

paracetamol they just realize we have to be careful what we're saying here

producer hello Patricia Patricia you have some blood curdling on your face I

think so this is where they put my new brain in

so now I have a new brain inside my skull so so yes you can see it isn't

healing very well I might have to put some salve lon on it I think in fact you

rent a bit do you rent a bit mad with your new brain and and hit me across the

forehead with an axe hence I've got this great big scar where hurted me I can

tell you hang on a second I think I know what's

happened I think they've taken your brain out and have swapped it with mine

so I really like with that I think maybe I've got your brain and you don't want

that believe Mitch will explain a lot shall we have a look at one of my

English lessons from the past would you like to do that go on let's have a look

mr. Duncan at one of your old Inglot watch this what's this English lesson

about it is all about the subject that we are talking about today it is up it

is all about not Halloween you are near okay so statistic I'm going to reduce it

now you let me introduce it I'd be very yeah it's it's all about it's all about

you're not you're not like mr. Steve no one can hear you wait there I assumed I

was always on Mike but no one can see you let me just let me just introduce

this next piece please okay is that is that okay mr. Steve yes it's okay I I

know that you like talking I don't know when I'm on and when I'm not because I

well I can assure you now that you are not on at the moment okay okay here is a

lesson all about the subject that we are talking about today a lesson all about

fear fear is an emotional reaction to something we are afraid of we express

fear in many ways for instance our heart might beat faster maybe we begin to bite

our nails perhaps we shiver or maybe we close our

eyes so we cannot see what is happening

we can express fear by what we say and the way we say it for example I don't

want to go in there it's too dark someone is following me maybe they will

rob me I don't want to go to the dentist I'm too scared if I have to see my boss

today and I'm not looking forward to it

did you know that you can be afraid of almost anything there is another word

for fear we can say that we have a phobia if you have a phobia then this

means that you will always be afraid of that particular thing

there are many phobias around such as

agoraphobia the fear of open spaces or going outdoors

acrophobia the fear of being high up from the ground the dizzy feeling you

get when you're high up is called vertigo algophobia a fear of pain

arachnophobia to be afraid of spiders

claustrophobia a fear of being in a small space for example trapped in a

cupboard

hydrophobia a fear of water

pyro phobia a fear of fire or being burned

ronita phobia a fear of frogs

triskaidekaphobia the fear of number 13 for example sitting at a table with 13

people try Panna phobia a fear of injections or needles xenophobia

a fear of strangers foreigners or foreign cultures

what are you afraid of what makes you say boo if fear suddenly happens then we

normally call this shock you did not expect that event to happen so you will

be even more scared and anxious there are many sentences that can be

used for showing the action of being shocked for example you frightened the

life out of me

hope shaking like a jelly you put the willies up me I almost jumped out of my

skin

you nearly gave me a heart attack

sometimes at night we have dreams that make us afraid we call these particular

dreams nightmares or bad dreams in our mind the scary event seems real

so our fear will feel just as real do you ever have nightmares are you s are

you afraid are you scared I hope not so there it was one of my

lessons that I've made over the past 11 years and that one was all about fear

what are you afraid of what scares you what are you afraid of for example maybe

you are afraid of spiders or perhaps you are afraid of ghosts or maybe certain

movies which is interesting because there are lots of scary movies around

mr. Steve is still here mr. Steve is with us for the whole of today's live

stream very unusual because normally mr. Steve is only here for the second hour

but he's with us all through today so what scares you anything that scares you

in particular I must admit are I I am afraid of the

dark I don't like the dark I don't like being in a dark room or I

don't like walking around at night without a torch so I must admit that I

do I do fear the dark a little bit I don't like darkness that all stems from

when I was a kid Steve Oh does it am i back on ha mr.

steve is now back on and we are to know we are together today and yes I I was

afraid of the dark as a kid I used to scream and shout and have nightmares so

so I always used to have a little light on you

in the bedroom when I was a child in fact I still do I still do

so what scares you out there is this something you are afraid of maybe you

are afraid of our appearance today we do look a little bit scary don't we

yes I think we do I think we do mr. doom but but then again I think we always

look a little bit scary to be honest Oh surely not surely we're friendly and

approachable and engaging there although there are lots of before you go off on

another and thready minute speech

they're all yet there are lots of scary movies around there are lots of

frightening movies now is there a particular movie that scares you mr.

Steve actually I don't like I don't like stories about devils like the omen was a

sort of famous film from the 1980s I don't like films about sort of devils

and things like yes the omen that was all about that little boy who apparently

was really the devil Oh dear me that was a bit scary there's always that seen it

towards the end where the boy is trapped under the ice I hate that yes that's so

scary I don't like I don't like sort of places

that lofts in a house loft so like attics

Atticus attics or lofts you call them lofts

I'm mr. bet I'm getting used to my appearance I think I might dress like

this every week I think it's an improvement

and to be honest I look amazing manner you can join some kind of cult sorry

some kind of cult what's that sorry I can't what what did you say

I see ult and code that sounds worse yeah Oh a cult a lot of people say that

I'm a cult I say that mr. Duncan that mr. Duncan what a cult

well maybe maybe you've got a cult following Messiah I think that's what

they're saying anyway yes a small group of people involved in

in something that they like and do together I believe mr. Steve

you have a horror story for us now scary story ha ha are you ok so they call the

doctor getting into the spirit of it all oh yeah are you having one of your funny

turns again I nearly said the spirit of it or get it we've already you've

already cracked that joke already yes we have so you have a story now that is

going to put the willies up as a scary story just for Halloween okay so this

story is called the chair this short tail starts benignly enough with a

friendly seeming ghost playing with children but when you learn that the

origins of the ghost and just why the ghost is moving the object around the

room it quickly gets a lot creepier I shall begin when my sister Betsy and I

were kids our family lived for a while in a charming old farmhouse we loved

exploring its dusty corners and climbing the apple tree in the backyard but our

favorite thing was the ghost we called her mother because she seems so kind and

nurturing some mornings Betsy and I would wake up and on each of our

nightstands we'd find a cup that hadn't been there the night before mother had

left them there worried that we'd get thirsty during the night she just wanted

to take care of us among the homes original furnishings was an antique

wooden chair which we kept against the back wall of the living room whenever we

were preoccupied watching TV or playing a game mother that's the ghost wood

inch that chair Ford across the room towards us

sometimes she managed to move it all the way to the center of the room we always

felt sad putting it back against the wall mother just wanted to be near us

years later after we'd moved out I found an old newspaper article about the farm

houses original occupant a widow she'd murdered her two children by

giving them each a cup of poisoned milk before bed then she hung herself

the article included a photo of the farm houses living room with a woman's body

hanging from a beam beneath her knocked over was that old wooden chair placed

exactly in the center of the room did it get colder in here or is it just me

scary story oh I've got goosebumps all over I've got goosebumps in places where

I never knew that I could get goosebumps that was amazing that was very scary so

basically mother was a ghost mother was a ghost and she had what had she done

she murdered her children by poisoning them with milk with milk what was the

milk off was it sour milk well I'm not sure what it was but it's a scary

starter that we need to look into too many details look out dory it's just a

scary story mr. Duncan I've got goosebumps do you know what goosebumps

are goosebumps are the things that appear when you get cold or afraid all

of the hairs stand up and you get little bumps on your skin we call them goose

bumps orbs or of course goose pimples I don't know why so you you really did

frighten me there mr. Steve I was very scared indeed do you have another story

for us later I do I've got two but if we've only got time for one we'll just

do one more scary story we will try to squeeze that in when we can we have

something else now coming well first of all let's have a look at the live chat

because lots of people are getting involved today on the live chat

brilliant if Shann says I'm not afraid I a fault yeah something's just fallen off

the first part of the set has fallen off can you can you find it mr. Steven

showers so the first part the first thing that's fallen off the set there it

is so there is the first thing to fall off

it must have been a ghost that did that mr. Duncan I think must have been a

ghost maybe shall I stick it back up for you you could try but but I think it

will just fall back down again it's too high now lower no it's too high lower

that's it that's okay I think it will fall off again stay you had to see that

very spooky I think that was a ghost was scary that was a ghost and we didn't

arrange that at all did we miss we did not arrange that although my my

workmanship the way in which I put those pieces of paper up probably leave a lot

to be desired like Theresa Mays speech yes the Party conference when everything

started falling off yes some people say I look a little bit like Theresa made

today scary you mean ashen with with dark bags under your eyes

a face that's not very nice I hope to resume isn't watching I'm sorry if you

are she's under a lot of stress mr. Steve is only half true Patricia I'm

scared of poisonous snakes oh yes you know that those snakes you have to be

very careful where you where you find those snakes they can they can bite you

they can give you a nasty right if you're not careful Eliana is

here long the doing I don't owe that that's a

message for someone else on the live chat that's I'm not gonna read that out

that was fantastic mr. Duncan sorry mr. Steve Eugene is on the live chat it's

moving very fast today all of the chat is moving very quickly Eugene says that

was a fantastic performance mr. Steve thank you very much and more of that to

come later Matt walu says that was a great performance as well oh you've got

some fans out there mr. Steve that's scaring everybody francisco is here

francisco says hello as well lemon tree says Wow amazing acting skills thank you

do you mean me or mr. Steve or mr. Steve I think so

very scary says soccer soccer afridi or afraid II I thought it was afraid that

you see lar no I have B word that there is that there is a huge conversation

taking place in the live chat and I keep reading parts of it but but if I read a

part of it it won't make any sense to anyone else

apparently Sergio is afraid of injections and also needles going into

his skin oh dear yes a lot of people don't like injections or having blood

taken from the blood do that's very nice at all we will be celebrating something

very special in the second hour because it will be my 11th year on YouTube my

11th anniversary guess when on Tuesday Tuesday the 31st of October I will have

been here on YouTube for 11 years so we are about to enter into

of 12th year on YouTube can you believe it mr. Steve I I can't believe it no

it's just sort of gone by very quickly and you've done an awful lot in that

time we'll talk about more of that it we'll talk more about that in the in the

final hour how many how many videos you produced I don't know how many hours of

recorded English teaching you've actually contributed yes to the the

world of English out there or even more interesting how many hours I've spent

making all of those videos because of course producing these videos and

produce even producing this today has taken many many days of preparation so

we'll talk about that a little bit later on

apparently Emilio says with your new brain you can teach English much better

thank you Emilio for your vote of support - she

being sarcastic - win t says can you explain the words

magic and magical well magic is something that happens or occurs that

has no explanation it seems too incredible so something that's magic is

something that happens or occurs miraculously it's magic and something

that is magical is amazing or fantastic something that is very impressive is

magical some people say that Disneyland is a magical place to go it is an

amazing place so I hope that answers your question

Damir says I am afraid of snakes and scorpions

oh yes scorpions aren't very nice we don't we don't like scorpions very much

no because they can sting you sting you with their their little tail their tail

looks like that you see ts says maybe the ghost is

joining in with your live video yes I think so did you see that earlier a part

of the set fell to the fluor something dropped off something

dropped off there's nothing worse than when something drops off do you agree

mr. Steve no you want to keep everything in place everything has to stay where it

is gosh if you're a zombie like I am today things drop off like your fingers

might drop off bitch of your skin might come off or your eye might fall off yeah

that's all off that's what zombie being a zombie is all

about Francisco says mr. Duncan looks like Frankenstein he is frankenz I am

NOT Frankenstein I am Duncan Stein Duncan Stein of course everybody gets

that wrong including myself Frankenstein of course wasn't the monster

Frankenstein was the was the mad scientist that created Frank yes

yes a lot of people make that mistake including me just so a lot of people say

Frankenstein as the monster but of course Frankenstein wasn't the monster

Frankenstein with the scientist who created the monster so a lot of people

say that but I am for argument's sake I am

Duncan Stein and that over there that is scary scary mr. Steve looking very

sinister and spooky today because of course two days from now it will be

Halloween Halloween Simona says I am afraid of bugs and gypsies it's a very

interesting combination a very strange combination yes yes I can understand why

but continue well quite often gypsies are sort of steeped in a lot of folklore

and they're sort of more in touch with with the past and the the ancient sort

of traditions it used to go on many hundreds of years ago and I remember

when I was young my mother always said to me because gypsies used to try and

sell you pegs for for hanging your washing up on the

washing line that's very spooky though those those spooky pegs that well no the

spooky thing was oh if a gypsy came to your house and said do you want to buy

any pegs do you want to buy any pegs that's what I used to say and if you

said no they would put a curse on you oh I see so it's a bit why I tell you now

wait there it's a bit like trick-or-treat yes yes there you go so I

don't think they do it now I haven't I haven't had we hadn't had any gypsies

coming around knocking on our door for you but they used to do that when I grew

up so that would you know in the 1980s I think that I think the last time that a

gypsy knocked on my door was in about 1986 yes so not for a while they used to

sell pegs so they were a bit scared because then they look scary and they

used to threaten you with with a curse I really hope there are no gypsies what I

hope there are no chips is watching today but I don't think they do that

anymore what oh okay good I'm glad to hear that I haven't but that's just

tradition Luciano says gypsies really love to curse PPS exactly so so but

that's that's two against one okay so habe Sohaib says Duncan Stein oh

I'm scared happy Halloween thank you very much for that in a few moments we

are going to change out of these costumes hopefully we're going to do it

very quickly and you will be watching one of my I think it's one of my full

English lessons whilst we clean ourselves up Patricia says mr. Steve you

look like the grim reaper oh yes yes I should have a big what does

it go on Reaper havoc it is called a scythe the thigh that's it a great big

sigh a big scythe normally you use it for cutting the shop off your head

cutting the wheat but the the he is like the personification of death

isn't he exactly yes and that that's all tied up

in Halloween and the the fear of what happens in the afterlife yes you seem to

like saying that you've said that about 50 times today yes in ating you seem to

be fascinated by by the fascination the fascination for the afterlife seems to

fascinate you if you believe in that sort of thing

amazing whether I do or not but that had has left a message saying I see that the

subtitles are not enabled we can't have subtitles because you're watching us

live this is this is live okay I'm sorry there are no subtitles for the live

stream it's impossible it's physically impossible because we don't know what we

are going to say next so there are no subtitles for the live stream we are

live look what are you pointing at the clock oh I see there it is it is now six

minutes past 3:00 o'clock UK time and of course we're at slightly an hour later

because our clocks changed in the last night mr. Duncan does that do

that's it we actually turned the clock back to last night back one hour that's

not just us here in mr. Duncan's house no if that's the whole of I'd like this

whole of the UK certainly England goes the whole of the UK many many parts of

Europe do as well in fact some parts of the world also observe the summer time

and the winter time so they change their clocks as well so some countries do it

and some countries don't do it and that's the reason why it is so confusing

every year we have this confusion over this this change in the time so so

between you and me I hate it I think it's a stupid idea I think we should

stop it when it comes to March the docs will go forward again

boom-boom says Mr Duncan Steen you give me the creeps that's true a lot of

people say that even when I'm not dressed like this

I reckon that this is mr. Steeves normal appearance yes you're right it is it is

your eyes I normally put makeup on this is what mr. Steve looks like normally so

let's have a look at one of our full English lessons and we will go away to

clean ourselves up no more scary stories no oh shall we

have a scary story one more scary story and then we will start celebrating our

11th year on YouTube ok mr. Steve I can see that you want to tell us another

scary story this is a quick one it's called the accident it was 1 a.m. and

guy Halverson sat in his dark living room he hadn't moved for over an hour

the accident earlier that evening kept playing over and over in his mind the

light turned red but he was in a hurry and accelerated an orange blur came from

his right and in a split second there was a violent jolt then the bicyclist

rolled across his hood or bonnet and fell out of sight on the pavement horns

blare dang greeley and he panicked stepped on the gas and screeched away

from the chaos into the darkness shaken and keeping it an eye on his rearview

mirror till he got home why did you run you

idiot he'd never committed a crime before this and punished himself by

imagining years in jail his career gone his family gone his future gone why just

not go to the police right now who can afford a lawyer then someone tapped on

the front door and his world suddenly crumbled away beneath him they found me

there was nothing he could do but answer it running would only make matters worse

his body trembling he got up went to the door and open

a police officer stood under the porch light mr. Halverson asked the grim

officer he let out a defeated sigh the policeman said I am terribly sorry but

I'm afraid I have some bad news for you your son's bike was struck by a

hit-and-run driver this evening he died at the scene I'm very sorry for your

loss ah so you see he ran over his own son by going through a red light oh how

awful imagine being in that position there is almost a moral to that story

yes don't run through a red light that's it drive carefully or else you might end

up like this I think I said bicyclist I should have said cyclists what is a

bicyclists a bicyclist is the same as I think as a psyche I don't know whether

that is actually a word is is that the penny farthing is it a cyclist have you

ever seen a penny farthing yes I have see that's that's that's the bike that

has the big front wheel and the very small back wheel now what I want to know

is how how the hell do you get on a penny farthing I can see why they

stopped being made because I would imagine getting on to a penny farthing

must have been very difficult but the way it comes up to here it's it's a very

big bike I never understood why why the front wheel was so big fortunately they

decided to make the front wheel smaller I'm very glad to hear that because you'd

need you must you must need or you must have needed a ladder to climb up to get

onto a penny farthing it's a very random subject to go onto mr. Duncan

it's all right it's live English on a Sunday afternoon it's live and anything

can happen you could just stay like this mr. Duncan we don't have to get out of

this do you really to stay like this until until four

o'clock are you sure about that okay let's let's have a vote so yes do you

want as to stay like this for the rest of the lesson or would you like us to

change so please let us know right now please let us know

yes would you like us to change into our normal appearance or would you like us

to stay looking like this other votes coming in we need lots of votes we need

10 votes and whichever wherever we've got the maximum number we will do that

the only problem doing this you see is you've got about a 35 second delay so it

takes 35 seconds for whatever I say to reach my lovely audience so we've got to

we've got to wait for at least a minute Oh most people are saying change change

I think they're doing that on purpose because they want to see if we can do it

I know what you're doing out you want to see you want to see if we can actually

change out of these costumes and then change into our normal appearance I know

what you're doing lots of people are writing change now just to be awkward Oh

stay stay can everybody please say stay the way you are this is a democracy yes

so we must obey whatever the vote says I'm taking control of this vote so I've

decided that I will manipulate this vote I am a dictator mr. Duncan I'm going to

say I'm going to say no lots of people now saying don't change right so can we

have yes change change don't change don't change yes it would appear that

most people want to see you stay like this the rest of the lesson Joseph fix

says you're ugly that's not very nice is it

it's not very nice we know we're ugly Germano says stay the way you are

to change stay the way you are says edco oh I miss your normal faces are you sure

about that but you've got all that recorded material you can look at mr.

Duncan you know all these what is beauty on any of his past lesson let's have a

look another look let's have another look at the mystery idioms whilst we

have a moment to see how the votes are going it would appear that most people

want us to stay the way we are oh I see is that true are you just saying that

mister don't know I I'm being honest so many people are saying stay the way you

are it would appear that more people want us to stay the way we are so what

what's the ratio we're out of ten how many what's the percentage I must say

this particular vote is not very accurate well when we come back we will

add them all up and then we will work it out and I'll do it as an impartial

impartial observer but we're doing it now we can't come back later because

because we won't be here we won't be on later we'll be gone it would appear that

most people are saying stay the way you are don't change so yes it looks as if

we can stay the way we are so we will stay like this that's a relief because I

don't think I could have got this off in five minutes we will stay like this for

the rest of the lesson I'm

dupa dupa dupa do we are here on a Sunday just in case you've joined us we

are now celebrate all my goodness that looks even worse I'm gonna do that so it

looks different but I haven't got the hood on so I look a bit friendlier I'm

not sure I'm not sure if that looks any friendlier I'll be honest it that looks

even more scary because it it does Oh Deary me mr. art mr. Steve's eyebrows

are look like scars I know that those that mr. Steve's normal eyebrows that so

then said so that part of mr. Steve is normal that's how he normally looks so

here we go we are now celebrating 11 years on YouTube can you believe that on

Tuesday it will be 11 years since we started doing this I I really really

can't believe it so on the 31st of October 2006 all of this began

you see you know then so here okay it's okay welcome to mr. Duncan's first ever

edited video isn't it exciting well it's been another busy week and of

course as usual I've been in the school teaching English that's my job I think

one of the most common questions I'm asked during my time here in China by my

students is how can I improve my English

there's one thing I've noticed my fingers have gone dead look my fingers

have got a strange ready blue purpley pink colour not very good I think I

think if I stay outside much longer I think they will fall off hi everybody

this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you ok I hope so

are you happy I hope so welcome to the very first episode of my series of

English teaching videos you know the world of English is a fun and exciting

place to be I'm so glad you could join us for another lesson why do we need

phonetics the reason why we need a phonetic code is because some English

letters have more than one sound and because some letters when joined

together in a word actually create a new sound of their own also there is the

silent letter that can appear within a word

Dibby Dibby Dibby Dibby do so there it was a brief look back over the 11 years

that I've been on YouTube and I can't believe it mr. Steve can't believe it we

were talking about this earlier weren't we well if you say it enough I think we

will eventually believe it so with the fact that you've mentioned it lots of

times I think we can now believe wholeheartedly that you have been on

YouTube for 11 years on Tuesday it will be exactly 11 years don't forget that I

did create this YouTube channel whilst I was still in China so I was living in

China working in China and I created the YouTube channel whilst I was still there

so some of my early videos were actually filmed in China and then after coming

back to the UK I continued making my English lessons and now I've been doing

it for almost 11 years so we are about to enter the 12th year on YouTube so 11

years on Tuesday and lots of people saying oh we love to see the old clips

how long have you been watching how long have you been watching my English

lessons and what is your favorite lesson let's put that question out there right

now how long have you been watching my English lessons and for how many years

have you been viewing so there is something for you Nicholai Nicholai says

11 years does that mean you've been watching me for 11 years if you have

that's amazing Jamelia says what a big achievement mr. Duncan congratulations

yes I think so Luciano says really awesome it's not

easy to make videos and it takes courage to put the face in front of the camera

and film or shoot it's true I must admit doing the live stream is

very very nerve King it can be very stressful doing this

especially when you're doing it live don't forget what you're what you're

watching now isn't recorded it's all live so there's mr. Steve live just to

prove it what time is it at the moment it is 25 minutes past 3:00 o'clock on a

Sunday afternoon here in the UK and of course I put so much effort so much work

I can't begin to tell you how much time I take to create the lessons and also

create the live streams as well many many thousands and thousands and

thousands of hours and you know what mr. Steve people think that I'm some sort of

millionaire well I can assure the viewers out there that mr. Duncan is is

by no means a millionaire in fact I think you make just about enough money

every month just to buy food for yourself this is not a money-making

adventure I don't do this for money I must admit I don't do this to make

tons and tons of money not like other YouTube people with other YouTube people

there but but I I do this because I love doing it and I love helping you with

your English but of course it takes so much time to do this to make the lessons

to edit to do the live streams many many days in fact I spend most of my time now

preparing all of these lessons and also the live lessons as well and don't

forget I give everything away for free everything you see including this is

free mr. Duncan I'm feeling very sorry for you right now you're you're you're

pleading your case you've only just about got enough money to put food on

your table do you know I've just reached into my pocket and I have found 10

pounds this is a brand new we've got new ten pound notes now in the UK you can't

you can't destroy leading the made of plastic why would you want to why would

you want to destroy a ten pound no I don't know but he disappeared through

the washer I'm going to give you ten pounds mr. Duncan towards your YouTube

channel what do you think of that okay mr. Steve is offering you our

offering ten pounds that's very kind there are lots of ways I'm going to come

right over to you mr. Duncan there we go and I'm going to put ten pounds there

like that I feel like I feel like a go-go dancer in a strip club buy

yourself something nice do I have to do something for this ten

pounds yes you have to teach English on YouTube for another 11 years is this

what you have to do mr. Duncan okay then so yes there are ways of donating of

course just like mr. Steve has just donated you can also put something

forward on the super chat there is the symbol just in case and of course now

you can also make a direct donation if you wish to help this work continue for

its 12th year you can make a small donation through PayPal as well directly

through PayPal because a lot of people don't like giving their credit card

details so you can use PayPal direct and the address will appear underneath this

video right underneath so if like mr. Steve you would like to give me a

helping hand to allow my lessons to continue you are more than welcome to do

so you can use patreon you can also use the super chat today and if you want to

use PayPal you can pay directly through PayPal without giving all of your

details so there you go Thank You mr. Steve that's very kind of you I will put

that somewhere safe thank you very much and of course I have lots of lovely

people on my patreon site as well lots of beautiful human beings on the planet

who send a small donation every single month

so thank you very much for that and thank you very much mr. Steve I am very

very touched by your your generous gesture well we'd all like to see you

carry on teaching English you've been doing it for 11 years I don't think

there's anyone else there can't be anybody else on YouTube that has done

that it's quite an achievement I don't think people quite understand or

appreciate that if you look at people on YouTube now there are lots of English

teachers there but most of them have only been around for a very short period

of time mr. Duncan has devoted 11 years of his life to it so you know I've been

I've seen him do it and that's why I wanted to give you a bit of pocket money

ah you could use that to to put that towards what it costs you for all this

makeup that you've spent on the Halloween and all this time that you

spent mr. Duncan it's very impressive well this is nothing this is just part

of it every week I spend hours and hours and hours preparing things writing

things filming things designing the set so everything you see every single thing

that you see in my videos was created by me no one else he does it all himself

it's true you know you had a conversation somebody from YouTube

phoned you up didn't they that I think was about six months ago and they asked

you about your that the other team that you had helping it with your channel yes

it's there's no team it's it's all you everything is done by me that no one

else is here not like other YouTube people who have lots of people behind

the scenes helping them everything you see here was created by me including the

studio including the videos everything we also have we have a live donation

that just come through from big new Zuma who has sent five pounds so thank you

very much zib new tastic Zuma who has sent five

pounds on the super chat thank you very much and of course if you wish to donate

through PayPal as well you can do it directly and the address is very simple

in fact if you want to talk for a moment

mr. Steve I will actually put the address now on the live chat I tried to

another scary story do another scary story mr. Steve go on all right scare is

all one more left the ghost I don't want to sound mean but the dead are pretty

clueless I've always seen them when I was younger everyone thought I was just

talking to imaginary friends after a couple of years when I overheard my

parents talk about calling a psychologist I realized what I was

talking to see ghosts don't tend to realize they're dead and they don't tend

to look like they do in the movies they just look like us I'm pretty smart for a

13 year old so I started noticing certain patterns to tell them apart from

the living there could be a big bit distant from living people or you'd see

them try and talk to people who wouldn't even notice them some of them could tell

that I was different that I noticed them like this guy I saw after school

yesterday I'm a big boy now see and I don't tend need my parents to pick me up

or take me back home it's just a short walk away

he was standing away from the other parents didn't talk to them just stared

at me and that's how I knew he was one of the ghosts I went over told him I

knew what he was and asked how I could help him I don't remember much after

that I think because of what happened this morning

downstairs my parents were crying I tried to talk to them but they just

ignored me they must have died last night somehow somehow the new ghosts

wouldn't talk to me some police officers and reporters just arrived and wouldn't

talk to me either just like my parents it's weird I've never been or seen so

many ghosts together before why won't anyone talk to

me well the reason nobody was talking to him was because he was dead how about

that for a scary story mr. Duncan that was very scary I must admit so the moral

there what what happened in that can you explain it well he could see ghosts in

the beginning but then he died and didn't realize he turned into a ghost

you know what that reminds me of fights that reminds me of that famous movie The

Sixth Sense ah with Bruce Willis and the other guy there the guy that looks like

a pumpkin what's his name I don't know I can't remember his name now but it's the

kid but he but now when he was young he looked quite a lot of people said he

looked very cute but now apparently he looks like a pumpkin head I don't I

don't think that's true that's very mean what a mean thing to say I can't

remember his name there's Bruce Willis but what was the what was the boy's name

I can't remember I'm very bad with name so it's no good asking me thank you very

much once again to begin you zoomed Oh Simba who has sent a donation on the

live chat thank you very much for that and also I have put the address of the

PayPal me as well you can PayPal as well if you wish to make a small donation

don't forget everything I do is free for 11 years everything has been given away

for free and I promise I will be here for another 11 years I hope so anyway I

hope so I really hope so tan guy Blasi says teacher please help me what is what

does it mean to take up and how to learn all the phrasal verbs there are there

are hundreds and hundreds of phrasal verbs if you take up something it means

you start doing it normally as a hobby or something you do in your pastime so

if you have something that you've started doing

regularly you take it up you might take up bird-watching or take up cycling so

you can take something up it means you start doing it on a regular basis

Luciano says it's Haley Joel Osment that's it that's the guy that's the

that's the little kid from the sixth sense

and of course we all know what the boy said in the movie what does he say mr.

Steve do you remember I don't think I've ever seen the sixth sense you haven't

seen it he says he says to his mother all right he says to his mother I see

dead people and his mother says when when do you see them and he says oh that

time that is scary and there is a great twist at the end of the sixth sense so I

don't want to spoil it even though I have a feeling that I already have so

there is a great twist at the end of the sixth sense thank you very much for your

ghost story mr. Steve we are talking about spooky scary things also we are

talking about anniversaries we are now going to take a look at a lesson all

about anniversaries so here it comes as soon as I find it take it away mr.

Duncan this is a lesson that explains how we celebrate anniversaries and why

we celebrate them what am I now that I was their main memory restore again and

again the smallest color of the smallest day times the school in which we learn

time is the fire in which we burn

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you ok I

hope so are you happy I hope so

in this lesson we are going to take a look at something we often share with

others a time when we remember a period when we think about a particular moment

from the past in this special anniversary lesson we are going to take

a look at anniversaries

an anniversary is a period of time that occurs at the same moment as something

from the past this can relate to almost anything such as a notable event or any

significant occurrence we tend to celebrate anniversaries but as we will

be finding out later this is not always the case

we often see an anniversary as a general point of interest the more it relates to

us than the more significant it becomes the most common anniversaries are

personal ones your birthday is usually the most important as it symbolizes both

your arrival into the world and your ongoing progression through life for the

very young a birthday is a time of excitement although its significance is

usually felt more by the parents rather than the child in certain religions a

child's birthday can signify the coming of age or an arrival into adulthood

the anniversary of a special moment can involve many different things the

anniversary of a married couples wedding is seen as significant in most cultures

cards and gifts are usually exchanged on this day in Western culture precious

stones and metals are used to symbolize the most significant ones for example in

the UK we use pearl for the thirtieth Ruby for the fortieth gold for the

fiftieth and Diamond for the 60th wedding anniversary and platinum for the

70th these are usually seen as symbolic and are rarely given as actual gifts

of course not all anniversaries are happy ones for a happy event we usually

celebrate it the birth of a baby the marriage of a couple an event with

positive consequences when we mark the time when something sad occurred we

commemorate it we observe it we pay tribute we remember it the most personal

and upsetting anniversary must be that of the death of a loved one the passing

of a relative or close friend or a person who left a positive mark on your

life or any tragic event on the anniversary of someone's death you

remember them you mourn them you treasure the moments you shared with

them you think about the effect they had on your life you miss them

the word anniversary is the noun that defines the moment when a past event and

the present meet a point of time from the past converges with the present

albeit symbolically it is our own perception of the past that creates is

feeling the more you connect with the event the more you feel its significance

the date when a member of your family died will always be more important than

when someone outside your family circle passes away it is your emotional

connection that creates the importance and of course the memories you have of

that person this can apply to happy events and sad ones we tend to make a

record of an anniversary some people put a notice in the local newspaper

announcing anniversaries such as the birth of a child or the passing of a

loved one or they might make a note of it in their personal diary or journal

so today's lesson is all about anniversaries which is quite a

coincidence as I'm celebrating an anniversary of my own today I would like

to thank you all for the many thousands of kind comments and messages that I

have received from you over those years and the support of so many kind and

loyal people from my days teaching in China and all the amazing people I met

there to those closer to home here in England and of course you my online

students in so many countries from so many backgrounds with so many stories to

tell and dreams to follow and with the help of English you will be able to

share and accomplish each and every one of them I hope so

oh there it was a lesson made way back in 2011 all about anniversaries how we

celebrate certain anniversaries and why why we celebrate certain anniversaries

as well thank you very much to Francisco Francisco has just made a donation

through PayPal thank you very much I do appreciate it don't forget everything I

do is free it has been free for the past 11 years and it will be free for the

next 11 years as well so everything you see here is free and will remain free

but if you wish to make a donation to allow this work to continue because I do

spend so much time doing this I can't begin to tell you how much time I spend

isn't that true mr. Steve it is yes it is yes you spend many hours and days

preparing particularly these live lessons these these tape do take a long

time and an editing when you make your your pre-recorded lessons the editing

takes you an awful long time to make it look special and to integrate the the

the visual with the with the music and make it look like a cohesive lesson so

yes you do spend a lot of time yes editing takes a long time to do it it's

one of the hardest parts of filmmaking is the editing the filming is very

involved to actually shoot a movie or to shoot or to film a video to create the

visuals but then afterwards you have to edit everything in fact there is one

particular lesson that I made that is all about it's about memory and that one

took a long time to film and also to edit it took over 2 weeks to make so can

you imagine spending two weeks of your life

making one lesson and that's how long it took me to make

one of those lessons in fact over the years mr. Steve we have made lessons in

lots of very interesting places haven't we I've helped you on a few occasions

mostly you do it all yourself but I've been there on occasion to help you yes

we have been to some pretty some pretty wild places and some very exotic places

as well in fact we are going to take a very quick look at one of the lessons

that I made a few years ago in a very exotic location do you remember when we

went to Turkey yes I do oh yes yes we went on holiday in the

holiday turned into mr. Duncan filming for 90 percent of the time which he

often does but I'm whenever I'm with mr. Duncan Oh

let's go visiting some well go out for the day some where he usually spends

most of it filming that's true well during that holiday you were relaxing

and taking it easy and I was out all the time I kept disappearing didn't I

he can't resist filming and he occasionally causes a bit of friction

between us because say for example would just go for a walk somewhere well mr.

Duncan walk he wanted to stop every hundred yards because he sees something

he wants to film that he can use in a lesson to teach English and so I get

quite irritated at time yes sometimes we have we have a slight disagreement let's

just say an argument a disagreement words harsh words will pass between us

come on it said Duncan I want to go for a walk yes stop filming but you're

leaving out all of the swear words there of course we don't want to cut you off

you know just before your eleventh year okay then let's have a look at this

because we are running out of time we've only got 12 minutes left

you may leave it we have we have the special celebration to come at the end

of the lesson as well so here we go yes hang on for that we're going all the way

to Turkey now with one of our lessons one of my English lessons that I made a

few years ago and this is a lesson filmed in Turkey

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan how are you today are you ok I hope so

are you happy I hope so Here I am on my summer holiday taking in the sights and

sounds of Turkey in today's lesson we will take a look at words and sentences

connected with and relating to going on holiday welcome to Turkey

in English the place you travel to is your destination you set up from your

home and travel to another place you make a journey you go on a trip you take

your vacation you go on holiday the average holiday lasts for about two

weeks this is more common if the journey taken to get there is a long one the

slowest form of long-distance travel is by sea

the fastest form of transport is of course the aeroplane these days it is

common for those going on holiday to fly even if they are traveling within their

own country city hopping by plane is normal across both Europe and the United

States a short flight is referred to as short fall while a long flight is often

referred to as long-haul

a plane trip can take anything from a couple of hours with no stops to a

couple of days with many stops some people find flying less enjoyable

these days the long delays at airports and the many security checks that

passengers now face have combined to make travelling by plane much less of an

adventure than it used to be

do you do bee do bee do bee do bee do are all of the memories of flooding back

now I remember filming that particular lesson many years ago way back in 2010

can you believe it so seven years ago I made that lesson I can't believe it so

do you remember mr. Steve when we were filming in Turkey or when I was because

you were spending most of your time lying around but also are there any

other moments that you remember ah there was one when we where were we in Madeira

that's it it was Madeira and we were filming we decided to go on this cable

car so the cable car was going the cable car is a little carriage that goes up or

on a wire very high up popular in ski resorts but they had this in Madeira

forgetting because the very high mountains in Madeira and so to get from

the the lower sort of slopes near the beach every right to the top of the

mountains they have this cable car probably thousand feet in the air and

mr. Duncan decided he wanted to do some filming from inside this little cable

car and it got very scary because the cable cars sort of stopped and like you

see in the films and sometimes on these there's always action-adventure films

surrounding perilous escapes from cable car and we were filming from there and

it started to shake and move around and mr. Duncan was screaming his head off

yeah you're missing the best part out what was that the best part was I got

into it and then realized that I hate Heights

as you know I I hate Heights I guess that I get something called vertigo so

vertigo is is the physical feeling of being afraid of heights but also it can

make you feel very unwell at the same time so I I thought it was such a good

idea to film inside this particular cable car but as soon as I got in I

realized that now we are about 2000 maybe a thousand feet up in the air in

this little box and I started screaming I was really really getting quite

frightened and then the bloody thing stopped it stopped then we thought it

was like a a James Bond movie we're gonna have to climb out and get on the

top of it and then slide down the cable or something like that and you were

filming all this and it is somewhere perhaps you'll have to make this

available find out on your archives where this is he doesn't show it to be

but that is hidden away from view no one will ever ever get to see that it was a

bit scary so that's really in the theme of Halloween things being scary Heights

we only have five minutes five minutes and we have to celebrate five minutes

has left in today's livestream has gone very quickly what do you think do you

think it's gone quickly today I oh well I think it's gone quickly I've never

done to our stint with you haven't you done an hour before and I'm pretty

exhausted I must I must say so we are going to do something very special in a

moment very special don't go away but let's take another look at why we

are doing this why we are getting so excited about my anniversary it's

because I've been here on YouTube for almost 11 years on Tuesday it will be my

11th anniversary I've got something here this is the first-ever video lesson that

I made outside because if you are a regular viewer you will know that I love

going outside to film to make my video lessons here it is the first ever

outdoor lesson that I made over 10 years ago

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today

I would like to read a story to you it's called one good turn

two young men were walking along a narrow street each one in turn came

across an old man lying in the gutter he was wearing tattered clothes and

appeared cold and hungry the first man passed by the elderly gentleman without

stopping however the second man stopped and looked at the old man with a

sympathetic gaze he reached into his coat pocket and took out some loose

change that he had in there here said the young man take this and buy yourself

some hot food thank you very much said the old man in a weak voice don't

mention it replied the young man the young man

continued to walk along the street until he came to the corner he stopped and

turned round to his amazement the old man had disappeared as if he'd vanished

into thin air later that evening the young man was sitting at home watching

the television he was watching a programme about people who do good terms

of others to his amazement he saw the old man whom he'd met earlier in the day

it turned out that the old man was in fact an actor dressed to appear as a

homeless person

he was even more shocked to see himself giving the money to the old man it

turned out that the TV station had recorded everything that had happened a

moment later the telephone rang the young man hesitated for a moment and

then answered it was his mother I just saw you on television she screamed I'm

so proud of what you did today the young man listened to his mother's

words of praise and smiled to himself this is mr. Duncan in England saying bye

for now

well we are coming towards the end of today's livestream I hope you've enjoyed

it I hope it has been entertaining and I hope that oh wait there something's

going on here what what are you doing mr. Steve Oh

mr. mr. Duncan oh look congratulations

11 years on YouTube there are 11 cameras on there blow them out and make a wish

and then we'll eat some cake and I'm starving

I think this is a very good idea also I'm worried that my Frankenstein head my

Frankenstein monster head will catch fire so here we go so 11 years on

YouTube here's to another 11 years in the future so you can wish shall we blow

them out together okay one two three oh what's gonna set the fire alarms off

right you talk I'll cut Wow thank you very much and and now everything is

smoky so thank you mr. Steve for helping me today and of course thanks for

helping me for the past 11 years Steve has always been in charge of the

transport so without Steve I wouldn't be able to get to all of the wonderful

places that I have filmed it in and filmed at and around so here we go a

little bit of cake Oh a piece of cake that's quite a good idiom actually if

something is a piece of cake it is very easy to do unlike these shows which are

very difficult to do these are very difficult to do you'll never believe how

much how much preparation takes place so I think you told everybody about that

more than enough mr. Duncan eat the cake and say goodbye to all your wonderful

viewers who supported you all these many years don't worry I'm going to give you

the answers to the mystery idioms in a moment so we are not going to

to go without doing that but for now we're going to eat some cake because 11

years on YouTube mm-hmm all those artificial flavorings are delicious it's

very chewy it's very lemony it's lemon cake because

you like lemon cake that's why I got lemon cake I love lemon cake very much

leave that with me okay then I'll look after it for you mr. Duncan

while you tell everybody about the mystery idioms I'm going back over there

now I hope you switch the sound on before he came over here I'm having

another piece of cake Oh I didn't make this I bought it from a

local shop oh I think I've got some wax in the teeth Oh mr. Duncan are you back

at your operation desk I'm back at my desk now so let's have a look here we go

the mystery idioms before we finish I'll just wait for Steve stop banging around

oh my goodness that cake is delicious it's very lemony moist lots of zest so

here we go today's mystery idioms the first one the answer is push your look

push your look the meaning to continually do things that are dangerous

or risky a person who always dices with danger or likes to take risks can be

said to be pushing their look they push their look and the second one a lot of

people got this right well about five people that's almost many almost the

second mystery idiom cat among the pigeons cat among the pigeons to create

conflict or fighting by doing something an action that creates violet

or violent disagreement or chaos mentioning something that others will

fight over is to put the cat among the pigeons to create chaos or argument

amongst other people is to put the cat among the pigeons Thank You mr. Steve

where's mr. Steve gone I'm here Oh a bottle of champagne here's well we can

open that later to celebrate champagne how did you know that yes look at that

very expensive champagne for later I've been having another piece of cake I'm

choking actually I'm choking on the lemon cake if I swallowed too much of it

and now it's all got stuck in my throat you're not joking with emotion at being

on YouTube for 11 would be a very good way to end our our horrific or our

Halloween lesson by choking to death I think that would be quite good we might

get quite a few viewers for that we would we would Eliana says I hope you

have more than eleven more years Thank You mr. Duncan and mr. Steve you are

welcome please don't talk with your mouth full

says Miller melanca I'm very sorry about that I think it was mr. Steve isn't he

disgusting he really is talking mouth full mmm it's time to go we are just

five minutes past the end time so we have slightly over run today but that's

all right you can watch this later hopefully there will be subtitles later

so if you are watching this later you can actually find the subtitles a lot of

people ask where are the subtitles if you click this little symbol underneath

you can actually see the subtitles but not yet if you are watching the live

stream you can't but later on hopefully there will be it's very confusing

planing that by the way it's very confusing indeed oh my goodness we've

just had another donation come through on the super chat that's fantastic

thank you very much to Eliana Eliana benedetti who has sent a very large

donation thank you much thank you very much

Ileana I am now choking choking on my lemon cake in fact it's so delicious I

can't resist having some more is there anything you want to add mr. Steve

though I just want to say thank you once again for inviting me onto your your

wonderful English show mr. Duncan I hope I'll be here again next week and I've

thoroughly enjoyed it and I think you've got some wonderful viewers out there and

some some very loyal supporters and I think they really appreciate what you do

and what you have been doing for the last 11 years which is let's face it

it's all about trying to teach people how to speak English and and and that's

what you do that's what you love doing it's what you've been doing for 11 years

and what you want to continue to do and I've I'm very pleased that you enjoy it

and that you've given so much back to to everybody around the world about

teaching English thank you very much mr. Steve we will see you next week next

week of course is November the 5th it is bonfire night or Guy Fawkes night so we

might be outside next week letting off some fireworks I'm not sure

yet how long as we don't let them off into the studio we'll be safe because

the neighbors have told us that we can't let any fireworks off they've got dogs

because it might scare all of the animals that live around here so that's

a slight problem but I'm sure we will work around it I will see you next week

thank you very much mr. Steve thank you bye bye everyone see you next week and

thank you mr. Duncan oh there he is there he goes just one last look at mr.

Steve look at that I love your makeup

that's it give us one more scary look before you go scary look contour ah ha

ha bye-bye mr. Steve so there it was mr. Steve has gone and I will go as well we

are running slightly over I will see you next week have a great week and I hope

you have a safe week as well thanks for your company today thank you for your

live donations also you can make a donation through PayPal as well for

those who are interested PayPal me mr. Duncan there it is that's the address

it's as simple as that if you wish to make a donation you are more than

welcome to do so catch you next week of course it will be the 11th anniversary

on Tuesday and once again we will have a look back at some of the things I have

done right here on my youtube channel see you later

have a great week and of course...Ta ta for now 8-)

can you see you now? hmm so clear okay it's okay welcome to mr.

Duncan's first ever edited video isn't it exciting well it's been another busy

week and of course as usual I've been in the school teaching English that's my

job I think one of the most common questions I'm asked during my time here

in China by my students is how can I improve my English

there's one thing I've noticed my fingers have gone dead look my fingers

have got a strange ready blue purpley pink color not very good I think I think

if I stay outside much longer I think they will fall off hi everybody this is

mr. Duncan and England how are you today are you okay I hope so

are you happy I hope so welcome to the very first episode of my series of

English teaching videos you know the world of English is a fun and exciting

place to be I'm so glad you could join us for another lesson why do we need

phonetics the reason why we need a phonetic code is because some English

letters have more than one sound and because some letters when joined

together in a word actually create a new sound of their own also there is the

silent letter that can appear within a word