Let's Learn English at the Strip Mall / Shopping Plaza

13,738 views ・ 2025-05-06

Learn English with Bob the Canadian


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Well, hello and welcome to this
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English lesson that's going
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to be a little bit different
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than other lessons I've done.
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I'm actually here at my local
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mall, what we might call a strip
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mall, because you walk along
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the outside and the store
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entrances are on the outside.
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There's no inside part to this
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mall, so we call it a strip mall.
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And I'm going to walk by every
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single store and kind
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of describe the type of store it is.
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So that will be today's English
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lesson, a bit of a walk and talk.
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So let's start right here.
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This is a hardware store.
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A hardware store is a store you
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would go to if you need to buy
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tools or what we call hardware.
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Nuts and bolts, nails and screws
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and those types of things.
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I have to make sure I don't
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get run over here by a car.
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But a hardware store is a place
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where you go, if you need
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to buy a hammer, maybe you need
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to buy some little hinges because
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you need to fix a door.
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But this is a hardware store.
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You can see that right now
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they're also selling potted plants
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and chairs that you can use
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to sit outside because
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the weather is becoming a lot
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nicer here in Ontario, Canada.
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The next store we have here, it
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might be a little bit of a giveaway
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with the name of the store.
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This store is called Foodland,
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and it is what we would call
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a grocery store or a supermarket.
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Both words pretty much
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mean the same thing.
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And you might have guessed it.
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You would go to this store when
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you need to buy groceries, when
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you need carrots or a can of
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soup or maybe a loaf of bread or
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some eggs and some milk, this
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would be the store that you
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would go to.
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Now, you might be wondering, you saw
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at the.
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Maybe you can see way
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at the end there by the hardware
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store, and here there
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are lots of bags for sale.
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Those bags are actually bags
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of dirt or soil or manure
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that people can use in their flower
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beds and in their gardens.
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People in many parts
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of the world like to grow things
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in the warm season.
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So you can see here
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we have some topsoil.
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And further down here,
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I'm sure we'll have more topsoil.
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We call these milk crates,
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by the way, if you didn't know that.
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Topsoil.
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Topsoil.
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Topsoil.
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Wow, there's a lot of topsoil.
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What do we have here?
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Oh, this is actually
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manure or manure
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compost.
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So that would work as
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a bit of a fertilizer.
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I'm going to spin you around here to
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show you the direction we are going.
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I have to keep my eye
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out for vehicles.
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It's not super busy here.
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There's a large transport
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truck that is probably
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just finished doing a delivery.
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A delivery is when you bring things
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to a store or to a house.
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And then I'll slow.
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Oh, maybe we should talk
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about Tim Hortons.
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So there's also a cafe or restaurant
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with a drive through
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where you can go if you want to buy
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a coffee or a donut or a treat.
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Okay.
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Here we have a pet store.
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A pet store is a place
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where you go to buy.
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Maybe you go there to buy a pet,
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but most often you go there to
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either buy pet food, like dog
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food or cat food, or maybe you
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have some fish and then you might
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also buy a collar or leash at the
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pet store.
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This is called Pharmasave.
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So you might have
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an idea of what this is.
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This is a pharmacy or we sometimes
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call it a drugstore in Canada.
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I think in Britain they might
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call it a chemist, but we call
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it a pharmacy or a drugstore.
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You would go there to get medicine.
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If you went to the doctor, they
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might give you a prescription
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and you would go there to get
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your prescription filled.
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Or you might go there to just buy
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over the counter medicine.
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Medicine where you don't need
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a doctor's note or prescription
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to get it, like
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Tylenol or something like that.
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We also just went by a dance studio.
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So if you have children who want
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to learn to dance, you would sign
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them up to go for dance
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lessons at the dance
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studio.
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Now this is an interesting place.
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This is a laundromat, but it's also
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a place where you can buy water.
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You might wonder
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why would people need to buy water
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in Ontario, Canada?
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And why would they do laundry
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here instead of at home?
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Well, if you can't afford a washing
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machine, you will more likely come
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to a laundromat and pay some money
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to pay to get your
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laundry done to wash your clothes.
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And we have a lot of people who live
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out in the country around here.
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So some people actually do buy water.
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Jen and I get our water for free.
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Because when you live out
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in the country, you don't have
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clean drinking water available. Here
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we have a dollar store,
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but it's actually vacant right now.
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So let me talk about
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both those things.
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A dollar store is a place where
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you can buy things for only
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a dollar or $2, sometimes more.
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They've kind of lost their meaning.
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But that dollar store is vacant,
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which means that they weren't
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doing well as a business.
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And eventually they decided to leave.
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So Bob, from the future here
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I realized that the Dollar
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store is actually open.
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If you look here, I said it was
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vacant, that side is vacant,
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but this side is actually open.
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So I wonder if they just
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reduced the size of the store.
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It's half the size that it used
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to be, but it's definitely open.
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Art, craft supplies, cell phone
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accessories, electronics
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and hardware, kitchen stuff.
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Everything that, everything that
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you could want for less than,
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usually less than $5.
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Here we have a post office.
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If you look, you can see it's
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also in French on the sign.
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A post office is a place where you go
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to send mail or to get your mail.
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Probably the most common thing you
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would do at a post office is you
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would go there to get your mail.
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You would go to the post office
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and you would have a little post
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office box and a key and you
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would open that to get your mail.
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This is actually the post office
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where my post office box is.
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Then we have some services.
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This is an insurance company.
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So in Canada when you buy a car you
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have to have insurance to drive it.
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So if there's an accident
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you're covered.
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That's the expression we would use.
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If you have a house, you need
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insurance so that if there's a storm
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and something gets damaged, your
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insurance company will pay for it.
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Next to that we have
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a hearing clinic.
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So if you're having trouble
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with your hearing or you need
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a hearing aid, would go there.
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Next we have what we
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would call a hair salon.
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So it says hair salon and spa
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and they can take walk ins.
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I'm not sure if you can
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see that part of the sign.
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So I could walk right
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in there and pay for a haircut.
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I would probably have
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to wait a little bit though.
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But you can also get
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your nails done there.
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You can have a facial,
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a manicure, a pedicure.
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And they service.
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Oh they'll take men, women,
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children, they'll take everybody.
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So then we have what's called
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an employment help center.
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So this is where you would go
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if you were looking for a job.
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In Ontario, Canada we have places
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where if you don't have work, you
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can go there every week and you
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can find out if there are any new
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jobs available that you can apply
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for.
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So that's the employment help center.
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And then we have what's called a bar.
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You might just call it a restaurant.
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It's kind of both.
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There are many restaurants / bars
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in Canada where the front part
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of the of the place is a restaurant,
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but at the back they do have
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an actual bar that you can go to.
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Now, there's a large truck
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here, so we can't see.
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But this next place
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is a chiropractic office.
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Let's see if we can see
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up behind there.
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See the sign a little bit.
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Obviously they're getting a delivery.
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But a chiropractic office is
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a place where you would go
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like, let's say my back hurt.
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I might go to a chiropractor
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and they might adjust my back.
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They might do things to my back
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to make me feel better.
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Let me see here.
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Oh, and then we have.
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I go back here.
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We have the dental center.
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More commonly, we would just
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call this the dentist's office.
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You go to the dentist when you
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need to have your teeth cleaned
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or maybe you need a filling
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because you have a cavity.
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You would make an appointment
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at the dentist's office.
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Next to that we have a yoga
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and fitness studio.
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A place where you can go
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if you would like to do yoga.
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A place where you might go...
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Sorry I'm just...
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I'm just watching here.
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I think this person's having
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a little bit of trouble
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and that man is helping her drive.
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So I'll just stay over
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here where it's safer.
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So yoga studio.
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If you want to do yoga or maybe any
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other class, you could go there.
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And then we have...
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I don't know how to describe this.
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This is called Giant Tiger.
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This is a store
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that sells almost everything.
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And it's also a store where things
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are priced reasonably well.
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So you can buy groceries
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at Giant Tiger, you can buy a pool
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noodle at Giant Tiger, you can
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buy clothes at Giant Tiger.
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So.
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So the best way for me
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to describe it would be it's almost
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like a mini department store.
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When you go in, you can go
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to the clothing section, you can go
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to the food grocery section.
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You can go to the seasonal section
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where you can buy little kids
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pools and things like that.
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Then we have another
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nail and spa place.
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I think this place actually focuses
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more on nails and is less of a spa.
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I think it's mostly a nail salon.
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And then at the end here, I'm
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going to cross quickly,
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make sure I don't get run over.
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That person was going
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a little fast for me.
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And then we have a pizzeria
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or what you might call
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a pizza shop or a pizza place.
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We have a lot of pizza places
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in Ontario, Canada.
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Yes, hello.
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I have students waving to me
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11:13
from the gas station over there.
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I'll talk about that in a minute.
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And then here we have a sub shop
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or subway where you can buy
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what we just call a sub now.
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I think the full name is
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a submarine sandwich.
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I'll put a picture on the screen
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so you know what I'm talking about.
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So a pizzeria or simply a pizza
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restaurant or a pizza place
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and then also a Subway.
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And we're at the end.
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I just want to show you there
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is one more vacant store down here
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and it is for lease.
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If you were thinking of coming to
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Ontario, Canada to start a business,
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you could start it right there.
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And then lastly, often you will have
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a gas station in a place like this.
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A place where you can go to buy gas.
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Again, in Canada we say gas.
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So either your car takes gas
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or diesel and you would go there.
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Oh that was loud.
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I guess the truck's moved from down
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there where we were earlier.
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You could go there when you need
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12:17
to fill up your vehicle.
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12:19
So if you are running on empty,
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if your car needs gas,
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if your car is empty, you
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could go there to buy gas.
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Well hey, thanks for joining me
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on this little walk and talk.
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Hopefully you were able
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to learn some new English words
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and phrases along the way.
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It was kind of daunting.
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That means difficult to do
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this all in one take,
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but it was quite enjoyable.
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I might do more of these
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in the future.
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Anyways, if this is your first
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time here, don't forget
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to click that red subscribe button.
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Give me a thumbs
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up and leave a comment below.
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I love to read them.
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Bye.
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667
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

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