Let's Learn English! Topic: Virtues (Describing People) 🦉🎁⌚
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Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about virtues. Virtues are the things, the behaviors, the characteristics of people that are good.

I go through this lesson I'll talk about patience and integrity and honesty. I have a list of about I think a little over 25 virtues. The kinds of things you hope people are. Hopefully that makes sense. You hope that your friends have virtues. You hope that your relatives have virtues. Maybe I'll do a lesson in the future where

on the bad characteristics of people but for today we're going to talk about what makes people good. So welcome once again to this English lesson about virtues. Honesty.

truthful and sincere. So let's be clear. When I say honesty you can use a sentence like he is an honest person. He likes to be honest. He has honesty as a character trait. And honesty to me is one of the most important virtues. I like it when people are honest. I like it when they tell the truth. I like it when people

If a student is doing something wrong and I ask them what they're doing instead of lying when you lie it's the opposite of being honest. Instead of lying they just tell me what they were doing and then we can have a conversation about it.

someone in my class throws a piece of paper at me while I'm writing on the board while my back is turned and I turn around and say who threw that and if Joey raises his hand and says I did sorry about that sir.

that is honesty. So, the behavior was bad but at least the student was honest and admitted what they did. So, honesty. Uh I think in business, there's also a phrase in English. Honesty is the best policy. Let's move to the next slide.

integrity. So this one's a little harder to explain. When someone has integrity, it can mean a lot of things. It can mean that you trust them. It means that they're doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It means that they're on time. They're hardworking. Um if you have an agreement with them, they will honor the agreement. So when you have someone who

let's say fix your house. You want to hire someone with integrity. So, if they're fixing your house and you leave for a bit, you know they keep working. When someone has integrity, again, they can be trusted. Um they won't tell you one thing and then do something different. They have integrity and so they will

just be a trustworthy person who does what they're what they say they're going to do. By the way, I I need to make sure I read my definitions. This is new this week. I haven't done this before but integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. So, some people do the right thing when people are watching and then they they don't do the right thing when people aren't watching. So, it's good when people have integrity. Kindness.

This is another one of my favorite ones. For those of you that have been around a long time, you know that I'm always saying be kind. Kindness is being caring and considerate and I put a picture of what I think is a grandpa.

grandparents seem to be very kind. I think when you're old and you don't have to work anymore, you're retired. All you can do is be kind to your friends and your kids and your grandkids. So, when you're kind, you do nice things for people. You give them things. You help them with things. Um a person who is kind is

comes to your house for supper will help you prepare the meal. They will help you clean up after the meal because they want to be kind. They want to be caring and considerate. Compassion. So compassion goes a little deeper than kindness. Compassion means that you are

Um you really want to help other people because you are having sympathy for others. When you have sympathy for someone it means you care about them. I put a picture of a caregiver possibly she's a nurse because I feel like in the medical world nurses and doctors and caregivers have a lot of compassion.

want to help people like this man because they know life is hard for him because maybe he has health problems. Um parents have compassion for their children, right? They love their children. They're kind to their children but they also have sympathy when a child doesn't have a good day at school. You make them a nice snack. You are kind to them. So compassion is having sympathy for others.

So I...

put a picture of a teacher here. Patience refers to staying calm in difficult situations. A teacher needs to have a lot of patience. Uh students can be a little bit overwhelming. Sometimes they're loud. Sometimes they don't do the work they need to do. Sometimes they don't understand the explanation you give them. Um so it's important that you have patience which means staying calm in difficult situations.

opposite would be someone who gets frustrated and angry and aggravated really quickly. I find that in my job I need to have a lot of patience. I think it comes naturally to me. Especially as you get older. Um but patience is definitely a virtue.

Courage means facing fear or challenges bravely. Whenever I think of courage, I always think of a knight fighting a dragon because this is something I would not do. Um I do have courage in certain situations but

But if I had to fight a fire breathing dragon, I would run away. I would actually be afraid. I would not have courage. So, someone who has courage is courageous. That's another way of saying it and courage means facing fear or challenges bravely. I think most parents hope that their children will be courageous. That they will have courage.

that they will not be afraid to try new things uh and to learn new things and to just explore the world. So, courage, facing fear or challenges bravely and I should talk about the word bravely for a sec. When you have bravery, when you are brave, it means the same as to have courage.

Respect. So, showing consideration for others and it goes beyond this a little bit. Respect is when you usually it's someone older than you or someone in charge of you and you like them, you do what they say, you respect

you feel like the things they say are helpful and good for you. So, this is a soldier in an army. In an army, soldiers have respect for the other soldiers and for the people who are in charge of them. I have a lot of respect for my mom and

Um so I think this definition I should have tweaked it a bit because yes when I have respect for my mom it also means that I understand she worked hard so I could have a better life and so I have respect for that. Humility. So humility is being modest about your achievements.

I like to try to be humble. I like to have humility and as I do this lesson, please pay attention to how I flip some words in and out like someone who has courage is courageous. When you have humility, you are humble. What this means is that when someone asks me about my success on YouTube, I actually don't

don't like to brag about it, okay? Um it's not humble though to say you're humble, is it? So, I don't know if you understood that little joke there but I have this picture here because as this person accepts this award, they're saying they would like to thank their parents. So, instead of being arrogant and saying, I deserve this award because I'm amazing.

instead, there's thanking the people that help them. They're being humble. They have humility. I think this is a hard thing for some people. It's hard for me sometimes because some days I feel like I'm a I did I do an amazing job on something and I don't want to brag though but I think humans do like to talk about the things they do well. Gratitude.

recognizing and appreciating what you have. So, they say that a good way to start the day is to think about the things you are thankful for. It's important to have gratitude and again, gratitude is recognizing and appreciating what you have. I have an old van but I am grateful. I have gratitude because it it starts every morning and I go to work and back and it it

rarely breaks down. Although I did just fix it recently. Um I have a lot of gratitude um when I think about Jen. Jen has a

helped me have a nice life, right? We have five children. We enjoy life. So, I have a lot of gratitude. I would also say I have a lot of gratitude when I think about my parents. My dad's passed away many years ago. My mom is still around but I have a lot of gratitude and I like to let my mom know from time to time that I am thankful for all the work that she did. So, gratitude. Recognizing and appreciating what you have but also being

Um thanking other people for what you have. Um it's just good. Make a list every morning of two or three things that you are grateful for. You need to have gratitude I think to have a good day. Perseverance. So the reason I put a picture of a man pushing a rock up a hill is perseverance is not giving up when things get hard.

So, let's say you have a job to do and it's very difficult and you feel like quitting. You, if you have perseverance, you will not quit. There's something in your mind, there's something in your character that makes you want to keep going. I

would say this virtue where am I pointing? This virtue is very common in the long standing English learners on this channel. You guys have perseverance. Some of you have been around for a year, two years, three years. You have been working hard and not giving up when things get hard. You keep learning English. You keep watching videos. You keep reading and watching TV shows. So you have perseverance.

This is a hard characteristic or virtue to teach. Um I feel like you can encourage people to be honest or patient but perseverance is a special thing. It it means you have strength of character. So perseverance not giving up when things get hard. By the way it's perseverance but you will sometimes hear people say perseverance. They'll add an R to the word even though it doesn't exist.

Generosity. So generosity is freely giving to others. So you can be generous with money. You can be generous when you give gifts. Maybe when you go to a wedding most people most people spend 200 or $300 on a gift. Maybe you spend a thousand because you are generous.

Maybe you are generous um with your time when people ask for help. Um a good example always is when someone needs to move.

if you are generous with your time, you will go there for the entire day on Saturday and help them move their couch and their boxes and everything else because you are generous with your time. Uh some people are just generous with the things they have. Like, um I can borrow my sister's car whenever I want because she's very generous with those kinds of things. So,

generosity, freely giving to others, giving time, giving things, giving money, giving of yourself as well. Forgiveness, letting go of resentment. So, forgiveness is a difficult one. My parents taught me that it was very important to forgive people um when they did things that I that were not nice.

find that very hard even today. Letting go of resentment. If you are annoyed with someone. If someone does something to you. Um and if they say sorry you have to then forgive them. In English we also say you need to let it go. You need to let go of the feelings you have. You need to forgive and forget.

that you and that person can have a better relationship. I think this is very important with friends or if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or if you're married. Sometimes there's little things that you do by accident or maybe even on purpose and you need to be able to forgive each other when those things happen in order for the relationship to be good. Justice.

treating people fairly. So, if you have a sense of justice, if you are someone who likes it when things are equal and equitable, you then have this characteristic. You have the virtue of justice. So, this would mean something as simple as if I give one of my kids a birthday present that costs $100, I

I will spend the same amount of money on the other four children for their birthday. Um I wouldn't spend $500 on one child and then $10 on another. That would not be justice. So, justice means equality. I think as a teacher, you have to treat people fairly in your classroom. So, that means if

the student who misbehaves hands an assignment in late and I take off 10%. The good student who hands something in late will lose the same 10%. Uh hopefully, you live in uh a society or a neighborhood where there's justice, where there is um safety and justice just to go outside. Responsibility, being accountable for your actions. So, I put this picture here and

His eyes look a little. I think that's an AI photo. I got I I try not to use AI photos but that gentleman yeah I asked for a picture of a teacher on a field trip.

being accountable for your actions but also being in charge of other people and then being accountable is what responsibility is. When you go on a field trip with students as a teacher, you have a lot of responsibility. If you have children, you have a lot of responsibility. You need to feed them and bring them to school and buy them clothes and they need a a room to sleep in and a bed. You have a lot of responsibility. So, I would say beyond being accountable for your actions,

Responsibility also refers to um taking care of people who are younger than you like maybe I'm just I think teacher and parent are probably the two. You also have a lot of responsibility at work though. Your boss expects you to do your job and expects you to admit when you make a mistake and to accept thanks when you do a good job. So, responsibility, being accountable for your actions.

Loyalty.

Whenever I think about loyalty, I always think about a dog. Being faithful to people or causes. Uh many of you have a lot of loyalty to my English lessons and my live streams. I'm sure you watch other English YouTubers as well but I appreciate when I see the loyal viewers at the beginning of a live stream. The familiar names. When I see Vitor and know that and Lolly Lolly and Hafiez and Gaurav comes and

it I don't see the other names but uh Mode Eggs, Freddie Wolf. There are so many of you who are loyal and I appreciate that.

dog is also very loyal. I'm not saying you're like dogs. Don't don't get me wrong but being faithful to people are or causes. So your dog is very loyal. Your dog loves you and will always be there. Um you might be loyal to a sports team. Maybe you always watch the Toronto Blue Jays and you will only cheer for them because you are loyal. So loyalty being faithful to people or causes. Self-control.

managing your impulses and emotions. So, I have been trying to eat less sugar.

It takes a lot of self-control to do that. I try to not eat donuts or cookies right now because my understanding is that sugar isn't the greatest thing to eat lots of. I don't mind if there's a little bit of sugar in my bread uh or other things but I'm trying to not eat donuts or cookies or muffins or all of those things. So, I need to manage my impulses.

want to eat sugary things. I love them but I need self control. I need to control myself so that I don't eat them. So this person is saying no to the donut. I said no to donuts three times this week. There have been donuts at school in the staff room but I'm working on my self control and so far I have self control and it is working.

Empathy. So, again, we had sympathy. So, when you have sympathy, it means that you feel bad for someone but you don't necessarily share their feelings. Empathy then is when you understand, it's an understanding and sharing others' feelings. So, I would say this man is going through a hard time in life.

person is comforting that man and this person probably is feeling or sharing the same feelings. A good sign of empathy would be this. When someone cries because they are sad. If someone cries with them they have empathy. They are feeling the same emotion as the other person. So if you know someone who has lost a loved one. You

When you go to talk to them, they will cry and you might cry with them because you are sharing their feelings. They are sad and they are crying and you are sad and you are crying as well.

Diligence. Working hard and doing your best. So diligence and integrity I think are very similar. Um when you are diligent. It means that if your boss gives you a job you do the job well. If there are ten things to do you do all ten you do them in the right order and you do a really good job on each one of them. If

you own a business, you want to hire employees who have diligence. Employees who are diligent. People who understand that working hard and doing your best is the best thing for them and for the company. So, diligence, working hard, and doing your best. You can also be diligent in your English studies. Like if you practice English

days a week and you take a day off and then six days a week and you have a plan that you follow and you do it every day every week that is also diligence. You are being diligent. Wisdom. Making sound decisions based on knowledge and experience. So I chose a gentleman with a grey beard because I usually feel like the older people get the more wise they are. They have more wisdom. It's

They have what we say what we call more life experience. Okay. Jen's dad is very wise. Jen's mom is very wise. They have lived a long time and they have a lot of knowledge. Jen's dad has been a farmer his whole life. Jen's mom was a librarian her whole life. They have a lot of wisdom. My mom is very wise when you talk to my mom. She raised five children. She

worked on a farm with my dad. My mom was also a librarian. So wisdom is making sound decisions based on knowledge and experience. And wisdom can also be sharing ideas and experiences so that other people can not make the same mistakes maybe that you are about to make.

Faith. Trusting in something beyond yourself. So here I have a picture of someone climbing a rock wall and the person on the ground is holding the line. I think this is called belaying. In order to do this, the person on the wall has to have faith that

the person at the bottom is going to continue to pull the rope. So if the person on the wall falls they don't fall very far. They have to have faith. So trusting in something beyond yourself. If you are a religious person we also use the term faith. So you have faith if you are a religious person. You trust in something or someone beyond yourself. Hope.

believing in a positive outcome. So, hope is an incredible thing. Hope is when you think everything is going to go well. I'm generally a hopeful person. If I am

exercising, eating well, and getting a good night's sleep, I have a lot of hope. I always think things are going to go well. If I am not exercising regularly, not eating healthy food like lots of sugar and not sleeping well, I am not a hopeful person. Instead, I become pessimistic. I start to think that ah tomorrow's not going to be a good day but when you have hope, you believe that you

Um work's gonna be good today. People are gonna be nice to me today. Um uh when you're expecting a child, you just, you think everything's gonna go well during the birth because you have hope. Hope is a very positive energy. It's a very good thing to have.

Love caring deeply and unselfishly for others. So there are again many different kinds of love. When I say I love Jen that is a romantic love. A love between two partners who like each other romantically. They're attracted to each other. But I also love my brothers and sisters and I love my mom. That is a familial or a family type of love. I love my children as well. Uh you can love your friends. You can love your

people that you work with. Um although you probably wouldn't say you love them. So, I okay. I love my brother. There's people at work. I love working with them. I would never say to someone at work. I love them. That's that's a bad idea. So, take I take back what I said earlier. You can say, I love working with you or I love being on a team with you. That's no problem but love caring deeply and unselfishly for others. Tolerance. So, this is an interesting one.

This is something that many people lack. Tolerance is accepting differences in people and opinions. Um tolerance is being tested right now in Canada because to be frank, the United States isn't being super friendly to us but we kinda have to accept that they have a different person in their

leadership and so things are going to be. So, we need to accept the differences and opinions that are happening. Um in a family, you might have one person who thinks one way and another person thinks a completely different way but parents will have tolerance. They'll accept the views and opinions of their children even if they are different. So, tolerance is something that we need more of in the world. I think if we want to um

have less conflict, less racism, less all of those other things that make the world unpleasant. We need more tolerance. We need accepting differences in people and opinions. Fairness, being impartial and just. So, we talked about justice. Fairness is

like a light version of justice. Do you know what I mean? Like it's just being kind and nice to everyone especially if you are making decisions on their behalf. Um if you run in a race and if one person starts before the starting pistol goes off um and if they let that person keep running that's not fair. Okay? What's fair is to say we need to start the race again. Okay? Um

Optimism. Focusing on the good and expecting the best. This is similar to hope and the opposite of optimism is pessimism. If you are optimistic, you think today's going to be amazing. If you are pessimistic, you think today's going to be awful. If you see a cup of water, this is the classic example and there's the the cup's this big and there's this much water in it. An optimistic person says the cup is half full and a pessimistic person says the cup is half empty.

So, it's just a different way of looking at life and things and projects and jobs and everything. So, optimism, focusing on the good and expecting the best.

Charity. So this is very similar to generosity. Uh charity is the act of more helping out your community. Helping out. So if you have charity you maybe give your old clothes to a place that gives clothes to homeless people.

You might help serve food at a homeless shelter. If you have charity you might donate money every year to help different causes in your city. So charity is helping those in need. Um and it just makes for a better society if everyone has charity.

sincerity. Being genuine and straightforward. So, we had honesty at the beginning as of the lesson and sincerity is the last slide. When you are sincere, when you have sincerity, you are genuine and straightforward but usually in a kind way like he's very sincere. It would mean that he takes things seriously. He's kind as he does things. He says things

even if it's a criticism in a nice way and very straightforward. So, someone who is sincere is not going to lie. They're not going to sugarcoat things. That was a word I taught on my other channel just recently but sincerity is being genuine and straightforward.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.