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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.

Well hello and welcome to this English lesson about spring. If

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