Learn Real British English - The Best View In London!? | Comprehensible Input B1

Do you want to learn English? Well, in this video you're going to learn English with the comprehensible input method where you just watch, you listen and you learn new vocabulary. Today, as you can see, I'm in the city of London. So, I'm going to explore the city of London. I'm going to go to Postman's Park and some other places in London. So, just watch, listen and you will learn new vocabulary just by listening. Let's go. We are going to a very special place in London called Postman's Park. It's the kind of place that most people have never heard of. It's not usually where tourists go when they come to London. But I think it's a bit different and just a bit interesting. So, we're heading to Postman's Park and I should arrive in about five minutes. The crazy thing about London is that wherever you go, there are people from every country on the planet in London. So, you will hear Spanish, Chinese, Japanese. You will hear basically every single language that you can think of. If you walk around London, you will hear it. Because basically everybody is here. That's the thing with London. Everybody is in this city. This sign says pedestrians. Pedestrians need to go in this direction. What is a pedestrian? Well, anybody who is travelling on foot. So, I'm a pedestrian and anybody who is walking around the city, we are all pedestrians. And in this case, pedestrians need to go this way. So yeah, basically anybody who is not driving or is not on a bicycle are pedestrians. So, according to my Google Maps, we just need to continue along this road here for a bit longer. And then we will take a left into King Edward Street. And that's where we will find Postman's Park. So, we are just going to continue along here and then take a left. So, we just walked up this street and we have just taken a left. And now we are right next to Postman's Park. So, we are now in Postman's Park. Now, the reason that it is called Postman's Park is because it used to be next to the big post office building. And all of the postal workers who used to work in this building would come to this park to come and eat their lunch. So, that's why it's called Postman's Park. This park was built in 1880 by George Frederick Watts. George Frederick Watts built this park in order to honour working class people. On the plaques over there, you can see the names of lots of different regular working class people who were heroes. They are regular working class people who sacrificed their own life in order to save somebody else's. So, George Frederick Watts wanted to honour these people, these regular people who were no different really from me and you. These people who sacrificed their own lives to save somebody else. You see, George Frederick Watts believed that true heroism often came from regular working people. Not always famous people that you see on TV, but he believed that the true heroes among us were regular working class people. And these people were often unnamed. They were unnamed and nobody knew who they were. Even though these regular people were true heroes and they sacrificed their own lives to save somebody else, they got no recognition. No recognition at all. And nobody knew who they were just because they were from a working class background. And they were not rich and they were not famous. George Frederick Watts believed that the true heroes are often people that you've never heard of. He hated greed and he hated the worship of money. So, George Frederick Watts built this place, Postman's Park, in order to honour everyday heroes. The everyday heroes that walk amongst us. Let's take a look at this plaque here. This is the plaque of William Goodrum. What did he do? He was aged 60. He lost his life at Kingsland Road Bridge in saving a workman from death under the approaching train from Kew, whatever that is. He died on February 28th, 1880. So, this man, William Goodrum, when he was 60 years old, he saved somebody from a train. He saved a workman from death from a train that was coming towards him. So, this plaque has been put here to remember William Goodrum who died on the 28th of February, 1880. This plaque is for a man called Richard Farris. He drowned in attempting to save a poor girl who had thrown herself into the canal at Globe Bridge, Peckham. So, Richard Farris, he saved a poor girl, a young girl, from drowning. And while he was trying to save this poor girl, he drowned himself. He died on the 20th of May, 1878. This is a plaque for John Clinton and John died when he was aged 10. So, he was just a boy. John Clinton, aged 10, who was drowned near London Bridge in trying to save a companion younger than himself. So, even though John Clinton was only 10 years old, he saved somebody else younger than himself. So, somebody younger than him was drowning and John Clinton saved him. But, in the process, he drowned as well. He died on the 16th of July, 1894. This plaque is for Solomon Galliman. Aged 11, he died. So, another young boy. He died of injuries after saving his little brother from being run over in Commercial Street. So, probably a car was going to hit his little brother. A car was going to run over his little brother and Solomon Galliman saved him. And this is a quote from him and it says, Mother, I saved him but I could not save myself. So, this is an 11 year old hero who died saving his little brother from being run over in the street. So, this park behind me, Postman's Park, was a really good place to honour regular people who sacrificed their lives to save somebody else. You can even see that some of them were very young. Some of them were 11 years old or 10 years old. So, sometimes even somebody who is just a child can actually be a hero. I think this park does a good job of sending the message that maybe sometimes we focus too much on famous people and rich people. And we always look up to famous people and rich people. But this park here really sends the message that sometimes it's regular people who are heroes. Sometimes it's regular people, even children, who do acts of heroism. I'm sorry, the siren there is really loud. There's an ambulance going past. But yes, sometimes it's even children who do acts of heroism and do things that are really quite amazing. Even though they're not rich and even though they're not famous. And this park here, Postman's Park, it does a good job of showing this, I think. Now, the next place we're going is we're going to a place called The Gardens at 120. So, The Gardens at 120 is basically a rooftop garden where you can get really good views of all of London. So, I'm going to go up to the top of this big building and I'm going to see the views of all of London. Now, the journey from here to The Gardens at 120 is around 20 minutes. So, we have about a 20-minute walk to get there. So, let's go. It's going to take me quite a while to arrive there. Okay, so not 20 minutes, but 16 minutes. So, I have to walk for 16 minutes to get to The Garden at 120. So, I've got to walk over there now. So, let's go. This sign here says Diversion. So, what that means is that usually you could go through here. Most of the time you can go through here, but as you can see, there is construction work up here. You can see lots of scaffolding all over there. See, there's scaffolding everywhere all the way up there. So, usually you could walk through here, but not today. Not today. It says Diversion, which means that you have to go this way instead. You have to go the other way. Usually you could come through here, but the sign says Diversion. So, you need to go the other way this time. So, how's the weather today? You might be wondering. Well, you know what? Today I really have nothing to complain about. I know it's shocking. I know. Absolutely shocking, but there is nothing to complain about in terms of the weather today. Okay, we can't see the sun. You can't see the sun anyway. But the temperature is pretty nice. It's about 17 degrees, 16 degrees, something like that. It's quite warm and it's not raining. So, when you're in the UK and you don't have any rain, you've got to be thankful for that. Because it could easily be raining. Because, of course, this is London after all. So, yes, even though the sky is covered in thick clouds, it's not raining and it's not cold. So, I'm not going to complain today. I promise not to complain about the weather today. Actually, on second thoughts, I take that back. I take that back. I can't promise that. I can't promise that. This is a really nice street. If you look around at the architecture on the walls, what do you think? I think it looks pretty nice. This is one of the cool things about London is that you can be walking somewhere and you come across really nice places like this. I think it looks pretty cool. Guys, let me teach you a very important lesson about London. Over here, this is Tower Bridge. That is not London Bridge over there. That is called Tower Bridge. On the other hand, this one over here, this is called London Bridge. Let me go through that again. Tower Bridge, London Bridge. Now, I know London Bridge doesn't look very nice. But, yes, that is actually London Bridge. Guys, just as I stand here in front of the Shard building behind me, I just wanted to talk a little bit about persistence when learning a language. When you're learning a language, you need to be persistent, right? Especially when you are an intermediate learner of a language like English, it can sometimes feel like you're not really making any progress, right? Lots of people feel this way when they are at the intermediate level of a language. The truth is it just feels like you're not making progress, but you are. Every time you watch an hour of comprehensible input in English, for example, you're learning new vocabulary, you're learning new words, you're learning how the language is spoken, you're learning the intonation of native speakers, you're learning the correct pronunciation of words, and all of this information is going into your brain. A lot of this information is going into your subconscious brain at the back of your mind. So, if you are an intermediate learner of English, you just need to keep going, OK? You need to be persistent and keep putting those hours in with learning English. If you keep doing that, eventually you will become an advanced speaker of English. It's not impossible to become an advanced speaker of English, OK? I know it can feel like you're going to be intermediate level forever, but you're not. You need to be persistent and keep going, and you will reach the advanced levels eventually. The truth is, guys, learning a language takes a lot of time. It does take quite a long time. If you come across somebody on the Internet who tells you, you can become fluent in English in only three months, it's not true. I've been teaching English for about seven or eight years. I don't think I've ever seen anybody become fluent in just three months. It's never happened. So, learning a language does take a lot of hours and a long time. So, keep putting in the hours. You can track your hours if you want to see how much you're doing each day. If you are persistent and if you are consistent with learning English, you are going to keep increasing your level. I promise you. It's guaranteed. So, yes, if you are having doubts right now and you feel like, ah, I will never get better at English, I'm always going to be at the intermediate level of English, it's not true. You will reach the C1 advanced level eventually if you just continue to be persistent with your study. Anyway, that's enough of that. Let's go now to the garden at 1.20. Let's go. I've just come across the Leydenhall Market. I wasn't intending to come here, but it looks like it's close. So, let's go and take a look because this is a well-known spot of London. So, I'm here in the Leydenhall Market. And if any of this place seems familiar to you, it could be because it was one of the locations used for the Harry Potter films. So, if you are a Harry Potter fan, you may recognise this location because it was around here where they filmed the scenes for Diagon Alley. At least, they filmed some of the scenes for Diagon Alley around here. I don't know specifically exactly where it was. All I know is that somewhere around this area, they filmed those scenes with Diagon Alley. So, if all of this looks a little bit familiar to you, that could be the reason why. As expected, the whole place is absolutely crammed with tourists from all over the world. And that's because this market is really in all the tourist guides. If you open online, if you look at a video online, it will tell you, go to Leydenhall Market. It's always on the top 15 places to visit in London. So, that's why today it's absolutely crammed with tourists, as I'm sure it probably always is every hour of the day. Tourists, tourists everywhere. Probably this group over here are probably foreign students who have come with their school or their college. So, yeah, you can expect to be crammed with tourists. But the architecture is really nice, though. If you look at the ceiling, we have these lamps, these lights hanging down from the ceiling. And, yeah, the architecture in here, well, it is quite unique and quite impressive. As you can see, the time is currently around 10 minutes to 3. So, it's about 10 to 3 right now. So, I should probably get a move on. I should probably get a move on to do all the things I need to do in London today, because it's already 10 to 3 right now. So, that was a bit of a detour. That was a little bit of a detour. I did not intend to come to this market. I was on my way to the garden at 1.20. So, that was a bit of a detour. But let's get back on track. Let's get back on track and let's head to the garden at 1.20. Now, if you like to use YouTube to watch comprehensible input videos in English, that's good. You can watch lots of comprehensible input here on YouTube. The problem is you also need to watch ads, right? When you watch here on YouTube, you need to, in the middle of every video, usually you get one or maybe even two or three ads that you have to wait through. The ads can be 30 seconds or even one minute. If you want to watch comprehensible input videos in English without being interrupted, without being interrupted by ads in the middle of the video, go on englishsponge.com. Most of the videos on our website are ad-free, meaning that you don't have to sit there and watch adverts. Your English studying, your English listening does not get interrupted by ads. On the website, we have even lots of free videos that you can watch that are ad-free. So, you don't need to watch any ads with those videos. Of course, if you do become a premium member of English Sponge, it only costs $8 per month, so it doesn't cost too much. If you do decide to become a premium member of English Sponge, none of the premium videos have ads on them. So, you can watch all the comprehensible input that you like without being interrupted in the middle by these 30-second ads about products and things that you really don't care about. You just want to continue your English listening, but you have to watch this stupid ad in the middle. Well, on englishsponge.com, you can watch videos without these silly ads that get in the way. So, it looks like we finally arrived at the garden at 1.20. Now, I'm going to go up a really big lift all the way to the top of this building so that I can see the view from the top. Usually, there's a queue. Usually, you need to queue up outside, but let's see. Maybe today, there isn't so much of a queue. So, let's go ahead and take a look at the garden at 1.20. So, I was hoping there wouldn't be too much of a queue, but sadly, as you can see, there is an absolutely massive queue. And I'm beginning to wonder, was it worth it? Is it worth it to join this queue and go up there? Because it will probably take 25 minutes just to go up. And the queue is getting longer every second. But, I think I'll do it. I think it's probably worth it. This one? So, we just got into the lift, and we're going up to the top floor of the gardens at 1.20. You can see the number is going up, and we are going up. And so, yeah, at the top, there should be some good views when we reach the top. So, let's see if we can get to the top. So, you can see we're on the 15th floor up here, and we're going to get some really good views of London from up here. We can see London here. That building there is the Sky Garden. It's another good place you can go for a view here in London. You can see from up here, the view is pretty amazing. You can see buildings for a long way all around London. It's a really cool view of the city up here. So, as you can see, there's a garden all around me. That's why it's called the Garden at 1.20, because there's a garden up here. Makes sense, right? On this side, you can see a big crane. Can you see that? This is a crane, and it goes all the way down there. So, that is one gigantic crane for people who are doing construction on this building. And over here, there's another crane over here. Again, a massive, gigantic crane over this side as well. And over this side, you can see in the distance, this is the Shard. The Shard over there, this pointy building, this really big, pointy building. That's called the Shard, and that's a well-known building in London. Just below the Shard, if I just zoom in for you, down there, you can see that's the River Thames. So, we can see the River Thames from here as well. And you can see on this side, in the distance over there, I'll just zoom in for you a little bit. That is Tower Bridge over there. So, you get a good view of Tower Bridge on the River Thames as well. Commonly mistaken for London Bridge. No, this is not London Bridge. This is called Tower Bridge. And over this side, we can see the Gherkin building. This is named after the vegetable, the Gherkin vegetable. But yeah, this is called the Gherkin, and everybody knows this building. Everybody knows this classic building of London. As you can see, the weather's not too bad. It's pretty cloudy, yes. But this is London. This is England. Of course, it's cloudy. But it's not raining, so I can stand on this rooftop and I'm not getting soaked. I'm not getting soaked with rain, so I will not complain. I already promised not to complain in this video. However, when the weather's better, the view is much better. That's all I'm going to say. The view is a lot better when it isn't cloudy. That's all I'm going to say. I'm not complaining. I promise I'm not complaining. I promised I was not going to complain about the weather in this video. So, I will say no more. The weather is fine. It's fine. What do you think, guys? Would you like to come and visit the garden at 1.20 in London? Do you think the view is good? Can you imagine this view, but at sunset, when the sun is going down, or at sunrise, when the sun is coming up? Would you like to see the view then? Tell me in the comments. What do you think of this view? Not bad, right? Not a bad view at all. Okay, guys. Thank you for watching this video of me walking around London. I hope you're enjoying the view behind me. Thanks for watching this video. If you do like this kind of video, where we walk around and teach English with the comprehensible input method, be sure to check out Englishsponge.com because we have more than 500 videos at different levels, all like this. So, if you like this video, I'm sure you can also find more videos that you like on Englishsponge.com. If you prefer to stay here on YouTube, check out this video of me walking around a village with only 1,000 people in it. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.