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Do you love summer as much as I do?
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We'll celebrate the end of summer in this video by studying several conversations about your summer.
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You'll study some important reductions and learn the phrasal verb, wrap-up,
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as well as great vocabulary words like opportunity and chaotic.
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Watch all the way to the end to learn things like what is an extended family versus a nuclear family
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and how to use 'bookend' and 'tied to' figuratively.
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Mom, how's your summer been?
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It's been good.
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We usually go out to Colorado late May, early June,
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but this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
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You're welcome.
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Opportunity.
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This is a great vocabulary word.
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It means a set of circumstances that make something possible.
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We had a trip and so we invited my parents to come take care of Stoney while we were gone.
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Sample sentences: I had the opportunity to go to NYC for the weekend
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because my friend was out of town and offered me her apartment.
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Or, my work offered to fly me to a conference in Anaheim
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so I took the opportunity to visit Disneyland while I was there.
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But this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
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You're welcome.
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Do you know the term babysit?
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This means to care for someone else's children.
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It's also a noun.
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Every month or so, David and I hire a babysitter to watch Stoney so we can go out.
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In the US, the term has evolved and we now use the terms 'house-sitter 'and 'pet-sitter'
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to refer to people paid to look after our houses or pets while we travel.
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These can be used as a verb as well:
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I'm going to house sit for my aunt and uncle for a month while they're in China.
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But this year, we had an opportunity to babysit our grandson in Philadelphia.
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You're welcome.
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In late July....in late June, so we waited to go out to Colorado until we did that.
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What are you going to do to wrap-up your summer?
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Um, we're almost at the end here.
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Wrap up: this phrasal verb means to end something.
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Notice the W is silent.
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What are you doing to wrap up your summer?
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Another example sentence with this phrasal verb:
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I think we covered everything – why don't we wrap up the meeting?
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This verb can also mean to cover in something.
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For example, you might wrap up a gift before giving it to someone:
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cover it in nice paper, maybe a bow.
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When I was at the beach this summer with Stoney, he got cold when he got out of the water.
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I said, “come here and I'll wrap you up in a towel.”
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Wrap up.
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What are you going to do to wrap-up your summer?
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Um, we're almost at the end here.
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Well, I have a, we spent a week here in a camp with my extended family.
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Extended family is different from your nuclear family.
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A nuclear family is made up of just two generations:
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a parent or parents and his or her children.
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An extended family goes beyond that:
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spouses of children, children of children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etcetera.
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I have a vocabulary video that goes over the terms we use for various family members.
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I'll be sure to link to that video at the end of this video.
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Well, I have a, we spent a week here in a camp with my extended family.
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And then we're going to go visit some friends in Northern Michigan,
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and then, we're going to drive up to Isle Royale National Park
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which is an island in Lake Superior.
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A national park is park set aside by the national government for conservation
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and the preservation of wildlife,
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and the enjoyment of the people.
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In the US, we have about 60 of these parks.
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You're looking at some pictures that I have taken while enjoying some of the national parks of the US.
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Then, we're going to drive up to Isle Royale National Park
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which is an island in Lake Superior.
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Is there anything else like kayaking or biking or is it mostly just hiking?
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Oh, it's mostly hiking, although they do have kayaks.
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Kayak, this word is a palindrome,
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which means it's spelled the same way forward and backward.
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Have you ever gone kayaking before?
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I find it very tiring!
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Is there anything else like kayaking or biking or is it mostly just hiking?
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Oh, it's mostly hiking, although they do have kayaks.
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But I don't think they have bikes out there.
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Are you going to do any swimming or is it really chilly up there?
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>>It's cold. >>Yeah.
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>>It would be really cold. >>Yeah
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Did you hear how I described the water in Lake Superior?
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I said 'chilly'.
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This is another way to say 'cold'.
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You wouldn't say 'chilly' for something that was very cold or extremely cold.
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It's cold, it's not comfortable, but it's definitely not as cold as it could be.
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It's chilly.
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Are you going to do any swimming or is it really chilly up there?
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>>It's cold. >>Yeah.
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>>It would be really cold. >>Yeah.
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The water.
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How's your summer been?
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It's been great! We started out...
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One of the things that is fun about our summers
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is we have David's family's beach week at the beginning of the summer to get things going.
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And then we have my family's week here at Lake Michigan at the end of the summer.
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So we have these two really great weeks that's sort of bookend our summer and...
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>> mark it. >>That's nice!
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>> Yeah! >> Yeah!
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Bookends: there are objects that you use on a bookshelf to keep your books upright,
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often one on either side of a set of books.
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But we can also use this term figuratively.
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This would be anything that appears on either side of something.
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Here, I'm talking about two vacations that bookend our summer:
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one at the beginning with David's family,
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and one at the end with my family.
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We have two great vacations to bookend our summer.
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So we have these two really great weeks that's sort of bookend our summer and...
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>> mark it. >> That's nice.
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>>Yeah! >>Yeah!
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The month and a half or so in between has been pretty chaotic.
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Chaotic. This word is spelled with a CH, but it's pronounced with a K sound.
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Chaotic.
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Chaos.
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Chaotic means disorganized, in turmoil.
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It often refers to too much going on, being too busy.
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The month and a half or so in between has been pretty chaotic
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with getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime.
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We had two terms related to work there.
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'Maternity leave' refers to the period of time a woman takes off from work after having or adopting a baby.
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'Paternity leave' is the time that a man takes off from work when welcoming a new baby to the family.
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Maternity, paternity.
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Notice in both of these words, the first T is a True T because it starts a stressed syllable.
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The second T is a Flap T because it comes between two vowels but doesn't start a stressed syllable.
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Maternity, paternity.
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With getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime.
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The other term you heard was 'overtime'. This refers to working more than your usual number of hours.
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For example, in the US, at many companies, the standard work week is 40 hours.
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Depending on your job, if you work more than 40 hours, that's considered overtime and you might receive higher pay for those hours above 40.
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A compound word, stress on the first word, over.
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Overtime.
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With getting ready to go on a maternity leave and working extra overtime
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to get all my YouTube videos ready, to get everything for my academy ready.
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So I've definitely been working more than normal and
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too much, if that was my normal, something would have to change.
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But it's not the normal. It's just to get ready for the new baby.
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But the summer has been great! I love summer. You know, as an adult,
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we don't have kids in school yet
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and neither of us works in the school system or the university system.
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So summer is sort of just like
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every day life but it's not because you still always take vacations in the summer.
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Summer is about, I don't know, it's something still so tied to the school schedule.
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I've just used the term 'tied to', and I'll use it several more times here.
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This doesn't literally mean that I am tied to an object.
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We mean it to talk about something that is paired together, that goes together,
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something that we must adhere to or rules that we must follow.
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It usually implies some kind of a limit.
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For example, I can work anytime from anywhere,
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but I used to be tied to David's work schedule.
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We had to be in Philly on certain days.
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An example sentence: I like to cook all sorts of different things,
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but I'm tied to the ingredients I can buy in my town.
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I can't cook all the things I want, because I don't have access to certain foods
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needed to make some international dishes.
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Summer is about, I don't know, it's something still so tied to the school schedule.
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The summer is where even if you're not tied to the school schedule, you're doing stuff.
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Probably 'cause all of your other family, you know, is tied to a school schedule.
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But yeah, we feel really lucky that we get to take advantage of it with the two weeks,
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with one week with each of our families and...
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Yeah, I hadn't thought about that but that they're just at the perfect time.
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>>Um, with those space in between to... >> Right?
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>> do other things. >> The start of summer...
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The end of summer, and then a few:
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want to take a trip in the middle to go do something extra exciting somewhere you can?
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But yeah it's a fun way to sort of start and end.
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>>Yeah. >>The summer.
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Thank you Mom for sitting down to talk with me about this.
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Now let's get a different perspective
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from my cousin's 10-year-old daughter.
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>> So Ani, how was your summer? >> Good.
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How was your summer?
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This is a conversation starter question you can use with somebody
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that you see around the end of August or beginning of September.
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>> So Ani, how was your summer? >> Good.
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What did you do?
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What did you do?
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Did you hear how I pronounced this phrase?
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We can take the words 'what' and 'did'
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and combine them by making the final sound of WHAT a D instead of a T.
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WUD. WUD.
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That's something you'll hear Americans do.
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Also, it's common to take an ending D sound and combine it with 'you' to make a J sound.
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Wa-ju. Wa-ju. Wa-ju-do?
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Do you hear the J sound?
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Wa-ju. Wa-ju do?
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What did you do?
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We went to San Francisco and I saw this really cool breakdancing show.
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Breakdancing.
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Chances are, you know what this is.
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In New York City, it's common to see fabulous dancers performing on sidewalks and in subways.
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We went to San Francisco and I saw this really cool breakdancing show.
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Or seeing that, like, big prison.
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>> Alcatraz? >> Yeah. And the Golden Gate bridge.
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Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge are two popular sights in San Francisco.
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Have you ever visited either of them?
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Or seeing that, like, big prison.
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>> Alcatraz? >> Yeah. And the Golden Gate bridge.
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Did you tell her about going to camp?
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Did you go to camp?
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Yeah, we also, I also went to camp at Everheart.
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Is it sleep-away?
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A sleep-away camp is one where you send your kids and they stay over night, usually for a minimum of a week.
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This is different from a day camp,
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which is typically near your home,
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and where you would send your child during the day only.
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In the summer in America, when kids aren't in school,
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it's pretty common to send your kids to camp for families who can afford it.
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Is it sleep-away?
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Uh-huh.
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How long?
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One week.
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Fun.
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Did you love it?
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Uh-huh, my programs were rock climbing,
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arts and crafts, swimming.
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What did you do in the arts and crafts?
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Notice how I'm pronouncing 'arts and crafts'.
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Two things: The word AND is reduced:
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arts and-- arts 'n' crafts.
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Also, I drop the T in 'crafts'.
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This is because it comes between two consonants, F and S.
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However, I didn't drop it in the word 'arts'.
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Why? It does come between two consonants there.
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It's because of the R.
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We DO pronounce the T if it comes after an R and before another consonant,
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but we usually drop the T if it comes after any other consonant and before another consonant.
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Arts and crafts,
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arts and crafts.
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What did you do in the arts and crafts?
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What did you make?
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Wa-ju make?
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Another example of taking 'what did you' and reducing it to 'wa-ju'.
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Wa-ju make?
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Just like Wa-ju do? at the beginning of this video.
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Try that out loud with me now.
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Wa-ju.
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Wa-ju make?
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Wa-ju make?
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>> What did you make? >> Um, so we made this, like,
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floral painting thing.
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>> That sounds pretty. >> And we also did tie-dye.
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Tie-dye.
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A favorite summer camp activity.
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Have you ever done tie-dye?
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Notice the two words are spelled differently,
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but they both make the AI as in BUY diphthong.
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Tie-dye,
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tie-dye.
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And we also did tie-dye.