I was wondering if you wanted to see

some of the beautiful places that are close to my house

and if you wanted to learn

some cool English phrases at the same time.

This is The Comfort Maple.

It is one of the biggest maple trees in Canada,

and it's actually close to my house.

So it's kinda cool that I can take you here

to have a look at it.

We'll start here

and we'll go to a number of beautiful places

and I'll teach you some English phrases along the way.

(gentle music)

Well, hey, welcome to this English lesson

where I am going to help you learn

some new English words and phrases,

while we visit some beautiful places.

So stick around because we're gonna go to quite a few.

By the way, if you are new here,

you should click that red subscribe button.

And if this video helps you learn

just a little bit more English,

you should give me a thumbs up.

Did you notice I was hugging the tree?

I was giving the tree a big hug.

That is the very first word

that I'm going to teach you today,

the word treehugger.

So a treehugger is someone who loves trees,

but they also love the environment.

They are someone who would recycle all the time.

They are someone who would live as simply as possible

in order to protect the earth

and to protect the environment.

So, a treehugger might actually hug trees

but it's a term we use in English

to describe someone who just loves the planet.

The next phrase I wanted to teach you,

with the word tree in it, is the phrase

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

This is a phrase that we use when we talk about children

who are a lot like their parents.

So my one son is a lot like me.

Someone could say to me,

"Wow, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

And what that means is that my son

has a lot of the same personality traits

and a lot of the same characteristics as I do.

And this last phrase with the word tree in it

is one of my favorites, and that's the phrase

money doesn't grow on trees.

This is something that parents

often say to their children

when they think their parents

should buy something that's really expensive,

because children don't always understand money.

So you say something like,

"What do you think, money grows on trees?"

Or you say, "Hey, we can't afford that.

"Money doesn't grow on trees."

Because if money grew on trees,

you could just go grab money from the tree.

That would make life a lot easier, wouldn't it?

(water swooshing)

So I'm at a place called Ball's Falls

and I wanted to teach you a few English phrases,

while I'm standing here in front of the falls.

The first phrase I wanted to teach you

is the English phrase cry me a river.

This is not a nice thing to say to someone,

but if you say to someone, "Cry me a river"

it means that they are telling you something

that they find kind of stressful

and you don't actually care that they're telling you.

So it's a really mean thing to say.

But maybe one of my children is constantly telling me

that they're not having fun

and they can't have fun unless they buy a new video game.

I could say, "Aw, cry me a river."

Basically what I'm saying is,

"I understand you're upset, but I really don't care."

It's not very nice, is it?

The other phrase I wanted to teach you here,

while we're by some water, has to do with fish.

And it's the English phrase

to feel like a fish out of water.

If you feel like a fish out of water,

it means you're not comfortable

in the situation that you are in.

If I went somewhere to learn how to ballroom dance,

I would feel like a fish out of water.

I don't mind dancing, but I have never in my life

gone and taken dance lessons.

So if I went to take dance lessons,

I would feel like a fish out of water.

(water swooshing)

The last phrase I wanted to teach you while we were here

is the English phrase dead in the water.

And this has to do with an idea

that isn't a good idea anymore.

So let's say at work, you came up with this incredible idea

and you told your boss

and your boss said, "It sounds great

"but there's not enough money to implement your idea."

We would then say that that idea is dead in the water.

Another beautiful place is, of course, the forest.

Let me get out of the way so you can see this one.

I came to this forest

to teach you a few English phrases, of course.

The first one being,

when someone can't see the forest for the trees.

If we say that someone can't see the forest for the trees,

it means that they can see all the little details

in a job they are doing,

but they have trouble seeing the big picture.

So, let's imagine someone is teaching, like me.

And instead of planning my whole day and my whole week,

I only plan one small part of the lesson.

You would say that I'm having trouble

seeing the forest for the trees,

especially if I spend way too much time

just planning that one part of my week.

It's always important to see the big picture.

If I went that way, I would be going into the woods.

And if I went that way, I would be going out of the woods,

which reminds me of the next English phrase

that I wanted to teach you

while we're out here in the woods or the forest,

and that's the phrase, we're not out of the woods yet.

When you are solving a problem

and you are working on it with someone else,

and if they say, "Yes, we're done"

but you're not quite done, you could say,

"Whoa, just a minute, we're not out of the woods yet."

And what that means

is that even though the problem is almost solved,

or whatever you're working on is almost done,

there are still some things that you have to finish.

So when a job is almost done,

especially when someone you're working with

thinks it's done but it's not,

you could say, "Whoa, we're not out of the woods yet."

So this next English phrase is a little weird.

It's actually a superstitious phrase.

It's something people say

after they talk about something

that they want in the future.

They will say, "Knock on wood."

And then they'll actually find something

that's wood and knock on it.

So, maybe, someone says, "Oh, I really hope everyone

"comes to my birthday party next week, knock on wood."

Basically what they're saying is,

because they've expressed their want or desire out loud,

they're a little bit superstitious,

so in order for it to come true, they say, "Knock on wood."

I don't say it very often,

but you will hear English speakers say this phrase.

So I noticed when I was driving here that my van needs gas,

so I hope there's a gas station in this neck of the woods.

This is an English phrase that we use

to talk about the neighborhood or area that we're in.

We'll say things like, "I hope there's a gas station

"in this neck of the woods."

Or if I saw someone, I could say,

"Do you know if there's a gas station

"in this neck of the woods?"

So basically, the English phrase, in this neck of the woods,

means in this area or in this neighborhood.

(birds chirping)

So this walking bridge is part of the Bruce Trail.