Idiom Practice At the drop of a hat

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kannan Vietnam hello bassam and haman

hello Louise in Geneva wonderful

Malaysia Morocco excellent Rio de

Janeiro Thiago glad you’re here well

today we’re going to be talking about an

idiom that involves a hat so you might

notice that I’m wearing a hat and it’s

not because there’s sun shining in my

apartment it’s a really cloudy day

actually

but it’s because our idiom today is

about a hat kind of the word hat is in

the idiom but it really has nothing to

do with a hat so I wanted to you to wear

this to help you remember the idiom and

to use it correctly so before we get

started talking about what this idiom

means I want to ask you a question who

is one of the most important people in

your life maybe it’s your your wife or

your husband or your kids or your best

and maybe your dog maybe your parents

who is really really important to you

we’re going to use this person in our

idiom full sentence in just a moment but

let’s talk about this really important

person Maddie says my mother great

Asiago says my mom Misaki my family my

mom my dad me job Jack Wow but don’t

tell your family Marina says my dog

Vince E says my kids of course wonderful

Oh Iago says myself great it’s important

to love yourself so let’s take the

person or the animal who you just said

and let’s try to make a sentence with

today’s idiom so let me tell you a quick

story and I want to see if you can make

your own sentence without any

explanation so as many of you know I’m

gonna have a baby in less than three

months whoo coming soon so when I told

my mother-in-law that I was gonna have a

baby she said I will help you at the

drop of a hat I will come immediately

and help you if you want help I will

help you at the drop of a hat and that’s

because it’s important to her to

participate in things that are happening

in our family and just because she

really cares because she cares about me

she cares about my husband who is her

son and about the new grandchild she is

willing to help at the drop of a hat

and that’s so special to have someone in

your life who will help you at the drop

of a hat can you guess what this idiom

means can you use this idiom about your

special person who you just mentioned

I’m gonna write my sentence here on the

clipboard sotto

give you just a moment to think about

how you can put that person into the

senate’s so maybe I could say my

mother-in-law would help me so kind at

the drop of a hat so nice so let’s take

a look really quick and see here’s our

lovely idiom at the drop of a hat

and two people are helping each other oh

so we’ve got some great sentences I

would help you at the drop of a hat I’m

sure my mom would help me at the drop of

a hat me sake great sentence I’m sure my

mom would help me at the drop of a hat I

would see my boyfriend at the top at the

drop of a hat

I I would go to the UK at the drop of a

hat oh I think you guys know what this

means

Marco says it means immediately yep

you you got it if this means immediately

right away yes and I think well I’m not

exactly sure where this idiom originated

but if you imagine a long time ago a

lady dropping her hat and a gentleman

running over and picking up her hat and

giving it to her immediately we kind of

have this idea of helping someone

instantly so for you a lot of you said

me to my mother-in-law would help me at

the drop of a hat when I feel sick I

the doctor at the drop of a hat great oh

you’ve got it this is a beautiful way to

use this because you’re expanding your

vocabulary of course you could say my

mother-in-law would help me immediately

my mother-in-law would help me write

when I need it okay that’s great but you

are here because you want to expand your

vocabulary so let’s make sure that we’re

using this idiom in your sentence

I’ll Douglas says if it were possible I

would visit Vanessa and her baby at the

drop of a hat wouldn’t that be awesome

that would be great

Oh Fifi says my mom helps me to prepare

dinner at the drop of a hat so she

doesn’t sit back and let you prepare

dinner she’s always helping that’s

really nice friendly oh now it says I

don’t make important decisions at the

drop of a hat so you’re using this in a

negative sense something that you don’t

do immediately and that’s exactly right

we can definitely use this in a negative

way so I used it in a positive way she

would help me at the drop of a hat I

would go to the UK at the drop of a hat

and you used it in the negative way I

wouldn’t do something at the drop of a

hat so I want to ask you now let’s try

to use this in a negative way what is

something that you don’t do at the drop

of a hat maybe make an important

decision like Navjot said he said I

don’t make important decisions at the

drop of a hat I need some time to think

about it great you have to reflect make

sure it’s good decision oh we’ve got

some excellent sentences thank you for

sharing them I would help you with your

Japanese at the drop of a hat

thanks Misaki I appreciate it Oh Erin

says when rain when it starts to rain I

get my clothes from the clothesline at

the drop of a hat

instantly you

don’t want them to get wet oh I’ll make

dinner at the drop of the Hat excellent

let me write a negative sentence so that

you can see how how it’s used here

what’s something that I don’t do at the

drop of a hat oh how about oh I have a

good one I didn’t decide to have

children at the drop of a hat it was a

really important decision and my husband

and I have been married for almost seven

years so we thought about it for a long

time and talked about it for a long time

it wasn’t an instant decision I didn’t

decide

so using that negative here I didn’t

decide something at the drop of a hat I

didn’t decide to have children at the

drop of a hat it was a really important

decision so I took some time and thought

about it

Oh a lot of you said I don’t answer all

questions at the drop of a hat you take

some time and think about it

Oh Richard says I watched Vanessa’s live

lesson at the drop of a hat when the

notification shows up excellent I’m

really glad that the lessons are useful

to you and it’s fun to participate

quickly Oh Fifi says I don’t make

decisions about my life at the drop of a

hat so maybe for you we have a similar

mindset when there are important

decisions you take your time you think

about it I don’t make important

decisions at the drop of a hat they’re

too important to make quickly oh I don’t

go to work at the drop of a hat oh I see

some maybe

you if your boss calls you and says oh

we really need you to come to the office

today a little bit early maybe you don’t

do it immediately you say okay I’ll come

later and you come later not immediately

take your time muwah says I didn’t

decide to go to college at the drop of a

hat

I didn’t decide to go to college that’s

a big decision great way to use it in a

negative sense I don’t drive at the drop

of a hat

okay so maybe for you driving is a big

deal and you like to take it easy think

about it for a little bit so as you

might have noticed we use this idiom at

the end of both of these sentences and

there’s not a strict rule about using it

at the beginning or using it at the end

but as you can see it generally sounds

most natural at the end so you’re

probably going to hear in TV shows or

movies when people use this idiom you’ll

probably hear it at the end of a

sentence but we could put it at the

beginning at the drop of a hat my

mother-in-law would help me okay

it just means immediately it means the

same thing but typically at least for

myself I would use this at the end of a

sentence so if you are studying English

and that’s why you’re here I imagine

because you’re studying English I want

to know which english-speaking country

would you go to at the drop of a hat

ooh let’s dream big which

english-speaking country would you go to

maybe you’re already living in an

english-speaking country for me even

though English is my native language I

would go to Australia at the drop of a

hat if someone gave me a free plane

ticket of course I would go to Australia

at the drop of a hat maybe it’s because

I already live in the US and I’ve

already been to

the UK and Canada’s not too far away I

think I would still go to Canada at the

drop of a hat if I had the opportunity

but Australia and New Zealand are so far

away that I would go at the drop of a

hat if I had the opportunity so what

about for you oh gee ah go says I’d like

to go to Orlando mom it says if possible

I’d go to Canada at the drop of a hat a

lot of use of Canada I would go to

Canada Gabriel says I would go to New

Zealand at the drop of a hat ah Stella

you chose England I would go to England

at the drop of a hat Oh Alec says you

should know the fearless fluency club

learn it at the drop of a hat I’m so

glad that that course is useful to you

if you would like to join Alex in The

Fearless fluency Club you’re welcome to

do it and become my personal student

I’ll put a link in the description

Melvin says I want to go to the US and I

would go there at the drop of a hat so

here we’re talking about a hypothetical

situation it’s not a real plan at the

moment you don’t have airplane tickets

you’re not really planning to go to that

place so we’re more likely to use would

I would go to the u.s. at the drop of a

hat I would go to the UK at the drop of

a hat something that’s possible in the

future but you’re just dreaming about it

I would do this at the drop of a hat

Oh Gustavo we have the same idea I would

go to Australia at the drop of a hat

Bruno - if I had money I would go to

Australia excellent

me too it’s a pretty far far away place

so it’s pretty expensive but you know

what I’m sure it’s completely worth it

it would be amazing always Ella says I’d

like to go to Asheville at the top of

that great well I hope you would enjoy

it the sun’s coming out so now it’s much

better

well thank you everyone for using this

idiom in so many different ways before

we go let’s say a full sentence together

because it’s useful to write sentences

but it’s also important to speak out

loud exercise those pronunciation

muscles so what I recommend is if you’re

in a private place quiet place excellent

if you’re not go to a place that’s a

little more quiet somewhere that you

feel comfortable and we’re going to say

one sentence using this idiom a couple

times and I’m not going to write it down

on my clipboard what I want is I want

you to listen to the sentence and write

it in the chat box so it’s kind of like

a dictation practice see if you can hear

each word in the sentence and then we’re

going to say it together are you ready

let’s say a sentence about English how

about I would visit an english-speaking

country at the drop of a hat it means

I’m not scared to go to an

english-speaking country because I’m

really excited about it it would be

awesome I want to practice speaking

English I would visit an

english-speaking country at the drop of

a hat if if Vanessa gave me an airplane

ticket I would do it at the drop of a

hat let’s say the sentence together I

would visit an english-speaking country

at the drop of a hat I would visit an

english-speaking country at the drop of

a hat let’s say it slowly thank you for

those of you who are writing this

sentence down excellent let’s say it

slowly so you can see my mouth and kind

of imitate that pronunciation and then

we’ll say it faster are you ready to say

it slowly I would visit an

english-speaking country at the drop

of a hat let’s say it a little faster I

would visit an english-speaking country

at the drop of a hat I would visit an

english-speaking country at the drop of

a hat beautiful thank you a Gustavo

Abdullah Marco aleem Thiago hello thank

you everyone for writing this sentence

down and hopefully saying it out loud I

want you to exercise some pronunciation

muscles don’t just be passive be active

so thank you everyone for using this

idiom and I hope that in your English

conversations you’ll hear this as you’re

watching movies as you’re interacting

with English speakers I hope you’re

gonna hear this idiom and you’ll feel

more comfortable understanding it and

hopefully now using it yourself so if

you’re talking about travel with one of

your foreign friends or english-speaking

friends definitely use this idiom you

could say ah I would visit Australia at

the drop of a hat

woo if they’re an English Learner as

well maybe they don’t know this idiom

and you can teach it to them or if

they’re a native speaker they’ll be

quite impressed so make sure that you

use this and thanks so much for

practicing together with me I really

appreciate it if you feel like ink you

in Q says no Vanessa don’t go well I

have some good news first of all there

are a lot of live lessons on my youtube

channel there the recording the replay

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lessons about idioms phrasal verbs

expressions that you can continue to

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it out and join me in the future have a

beautiful day I hope that you are having

an enjoyable Tuesday thanks so much I’ll

see you again I hope that you’ll join me

again at the drop of a hat see you later

everyone bye