Free English Class! Topic: Manners! 💶🤫 (Lesson Only)

Well hello and welcome to this English lesson about manners.

Believe it or not there are good manners and there are bad

manners. If you aren't sure what manners are it's the way

we behave in life in a way that's either polite or

impolite. When you show good manners or when you have good

manners. You do things around other people that don't annoy

them or offend them. Uh you do things while you're talking or

eating or just living your life that are polite and kind and

the sorts of things that human beings should do to each other.

But there's also bad manners. There's things you do around

other people that might annoy them or might make them feel

just a little bit aggravated. Now I should mention something.

This is an English lesson about manners. But it's also an

English lesson about culture. Some of the things that I

mention might be good manners here and bad manners in your

country. Some things might be bad manners here and are

totally fine in your country. So please remember that This is

from the perspective of a Canadian. This is an English

lesson about manners. But the cultural differences that

you'll be seeing are maybe because I live in Canada

because I live in North America and you live somewhere else. So

it should be interesting to see whether some of the things that

I think are good manners. Maybe you think are bad manners and

and vice versa as well. But I'm super excited to have you here

for this English lesson about manners. Interrupt So

interrupting someone when they're talking to someone else

is not good manners. That is definitely bad manners. Um

there are ways to insert yourself into a conversation. I

have a picture here of three adults talking. Sometimes

adults do interrupt each other a little bit but they might say

something like could I just interrupt for a moment or

excuse me could I just add something to this conversation?

Usually when we talk about interrupting we talk we're

talking about children. Children often interrupt their

parents when they're having conversations. Maybe at the

grocery store if I'm talking to the cashier one of my children

might interrupt and I might say to my child I might say hey

please don't interrupt when dad is talking to someone else. So

interrupting when someone is talking never a good idea. And

here's a few more pointers on how to interrupt nicely. You

could say excuse me could I just interrupt and ask a

question? So you you simply say that you're interrupting and

you start with excuse me or you would say something like if I

could just ask a question here sorry to interrupt that would

be a great way to actually interrupt in a nice way chewing

with your mouth open so this is another thing I have to laugh

because my own children tell each other not to chew with

their mouths open but it is considered impolite it is

considered bad manners in Canada to chew with your mouth

open when you're having a meal usually when you take a bite of

food you chew your mouth closed. It's quieter. People

don't have to hear the sound of food being chewed. And this

might be different in different parts of the world. But

certainly I remember as a parent teaching my kids

especially when we were eating somewhere else. Teaching my

kids not to chew with their mouth open. To chew with their

mouth closed when we're at their grandparents or in a

restaurant. Just polite and good manners. To chew with your

mouth closed. So there are a few things our bodies do that

make sounds. I'm going to talk about two of them. Burping is

one of them. A burp is when you eat food or for some other

reason you have some gas or air in your stomach and then you

burp. It sounds kind of like eh that's my pretend burp. Uh but

a burp is considered maybe bad manners a little bit. It really

depends where you do it and how you do it. So for instance if

I'm working out the field and for some reason I burp it's

probably not a big deal. But if I'm sitting having a meal with

Jen's parents and I burp really loudly at the dinner table or

at the supper table that would be that would be considered bad

manners. Okay. It's very polite to kind of do something like

burping somewhere where people can't hear you. And again this

might be different in different parts of the world. Um but yeah

that's that's I can't make the sound of a burp but that is

what a burp looks like. Uh and then what's next? Um another

one that's something about gas coming out of the other end of

your body. So when you burp air comes out of your mouth when

you fart when someone is farting it means that gas is

coming out the other end from down there. Uh this is

considered very rude. For a couple of reasons. It sounds

rude. It's very it's very bad manners to fart around other

people. Uh and then of course smells. There's a certain odour

that comes with farting. So this is something that with our

children as well we encourage them not to fart around other

people. Sorry there's a little bit of silliness associated

with farting and especially with children. Children think

farting is funny and so I think I'm giggling a little bit while

talking about farting because it reminds me of when I was a

kid and how kids kind of find farting hilarious. They think

it's a very funny thing that people do. And if you think

about it it it is a funny thing that we do as human beings. But

bad manners. Um to fart around other people. So it's good

manners to use the word please. In fact in English we're often

talking about teaching our kids to say please and thank you.

When our kids would go visit someone we would say don't

forget to say please when you ask for something and don't

forget to thank you when someone gives you something. So

it's very important especially as a parent that my children

learned how to say please when they were asking for something

and it was important to me that my children learned to say

thank you when someone helped them or gave them something. So

you'll often hear parents using both words together like

teaching your kids to say please and thank you. Or saying

to your kid don't forget to say please and thank you when you

visit your friend. Uh don't forget to thank your friend's

parents if they give you a snack or give you a ride

somewhere or take you to a restaurant and pay for the

food. Make sure you say please when you're asking for

something and make sure you say thank you when someone gives

you something. Uh just good manners to do that definitely.

Tipping. So this depends on the kind of restaurant you're in

and what country you're in. Tipping is the act of giving

money at the end of a meal that's more than the bill for

the restaurant that you've eaten in. So if you go in the

bill $30, you might leave a 510 or 15 tip. 15 would be a lot

for a $30 meal. Usually it's around 20%. I think. 15 or 20%.

But tipping this might be different depending on what

country you're in. In Canada if you go to a fast food

restaurant like McDonald's you don't tip. Uh if you go to a

sit down restaurant. That's the phrase I would use. Where

there's a waiter and they bring you a menu and you order your

food and they bring you your food we generally think

considered tipping to be good manners. It's just a good idea

to show your thanks to the server by leaving a tip. Notice

I'm using tipping and leaving a tip kind of interchangeably.

Tipping is a good idea. Leaving a tip is a good idea. Putting

your feet on the table. So this is a tricky one. I put my feet

on my coffee table when I'm sitting in my living room. But

I don't put my feet on the supper table or dinner table or

kitchen table. There's a lot of different names for that table.

When I'm in the kitchen I do not put my feet up on the table

ever. That would be very very bad manners. If I was visiting

my sister and I put my feet up on her kitchen table. Like if I

sat in a chair and put my feet up on her kitchen table she

would she would be very annoyed me. That would be extremely bad

manners. But when I'm sitting in a living room when I'm

sitting on a couch watching TV I often put my feet on the

coffee table that we have there. Cutting in line. This is

another one where this might have a different yeah whether

this is good or bad manners might depend on where you live.

In Canada and generally in North America you do not cut in

line. So cutting in line is when there's a line of people

and you just go in the middle of the line or you try to get

to the front of the line. Um lines are very I'm going to use

the word sacred. Lines are very sacred in Canada and in the

United States. We don't cut in line. And there's a few other

words for this. You can but in line or bud in line. Um

students at school will often say no budding when people try

to get in line in front of them. Um now I said that

cutting in line it does happen in Canada. But usually it

happens with like teenagers and younger people. Uh if you go to

the bank you would never cut in line at the bank in Canada.

That would just be extremely rude. Uh you could tell I'm

going odd and odd about how rude it would be. But it is my

understanding that in different parts of the world things might

work a little bit differently. So it's considered good manners

to ask before you take something. I I know this might

sound kind of funny but my brother if my brother wanted to

borrow my lawn mower he would text me or call me and he would

ask hey can I borrow your lawn mower? And then I would say yes

or no. He wouldn't just come here and take it. That would be

considered impolite. Bad manners. Annoying and Um a lot

of times too it's important for children to ask before they

take some money. Sometimes my kids want to buy lunch at

school and instead of just taking money from my wallet

they ask. It's considered really good manners to ask

before you take something. Saying sorry is considered very

polite in good manners. Uh we use the word sorry a lot in

Canada. If I bump into someone at the grocery store I would

say oh I'm sorry or I would say sorry. Um If someone was

standing at the grocery store in front of something I wanted

to buy I might say excuse me could I just get in there and

grab something sorry to bother you. So saying sorry in various

ways is a polite way to make conversation go better. It's

just a good idea. Um it sounds kind of funny when I say sorry

but I say sorry a lot. I think Canadians say sorry a lot. So

this is one that we kind of talked about just a few seconds

ago. Covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Again we

used to use hand when we cough or when we sneeze people would

be like achoo or they would go and cough into their hand but

we've been told now to use our elbow to cough or sneeze into

our elbow. It's a little bit hard for me. I don't think my

arms long enough to do that. But it is not it is very bad

manners to just go achoo and just have things fly out of

your nose or to just cough with your mouth open without

covering. Definitely. Always a idea to cover when you are

coughing or sneezing. Especially during COVID. Uh

this one is particular for teachers possibly. Um students

sometimes chew gum and chewing gum with your mouth open is bad

manners. But chewing gum and putting the gum under the seat

of the desk or putting the gum under the chair you're sitting

in is very very bad manners. This still happens at schools

and it happens on park benches or if you sit down in the food

court at mall if you touch the bottom of the chair there's

probably gum stuck there. But it's considered extremely rude

to put gum under a chair. I'm just laughing at this man

because he looks kind of like a school teacher to me. And he's

looking under a chair thinking ah those students they just

keep putting gum under the chairs. Bad manners. Very very

bad manners. Uh introducing people is good it's good

manners to introduce people. If Jen and I run into someone that

I know from the past that Jen doesn't know. Um I will make

sure I introduce Jen. I will say hey Jim long time no see.

What's it been? Like 10 years? Ah man you look great. By the

way this is my wife Jen. We've been married for 20 whatever

years? 26 years? Twenty-5? I should remember. But certainly

it would be bad manners if Jen and I were shopping. And if I

saw an old friend who I haven't seen for 20 years who Jen

doesn't know. It would be bad manners if I didn't introduce

Jen and that person to each other. So always a good idea to

introduce people. Picking your nose. I couldn't find a good

picture until I thought oh I'll find a picture of a child

because in English we would say it grosses me out when I see

people pick their nose. Um when you pick your nose you put your

finger up your nose and well I'm not going to describe it in

too much detail but certainly I think a lot of people pick

their nose privately. So people will pick their nose when noone

is looking. But it is considered bad manners to pick

your nose in front of other people. This is another thing

that parents often teach their not to do. You know don't pick

your nose when when you're around other people. Actually

don't pick your nose. I'm not going to talk about it anymore.

It's up to you whether you pick your nose or not. Just don't do

it in front of a group of people. Greeting visitors. So

when someone comes to visit us like let's say Jen's parents

come for a visit. When we see them drive in we will go to the

front door of our house and open the door and welcome them

to our house. We don't just sit at the kitchen table and wait

for them to come in. When we have visitors people who don't

who we don't see very often we've quite often will greet

greeting visitors at the door is a very polite and kind thing

to do. So you can see this family here has guests and they

are greeting them at the door. And then the reverse. This

isn't the greatest picture of this because I think this is

happening. When we have guests when they leave we see them to

the door. It's kind of a weird English phrase isn't it? When

you see someone to the door it means that you walk to the door

with them when they leave your house. So if Jen's parents come

and they visit for a few hours and we have a cup of tea and

then they say well we need to get going Jen and I will see

them to the door. That means we'll walk to the front door of

the house with them. And they'll put their shoes and

jackets on and we'll just talk in the entrance way for a

little bit before they leave. Definitely good manners to

greet someone at the door and see someone to the door when

they visit. Here's another one that's possibly North American

but possibly not. It's considered polite to knock.

Knocking before entering someone's house is very very

polite. It's a good manners. Ringing the doorbell knocking

both count as the same type of activity. But it's considered

rude to just walk into someone's house. So let me

clarify a little bit. When we when I visit my sister I

usually walk straight into her house. But when I visit friends

I knock or ring the doorbell when I get there. I think it

depends on how well you know the person. But let me think

this through. When we visit Jen's parents yeah I no we

don't knock. We just walk in. But when we visit my friends we

always knock. So it definitely depends on how well you know

someone whether you knock or ring the doorbell or not. Um so

it's considered good manners to say excuse me before asking

someone a question. The perfect example for this would be if

you're lost and asking for directions. You would say

excuse me. Could you tell me how to get to the museum?

Excuse me. Do you have change for a $5 bill? Excuse me. Could

you tell me where to find the town hall. I I'm having trouble

thinking of examples. But When you ask a question and you say

excuse me before you ask it it makes the question sound a lot

more polite. And it's definitely good manners. Uh

this is definitely not polite. This is something that we

discourage in our house but sometimes it's hard. Using your

phone at dinner. Or using your phone especially in a

restaurant while you're eating with other people. Can be

considered bad manners. It really depends. When my

brothers and sisters go out to eat when we go to a which we

haven't done for three years. When we go out to eat we

usually just turn the ringers off on our phones and leave

them in our pockets. Um when you're visiting with people it

can be impolite. It can be bad manners to be on your phone all

the time. Washing your hands before eating. So this is more

of a custom. But it's also considered good manners. Um

when you are out and about in the world depending on what you

do your hands tend to get dirty and it's just a really good

idea to wash your hands before you eat. This is something have

tried to teach our children to do and they do it 99% of the

time. It's especially important right now during COVID. You

should always make sure that you wash your hands before you

eat. It's just a good practice. It's sanitary and it's

definitely good manners as well. Holding doors for others.

So this is an interesting one because this is changing a

little bit. So holding a door for someone is considered

polite. I still consider it polite. If I'm walking into a

building and someone is walking behind me. I will often open

the door and hold it for them when they go in. Man or woman.

Okay? Um I think though that this is changing a little bit

because people sometimes feel like I don't know let me just

put it this way. I'm 50 years old. I still think it's very

polite to hold a door for someone. If I'm leaving a

building and someone is leaving right behind me. I will hold

the door for them for a little bit. Because doors close

automatically on buildings. So if there's someone right behind

me I don't want to walk out have the door kind of swing as

they're coming out. So I just take a second to hold the door

for them. Not commenting on looks. So this is a tricky one.

When someone gets a haircut and you think it looks good it's

very kind and polite to say hey your new haircut looks great.

Um or that shirt looks good on you. But when you think

someone's haircut doesn't look good. Or you think the shirt

they're wearing is ugly. It's very very rude to say that. I

would say to someone your new haircut looks really good. I

would say to Someone your new shirt looks great. If someone

got a haircut though and it didn't look I would not say to

them your haircut looks awful. I would consider that bad

manners. Um even though sometimes it's good to be

honest. I wouldn't say that. If someone was wearing a shirt

that was like just didn't look good. I wouldn't say that to

them. Um so commenting on looks can go both ways. If it's a

positive comment I think that's okay. But if it's a negative

comment yeah I think that would be bad manners. Especially if

you did it repeatedly. But borrowing without returning. So

when you borrow something it means you do not have that

thing and you go and ask someone else if you can use

theirs. You borrow theirs. The most common thing I think that

people borrow would be other people's tools. So when you

borrow something it is very bad manners to not return it. Um

I've had people in the past borrow things from me. Um and

then days, weeks, months go by and they haven't returned it.

It's very very rude. It is definitely considered bad

manners to borrow something and then not return it. Or even

keep it for a long time. Uh if you borrow something you should

always bring it back to the person who you borrowed it

from. Writing thank you notes is considered very polite and

very kind. Especially after like a significant event. So if

you get married and people give you wedding gifts you should

send them thank you notes. You should write a little note that

says thank you for the barbecue. It was great. You

guys are awesome. Thanks for coming to my wedding. Um we

don't normally do it after birthdays. Like I don't send

thank you notes after a birthday party. But after

something significant. Um like if I had If I had a party if

Jen and I had an anniversary party and people gave us gifts

I would send them a thank you note afterwards. Talking during

a movie. So we talked about talking loudly and I think I

mentioned this a little bit. Talking during a movie is just

incredibly bad manners. When people go to see a movie they

want to enjoy the show. They want to enjoy what they're

watching. Part of that enjoyment is being able to hear

it. So talking during a movie Movie. Having your phone on and

glowing during a movie is also I think bad manners. Um and

certainly you can see in this picture these two guys are

annoyed because the people sitting a few rows back are

talking during a movie. Not a very nice thing to do.

Apologizing is considered a good thing to do. And I this is

kind of a duplicate. We talked about saying sorry. Um when you

bump into someone you should say I'm sorry. Um when You yeah

that's probably the best example. When you're at the

grocery store and you accidentally bump into someone.

You know what bumping is right? When you you turn and you hit

someone by accident you should definitely say I'm sorry to

them. Swearing is never a good idea. So the other day someone

in the comments asked if I ever swear. Uh if I ever use bad

words. Uh and I said I forget my exact reply but here's my

reply. Uh yes sometimes when the classic is if you hit your

thumb with a hammer. When I'm working on a farm. It's a very

physical job and sometimes you know you're you're working on

things where you you bang your knuckles against something like

my microphone. And then a swear word might come out. I do swear

occasionally. But generally I do not swear very much at all.

I think because I'm a parent and I don't want to swear in

front of my children. And also because I've spent a lot of

time in a school teachers cannot swear. It's just you

just don't swear around kids. Um it's just not part of how I

talk. Um some people do swear more but I definitely don't

swear very much but it I consider it bad manners to

swear I think when you are with friends and everyone uses swear

words. It can be cool for younger people to swear. But

generally when if I was at the bank and the person in front of

me started swearing that would be considered very bad manners

indeed. And we have something called table manners. Which I

wanted to talk about just for a minute or two. So table manners

are things like you put your napkin on your lap. And you

have utensils or cutlery. Um like forks, knives and spoons

in a certain order. And you're supposed to use I think you go

from the outside in. Use the smallest fork for your salad

and the bigger fork for your main meal. And when you're done

you're supposed to put I don't know all the rules. I don't

know all I think in North America we have table manners

than we used to. Um I do know that it's not polite to chew

with your mouth open. I do know that when there's when I'm at a

fancy dinner like at a wedding and there's multiple pieces of

cutlery. I almost always have to ask which fork am I supposed

to use first because I don't always know what to do. But yes

table manners I think depending on what country you live in

there are different levels. And it's considered at a table to

be it's considered to be bad manners to reach. You're it's

better to ask someone to pass someone or pass something to

you. So you can see this person is reaching for looks like the

butter or a cup or something like that. Can't quite see in

the picture. It's good manners to ask people to pass things.

Could you please pass the potatoes? Could you please pass

the bread? Could you please pass the milk? Instead of

reaching past someone and grabbing it. That's considered

bad manners. So if you were ever at a dinner Bob the

Canadian doesn't really know all of the rules for the table

manners that we would use. Uh but certainly put the napkin on

your lap. Don't reach across in front of other people to grab

things. Uh be kind and polite and don't don't chew with your

mouth open. And certainly don't put your feet. Don't put your

feet on the table. Especially at supper time. That would be a

really bad idea.