14 Things You Might Not Know About Me - An English Lesson About Assumptions

Do you know what the English verb to assume means?

When you assume something about someone,

or something, or a situation,

it means you think you know things

that are true about that person or thing,

but those things might not actually be true.

It's just a feeling you have.

A couple of days ago.

I asked you to respond to a post on Facebook and on YouTube

about things that you assume about me,

some of your assumptions about me.

So in this English lesson, I'm going to talk about myself.

I'm going to respond to 14 of those assumptions,

and you'll learn a little bit of English,

and you'll learn a little bit more about me as well.

(upbeat music)

So here's the first assumption from Uiliam.

I assume there was a time

when you didn't wear blue plaid shirts.

Yes, that is correct.

As many of you know,

I wear blue plaid shirts with a collar,

and they're always short sleeved.

There was a time though, when I didn't wear these.

When I was a university student,

I usually wore jeans and a t-shirt,

like most university students do.

And then when I got my first teaching job,

I started to wear blue plaid shirts.

So I've been wearing these for over 20 years now.

I just really like them.

Assumption number two from Sardor.

I assume you spend a lot more time

teaching English on YouTube

than giving in-person lessons in a classroom.

Actually, it's probably the same amount of time for both.

I don't teach full-time anymore, I'm 80%.

So I do go to work every day,

and I do teach two classes a day.

And I think if I look at my week,

I probably spend the same amount of time

creating lessons for YouTube

as I do creating lessons,

and teaching them in person in the classroom.

So it's about 50/50,

about half of my time each week is for YouTube,

and about half is for school.

That still means I'm a pretty busy person.

I should slow down a bit sometime,

but I'm not planning to slow down anytime soon.

This third assumption is from Pattana.

I assume you are a dog person.

Well, I need to tell you two things about pets.

Number one, when I was a kid, I was a cat person.

When I was a kid, I grew up on this farm.

I had a few pet cats, and I really, really liked them.

But lately, I've started to really like Oscar

over the last few years.

We've had a few dogs on the farm,

and I liked most of the dogs,

but I really, really like Oscar.

So I guess you could say I was a cat person,

and I'm more of an Oscar person now, kind of a dog person.

This fourth assumption is from Natalia.

I assume you like living in the country.

I do like living in the country.

As many of you know,

and as you have seen in my English lessons,

I do live out in the country, I don't live in town.

I don't live in a city, and I do really, really like it.

In fact, I've told this story before,

when I went to university, and I lived in a city,

I had trouble sleeping at night,

because I could hear all the traffic driving by my house,

outside of my window.

Out here in the country,

it's quite quiet almost all the time.

So yes, I definitely like living in the country.

I like the nature around me.

And I like the fact that I live far away

from a lot of other people.

The fifth assumption is from Mr. Eduardo.

I assume you are the best teacher in your region.

Yes, I am definitely the best teacher in my,

no, I'm not the best teacher in my region.

I will say this.

I work really hard, I do the best job that I can,

but I am in no way the best teacher in my region.

I know a lot of teachers that I work with,

and that work in schools around me.

And there are definitely better teachers than me.

So I would say this, I do a good job.

I try my best, I work really hard,

but I'm definitely not the best teacher in the region.

This sixth assumption is from Abror.

I assume you know at least one foreign language, don't you?

Non! C'est pas vrai.

C'est pas vrai du tout. Je parle seulement l'anglais.

Okay, so yes, I do speak another language.

You should know though

that I am a native English speaker,

and French is the language that I learned.

So one of the things that's cool for me

is that as I teach English on YouTube,

a lot of the experiences I had learning a second language,

I use in my lessons when I'm teaching you

how to speak English.

So yes, I do speak two languages.

I speak English, and I speak French.

This seventh assumption is from Simone.

I assume you'd like to visit the Netherlands,

as I know you have distant relatives there.

Yes, you are correct, that is a correct assumption.

I would like to visit the Netherlands someday.

There's a few countries that I would like to visit

in the world.

Well, I'd like to visit all of them,

but the top two are France and the Netherlands,

and maybe I could do it in one trip.

I'd like to visit France,

because I'm a French speaker,

and I'd like to go there and speak some French.

And I'd like to visit the Netherlands,

because as many of you know,

my parents and my grandparents

came to Canada from the Netherlands.

So definitely that is a correct assumption, Simone.

Someday I would love to visit the Netherlands.

This eighth assumption made me laugh a little bit

when I read it the first time.

JackPie says, I assume that you don't have any kids.

It's still making me laugh.

No, JackPie, it's kind of the exact opposite,

Jen and I actually have five kids.

So you assumed that I don't have any kids,

but it's actually kind of the exact opposite.

We have a very full house, a very full happy home.

Jen and I have five kids.

This ninth assumption is from Diego.

I assume you are antisocial,

and have sarcastic humor that almost no one understands,

but inside, you laugh at your own jokes.

Well, some of that is true.

I'm not antisocial,

but I do like spending time by myself,

or with just a couple close friends.

I don't like to go to big parties.

I don't like to go to events

where there's lots and lots of people.

So not antisocial, but definitely an introvert.

And yes, I do have a bit of a sarcastic edge to my humor.

I do often laugh to myself.

I think of things that are funny,

and they might be a little bit too sarcastic

to say out loud,

but I certainly do enjoy my own jokes quite a bit.

Assumption number 10 is from DAnS.

I assume you prefer cold weather.

You are correct.

Winter is my favorite season.

I love it when it's below zero degrees Celsius.

I love it when there's snow on the ground,

and when snow is falling out of the sky.

I love a good snowstorm.

And in particular I love what's called a snow day.

A snow day is a day when the school is closed,

because there's just too much snow on the roads,

and it's not safe to drive.

So yes, I definitely love cold weather.

I definitely love winter.

This 11th assumption is from Mohd Ags.

I assume you're not good at dancing.

Well, maybe I should let all of you decide.

Maybe I should break out into a little jig.

Maybe I should do some dancing,

and you guys can tell me in the comments below

if I'm good at it.

I actually really like dancing.

I'm just not really good at it.

Like if I go to a wedding, and there's music and dancing,

I will dance,

but I think my children are embarrassed when I do that.

They're like, oh, there's dad

doing his really bad dancing again.

Oh well, it's still fun.

This 12th assumption is from Sifat.

I assume you love to lead a simple life.

Yes, that is correct.

I do lead a simple life.

I don't need to buy fancy things to be happy.

One of the things that many of you know about me

is that I had heart surgery a number of years ago

in my mid 40s, late 40s.

And that kind of changed my view

as to what's important in life.

I definitely value family.

I value spending time with family, I value exercise.

I value eating healthy.

I don't need to buy a brand new vehicle to be happy.

I'm quite content buying used vehicles

with really low kilometers on them.

So yes, I do like to lead a simple life.

I like reading, I like playing video games.

I like spending time with all of the people that I love.

So definitely you are correct with that assumption.

This 13th assumption is from Vitaly.

I assume you are an alien

who is seeking to establish peaceful relations

between nations.

No, I am not from another planet.

I am not an alien.

I don't have my spaceship hidden in this big barn.

The roof doesn't open at night,

so I can fly my spaceship out, no, none of that is true.

I'm just a normal human being

making English lessons on YouTube

to help everyone around the world

that wants to learn English learn a little bit more English.

The 14th and last assumption is from Maria.

I assume you are a type A person, organized,

and have it all together.

Well, I am organized, and I do try to keep things together,

but I wouldn't say I'm a type A personality.

Instead, I would say this,

I'm a little bit of a lazy person.

I don't actually like to work.

So when I do work,

I try to find the most efficient way to get things done.

So, I mean, it sounds like I have it all together,

and it sounds like I'm not lazy,

but honestly, every time I approach a new job,

I want to learn the most efficient way to do that job,

so it takes the least amount of time.

So I'm definitely not a type A personality,

but I think I am probably somewhat organized.

Well, thank you so much for watching this English lesson

where I cleared up some assumptions

that some of you had about me.

I hope as I was using English phrases

and sentences to describe myself,

you were able to learn different ways

to talk about yourself in English as well.

Hey, if this is your first time here,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there,

and give me a thumbs up if this video

helped you learn just a little bit more English.

And if you have the time,

why don't you stick around,

and watch another English lesson?

(upbeat music)