How to Talk About Your Studies and Education Basic English Phrases

Oh Internet welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is Alisha and today

we’re gonna talk about how to talk about

your studies and your education in

English I’m going to talk about

expressions you can use at school and

just for your classes so even if you’re

not like a high school student or a

college student University student I

want to give you some patterns so that

you can talk about your studies your

studies so that means your language

studies for example or just hobby

classes too

we’re going to talk about that we’re

going to talk about how to explain your

degree that you get from university or

from college and we’re going to talk

about how to explain your other goals

like certifications finally I’m going to

talk about how to ask your teacher

questions in class and via email so we

have a lot to do as you join please

don’t forget to send a message in the

chat and of course like and share the

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week’s lesson I see lots of people in

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to our weekly live lesson as I said

today we’re talking about how to discuss

your studies and your education so we’ll

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think it’s about time to get started

today I see lots of people are here now

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you to everyone for joining us if you

have not already please do make sure to

like and share the video so others can

find it I’m going to share our live

video and then I’m going to get started

with today’s lesson so as I said today

we’re going to talk about your education

and your studies let’s begin so the

first part for today’s lesson is how to

explain your classes your topic of study

so it’s okay if you are not a university

student or high school student but you

just are taking some classes as like a

hobby for example so these are a few

patterns you can use to explain that

first I’m taking a class on subject I’m

taking a class on subject so notice the

preposition we use here is on you could

use about if you like as well

and please send in the chat I’ll try to

check please send in the chat some

example sentences so we can practice a

lot with your information so when I say

subject here I’m taking a class on

English I’m taking a class on computer

science I’m taking a class on cooking

I’m taking a class on geometry whatever

your subject is put it at the end of the

sentence after on on is a little bit

shorter than about and this is the one

that we tend to use the most in everyday

conversation I’m taking a class on

subject or I’m saying taking a class on

topic so please send your classes in the

chat so that we can take a look and I’m

taking a class on let’s see dance maybe

you could use that for dance like for

your hobby topics so I’m taking a class

on something the second pattern here

uses something a little bit different

here I’m using sign up I signed up for a

topic or subject class I signed up for a

topic or subject class so to sign up

means like you registered for it so that

means you gave the school your

information and you’re preparing to go

to that class I signed up for a class so

maybe the class has not started yet but

you’re getting ready for preparing so I

signed up for a dance classes are signed

up for a yoga class okay I see some of

your examples are coming in I’m taking a

class on English great a lot of you I’m

taking a class on English another person

I’m taking a class on sociology since

I’m on Facebook good I’m taking a class

on math perfect Hamza says I’m taking a

class on English many of you have of

course the same English English class

this one Thanks I’m taking a class on

Persian interesting I’m taking a class

he’s gonna show the lyrical are taking a

class on French French and

English says one person I’m taking a

class on English lots of you okay

everybody here maybe is taking a class

on English very nice very nice

on Facebook I’m taking a class on

computers very nice okay I signed up for

a math class as pechera cool cool I

signed up for a math class great I’m

taking a class on mechanical engineering

maybe lis on YouTube

good I’m taking a class on biology says

May uncool very nice

Mohamed says I signed up for an English

class great great Nelson on YouTube says

could you talk about a lesson or topic

you’re about to teach ah from the

teachers perspective I begin every

weekly live lesson with a pattern of

couple patterns maybe I say today I’m

going to talk about topic today I’m

going to talk about how to talk about

your studies and education so I begin

most lessons on our channel with

something like that so take a look at

the beginning of any lesson I’m taking a

class on English okay lots of people are

definitely using of course the English

example the English example fantastic

okay so let’s look at the next patterns

for this lesson here this one I started

taking topic classes classes so you’ll

notice this pattern uses the plural

classes classes this is probably a

pattern we use more to talk about our

hobbies so this is something I would use

to talk about maybe like a dance class

or a sports class or other hobby like I

started taking photography classes or

maybe for language too I started taking

French classes we use a pattern like

this when we’re talking with our friends

usually and we want to express something

new that’s why we use

I started I started so it sounds like

there’s this new thing in my life I’m

doing I started taking French classes I

started taking cooking classes I started

taking Pilates classes so when you want

to express something new that you have

started that you’ve begun you can use

this pattern and you can use this plural

form I started taking biology classes

classes so you can use this plural form

or if you like I started taking a again

hobby I’m sorry

hey hobby hobby sorry hobby class a

hobby class in the singular there we go

I started taking a cooking class is also

okay you can use either of those I think

I personally prefer to use the plural

form I like using the plural form here

because it sounds like there’s more than

one class so like a common question is

like what’s the difference between

course and class what’s the difference

here I’ll include this up here course

versus class so it depends a little bit

on the university or the school that

you’re attending but a general guide a

general guide is that a course is a

series of lessons to study a subject so

for example if you take a beginner

English course like English class 101

really 101 is the name of the course the

number of the course if you take English

101 at your university you will take

maybe 12 classes 12 individual sessions

to complete that line of study so a

course is like a long term period for

study a class is the individual session

this is how many schools and

universities differentiy differentiate

means like to tell the difference to

make different so this is how many of

them make these two different but in

everyday conversation we don’t always

make this difference clear in American

English we tend to use class more

tattoos classified so quick intro to

that all right some others are using

this started pattern fantastic I started

taking Conte classes jr. hey jr. cool

really is that true you started taking

karate classes awesome okay many people

are saying I started taking English

classes good great I started taking

boxing classes as someone okay cool I

started taking Photoshop classes oh

that’s a good idea I want to take

actually I’m gonna use this here I want

to take a class on After Effects

actually I’m interested in animation

lately I want to take a class on After

Effects so that’s our next pattern so

more from you I started taking your

English classes today

wow thanks cool I started taking Atari

games classes is that true is that real

okay I started taking a dj'‘q course

asli’s oh cool

okay others I started taking an online

photography class very nice very nice

okay there are lots of good examples

here fantastic let’s move on then to the

last pattern for this lesson the last

pattern I just used is I want to take a

class on topic I want to take a class on

topic in my example I said I want to

take a class on After Effects so After

Effects is a software I want to study

that software so you have not started

the class you are not taking the class

now but you want to the next thing you

want to study you can say I want to take

a class on

topic I want to take a class on After

Effects I wanted to get class on

photography I want to take a class on

cooking I want to take a class on

something Luke says I want to take a

class on Java Java language Oh

programming mmm nice I want to take

speaking classes okay nice very nice

someone says it’s the first time to see

us live hey thanks for joining sorry I

can’t reach your name I can’t read

Korean I started taking okay I want to

take a class on business very nice

okay others don’t see yet lots of people

are saying hello I want to take a class

on Oh Luke I saw your comment earlier

Java good I want to take a class on

guitar good good good I want to take a

class on blender he’s going to her

software I’m not familiar I want to take

a class on scuba diving very nice

someone says I wanted to take a sleep

lesson can you do that I don’t know okay

anyway this is the first part of our

lesson about how to explain your classes

and your topics of study so we’ll take

one quick break I want to introduce this

week of course as always free stuff for

you we’ll go to this camera over here

this one I’m gonna show you is the back

to school it says back to school yes so

there are some classroom phrases that

you can use these are vocabulary words

for the classroom so if you are a

student now maybe you can check this but

on the back right here right now I’m

talking about classes focus on classes

these are some very common class name so

art music biology chemistry history and

so on if you want to refresh a few

common vocabulary words for class names

you can take a look at this PDF the

back-to-school PDF you can find this and

others many others lots of others which

I’ll try to show later lots of other

free study resources from the link below

the video on youtube or above the video

on Facebook if you’re watching on

Instagram please check the links on you

or Facebook for this free step we have

Instagram back this week yeah okay

alright so let’s continue to the second

part of today’s lesson the second part

of today’s lesson is about your degree

and your goals so if you’re just joining

today’s topic is about how to talk about

your studies and your education if you

have not already don’t forget to like

and share today’s lesson so others can

find it ok let’s move on to part 2 -

part 2 part 2 for today explaining your

degree and explaining your goals so if

you are a university student or college

student you typically need to explain

the degree you are studying for this

word degree so your degree is the level

of like studies certification your study

level at in college so usually four

years of study after four years of study

you get a bachelor’s degree a bachelor’s

degree after a bachelor’s degree usually

like another two years of study gets you

a master’s degree a master’s degree

finally after masters if you want to

continue studying

maybe another three years or perhaps two

depending on the program you can get a

PhD a PhD so these are the three

graduate I’m sorry these are this is an

undergraduate degree this is called an

undergraduate degree they like base

level of college education and masters

and PhD are called graduate degrees

graduate degrees so these are like the

next levels of university study so to

explain your degree if you are in school

now if you are in university now you can

say I’m studying for my bachelor’s in

subject I’m studying for my bachelor’s

in psychology

studying for my bachelor’s in

communication I’m studying for my

bachelor’s in English literature I’m

studying for my bachelor’s and Japanese

cinema whatever your topic is whatever

your subject is put it here

your preposition in in I’m studying for

my so my and here we use Bachelor

apostrophe s bachelors you can use

degree here and here

master’s degree but we do not really use

PhD degree we just say PhD so to use

masters and PhD I’m studying for my

master’s degree in architecture I’m

studying for my master’s degree in

computer science I’m studying for my PhD

and something very specific

so PhDs tend to be about like kind of

more specific subjects so maybe some of

you are studying now someone says I’m

studying for my bachelor’s in math very

nice

someone said I’m studying for my be a

great yeah so thank you to Zakaria on

Facebook for that BA someone has just

used be a so you might see be a and be s

used on like job application forms and

similar what do these mean the be in be

a or b s means bachelor bachelor then

here the a means art and the s means

science here we usually read the space

as of so be a is read as Bachelor of

Arts BS is read as Bachelor of Science

so universities according to the

category of your studies will give you a

Bachelor of Arts or they’ll give you a

Bachelor of Science so for example if

you study math

chemistry biology physics one of those

topics

that’s a Bachelor of Science if you

study language music art you’ll receive

a Bachelor of art Bachelor apart so you

may see ba or BS BA heat says I’m

studying for my MA in architecture

architecture good this point the subject

should be a noun a noun so don’t use an

adjective or an adverb or something

this should subject should be a noun

your subject should be in now okay

then if you have finished your studies

don’t use this progressive studying here

you can say if you finished I have a I

have a bachelor’s in subject I have a

master’s in subject I have a PhD in

subject I have I have someone also said

I’m I finished I finished my bachelor’s

in something something okay

good examples I’m studying for my

master’s in medicine Wow

cool I’m studying for my master’s in

industrial engineering industrial

engineering that would be the noun form

industry engineer is the job title we

want the subject the topic itself

how about medicine ei or BS I think it’s

probably BS I think medicine is probably

Bachelor of Science Junior what does

play hookie mean yes to play hooky means

to skip school to skip school it’s kind

of an old-fashioned phrase to playing

the kids in the YouTube chat I’ll put it

here to play hooky means to skip school

to skip school so we don’t use this very

much we’ll just say skip school or skip

class yeah on Facebook I’m studying for

my PhD in economics in economics make

sure this preposition is in I’m studying

for my master’s don’t forget this

apostrophe s my master’s in IT good I’m

studying for my bachelors

in politics at a political concert I’m

not sure what that one is what about a

bachelor in paradise I don’t know what

that means I have a bachelor’s degree in

physical education very nice very nice I

have a Bachelor of Science in physics

very nice grapes lots of good examples

here everybody I’m studying for my PhD

in microbiology is that true we have so

many interesting topics in our chat

that’s cool

ok then let’s move on to another kind of

study if you’re not a university student

you’re not a college student you’re not

in high school but you are taking the

class for a hobby or to receive a

certification this is a key word here

I’m studying for a certification in

topic so a certification means like a

license or it means you are recognized

so like a group of people experts

recognize you and they say ok this

person has enough skill to do something

for example I’m studying for a

certification in first aid first aid so

first aid means like how to help people

injured people how to save lives so a

certification in first aid means like

you can correctly help people who are

injured I have a certification in

something is also okay to use with this

one so I’m studying for a certification

in what like Japanese cooking maybe or

I’m studying for a certification in

teaching English as a foreign language

for some people so a certification means

you are recognized for having a certain

skill level a certification in something

so again our preposition here is in I’m

studying for a certification in

okay whatever that might be I’m studying

for a certification of C and a that’s a

nursing assistant right I’m studying for

a certification in English linguistics

great Hassan says I’ve got a

certification in Chinese whoa cool I’m

studying for a certification in music

very nice okay

I’m studying for a certification in

English very good I’m studying for a

certification in community health I’m

studying for a certification in

networking fantastic very nice example

it’s very nice let’s finish then again

if you are not studying now but there’s

something you want to practice in the

future something you want to study use

this I want to learn how to learn I want

to learn how to work I want to learn how

to speak English I want to learn how to

speak French so native speed sounds like

I want to learn how to something I want

to learn how to speak English I want to

learn how to cook I want to learn how to

do karate so we can use many different

activities here I want to learn how to

take good photos I want to learn how to

make animations so please use I want to

learn how to something I must to learn

how to something I want to learn how to

I really do want to learn how to use

After Effects I think that’s on my mind

lately I also want to learn how to use a

camera in a better way I want to learn

how to do laundry this up I don’t think

you need to take a class to learn how to

do laundry I think you can probably

learn how to do the laundry pretty

quickly with a quick google search if

you don’t already know to do laundry

good luck with that good luck with that

I want to learn how to speak English

fluently very nice good many people do I

want to learn how to speak fluently good

I want to learn how to be an anime maker

ah like an illustrator in anime

straighter cool I want to learn how to

improve my English good I want to learn

how to make youtube videos very nice

I want to learn how to speak English yes

yes many people I want to learn how to

earn a lot of money I think many people

have this same goal on Facebook I want

to learn how to take pictures great

great I want to learn why we are here we

are here to study English this week oh

maybe on this earth that’s a bigger

question other points I want to learn

how to play pipes like bagpipes so it’s

very interesting okay let’s move on to

the last point for today asking

questions just a couple patterns if you

missed it earlier I will quickly show

because we’re running out of time I will

quickly show this I showed this PDF

earlier we always have free stuff but

I’ll show you a couple more for this

point in particular for if I want to

learn how to do something this is a good

one you can use for your hobbies so for

example if you like shopping you can say

I want to learn how to shop in English

for example so lots of you are saying

like I want to learn how to speak

fluently in English or whatever I want

to learn how to travel in English for

example I want to learn how to do

something so if there’s a topic or a

hobby that you are interested in you can

take a look at these PDFs we have on the

website from the link below the video if

you’re watching on YouTube or above the

video if you’re watching it’s to get

these and more there’s a lot actually

here some of you mentioned music there

is one about music and talking about

music in English so please check this

out from the link below the video on

YouTube above the video on Facebook

Instagram if you’re watching on

Instagram check YouTube or Facebook for

the link ok let’s finish up today’s

lesson with asking questions the last

topic for today’s lesson

asking questions from your teacher so a

something that’s important to do with

these patterns I’m going to introduce is

to give your teacher the specific

question you have something that was

really challenging for me like something

that is challenging when my student

doesn’t understand something sometimes

they say I don’t understand and as the

teacher I don’t know which part

I should explain more like I want to

help you so please tell me which part

you don’t understand to do that during

your class these are some patterns you

can use first during the lesson you can

use this pattern could you please

explain a bit more about something could

you please explain a bit more about

bachelor’s degrees could you please

explain a bit more about your study

goals could you please explain a bit

more about present perfect done

could you please explain a bit more

about this vocabulary word could you

please explain a bit more about

something so this especially for your

language classes will help your teacher

to give you the information that will

help you because if you just say I don’t

understand like the teacher might not

know exactly which point to talk about

so could you please explain a bit more

about something could you please explain

a bit more about something another one I

didn’t this is longer may be leveled up

for some of you I didn’t quite

understand specific point I didn’t quite

understand specific point could you talk

a little bit more about that

so that here refers to this specific

point this specific point I didn’t quite

understand the present perfect tense

could you talk a little bit more about

that I didn’t quite understand a

bachelor’s degree could you talk a

little bit more about that so this tells

your teacher exactly what to explain of

course if it’s not about language that’s

fine too I didn’t quite understand this

I don’t know part in my chemistry lesson

and so on but try to be specific with

your teacher so your teacher can give

you specific help ok onward this one

this is a very common way that students

our learners send questions for ask

Alicia this is a very common pattern for

look for our viewers when they have

vocabulary related questions but this is

very useful in many situations what’s

the difference between a and B what’s

the difference between a and B what’s

the difference between present perfect

tense and simple past tense what’s the

difference between house and home what’s

the difference between a and B so this

will help your teacher again to

understand the part that’s challenging

for you what’s the difference between a

and B you could use three things what’s

the difference between a B and C is also

okay good

some of you are sending examples I’m not

sure if they’re examples or real

questions because you please explain a

bit more about master’s degrees is that

a real question or is that or is that

just an example sentence I don’t know I

don’t know could you okay I’m not sure

if these are real questions or examples

some of these are just general questions

and I will try to answer them in another

video let’s finish today’s lesson with

this point so how to ask your teacher a

question via email via email so to ask a

question via email again you need to be

specific you need to be specific so that

means beginning with your teacher’s name

dear mister

Ms mrs. so the difference between miz

and miz’s is we use missus for married

women and Ms for unmarried women or if

we don’t know we use ms we use the last

name for more formal situations so dear

mr. Smith dear mrs. Smith

this sounds more formal so we use this

with like university professors or in

more casual situations where you have a

close relationship with your teacher

just use dear first name so if you for

example we’re in my class like I I try

to use first name it feels too strange

to use last names for me we use first

names in my lessons so dear Elisha is

how you would write a message then

identify yourself that means tell me who

you are tell your teacher who you are

like if I’m a teacher which I am like I

get a lot of messages that’s true like I

get a lot of messages I don’t know who

everybody is the teacher your teacher

might have many students so first who

are you my name is your name my name is

my name is Risa sorry reason my name is

Risa and I’m a student in your English

class on Thursdays at 11 o’clock

I’m writing to ask about bachelor’s

degree so I’m writing to ask about this

assignment so give your name what topic

or what class are you in what day of the

week what time give this basic

information and then ask your question

you can introduce with I’m writing to

ask about this I’m writing to ask about

this week’s homework assignment I’m

writing to ask about the reading for

this week I’m writing to ask about the

schedule for this week so again include

a specific topic here a specific

question to ask I’m writing to ask about

something and for university students

especially make sure you check these

syllabus the

this is syllabus syllabus is spelled sy

ll a B us the syllabus is your course

outline you usually receive a syllabus

on the first day of your lesson in

universities it will give you the course

schedule all of the course reading

materials a list of your textbooks it

will give you the grading information it

will give you information about the

course like a general introduction to

the course

it will tell you your teachers email

address office hours and so on so many

professors will ask you to check the

syllabus check the syllabus because

sometimes that things are answered in

the syllabus oh so that was a lot I have

to finish I’m very late yes so finish

there for today that is everything for

this lesson about how to talk about your

studies and your education so we’ll

finish there for today but we’ll be back

next week next week we will be back to

talk about adverbs of frequency adverbs

of frequency a very popular topic if you

don’t know adverbs of frequency for

example our words like sometimes always

never occasionally rarely seldom and so

on so next week’s lesson will be about

how to use these naturally I want to

talk about different sentence positions

for those words and kind of the most

common ones that you can expect it to

hear so join us next week May 15th for

adverbs of frequency that will be 10

p.m. Eastern Standard Time New York City

time if you don’t know your local time

Google it or just on YouTube hit the

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us next week for adverbs of frequency in

the meantime enjoy your studies and make

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monthly review so thank you as always

from watching this week’s live stream

have a great week I will see you again

soon

you