Free English Class! Topic: Needs 🍲🏠🌊 Let's Learn English! (Lesson Only)

Well hello everyone and welcome to this English lesson where

we're going to talk about needs. Now I'm assuming the

first question someone's going to ask is what is the

difference between needs and wants and I'll talk about that

in just a moment. But we will spend about an hour or so

learning about different needs. The English words and phrases

that we use to talk about the things you need in life. You

need things by the way like food and air. And I'll talk

about all of those in just a moment. Um knee Needs are an

interesting thing because as a society gets more wealthy, they

actually think they have more needs. Like some of my students

think having an internet connection is a need. It's

something they absolutely have to have in life in order to

survive but I would argue that maybe it isn't. Anyways,

welcome to this English lesson about needs. I'm quite excited

to do this lesson as I was putting the slides together for

this English lesson. I was thinking and making notes all

the things that we talk about and I think it should be very,

very interesting. So, needs versus wants. So, it's kind of

a matter of interpretation a little bit but needs are things

that you absolutely must have in order to live a healthy,

normal life. You need things like a house to live in. You

need something to eat. Uh you need clothes to wear. Those are

all things that you must have in life. You cannot live

without those things. When it comes to Wants though. Wants

are things that you can live without. You don't need to

travel to have a good life. You don't need to have fancy

jewelry in order to have a good healthy life. Uh you don't need

the best and newest computer. So needs are things you

absolutely have to have in life. You and we'll get to the

basic needs in a bit. And wants are things where if you had

them maybe it would make your life a little more enjoyed but

you don't have to have your wants in order to survive and

have a good life. So needs you need. Wants are things you

want. Hopefully that made subsets. I'm using the word to

define the word that sometimes can be a little hard to

understand. You need food. One of the things you absolutely

need in life is you need food and not just food. You need

healthy food. Everyone in order to have a good healthy life

needs to eat two or three times a day. And they need to eat

food that gives them protein, that gives them nutrients. It

has to be nutritious food. You need to eat a variety of

vegetables and fruit. You need to eat a variety of proteins.

If you're someone who eats meat, you'll eat meat or you'll

eat nuts or eggs or fish or you'll eat things I'm trying to

think like beans, other things that have protein in them but

you certainly in order to have a good healthy life, you need

food. You also water. And water is I was gonna say it's more

important than food. They're the same. You can go longer

without food though than without water. You need water

all the time. Having access to clean drinking water which we

call I say portable water. Some people say potable water. I'm

not sure exactly what the right pronunciation is but having

clean drinking water. Having water available to cook with

and having water available to clean yourself is very very

important. So water is the second need and I'm talking

right now about what are considered the basic needs.

These are the things you absolutely must have in life.

You need shelter. So, shelter is an English word we use to

refer to anything that a building or place where you

live. It might be as simple as a small apartment. It might

just be a room that you rent from someone. It might be a

house. It might be a mansion if you have lots of money but

everyone in world needs shelter. Um especially if you

live somewhere where the weather is very extreme, where

it's very hot or very cold. If you live somewhere where the

temperature is just 24° all day and all night, you need less

robust shelter than if you lived in Canada where it rains

and snows and sometimes the temperature goes below

freezing. So, you definitely need shelter and you need air.

You need to breathe. Every moment of the day we are

breathing in and breathing out. Our bodies need oxygen in order

to function. So air is definitely one of your basic

needs. Um you can tell it's one of your basic needs. If you try

to hold your breath and see how long you can hold your breath.

I can only hold my breath for about 30 or 40 seconds. That's

about it. And then I need to start breathing again. You hold

your breath when jump underwater. Um when I jump in a

pool now, I plug my nose and I close my mouth and I hold my

breath and I can go underwater for about. Yeah, if I'm

swimming vigorously, I can swim underwater for about 20 or 30

seconds. I think that's about it. Um but you definitely need

air definitely one of the basic needs in order to live on this

planet. And you need sleep. Uh humans and a lot of other

animals kind of a strange behaviour if you think about

it. For about six to 10 hours every 24 hours. You just lay

and sleep somewhere. It's something that you need to do.

It helps your body repair itself. It helps your mind

rest. Some people think that when you sleep your mind stores

memories from the day. Uh or your mind is actively doing

something. Uh I'm not an expert this but sleep is something

that you definitely need and you realize you need sleep if

you ever don't sleep for a long period of time. Sometimes I

toss and turn all night. I only get about two or 3 hours of

sleep and then the next day I realize how badly I need sleep.

Sleep is very very important. When I was younger I would

sometimes go out with friends and we would stay out late or

we would stay out all night. Um and then certainly the next day

I would feel very very tired because I hadn't slept. So

sleep is a very very important thing that you need in life.

And you need clothing. Now culturally people dress

differently in different parts of the world. But it's pretty

much accepted around the world that there is clothing that you

need to wear in order to go out in public. Uh in Canada most

people wear pants and shirts when they go out in public.

When we go to the beach women might wear a bathing suit or a

bikini. Men just wear swimming trunks or a swimsuit but

generally when you go to a store you're expected to be

wearing a shirt pants or shorts and even shoes in Canada so

depending on where you live there might be a different

expectation but we certainly need clothing because it's

culturally appropriate but it's also because of the weather. In

the winter I need to wear a winter coat and gloves. That is

the appropriate clothing for the weather. And need safety.

Um what we mean by this is we need to live in a world. Humans

have a need to live in a world where they feel safe. Um some

of us know that there are parts of our cities or countries

where it's not safe to go. But generally what you want in life

is you want your house to be a safe place to live. You want

your city or town to be a safe place to be in. And you'll know

like there are parts of Toronto and other cities where it's not

safe to go at night. And so I think cities in the world have

this where generally during the day things are fairly safe but

there are some places in your cities I'm sure where at night

it's not safe to go there so people need safety and then

let's do one more and then I'll get to some questions. People

need a sense of security. So security is similar to safety.

Security can mean that you have a job where you have enough

money every month. So you have financial security. You might

have access to really good food so there's some security. You

know that you can buy food every time you go to the

grocery store and it can be something as basic as that

there are people that keep the world organized and I'll do one

more slide. People need law and order. So it has been shown

that countries. Sorry, I just had a little bit of a glitch

there. Let me check something here.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep going here. Um I think things are

working but I'll double check in a sec. It has been shown

that countries where there's relatively good policing where

there's an active police force controlling crime and keeping

things safe. Generally, people are happier there. But you

don't want your police force to be corrupt and you don't want

them to do things that are illegal but when you have a

police force like that, it is. When you have a police force

that does their job well and reduces crime, the citizens are

Usually quite a bit happier. Healthcare. So, one of the

things that many people in the world have access to and a

great deal of people don't is health care. As we talk about

these needs, there are certain needs that people have that

they don't necessarily get and in the world, one of the things

I would love to see is better health care in every country

around the world. I think that people have a basic need for

all kinds of health care. If you your arm, you need to be

able to go to the doctor. You need to be able to go to the

hospital. So, health care is definitely a need that we have.

If you get sick and you need medicine or if you're in a car

accident, everyone in the world should have access to health

care and good health care and I hope someday, we get to the

point where everyone in the world has access to top-notch

health care, the best health care the world can provide.

People need family. So, family has a number of different

meanings in this sense. People need parents. People don't

always have siblings but it's nice to have a cousin or

someone your age when you're growing up that you know. It's

good to have an uncle, an aunt, grandparents, families are kind

of the basic unit that everyone is familiar with in life. Um

when two people get together and they have a baby, they have

started a family. So, family is an ongoing need. Even for me at

my age, it's really good for me to visit my mom. I enjoy

visiting my brothers and sisters. It's nice to have

family. People also need friendship. So, you can see a

bunch of girls hanging out here. They look like pretty

tough gang here but they are friends. Friendship is

something that can be hard to find in life. We also might

call this people need connection. People need to be

able to hang out with other people from time to time. So,

friendship is another form of connection. You have connection

through family and you have connection through friends or

because you have friendships. So, it's nice to have friends

in life. I find as I get older, it's for me to spend time with

my friends because all of us are married and have children

and our lives are somewhat busy but friendship is very

important. And people have a need for intimacy. So intimacy

can be on a number of different levels. It can be sexual. Okay?

So people need intimacy. Human beings are meant to be together

in that way. Um but it can also just be like a meeting of the

mind. So you can go out with someone who you are attracted

to and you can have intimate conversations. So there can be

intimacy as you talk to each other because you click. When

you click with someone, you get along with them really well.

And then as well intimacy can also refer to things people do

in the bedroom. That's all I'm going to say about that. People

have a need for community. So we have a need for family. We

have a need for friendship. We have a need for intimacy in the

form of a spouse or someone who we love. But we also have a

broader need for connection in terms of community. People who

live in the same town will sometimes have a parade or a

festival or there might be a dance at the community center.

They'll do things that build community. They'll do things

that help them enjoy the people around them. You also need

community when things go badly. In some towns in Canada, there

was a little bit of flooding and there was some forest fires

and so people because they live in community, they take care of

each other in times like that. So, people have a need for

community. And people have a need for dreams. So, you'll

notice obviously having a dream about the future is less

important than water. As I talk about needs, they're getting

less and less important for day-to-day living but they are

more important for life and it has been said that having a

dream for the future can be a very important thing in life.

People need to look to the future and be positive. So,

they have a dream of finishing They have a dream of visiting a

country that they would really love to visit. Having a dream

is just a really good way to stay excited about life every

day. So dreams are very very important. And so sometimes

dreams and goals are very similar. Okay. Your goal might

be to graduate from high school or to graduate from university.

Your goal might be to get a really good job. Maybe your

goal is to be the president of the United States somehow. Um

we could say that that's a goal or a dream. So my goal in this

lesson is to help you learn English. My dream is to teach

English on the internet for a very long time. So I've used

kind of both those words to help you understand a little

bit of the difference between them. But definitely having

dreams and goals can really make life more enjoyable. So I

think they are things that people need. And I think people

need accomplishments. I think you need to have in English we

have a phrase a sense of accomplishment. It's nice to

have a sense of accomplishment when you finish something. So

when I graduated from university I had a sense of

accomplishment. I accomplished something. When I finished the

French skill tree in Dualingo a few years ago. I felt that that

was an accomplishment in my life. I accomplished something.

But now Dualingo added a whole bunch more a whole a whole lot

more level and I feel like I need to go back and do it again

but maybe you feel the way the same way. Whenever you watch an

English TV show and understand it, you feel like if that's an

accomplishment, you've accomplished something or when

you start to think in English, that would be a really cool

accomplishment for you as well. People need a certain level of

respect. They need people to have respect for them. I think

that this is something that's missing in the world a little

bit right now. A lot of people don't have a lot of respect for

other people. But I think it's important for people to respect

each other. I think it's important for people to let

other people know that they like them and that they

appreciate them and that they respect them. Just imagine a

classroom where the students don't respect the teacher or

imagine a workplace where the workers don't respect the boss.

It becomes not very fun when that happens. So, respect is

something I think that is very important in the world as well

and I think people need respect. I think when you know

that your husband or wife respects you or when you know

that your kids respect you, it it builds your self-esteem.

Which is next slide. Self-esteem is when you feel

good about yourself. I think people need good self-esteem on

this planet. I think when you feel like you are an important

person that you have a good job. When you feel like you're

doing a good job as a parent. When you feel like you're

helping your community. You get good self-esteem. You feel good

about yourself. You respect yourself. So I think self

esteem is an incredibly important thing for people to

have in life. Um because when you have low self esteem, when

you don't have good respect for yourself, it can make the day

very very difficult for you. So, another need that people

have, people need self-esteem. And I think people have a basic

need for education. I think people need education when

they're younger. When they're children from about age four or

five to about age I don't know, 18 to 25 depending on how long

you stay in university. But I think people the happiest

people I know in life are the people who are still learning

new things. Even at age 40 or 50 or 60. So I think human

beings I think because we are an we're basically an animal

with a really good brain. I think we have this need to

learn things and I think that the longer you go, actively

learning new things, the happier you will be in life. I

think people have a need to be entertained. This can be as

simple as playing cards with a friend. This might be going to

a sport sporting event. Uh this might be, it might be

entertaining for you to just watch the the sun come out. In

the morning but I think people need to be distracted from

everyday life. They need something that entertains them.

Uh it might be listening to music. Um it might be going for

a walk. Those kinds of things but people need I think at some

level they need entertainment. I think people need exercise. I

think we kind of forget this that our bodies need to move.

We need to walk or run or play a sport or do things that just

help us stay healthy. I think it's very important. Um but

often overlooked that exercise is a good thing to do. And I

think people need a place to call their own or a place to

call your own. What I mean by this is even when I was a kid.

I shared a bedroom with my two brothers. All three of us had

the same room. But I had a bed and a desk. And it was mine.

And it was the place in the house that was my own. And I

think human have this basic need to have a place to call

your own. Either it's your apartment, it might be your

house. It might be a room that you live in. Maybe you'll still

live with your parents or you live with other roommates. But

everyone has this basic need I think to call at least a little

part of this planet their own. I think it's it is definitely I

have that need for sure. Um this room is my the place I

call my own. Um other people use this room but it's

generally considered dad's studio or Bob's studio or

office and yeah, it's just nice to have a place where you know,

your things can be and noone else touches them or where you

can just quietly read a book. I think people need hobbies or

past times. This is very similar to entertainment but I

think people need work but they also need things that they do

outside of work. I think they need to play like chess or

checkers. I think they need to maybe they play in a sports

league so it's exercise but it's also a hobby. Maybe they

enjoy photography. Maybe they enjoy art. I did a whole lesson

on hobbies and past times if you want to watch that. And I

think people need purpose. In life. When we talk about

purpose, it means that there's something that makes you feel

valuable. So for me, my purpose in life, I have a few in life.

One purpose is my purpose in life is to be a good husband

and a good dad, okay? Another purpose I have in life is I go

to work and I teach high school students how to speak French

and use computers. Another purpose I have in life is I

teach English on YouTube. I think when you have a purpose

in life, it's just, it's just nice. You feel like you are

making the world a better place somehow. And of course, to some

degree, you need money. Everyone needs money. Most

people would like more money than what they have but having

money is just something you need in order to go through

life. If you want to buy groceries, you need money. If

you want to buy gas or petrol, if you're speaking British

English, you need money. If you want to yeah, if you want to

eat, you need money. Um usually water is free in most

countries. Um but if you a house, you need money to buy

the house. So, money is definitely a need which helps

you get your other needs. It's a means to an end. There's

another English phrase for you. And we talked about this

earlyness. We talked about this earlier. I think people have a

basic need for cleanliness. At one level, keeping your house

clean and keeping your city clean prevents diseases but it

also I think is a nice feeling. When your house is tidy and

when your kitchen bathroom are clean. I think it's a nice

feeling. I think humans like to have things orderly and I think

they like things clean. That doesn't mean we're always

clean. In fact, behind me, it looks very clean but over there

in that corner where you can't see, it's quite messy. Um but

definitely, I would say, people have a desire for cleanliness

and sanitation. So, sanitation is just a bigger word for

keeping things clean. It's nice when streets are clean and when

stores are clean and when your house is clean. And I think

people need a sense of peace. I think we see that when there is

conflict in the world, it is stressful. I think people

crave, people need peace. They need a peaceful day. And this

relates back to safety and security. I think humans have a

basic desire or peace. And I think we need joy. I think it's

sometimes hard to be happy. Um I know for myself, I'm usually

happy but sometimes I'm not but having joy in your day. Having

something that brings you joy, it makes you smile is very,

very cool. Um I I would say it's a need. It might be a

want. People want joy. People want happiness but I think we

need it. I think it if a smile is good. And then hope. I think

people need to think about the future in a positive way. I

think we've just been through a pandemic. I think it's hard to

be positive about the future but I think we have to have

hope, hope that the future is bright, that the world is

getting better, that it's not getting worse. And it can be

very challenging, especially those of you, I know some of

you are from countries where there's a lot of strife or

where there's war or where there's conflict and I think

you need you need hope You need to believe that the future will

be better for you and maybe for your kids if you have children

as well. So, hope is the last slide. That's the one that I

will end on. I think it's probably one of the most

important ones. We all need to have hope for the future.