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  • Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about school. I

  • love talking about school. As most of you know, my real job

  • as we might say in English is that I am a high school

  • teacher. Um it's summer right now so I don't need to go to

  • work but during the school year, I am a high school

  • teacher and I love talking about school. I think it's

  • because when I was young, when I was a student, I loved being

  • in school. I have always loved learning and I think naturally

  • uh people who love learning sometimes choose to become

  • teachers. So, as a teacher, I'm always excited to do a lesson

  • about school. In particular, this lesson is about back to

  • school. Back to school will be happening in a few weeks here

  • in Ontario, Canada. It's kind of the middle of summer

  • vacation but I've noticed already that the back-to-school

  • sales have started. So, students usually need to buy a

  • few things before they go back to school So today I thought I

  • would do a lesson on back to school. So school let me make

  • this a little bit bigger for you. School I actually modified

  • this slide for this lesson because school may look like

  • one or the other when you look at the pictures over here.

  • School last year for the most part for us was online. But

  • also we had in person learning. So if you look to the far side

  • of this slide you'll see there's a boy looking at his

  • computer. He would be doing called online learning or

  • remote learning and these students are doing in-person

  • learning. So school is of course the place where kids go

  • um in Canada kids from the age of about four or five up to age

  • seventeen or eighteen attend school on a daily basis. So

  • school is the place where children go in order to learn

  • things. This is what's called back to school time. Back to

  • school usually happens right after a holiday that we call in

  • Ontario, Canada and in many other parts of the world, I

  • think it's similar. Back to school is the day when kids go

  • back on the bus or they walk to school and they start school

  • again. So, the phrase back to school is used a lot right now.

  • We would call this the back-to-school season or it's

  • back-to-school time or you might even say something like,

  • well, it's almost back to school, isn't it? So, we use

  • the phrase in a lot of To talk about usually the end of August

  • and right uh the first few days of September we would call that

  • the back to school time. It is of course right now summer

  • holidays or what we also call summer vacation. So if there

  • are any students watching this they probably don't want to

  • talk about back to school. Back to school is not a fun time for

  • some students. I'm sure some students look forward to it.

  • But some do not look forward to it but it is right now uh

  • summer holidays or summer vacation. In Ontario, Canada,

  • students get 2 months off from school and teachers do too,

  • which is kind of a bonus. Um and we would refer to that as

  • summer holidays or summer vacation. A good time to hang

  • out with friends, maybe just read a book. Older students

  • usually get part-time jobs so they'll get a summer job during

  • the summer vacation or summer holidays. My two oldest kids

  • both have summer jobs right now. Um they both found places

  • to work for the summer so that they could earn some money. We

  • have of course other things that happen during back to

  • school time and we add the phrase back to school to it. So

  • right now people are going to start to do back to school

  • shopping. You know the word two in back to school. Sometimes we

  • actually put the number two back to school. Guess it looks

  • cooler. But right now I've noticed that we get flaw in the

  • mail. A flyer is like a paper that shows everything that is

  • on sale at a store and all of them say back to school. Back

  • to school shopping time. So we have times of the year when we

  • shop for certain things. This is certainly a time of the year

  • where there will be a lot of people doing back to school

  • shopping. And of course because of that we will have what's

  • called back to school sales. A back to school sale is a sale

  • during the month of August where thin that you normally

  • buy for school are cheaper than they normally would be. So

  • right now the back to school shopping has started. The

  • stores are sending out flyers where they're showing a lot of

  • back to school sales. You know pencils 50% off or pencil cases

  • 25% off. There are a lot of back to school sales happening

  • right now. Because students need things like school

  • clothes. So in general sometimes kids buy clothes just

  • for school. It's not really any different than their normal

  • clothes but it might be different than the clothes they

  • play in outside. They might be clothes that they keep a little

  • cleaner because they are their school clothes. So, for our

  • kids, we would say something like, well, we need to go buy

  • some more school clothes for you because that pair of pants

  • has a hole in the knee or that shirt doesn't fit you anymore.

  • You need some new school clothes. Some schools though

  • have a school uniform This is quite common at probably I

  • would say about ten to 20% of the schools in Canada have

  • school uniforms. I know in certain countries school

  • uniforms are very very popular. Um for instance the school I

  • work at has school uniforms. But the school my kids go to my

  • younger kids doesn't have school uniforms. So again a

  • school uniform is um clothing that you usually buy from the

  • school or you buy from a store that the school chooses. So

  • that all the students look the same. Common school uniforms

  • would be like uh black pants with a white shirt and tie uh

  • and those types of things. So, if your school doesn't have

  • school uniforms, you might just need school clothes. Maybe you

  • need some school clothes because um as a kid, uh

  • sometimes kids outgrow them and then maybe you need to get some

  • new uh shirts and pants for your school uniform. And of

  • course, there are back-to-school sales because

  • people need school supplies. So, the or phrase we use to

  • refer to all the things you buy when you need to go to school,

  • we would call school supplies. Some schools supply certain

  • things to the students but other schools, most schools

  • require students to buy certain things before they go in

  • Canada, of course. So, the school would supply things like

  • glue or maybe colored paper if they're doing art or paint but

  • my kids and most Canadian kids have to buy certain school

  • supplies in order to go to school. They might need a

  • binder. We would call this a three-ring binder. This is

  • something that you can open and close and it can hold paper.

  • You might need to buy a notebook which is just a small

  • book that you can take notes in. When you're asked, when

  • you're a student at school, it's a good idea to take notes.

  • You might need to buy some pencils, pens, or a

  • highlighter. So, a pencil is of course something you can

  • sharpen and it's used for math or art class a pen is something

  • that's permanent. This is a BIC pen made by my friends over in

  • France. BIC pens are really cool. I like them. I shouldn't

  • tell you this but I actually like chewing on the cap of the

  • BIC pen. I shouldn't mention that, should I? Uh and then a

  • highlighter is something you can use to um basically make

  • words yellow so that you can see them easier. Um a

  • highlighter is a really good tool if you're learning

  • English. You can highlight new words. Don't do that in library

  • books though. Only use a highlighter in a book that you

  • own. You might need an eraser so that if you write something

  • in pencil, you can erase it later. You might need a pencil

  • case to store all of your stuff. So, once again, these

  • are all school supplies that kids in Canada and I think most

  • other countries would need to buy. They would need to go to a

  • back-to-school sale and if they needed, if they didn't have a

  • pencil case, they would need to buy one. The school would not

  • give these items to the kids. You might need a pencil

  • sharpener. Although most classrooms have a pencil

  • sharpener, sometimes students are required to have a small

  • one with them that they can keep in their pencil case. And

  • maybe they need a laptop, maybe they need a calculator, and

  • maybe they need a backpack, or what we sometimes just call a

  • book bag. So, let's quick review again. These are all

  • things that we would call school supplies and some of

  • these things students will need to buy before they go back to

  • school. A binder, maybe two binders, maybe four. They might

  • need a notebook. They might need a pencil, pen, and a

  • highlighter or kind of like a few of each. They would put

  • them with their eraser in their pencil case and they might need

  • a small pencil sharpener and they might need a laptop and a

  • calculator. This really depends on the school as well. I think

  • at my school, we have a class set of calculators um and then

  • they might need a backpack or a book bag for all of these

  • items. So, the first day of school is called the first day

  • of school but I wanted to put this slide in here. I mean, it

  • sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it? Um in our part of Canada,

  • the day after Labor Day, which is a holiday in September, we

  • have the first day of school. So, the first day of school

  • this year, I think, I actually didn't look this up. I

  • should've looked it up. First day of school, this year is

  • probably September seventh. That would be my guess. First

  • day of school, September seventh. Um but you also have

  • really little kids who haven't gone to school before sometimes

  • have their first day of school. So, they've never been to

  • school and and that's an exciting day for them. The

  • first day of school, whether you're like four or five and

  • you've never been or if you're like fourteen, um it's usually

  • a day where parents take a photo. We often take a photo on

  • the first day of school of our kids with their backpacks and

  • their new school clothes um and then uh we put that in a album.