Learn Conversational English: Winter Is Coming (ep #11) ❄️

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com

along with--

- Kate.

- And we are back with another conversation in English

and we, this is where we talk about various topics

so that you can get some good listening practice,

learn new words and phrases and do this in a fun way.

So, be sure to check out the description

for resources and a list of the phrases that we use today.

Now, we are going to talk about winter.

We talked about summer-- - Um hmm.

- Maybe two years ago.

And we went through various idioms

and just talked about some in general

to give you some key phrases

and we're going to do the same again today

but we're going to talk about winter.

My first question is: is it winter

at the moment?

- That is an excellent question.

Winter is actually beginning, um,

in the next month.

- Okay, so today it is, well, it's late November.

- Uh-huh.

- When does winter officially start?

- That's a great question.

- I've never--

- I don't know off the top of my head.

I think it is in December.

- I always think that if you divide it by months,

then it's December, January, February.

- I think that this is a question that Google can answer.

- Um-hmm, yeah.

When is winter?

Is there an official date?

- Is it December 1st?

- I don't know.

Leave a comment below.

I do know the shortest day of the year.

- We're experts.

- Yeah.

We don't know the technical aspects of this.

- Of this season.

- Um, the shortest day of the year is the 21st.

- Oh yeah?

- Of December.

- Neat.

- Which is not too far away.

And at the moment, it goes dark at about...

- 5:30?

- Maybe a little bit before.

- Um-hmm.

- So, it goes dark quite early.

In the UK, I think it goes dark around 4:45.

- Yes.

- In the winter.

- Really early.

- And I want to say straight away that

one of the biggest differences between

where we live now and the UK

is the quality of light in winter.

- I agree, um-hmm.

- Because here, you can get some glorious days.

On Sunday, I was sitting outside in just a T-shirt

for two hours.

- And this Sunday, you'll be sitting outside again.

- Yeah.

- In a T-shirt probably.

- It's going to be a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Which, I don't know what that is in Celsius

but it's warm.

- It's warm.

- Yeah.

It's T-shirt weather.

- Yeah, probably around like, never mind.

(laughing)

- Thought that was a little ambitious.

- I know.

I don't work in Celsius very well.

- So--

- Even though it makes sense.

- That's one of the big things here though.

Because we're in the mountains,

but we're in the south,

it can be really warm, relatively, during the day

but then, it can get really cold at night.

- Absolutely, uh-hmm.

And you notice that

here, for example, we didn't get almost any snow yesterday

in our neighborhood.

But, when we drove 10 minutes down the road,

there was ice and snow on the roads.

So, it really changes, not only in general,

but in little areas.

- Um-hmm, yeah.

So, some schools were closed yesterday.

- Um-hmm.

- Yeah.

I made a video about this,

about phrases in the snow,

last winter.

- [Kate] Um-hmm.

- [Jack] And I called it a snow day.

- Oh yeah.

- Was it a snow day yesterday?

- Yesterday was a delay.

- Right.

- So, it's really typical

that if the roads will be icy in the morning,

potentially schools will be delayed by an hour or two.

If it starts snowing during the day,

often we'll have an early dismissal

and school's will release one or two hours early.

- Okay.

So, a delay is when school's start late.

And, and early release is when you have to

pick them up early from school.

- From school.

- Right, okay.

And we sometimes get really good snow days here,

don't we?

- Yes.

We get, we get probably several snow days a year.

And we'll have at least one every year,

usually a few,

where we can go sledding by our house,

which is really fun.

- Um-hmm, yeah.

There's some great hills around here

to go sledding.

We call that sledging.

- Sledging?

- Yeah.

A sledge, and to go sledging.

- Wow.

Yeah, we call it sledding, no G.

- No G?

- No G.

- So, a few phrases just to introduce here

are I really like the one, "It's freezing."

Like, it's freezing cold.

- It's freezing cold.

It's freezing outside.

It's going to be freezing tomorrow.

- Um-hmm.

- Put on your jacket, it's freezing.

- We say that a lot.

- Yeah.

Come on, put on your jacket.

It's freezing.

- It's freezing.

Now,

funny enough,

we say that all the time to our son.

- Um-hmm.

- But when you were a boy,

did you like to wear a jacket?

- Well, I wore a jacket,

but at school I wore shorts for the whole year.

I found trousers really uncomfortable.

- So, you would only wear shorts?

- Only wear shorts until I was about 10, I think,

or 11.

- And right now, I'm working in a school

and I have students who are about 13 and 14 years old,

and they do not like wearing jackets.

- Hmmm.

Even this morning?

- Even this morning.

So, yesterday was really freezing, um,

but even so,

even we had a delay for snow,

and students came to school in T-shirts.

- Wow.

Yeah, yesterday it was freezing.

- Uh-huh.

- And I want to say it is relative,

but because you know, you're...

I have students who

are in certain countries

who always tell me, "That's not cold."

When I say it's minus two degrees Celsius,

they say, "That's not cold."

But it feels cold.

- It does feel cold.

- There'so other way to say it, it does feel cold.

And, obviously, -20 is colder,

but -2 is still cold.

- Still cold. Uh-huh.

Anything below freezing to me, is cold.

- So, what do you do and what do you wear

to stay warm?

when it's cold outside or when it's freezing?

- Great question.

And I'm so glad that you asked because I really enjoy

certain parts of winter.

And one of the things that I enjoy most about winter

is layering.

- Uh-hmm.

- So, I don't just wear one thing,

or one layer of clothing,

I wear several.

Um, and I think a lot about it

and I really enjoy putting on those layers

and just wrapping up and being cozy.

So, for example, um,

it is better, for me, to wear a sweater and a shirt,

rather than just a long sleeve shirt or a sweater

because I like to take the layers on and off.

- Okay.

- Throughout the day.

- So, you like to put on layers.

- Uh-hmm.

- That just means like

various items of clothing.

- Uh-hmm.

- Yeah, it's a smart thing to do.

- I know.

- Especially when it's really warm and then really cold.

- What is your philosophy on hats?

- Hats, I don't like wearing hats.

- You don't like wearing hats? - No.

- Aren't you the one who's always talking about

losing body heat from your head?

- Well, may be.

- Maybe so.

- But, I don't wear hats.

- Okay, but you don't like them.

Is that because it messes up your hair?

- No.

(laughing)

I just, I don't...

I don't like taking lots of things with me.

Because you take off your hat, you take off your scarf,

you take off you gloves.

And then you have to put them somewhere.

- True.

- Or carry them.

- Uh-huh, and sometimes, you lose them.

But, to me that's part of the excitement of layering.

- Yeah, I sometimes get into this

where I'll buy some base layers.

- Uh-huh?

- But, I never really wear them.

- Explain.

What are your base layers?

- So, base layers are,

well, usually have a top and some trousers.

And they go under your regular clothes to keep you warm.

- We may call this long underwear.

- Okay, long underwear.

- For example.

And so we...

It's almost like tights, right?

And they're really tight. - Yes.

- Tight, thin layer?

- Yeah.

- But what's that made out of?

- Um, sometimes cotton.

- Uh-hmm.

- And then performance apparel.

I don't know what the materials are.

I feel like you're asking me some trick questions.

- I don't know, I'm wondering.

Because, okay...

Because, this is, this is my...

This is my area.

I really like layering and so,

I think a lot about like, what is the base layer?

And there's synthetic base layers like Capilene

and then there's silk and wool, um...

- You don't like wool.

- I am allergic to wool, unfortunately, um,

because I know it is so cozy and natural.

But, the other ones, silk especially is meant to be

really warm.

- Uh-hmm, yeah.

Yeah, I sometimes I wear them for soccer,

when it's really cold.

But, it's funny when you play soccer

and I've got to say football here as well.

- Okay say football, that's fine.

- So when you play football, and I'm on a team

and if we're playing and it's quite cold,

everyone wears these base layers.

- Uh-hmm.

- But within two or three minutes

of playing, everyone's taking them off.

- Taking them off.

How do you take off a base layer though?

Isn't that like...

- Well, the top you can.

- Okay.

- So, they'll take off the jersey,

and then they'll take off the base layer.

- The base layer and put on the jersey,

- Yeah, and the same with gloves, as well.

So, you see everyone taking their gloves off,

just throw it away because it gets too warm.

- I have a question.

- Uh-hmm?

- Are you a person who runs hot

or do you run cold?

- I think I run hot.

- You run hot?

- Except for my hands and feet.

- So, you're always feeling warm?

- Yeah.

- I am generally a person who runs cold.

- Uh-hmm, yeah.

- My feet especially and sometimes my hands

get like ice cold.

- Yeah.

No, they do, hands and feet especially,

I think because of the circulation.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, but we were just talking before

about Wim Hof.

- Oh yeah.

- The ice man who is just incredible

because he's trained himself to

resist the cold

and some of the things he's done, like,

he has all these world records

for swimming underwater in ice water

and staying in a block of ice, or a block of ice...

Or like an ice bath.

He's got the world record for that.

- What, do you know off the top of your head,

like is it minutes, hours?

- Oh, it's hours.

- It's hours.

- Yeah, I think it's one and a half hours

in ice.

- Uh-hmm.

- But then he's...

It might be more, I can't remember.

But he's also,

he's done these marathons

in Finland where it's been like -25 Fahrenheit

in just his shorts and some boots.

Run a marathon.

- That's incredible.

- Yeah. So we has trained himself,

I think mainly through breathing exercises,

but also cold exposure.

- Wow.

- To resist the cold.

It's pretty impressive, actually.

- Uh-hmm, and does he have any like take-aways

that other people can do?

Is it like an exercise that anyone can do?

- Yeah.

- Or can only he do?

- No, he's trained people to do it as well.

- Really?

- Yeah.

And, he's really charismatic.

He's good to listen to.

Check out, I think he did a really long pod cast

Joe Rogan.

- Okay. - I'll leave the link to it.

- Nice.

- But, he, um...

Go on.

- And I just have one question.

- Uh-hmm?

- As a perpetually cold person,

who doesn't like being cold, why?

- Why what?

- Why put yourself in an ice bath for hours?

- Oh, well, I think that's more of the test.

- Okay.

- To show how much you can resist the cold.

The idea is that you can train yourself

so that you just don't feel cold in the winter.

And it's through breathing exercises

and cold showers and just steadily getting used to.

You know, I take cold showers.

- Do you?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

- Well, I finish on a cold shower, 30 seconds.

- Is that good for your pores?

- I think it, well, mainly for circulation.

- Yeah.

- This isn't in 4K so you can't see the pores.

- Yeah, they're very, they're very...

- Porish? - Small.

(laughing)

- Yeah, but having a cold shower is great.

It feels every energizing.

- Invigorating?

- Yeah.

- I don't know,

I don't know if I can get on board with that.

I wish that it was cooler to wear all of the layers

because I feel like there's this, you know,

it's seems like it's very daring

or very cool to be the person that's out in the cold

without the layers.

But I want to make it cool to put on all the layers.

- I think that's pretty cool, isn't it?

- Yeah, you think so?

- It's fashionable to put on scarves and hats

and gloves.

- Hats called beanies are really in right now.

- Are they?

- They're kind of...

They're knit and they look at little bit...

- What are they big?

- Slouching in the back?

They're a little bit bigger.

- Yeah, I just can't get into hats.

- Sometimes they have a pom-pom on the top.

- Uh-hmm, yeah.

You just got a new one, didn't you?

- Yes, uh-hmm.

- Yeah.

- I got one that matches one that I got

for our daughter, but it's a little bit small.

So, not only when I take it off, do I have hat hair,

so my hair's everywhere,

but also, my forehead is ridged.

I look like I belong on Star Trek.

- So, that's fashionable?

- Well, it's fashionable before I take it off.

- Oh, so it leaves like an impression?

- It leaves an indent.

It looks like my forehead is made out of, um,

my hat.

(laughing)

- Well, that's, ah...

Maybe you need to get a new one.

- Maybe I do.

Maybe I have to get one, for you know?

- Yeah.

Well, if you do any kind of winter sports,

then hats are important.

And, I have a question.

- Uh-hmm? - Do you like winter sports?

- I love winter sports.

I do.

- Do you? - Yeah.

- Like skiing?

- Yes.

- And, didn't you do cross country skiing?

- Yeah, absolutely.

When I was in high school,

I was on a cross country skiing team.

Um, I was not the best.

- But you enjoyed it.

- But I loved it.

And actually, speaking of layers,

when I would cross country ski,

all that I would wear is like a Spandex suit.

We had like a Spandex racing suit.

- Is that kind od like a wet suit?

- Kind of like a wet suit, but it's more breathable.

- How thick was that?

- It's not meant to keep you warm. Very thin.

- How did you stay warm?

- So, because Nordic skiing, or cross country skiing

is so, so cardiovascular?

- Uh-hmm.

- Um, and you get really heated doing it.

I was always too hot.

- Right, that makes sense.

- Sometimes I had a hat too, though.

- That makes sense, okay. - Yeah.

- Yeah, that's like a very physical activity, isn't it?

- Uh-huh, so there's that.

And I grew up in New England,

where could go ice skating, um,

not always on, out in nature because sometimes the ice was

a little bit thin to be safe,

although sometimes.

But, there were a lot of ice skating rinks.

Um, there were ski slopes near where we lived.

And there's actually one not too far from where we are now

that I want to check out this year.

- Yeah.

- Have you been skiing a lot?

- I've only been twice.

Once, indoors.

- Uh-hmm, what?

- On a, like, fake snow.

- There's an indoor ski slope?

- Yeah.

- Tell me about this.

- In Manchester.

- Okay.

- Yeah, it's just...

It's a small ski slope inside.

And then before that, there's also a dry ski slope

near where I lived in Pendle.

I think it was Pendle.

- Hold on.

What is a dry...

How does that work? - This is a long time ago.

- Okay.

- It's...

I think I was about 10.

- Uh-hmm.

- Maybe 11.

And, um,

it's just like a slope.

It's all...

It's not like snow at all.

It's just like these small squares.

- Uh-huh?

- That mimic snow.

- Okay.

But you can use, like, regular skis on it?

- I think so.

- Have you ever tried snow boarding?

- No.

But I have done...

I have got...

I don't know what it's called

where you go down a sand dune

on like a snow board.

- Oh wow.

- I've done that.

- Sand boarding?

- Might be sand boarding.

Down a dune.

- A dune?

- Yeah, a do-on.

(laughing)

- Uh-huh.

- But, yeah, we don't get snow growing up.

There's no mountain really big enough

to have any kind of ski slope

or with a high enough altitude, so.

Yeah, we don't grow up with winter sports.

And I think that's why people in the UK

aren't into the winter Olympics.

- Oh really?

- Because you don't grow up doing these things.

And, therefore, we're not very good at them.

But, we did have an ice skating rink nearby

which we used to go to quite often.

- Uh-hmm.

- That was, that was fun.

And one of my friends, as well, who I went to college with,

she was a figure skater for a while.

- Uh-hmm.

So, I used to follow what she did.

- Uh-hmm.

- But apart from that,

yeah, winter sports just aren't popular.

- No.

- We're on these fake snow slopes.

- That makes sense.

I feel like...

I feel like the snow is part of the experience.

And, it's more accessible when there's mountains everywhere

covered in snow.

- Is ice skating in the summer or winter Olympics?

May sound like a sill question.

- It is.

- It's in the winter Olympics.

- It's in the winter Olympics, yeah.

- Because there were a couple from the UK

called Torvill and Dean.

- Okay.

- And they, everybody knew Torvill and Dean.

- Uh-huh.

- Because they were a figure skating pair.

- Yeah.

- So everyone was interested in that.

But, generally speaking, they weren't interested

in the winter Olympics.

- In the winter Olympics.

It's so funny how when you're watching the Olympics,

you get so much information

and so much coverage about your country.

- Uh-hmm.

- And, you don't necessarily know

what's going on with other countries.

Unless there's a stand out.

Like, everyone knows Usain Bolt.

- Exactly.

- But, other than than, you're really focused on

your Olympic heroes.

- Yeah, cause I've watched the Olympics in the UK

and in America and that's...

Yeah, you're right.

It's just focused on the country

and how many medals they're winning and who they have

and the popular people

that are taking part.

- I'm really interested to hear

what other people, um,

whether other people watch the summer and winter Olympics

and if they have a particular athlete

that they follow or know about.

- Kate's question.

- My question.

It's a little early, though, isn't it?

- No, it's right on time. - Right on time.

That is my question for you all, um,

is if you prefer summer or winter sports.

And, if you have a particular athlete or sport

that you follow.

- Yeah.

- In that season.

- Yeah, that's great.

And, yeah, like I said,

check out the description for some of the phrases

that we've used.

While Kate was talking, I was thinking

oh, that's a good phrase that we're gonna put in there.

- We'll put it in.

Oh, and one more thing.

Can I ask two questions?

- Yeah.

- Okay!

Um, so, is it more,

I want to say cool,

but that can be confusing

because cool can also be a temperature.

- Oh, people know what cool is.

- People know what cool means.

Is it cooler to be the person

in a T-shirt

on a freezing cold day or shorts?

Or is it cooler to have a lot of fashionable layers?

- Oh, very cool.

Leave your comments below.

And if you've enjoyed this, please like and share.

Okay, bye for now.

(lively music)