Free English Class! Topic: Spring 🌷🐦🌱 (Lesson Only)

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.