Free English Class! Topic: Confusing Things! 🌌🧾🗺️ (Lesson Only)

Well hello and welcome to this English lesson about confusing

things or things that confuse people. Uh wouldn't it be nice

if life was just really really easy? Wouldn't it be life if

life? Wouldn't it be nice if you just understood everything

when you first saw it or did it or learned how to do it? But

unfortunately life doesn't work that way. Um but maybe it's a

good thing. Cos it is always fun to figure things out to

learn how to do things. But sometimes as you go through

life you run into things that are a little bit confusing. So

in this English lesson I'll talk about those confusing

things. And I will I'm not going to give you solutions.

I'll probably just talk about the situations that are

confusing. And if I have some wisdom to give if I have some

way to avoid being confused in those situations. I'll share

that as well. But mostly we're going to have an English lesson

about confusing things. To be confused. So let's about the

verb to be confused. When you are confused it simply means

that you don't understand something. Someone's told you

something or shown you something and you don't

understand it. Your brain can't make sense of it. You don't

know what they're showing you or how to figure it out. It's

not a nice thing to be. When you are confused it's an

uncomfortable feeling. I like being the opposite. I like it

when I know how to do something. I like it when I

learn something it's really easy to learn. But sometimes

it's just something where you end up being a bit confused.

One of those things would be directions. I in particularly I

in particular love GPS because I never used to like getting

directions from someone. When you get directions from someone

they tell you how to get somewhere. Like if I was

driving and if I pulled over I could say hey could you tell me

how to get to the lake? Could you tell me how to get to the

beach. Uh and someone would say you know drive this way for an

hour and then turn left on like I'm trying to think of a road

name on Young Street and you will eventually get there. Um

but getting directions can be very very confusing. Um so my

solution for this would be if you have a phone use GPS. It

simplifies things quite a bit. The GPS app just tells you

where to go and it's awesome. I instructions can also be

confusing. Uh some of the furniture in my room. This desk

it's a little blurry. This little table. Um some of the

furniture in my room came from a place called IKEA and it came

with directions. It came with instructions. It came with you

know a sheet of paper that told you how to put it together. And

you have to follow the instructions. So notice I use

the word directions there as well. We use directions and in

instructions interchangeably sometimes. Um anyways it came

with instructions and those instructions told me how to put

it together. So the solution I would give here if you are

confused when you're reading instructions when you're

putting together furniture. Uh read them step by step and

follow them closely. I think that's the best way when you're

building something with instructions to get it done

properly. Recipe I find these confusing sometimes because I

don't always know if I've bought the right ingredients.

Sometimes the recipe will have the measurements in ounces

instead of cups or and in milliliters instead of cups. We

use cups here a lot and so with the measuring cup I sometimes

find it a little bit confusing to follow a recipe. My

recommendation for not being confused with a recipe is once

again Read it carefully and follow it as closely as

possible. Math. Now I have not I can't say that I find math

confusing all the time. But there was a time in my life

when I was taking high level math at university and it was

very confusing. When it's just numbers I can do a pretty good

job. When it's algebra I can do a pretty good job. But when you

get into calculus and linear algebra and all of those kinds

of things. It's a little bit bewildering for me. So math is

something that definitely people do sometimes find

confusing. I don't have a solution for this one. But just

Study math as hard as you can and do the best you can. If you

don't have a good mind for math that's okay. You'll figure it

out. Sports rules. So this is something I find interesting. I

know the rules for American football. I know the rules for

baseball. I know the rules for hockey and basketball. But

sometimes when you watch the Olympics they'll play rugby or

they'll play Australian rules football. Or they'll play

cricket. And some of you know those rules but I find them

confusing because when I watch the game I don't know what's

going on. So that's another way to describe confusion in

English. When you don't know what's going on. Sometimes when

I'm watching an unfamiliar sport I don't know what's going

on and I think I just said that's a phrase we use when

we're confused. If you say I don't know what's going on. I

don't know the rules for this game. Filling out forms. This

is something I do find confusing. I do not enjoy

filling out forms. When you go to the bank or when you apply

for insurance you have to fill out a lot of paperwork. You

have to fill out a lot of forms and it can be really confusing.

Sometimes they ask for information and you don't know

exactly what they're asking for. Sometimes they ask for

information from another piece of paper and you don't know

where you put it. So filling out a form can certainly be

Things that's very very challenging and very very

confusing. My advice for this would be if you're filling out

forms at the bank get someone at the bank to help you. Or if

you have someone in your family that's really knowledgeable

about banking or insurance have them help you fill out your

forms. Time zones. So this is one where I'm always a little

bit confused. I used to have a brother-in-law and a

sister-in-law that lived in British Columbia. And they were

always three hours ahead of us. And then I know that people in

France are six hours or five hours behind me. Um wait or is

it the other way around? See that's why time zones are

confusing. I think I just got confused myself. Some people

are really good at understanding time zones. I'm

not. So I think like some of you who are viewing from Europe

if it's Eve here it's probably early in the morning there. But

in British Columbia it's probably only four o'clock in

the afternoon. So time zones certainly can be confusing. And

then time change. So some countries observe time change.

Some countries don't. We call it daylight savings time. In

the spring we move our clocks forward and in the fall we move

our clocks backwards by 1 hour. But it can be a little bit

confusing when that happens. Especially if I'm doing live

English lessons. Because for some people all of the sudden

my lesson is at a different time of day by one hour. So

time change can certainly be a little bit confusing for some

people. And then technology. This is a general statement. I

find setting the clock on my microwave confusing. Sometimes

I find apps on my phone a little bit confusing. And I

like technology. So I can't imagine how challenging it must

be for someone who doesn't really love it as much as I do.

I love getting a new computer but I still find it a little

bit confusing sometimes to get it set up properly. The fine

print So whenever you sign a document or whenever you buy

something usually there's some fine print at the bottom. Um

sometimes like here we have a coupon for a store. And then at

the bottom there's some fine print. So you might have like a

coupon that says buy one get one free. And then the fine

print might say that you have to buy a drink with the food in

order to get one free. So sometimes the fine print can be

confusing. Um this print says offer valid only at

participating locations which in this case means all

locations. So this is probably some good fine print here. But

sometimes when you have an official piece of paper or

document or coupon or form there might be really small

writing at the bottom called the the fine print and it might

be confusing. We call it the small print as well but I

usually call it the fine print. Uh foreign languages. Foreign

languages could definitely be confusing. So if you are

learning English which almost all of you are. Sometimes you

probably find it confusing. I know sometimes when I'm

watching a French television show I find it confusing. Uh

sometimes when I'm trying to read something in French I find

it confusing. Even though I'm a French speaker sometimes I do

find it confusing. Probably the most confusing thing for all of

us is when someone speaks the language we're learning and

they speak too quickly or they use a lot of slang. That's when

foreign languages can get extremely difficult to

understand and it can be confusing. My solution for this

one would be do a lot of reading, speaking, listening

and writing. Do all four and things will be less confusing

for you. Cryptocurrency I do not know a lot about

cryptocurrency. I don't know a lot about Bitcoin. I find the

whole cryptocurrency world very confusing so it's just not

something I know a lot about. I think younger people probably

understand this better. But certainly cryptocurrency is a

new kind of digital money. That some people use to buy and sell

things. And I would just say this that maybe it's the

future. In English when you say something's the future. Uh it

means it's the next thing. Like I think when people had horses

and they saw a car they were like oh that's the future. The

car is the future of transportation. Maybe this is

the future of money. What would I say just wait and see. That's

my advice for if you are confused by cryptocurrency.

Just wait and see. Maybe it will become easier to use and

easier to understand. Converting currencies. So this

happens to me all the time because I talk to people who

live in other countries. And they'll say I get paid this

many euros a year. Or I get paid when I buy a hamburger it

costs you know this many US dollars and it's always hard. I

Glad we have the internet and that's my advice here. If you

are confused with currency exchanges or converting

currencies to other countries currencies just use the

internet quickly. Um I'm often converting like I'll type in 70

euro in Canadian dollars and then the internet tells me what

it is. But certainly trying to do it in your head is very very

confusing. Oops. Sorry I just have a really itchy nose. Like

I don't know what's happening. It's kind of a weird I'll try

to stop doing this but I'll edit that out on the other

video. Public transportation. When I lived in Quebec City

when I first moved there this is a long time ago when I was

in my early twenties. I found public transportation

confusing. They have a really good bus system in Quebec City.

And I it took a long time to learn how to use it. Um and

maybe you are living in a city that has a subway and there's a

train and there's a a system and maybe there's trolley cars

or street cars. Learning how it works can be very very

confusing. Once you know how to use it it's very very nice but

sometimes it can be confusing at first. My recommendation for

this would be if you can find someone who lives in that city

they can probably help you learn how to navigate public

transportation. Setting an alarm or clock. Now for this

one I will say this. This is confusing if it's a digital

clock. The old fashioned round clock with the hand wasn't as

confusing. But I know for myself setting the clock on my

stove like we have an oven with a digital clock. Setting the

clock on the microwave after the power goes out. Setting my

own alarm clock. It took me a while to figure out what

buttons to push. Um in this case I would say if you are

confused and it's hard for you to do that I would say a good

Is read the manual or read the instructions. Historical sites.

So and a historical site can be confusing because sometimes we

don't know why it's there. This is Stonehenge and there are a

lot of theories about why this was built. No one knows exactly

why this was built. And many countries have historical

sites. And there are things at that site where noone really

knows who built it or why they built it or what it was for. So

this is one really good example. There are more

examples around the world where we have historical sites and

everyone's a little bit Confused like how did they get

these big rocks there? How did they set these big rocks up?

They didn't have cranes when they built it to lift and move

the rocks. So sometimes an historical site can be very

very confusing. Taxes. This is the one where when I was making

the lesson I said to Jen what else do you think is confusing?

And Jen said taxes. So I'm sure this is the same in every

country. It's always strange to figure out how much tax you

owe. And I'm talking about income tax. In Canada you need

to file for taxes every year in April. You need to tell the

government how much money you made and how much you donated

and then they tell you how much tax you owe and it's always a

little bit confusing for me. The solution for me is I pay

someone else. To do my taxes for me. So I have a bookkeeper

who I have do my taxes. Mostly because we run a farm and the

taxes get quite complicated. So taxes can definitely be

confusing. The solution hire a professional to do your taxes

for you. User manuals. So user manuals are kind of both. They

can be confusing but they can also be very very helpful. When

you buy a camera it comes with a user manual. When you buy a

microwave it comes with a user manual. And when you open the

user manual it tells you how to do certain things. What I find

though is user manuals aren't always written very clearly. In

fact sometimes our user manuals are written by people who don't

fully understand English. It's kind of interesting. So

sometimes you will read things and you're like oh the person

who wrote this is not a native English speaker or not a

proficient English speaker. Uh it depends on where it was made

in the world. But yeah it's certainly interesting. User

manuals can both be confusing but they can also be very very

helpful. Depending on who wrote it and how logical they were.

Classes. So I took a few classes in my life that were

very interesting and very easy to understand. You can also

take classes that are very challenging and very hard to

understand. I hope when I teach that I'm not confusing people.

I hope when I teach I'm helping people understand. But

certainly I've had my fair share of classes that have

actually been confusing. One of course would be my second

calculus class in university. I found it very very confusing.

The solution if you have a class that's confusing is that

you should find classmates who you can study with. Especially

if you're in university or if you are an adult learner. Uh if

you can find people to help not to help but who you can study

with do homework with especially if you're learning

English I think it can be very very helpful. The opposite sex.

So I'm not sure if you're familiar with this term but

it's kind of a funny thing. Uh sometimes people find the

opposite sex confusing or hard to understand. What I mean by

that is this. Um when I was a teenager and in my early 20s I

found it kind of challenging to understand women. I was very

immature. Um and I think women when they're in their late

teens and early 20s have trouble understanding men

sometimes. And in English we just say it's the opposite sex.

I find the opposite sex kind of confusing. I don't know what

makes women tick or a woman might say I don't know what

makes men tick. That means you don't understand exactly why

they do the things that they do. So this is another one that

made me laugh a little bit because I was this is a lesson

on confusing things but I'm going to add people into the

mix. So the opposite sex can be confusing for people. And again

this means men sometimes have trouble understanding women and

women sometimes trouble understanding men. Why do men

do some of the things they do? Or why do women do some of the

things they do? It can be a little bit confusing. Interest

rates. So I actually have a pretty good understanding of

interest rates. Mostly because I had a lot of student loans.

So I owed I had to repay my student loans and so I learned

how interest rates work. And that the faster you pay

something back the better it is for you. I also learn a little

bit more about interest when I borrowed money to buy the farm.

So we got a mortgage to buy the farm. So we learned a bit. This

would be another one where I would highly recommend in order

to understand interest rates and to understand how that

works. The banking system is to talk to an expert. It's always

a good idea to talk to someone who really knows that area. It

can be super helpful. Packaging. So I you particular

find packaging confusing these days. Especially this type of

packaging. The really hard plastic packaging that's really

hard to open. I find it really confusing because I don't know

like you end up getting a knife or a scissors and it's

dangerous when you're trying to get it open. I wish packaging

was less confusing. I wish when you bought something it was

really easy to open. That there were clear direct on how to get

it open that would be really really cool and really really

handy. I know that I find that packaging not just confusing. I

find it annoying actually. Uh this type of packaging because

I'm like oh why did they put it in this hard plastic and I

almost break my scissors when I try to cut it open. You see how

she looks confused and angry. That's how I look when I open

packages like that. Politics I will never be mayor or prime

minister or a premier. I find politics very very confusing. I

find the fact that they promise all kinds of things and then

when you vote for them and they get in sometimes they don't do

them. Um I'm not just talking about Justin by the way. I

think Justin's great. He's our Prime Minister right now but

certainly the whole world of politics can be very confusing.

Trying to understand why governments do certain things

can be very confusing. Sometimes it Seems like they're

not very smart. Sometimes it seems like they're not thinking

things through. Um so it can be very very confusing. Politics

for sure. Bosses and supervisors can be very

confusing. I hope my boss isn't watching this but sometimes

your boss tells you to do things and it doesn't make

sense. Sometimes your supervisor at work might tell

you to do something and it doesn't make sense and you're

like okay this is kind of confusing but I'll do it

anyways. But certainly bosses and supervisors can be very

confusing. My recommendation is if you find your boss to be

confusing just be polite when you ask questions about what

they are telling you to do. Buying a house. I don't know

what this is like in your country but in Canada buying a

house can be very confusing. It's different than buying a

car or buying groceries. You have to go through a realtor

and you have to have a lawyer and it's very very confusing.

That the word I would use for it. Um when we bought our farm

we bought it from my mom and we needed a lawyer and we needed

to sign all kinds of papers and we needed someone from the bank

to get involved. So I would simply just say do your

research if you're buying a house. Try to make it less

confusing and hopefully it goes well for you. The price of

everything. This is something I find particularly confusing

right now. I know that the world is coming out of a

pandemic. I know that there are that there is a war going on

right now. I know that there are a lot of reasons why the

price of everything is going higher. But it can be a little

bit confusing for those of us that just want to live our

lives to understand what's happening. Um in Canada the

price of gas has certainly gone up. This is not a joke. Uh this

is actually low. The price of gas here is 202 a litre. Last

week I paid 215 a litre and last week when I bought diesel

fuel I paid 229 a litre. So this is actually lower. They

said the price of gas might go down. Um but it's not just gas.

The price of everything is going up and that can be really

confusing. Because we don't always understand why the price

is going up. Recycling can be confusing. I'm not sure what

this is like in your country. But in Canada we have a giant

poster that tells you how to recycle everything. And it

takes a long time to understand that you can you can recycle

certain kinds of plastic but not others. You have to do this

with your glass. You have to do this with your paper. But your

cardboard has to be separate from your paper. And it can be

really really confusing. And it worries me because I think

people should recycle. Jen and I recycle. But I think if too

confusing people might be less likely to recycling. So I find

the instructions a little challenging. A little bit

confusing sometimes. But just work your way through it if you

have the same problem. I think it's good to recycle. Travel.

So I do not travel much. But when I travel I like to travel

with someone who knows where they're going. Or someone who's

been there before. When I went to South Africa I was able to

travel with a teacher who had already made the trip once and

that made it a lot less confusing. But travel can

certainly be confusing. If you go to another country. And you

don't hire a guide or a travel agent or someone to help you.

You could get lost. You might not know where to go. You might

end up going to the bad part of a city. Uh the part you

shouldn't go to. Maybe your wallet gets stolen. But sorry

that's not what travel's about though. Travel's about having

an enjoyable time. And hopefully you can find a way to

make it less confusing than I sometimes do. But travel

certainly can be confusing. The universe. So this goes back to

earlier in the lesson someone was asking about planets and

orbits. The universe that we live in it I know I'm pretty

sure this is a galaxy by the way or it might be a couple of

small galaxies. I don't know a lot about space. But when I

look up at the night sky when I see the moon and I see stars.

It's all very confusing. I feel very very small when I do that.

And you wonder to yourself what is what is the reason for me

being here? Like what what is being alive? What sorry I'm

getting too philosophical now but the universe can be

confusing. How do black holes work? Um how do planets form

and how do suns grow and die over millions of years. It's

all very very fascinating but it's also very very confusing

for someone like me who's not a scientist. And that brings us

to this as well. Life can be confusing. This guy looks very

confused and maybe a bit sad. Life can be very confusing. Um

if you remember when you were a kid when you're a kid things

are a little more simple. Um you don't have to worry about

as many things. But when you are an adult you certainly can

be very confused about life. Maybe you get a job and you get

fired. Maybe you marry someone and you don't get along. Maybe

other people make lots of money and you don't. Maybe you make

lots of money but you're sad. Life can be very very

confusing. It can be hard to figure out what you should do

to give life purpose. So I'll tell you what I think the

secret is to having a better life. And I'm 50 years old. I

didn't know this when I was younger. I think you'll have a

better life if you just help people. I have a better life

because I help you learn English. I know you like

learning English from me. But it also makes me feel good

about myself. It makes me feel like I'm doing good in the

world and I think maybe that's a little bit what the meaning

of life is to help other people. So do that today if you

can. Uh jokes can be confusing. Um so here we have this is a

character called Kermit the frog and it says when someone

says a joke but you don't get it. Sometimes people tell jokes

and instead of laughing I'm just confused because everyone

else is laughing and I don't get the joke. In English when

you say you don't get the joke or you don't get a joke it

means you don't understand it. You don't know why it's funny

and you don't know why everyone else is laughing. There have

been many times in my life where someone has told a joke

and I didn't get the joke. I didn't understand what the joke

was about. And I was just confused. Old people and before

you think I'm being mean to old people the next slide is young

people. Okay so old people can be confusing. I don't know if

my mom's watching this English lesson. But my mom is older and

sometimes I find her to be a bit confusing. She does things

in different ways. Because she's from an older generation.

So you might say ah old people. They're kind of confusing. Why

do they drive so slow? Why do they let me see what is

something else that I'm not going to go into all the

details. But old people the behaviour of old people can be

a little bit confusing. Um sometimes old people save food

past its due date. And they'll have food where it you're like

oh this food's gone bad. Oh I'm saving that and it's like oh

you shouldn't do that. Um and then we also have young people.

I think because I'm fifty. I find old people a little bit

confusing sometimes. And I find young people a little bit

confusing sometimes. Why are these guys just hanging out.

Why why don't they get a job? Why don't they do something

productive? They look super happy. But I think sometimes

I'm confused when I see young people. Um because I think oh

when I was your age I already had a part time job. Or when I

was your age I didn't have money to buy really expensive

shoes. Sometimes young people are kind of confusing. And then

I think you'll like this last one here. Here we go. Drop on

the opposite side of the road in another country. I know this

is a long description but when I was in South Africa I found

it very confusing. Um I had to drive everyday and I found it

very confusing. I I know it sounds really simple. Oh the

steering wheel's on the opposite side of the car and

you need to drive on the opposite side of the road than

you're used to. Uh but it wasn't. So I think as I get

older if Jen and I travel more when I visit countries where

you need to drive on the opposite side of the road. Um

I'll just get an Uber or something like that. I think

it's just too confusing. And then when you forget it gets

dangerous right? If you forget what side of the road you're

supposed to be driving on.