Free English Class! Topic: Spring ??? (Lesson Only) - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

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Well hello and welcome to this English lesson about spring. If
you live in the Northern Hemisphere it is spring. It
actually started a few weeks ago. I'm a little bit late with
this lesson about spring. But we still have about two little
over two months of spring left before it is summer and I have
to be honest. Spring just started here. I know it started
three weeks ago. But it really just started a couple days ago.
Before that it certainly felt like winter. So welcome once
again to this English lesson about spring. Where I'll talk
about all of the things that I would see and the vocabulary I
would use as an English speaker living in the Northern
Hemisphere where spring is just beginning. Spring time. So
spring time is basically spring. It's a word we use to
talk about this time of year. A lot of times in winter you'll
say things like I can't wait till spring time. You could say
I can't wait till spring or you might refer to spring using
time when talking about it in the past you might say ah back
in the spring time ah I enjoyed being outside more because the
weather was cooler. So spring time certainly ah the time of
year when winter ends and spring begins. Ah right now
spring time like I mentioned earlier is ah it's in full
swing here in Ontario Canada. It is ah beautiful outside the
weather is getting warmer. The grass is growing and so many
other things are happening. I'm really happy that it's spring
time even though winter is my favourite season. So the first
day of spring that's how we refer to it. The first day of
spring I hope I got this right was March twentieth twenty
twenty-two. Or March 20th two thousand twenty-2. We usually
just in English when we say the year. We kind of split it up.
And I guess we're saying it wrong in a way but 2022 is the
current year. And spring actually started on March
twenty twenty-two. There's something that we say a lot as
spring is approaching. Sometimes as winter is ending
and as spring is beginning we kind of have days where some
days it feels like spring and other days it still feels like
winter. So we use the English verb to feel to talk about the
season. So like I mentioned earlier even though spring
started on March 20th it felt like winter. It didn't feel
like spring on March 20th. In fact yesterday and maybe the
day before where the first two days where I would say oh it
Feels like spring today. Yesterday felt like spring.
Today as well when I look outside it just feels like
spring today. So that's how we would describe just that nice
feeling of sunshine and warmth and the opposite of winter. It
feels like spring. And we start to see what we call signs of
spring. There are a lot of signs of spring and I'll talk
about a few of them in this lesson. But one of the obvious
signs of spring. For me is when things start to grow and things
start to turn green. So right now when you walk outside I
showed this earlier in one of my videos that you can see
daffodils and tulips starting to come out of the ground. So
certainly when things start to grow that is one of the signs
of spring. A really nice sign. We also start to have longer
days. So in the Northern Hemisphere the winter days are
really really short. I'm sure it's the same in the Southern
Hemisphere where it's the opposite. But specifically
where I live the further north you go the shorter the days are
in the winter. So one thing we notice when spring starts is
that you can tell that the days are longer. Longer days are
really really nice. When you get home from work it's not
dark. In the middle of the when I get home from work it's dark.
Now when I get home from work I can actually work outside for a
few hours because it doesn't get dark till about seven or
eight at night. So that's really nice. It's nice to have
longer days. Another sign of spring. And then of course we
have what's called a spring breeze. The only difference
between a winter breeze and a spring breeze is that a winter
breeze is really cold. And a spring breeze is in the spring
and it's very pleasant. If I was to go outside right now I
can see that there's nice spring breeze. And because it's
a warm day I would enjoy the breeze. And if you don't know
what a breeze is it's a light wind. So the winds blowing just
a little bit. It's really nice in the spring on a warmer day
if there is a nice spring breeze to kind of keep you cool
as you walk or exercise or work outside. And one thing we like
about spring is fresh air. All of the windows in our house are
closed during the winter. But when we start to have days
where it feels like spring. When we start to have days in
the spring where it's warm enough we open our windows to
get fresh air in our house. We even also say I'm going outside
to get some fresh air. So fresh air I always think of spring
when I think of fresh air. You can open a window in the summer
or fall to get fresh air as well. But certainly after
having the windows closed all winter. It's nice to open the
windows of our house to get a little of fresh air once spring
has started. And the trees start to leaf out. So if you
see this picture here you'll notice that small leaves are
starting to come out of the branch on this tree. When I go
outside in the spring the trees are just starting to leaf out.
In about a month the trees will have leafed out. And they'll
have leaves and you can sit in the shade. But right now the
trees are just starting to leaf out. They're just starting to
leaves on them. They're very very tiny. But I can't wait
because when you make videos outside it's nice to make them
in the shade. And in the spring before the trees leaf out it's
very sunny and warm but there's no shade. So I'm I'm looking
forward to a little bit of shade under the trees in a few
weeks. Uh we also have spring showers. So a spring shower is
simply a light rain in the spring. It does tend to rain a
lot in the spring where I live. Quite often when I go to work
it's raining. We'll have a little spring shower in the
morning. We might have some spring showers tomorrow
actually. Uh they're forecasting that there might be
spring showers. All a spring shower is is it's a really
light rain in the spring. Uh if it happened in the summer we
would just call it a shower. But in the spring it rains it's
usually nice to just feel the rain coming down. It's what
helps everything grow. It's nice when we have a spring
shower in the spring. And next we just have lots of sunshine.
Probably this is one thing that people who experience a really
really strong harsh winter. One thing they really appreciate is
spring sunshine. When you can get out in the spring and you
could feel the sunshine on your face. It's just very very nice
after being inside for several months. It's very nice to go
outside and to just have a little bit of sunshine. There
was actually sunshine when I started the lesson but when I
look outside now I see that it has clouded over. So hopefully
the clouds go away and we have a bit more sunshine later
today. And then we also have what's called the spring thaw.
The snow melts. If there's any ice the ice melts. Everything
thaws. So we go from a winter state from a state where
everything is frozen. To a time where during the day there's
things everything thaws. But at night it freezes again. But now
we're at the point in spring where it's a zero all day and
all night. So now everything has thawed. There's no more
snow. There's no more ice. It's very very nice outside right
now. So I mentioned daffodils here in Canada there are three
flowers that bloom really early in the spring. Uh the first
they do not have a picture of and that's I think called a
crocus. But daffodils excuse me. But daffodils are one of
the first flowers to bloom. They have not bloomed yet in my
area. They are still growing. But they're definitely out of
the ground. And in a few weeks we will see them bloom. Nice
beautiful yellow flowers. Another flower that blooms in
the spring is a tulip. Now tulips bloom after daffodils in
our area. As the daffodils finish blooming the tulips
start to bloom. Uh and to are really nice because they bloom
we have like early and late daffodils so they kind of bloom
for a longer stretch of time for us. But we definitely have
daffodils and tulips growing right now and they will all
bloom in the next couple of months. They will all bloom
this spring. And I'll make sure I put some I'll I'll make sure
I feature some of these in videos coming up. People do a
lot of planting in the spring. So whether it's planting like
this this man is planting by hand. Or whether it's planting
in a big field. Like farmers will plant in their fields in a
couple of weeks. Um first we plant corn than we plant beans
here in Canada. But right now people might be planting in the
ground but it's a little bit early. Generally in Canada we
do not plant until May. In my part of Canada. Things are
different in Different parts of Canada. But where I live if you
planted right now people would think you're crazy. It's a
little bit too early for most things. Now that being said Jen
has planted a few things in the field. A few flower types that
do not mind the cold. So we do have a few things planted but
for us as flower farmers we will do a lot more planting in
about three or four weeks. And we'll do that by buying seeds.
You can see here there are a lot of seed packets or small
packets of seeds. We buy a lot of seeds in the spring. Uh
actually we buy them in the winter and then we plant a lot
of seeds in the spring. If you're wondering how Jen grows
so many flowers if you can't plant early. Um that's because
we have a lot of seeds started in our basement. So we start
seeds in pots and then we later transplant them out into the
field. So definitely in spring people buy seeds and people get
ready to plant their seeds and then plant them. Um if you grow
a vegetable garden in my area. Most people will plant their
garden. Um yeah maybe around May 15th it depends on what
they are growing. We also do some pruning. So pruning is
something that it depends on what you are pruning. Some
things like to be pruned in the winter. Some things like to be
prune in the early spring. Pruning is when you take
pruners. And you take off either some of the new growth
or you take off some of the older growth or parts of the
plant that are dead. So pruning is something they do with fruit
trees. Pruning is something they do with vines in a
vineyard so for grapes but pruning is something that
happens. I guess mostly in the winter and also in the early
spring. It depends on what you are pruning. But here a lot of
pruning happens I think when things are dormant. That means
that they are not actively growing they are waiting for
spring. Pruners are dangerous by the way. Be careful when you
use pruners. There a lot of mud right now. You can see this
person is walking in an area that's very muddy. Uh because
there are a lot of spring showers because it rains a lot
in the spring. There is a lot of mud. Uh so when I go outside
right now to make a video I'm often wearing my rubber boots.
Because even when I walk in the lawn there are areas where
there's lots of mud. It is very muddy. Um actually today it's
not too bad because it hasn't rained for a few days. But as
soon as it rains again we will certainly have mud. Uh again
lots of mud. I hate it when my kids track mud into the house.
When you track mud into the house it means you wear your
muddy boots and you walk into the house and then the house
gets mud in it. There are a lot of birds chirping. So some
birds go south for the winter. There are not a lot of birds
singing or chirping in the winter. But if you've watched
some of my videos on my other channel you'll notice that
occasionally you can hear a lot of birds chirping in the
background. Uh birds seem to be back. Birds have returned from
the south. By the way birds do migrate. We'll talk about that
in a sec. Uh but the birds are certainly chirping. When I wake
up in the morning right now I can hear birds chirping outside
my window. And there's definitely a bird nest here or
there around the property. Right now you'll often see
birds flying with a little piece of straw or grass in
their mouth and they are building nests so that they can
lay eggs so that they can have young. So right now definitely
I know when I was walking the other day I saw a bird nest a a
bird was building a bird nest in a tree. But I talked about
this a little bit. The grass is green. We have not started
mowing the grass yet. We have not moan our lawn. That's hard
to say isn't it? We haven't moan it yet. Mowed. Sorry. We
haven't mowed our lawn Sorry I'm saying things wrong. Uh but
it will be something that we will need to do in about a week
or so. Our grass is very green. Our lawn is very green. And we
will need to mow the lawn in about a week. In fact we
probably could mow a little bit of it today. There's certain
areas where the grass is very green and it's and it's already
grown quite a bit where we could mow it. And by the way
the smell of fresh cut grass is something that you that's
definitely a sign of spring. So I talked about the birds have
returned. There are birds that fly south for the winter. So
there's birds that live in my area throughout the spring,
summer and fall and then they fly south. There is a
migration. Birds migrate. Um not all birds but a lot of
birds migrate south. So in the winter we have birds. But some
birds have gone they're they're kind of like people. They go
where it's warm in the winter. So they can enjoy life a little
bit better. I think some birds don't like cold weather. And
then often in the spring people will just wear a spring jacket.
So it's not warm enough to go outside with just short
sleeves. You still need to wear something. But a winter coat is
too warm. So often you will own a spring jacket. And if you're
wondering what the difference is between a fall jacket and
spring jacket. For me they're the same thing. Uh my this is
my spring jacket. Right here It's my spring jacket. It's
also my fall jacket. But generally a spring jacket will
be colourful. And a fall jacket might be a grey or black or
brown. Um for some reason a fall jacket is less colourful.
But that's not a hard and fast rule. A jacket can be any
colour. But a spring jacket is often also waterproof. Because
there's a chance it might rain in the spring. We do a lot of
spring cleaning in the spring. I think in the winter because
you can't open your windows. You keep your house clean. But
a lot of people when it gets really nice and when you can
open your windows and have lots of fresh air. It also makes
them want to clean their whole house. But like extra clean. So
we do clean our house all year. But in the spring we sometimes
open all the windows on a Saturday and do some spring
cleaning. Where we clean everything we just do a better
job of cleaning. Um than we normally would. Like a deep
cleaning. And in the yard we sometimes do some spring
cleanup. We started doing this actually the other day. In the
winter sometimes a little branches fall off of trees when
it's windy. In the winter sometimes things blow around.
And then when the snow melts you have to clean up your yard.
So we do quite a bit of spring cleanup in the spring. Um we've
done a tiny bit of spring cleanup. But we need to do a
little bit more this weekend I think. I think we'll get out
there and do some spring clean up tomorrow and I also have a
day off on Monday so I might do some spring cleanup then as
well. And then obviously this was something I mentioned
earlier. Uh spring is a time where it's a lot easier for
kids to play outside. Our kids do play outside in the winter.
But usually for maybe an hour maybe an hour and a half. When
it's below zero it's fun to play outside. But you don't
play outside for three hours. Because it's just too cold. So
it's nice when spring comes because kids can play outside.
Uh and they sometimes play outside for hours on end. In
English when you say someone does something for hours on end
it means they do it for several hours for a long time. Rubber
boots I talked about these a little bit earlier. I think in
other parts of the world in English they call them wellies
or other names but in Canada we just call them rubber boots.
Boots that are made out of rubber. So that when you walk
outside when it's really wet your feet don't get wet. You
shouldn't leave your rubber boot laying on its side though.
That's a good way for water to get in your boot. But I have
wearing my rubber boots outside quite often lately because it
has gotten a little bit warmer outside. Uh because there are a
lot of puddles. Um right now the puddles are gone but I
think by tomorrow night there will be lots of puddles again.
Uh puddles in the driveway. Puddles of course are little
pools of water that form when it rains. Um but right now
things are actually unseasonably dry right now. So
that's a good word for you. Uh it is the season of spring.
Normally it's quite wet outside. But it's actually
quite dry. So we would say it's unseasonably dry. In the summer
when you have a really cold day you could say it's unseasonably
cold today. So basically means wow this is a strange
temperature or a strange situation for this season so we
have buds so there are a lot of buds on the trees right now
buds are things that form just before a flower comes out or
just before leaves come out. So right now the trees have a lot
of buds on them. Uh on some trees those buds will open and
there will be a blossom or a little flower. On some the buds
will open and leaves will come out. So again I'm looking
forward to things leafing out so that we have a little bit of
shade. And then we talked about blossoms. To me a blossoms is a
tiny tiny flower on a tree or bush. So I wouldn't say yeah
how would you say that? I would say a flower like a tulip will
bloom but a tree will have blossoms on it. So a little bit
of a Difference between the two. I should have asked Jen
for a more formal definition before I did the lesson. And
then we certainly have bees. As soon as you have flowers as
soon as there are blossoms you will start to see bees come and
visit. The bees are collecting pollen. I think this is where I
should learn my science before I do the lesson. But we
definitely have a lot more bees. Um not so much today but
in a few weeks in the middle of spring you'll start to see a
lot of bees buzzing around outside. Busy as bees. They
will be. And then we have the return of insects. These are
called ladybugs in Canada and I think in the United States. I
think in the UK they might call them ladybirds. We call them
ladybugs. So a small bug it flies a little bit and it has
like a red back and then some black dots on it. So the
insects are slowly returning. Uh when you go outside you can
start to see some of the early insects are active and around.
Uh soon we'll have mosquitoes that is one of my least
favourite insects. Um spring break. So spring break has
actually already happened. Spring break is when students
don't go to school for one week in the spring. It usually
happens in the early spring. It sometimes even happens late
summer. Uh sorry take the late winter. It depends on the year.
But most of the time spring break takes place in the early
spring. So we actually had spring break a couple of weeks
ago we had spring break we actually had spring break a
week before spring actually started. So while we were on
spring break it was still technically winter and at the
end of spring break it was March 20th the beginning of
spring. In my part of Canada and in many other parts of the
world where there are maple trees and where there is winter
in spring you will have maple syrup. So maple syrup is made
from the sap of maple trees. And then they kind of boil it
down into a syrup and it's very very sweet. It's one of
Canada's major exports. So if you've never had maple syrup.
You should try it sometime. It's it's quite expensive but
it's also very sweet and very very yummy. Another thing you
will see a lot of in my part of the world in the spring is you
will see motorcycles. You cannot drive a motorcycle in
the winter. So as soon as it starts to get warm enough
usually around the first or second week of spring you will
start to see motorcycles on the road again. Uh you can't drive
a motorcycle in the winter because it's too slippery. You
will just fall over if you try to drive a motorcycle in the
snow. So even the other day I was out and I saw a number of
motorcycles. Um because it was the warmest day of the week. Uh
and people would come home from work and they would go and take
go for a ride on their motorcycle. By the way an
interest thing in Canada. Motorcycles are For some people
it's their main form of transportation. But most of the
people I know they own a motorcycle and they ride it for
pleasure. Or they ride it for fun. So most of the people I
know don't drive their motorcycle to work. They drive
their car to work. And they go on the weekend and drive their
motorcycle for fun. So an interesting thing about Canada.
Probably because yeah you can't drive your motorcycle for about
five months out of the year. You can only drive your
motorcycle from about till about October and then gets a
little chilly and a little cold and when the snow starts to fly
in the fall you can't really drive a motorcycle. The other
thing you will see a lot of our classic cars this would be like
a hot rod or classic car or sports cars. So like a brand
new Lamborghini or Ferrari. In Canada winter is not a good
time to drive a classic car or a sports car for a couple of
reasons. Number one if you have a Lamborghini and you try to
drive it in the snow it just won't work very good. The tires
will spin a lot and you'll go off the road really easily.
Number two in the winter in Canada we put a lot of salt and
sand on our roads so that it melts the snow and the or the
sand gives you traction. And both of those things are not
good for fancy nice cars. They the salt especially will cause
the car to rust really fast. So generally people who own really
really nice cars rich people they don't drive them in the
winter. They drive something else in the winter. But just
the other day I was making a video and someone drove by in
like a 1970 Chevy Nova. Really nice paint job. Really big
engine. Um that person would not drive that car in the
winter. So in the spring we tend to see a lot more classic
cars. A classic car is like a old car that someone has made
to look nice again or sports cars.