059 - 5-Minute English: Springtime in the U.S.

Hi everybody, my name is Shawna and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States. Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it. Hello and welcome back. I'm happy to have you here for this new 5 minute English episode. In the first 5 minute English episode, episode number 55, about three trending diets to lose winter weight, I mentioned that the content part of these episodes will be limited to 5 minutes. Within that time frame, you'll hear a high concentration of vocabulary words, expressions, brazil verbs, collocations, and much more related to one topic. That's right, these are topic-specific episodes. By the end, if you learn and internalize all of the must-snow vocabulary, you should be confident enough to discuss this topic with a native speaker. We're calling this method fluency one topic at a time. Verency, of course, as you all know, is an abstract concept, which can make it challenging to achieve without direction. I hope that by breaking the learning process up into bite-sized pieces, you'll get that direction you need, and that you'll also find it manageable and fun, hopefully. Once again, this is not for easy listening. For those of you who wish to receive the transcript, as well as definitions for the must-novo cab, as well as exercises and quizzes, be sure to visit the classroom at AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Without any further ado, the topic for the day is springtime in the U.S. Naturally, this year is a bit different because of the coronavirus, so some of the activities mentioned are not possible at the time being, but the vocabulary still exists. We hope that the coronavirus is somewhat temporary, and we can be a little bit hopeful, right? So, let's get to it. There are four seasons in the year – spring, summer, fall, and winter. Some people in the U.S. may call fall autumn, although autumn is more commonly used in British English. Unlike in fall, when leaves fall from the trees, and our clocks fall back one hour, in spring or in springtime, we see buds emerge from branches, and our clocks spring forward one hour. We call this daylight savings time, and it gives us longer daylight hours between March and November every year. Although many Americans think of spring as the time frame between March to late May or early June, some ecologists prefer to categorize it as two seasons – pre-vernal spring, which is early spring, and vernal spring, which is late spring. These two seasons have different biological and environmental characteristics. For example, in early spring, snow may still cover the ground in some areas, but it's beginning to turn to slush. Icicles start melting from shingles on homes, and sidewalks may become icy and dangerous to walk on. Despite chilly breezes and occasional rain and snowfall, hardy plants and trees can be seen sprouting. In these early spring months, some animals come out of hibernation. Once the U.S., groundhogs come out of their burrows, and bears come out of their dens. You may hear birds start chirping as they gather twigs and mud to build their nests. It's mating season for birds, and just like many other types of expectant reptiles, amphibians, and fish, a safe shelter is needed before eggs are laid and hatched. In early spring, some of us, as humans, may have the blues or cabin fever after spending so many cold winter months cooped up inside. Although the changing of seasons can make us anxious to go out, the weather in April is unpredictable. In order to be extra prepared, it might be smart to dress in layers, bundle up, or even bring in umbrella. In fact, there's a common old saying, April showers bring the May flowers. Like many countries in the northern hemisphere, many U.S. states have to endure rainy days early on to have beautiful blossoms in late spring. That's when the skies are clear and the sun is shining. By then, seeds will have sprouted and colorful roses, lilies, tulips, and daisies will have filled flower boxes and beds. When flowers are in full bloom, there aren't only bees ready to pollinate, but there's likely pollen in the air. So if you suffer from seasonal allergies, you might end up with itchy, watery eyes, or runny nose, in the urge to sneeze a lot. People in the U.S., who are not affected by allergy season, take advantage of the warming weather to get some fresh air. In parks and on river banks, you'll see families and friends playing frisbee, going on bike rides, going on walks, and having barbecues. Others may be on a picnic, and sitting atop patterned picnic blankets with food sprawled out in front of them. Apart from fresh baguettes, cheese, cold cuts, and finger food, fresh seasonal fruit is a must at a picnic in spring. As of mid-May, berries, such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, are juicy, sweet, and ready to eat. Around the same time, stone fruit, such as nectarines, peaches, apricots, and cherries are also in season. If you ask someone from the States what comes to mind when they think of spring, their answer might be different based on their interests and personality. For a fashionista, you might hear floral prints and pastel colors, whereas a kid might mention something simple, like jumping in puddles. Others may mention Easter, rebirth, and rejuvenation. I ask my parents their thoughts on spring, and here was their response. Flowers, everything blooming and turning green, going outside, getting fresh air, exercising, getting out of the house, finally after a long winter being inside. I think of. I think of when cherry blossoms come out, you know in your mind that all the fresh fruit, apricots, and all that is not far off. And when also baseball, baseball starts off in the spring, spring, they call it spring training. Having really been to spring training, they do all that down in the warmer states down below. But in this area, all the little league teams and the kids are starting to play, and all the baseball fields across town are all full of kids, and it's pretty active. And normally, well, kids are in high school. It's prom time and it's senior year when the senior trip comes, and you're looking forward to the end of school. Actually, all the kids are looking forward to the end of school. It's almost time for summer vacation. And spring break, also? Yeah, spring break. You mentioned that earlier. Yeah. College, spring break is, you know, where are we going to go and usually spend a week off somewhere, partying, just enjoying your freedom before you have to go back and do finals and all that. Since the U.S. is so expansive, temperature can vary greatly between states, especially during early and late spring. The average lowest temperature during spring is in Alaska at 24.7 degrees Fahrenheit. And the highest average in Florida at 69.9. So that's it for this episode. I know that spring activities are a little bit different this year given the circumstances, but I hope you're still enjoying it wherever you are. As my mom always says, take time to smell the roses. Once again, if you want to dive deeper into your learning experience by actively using key vocabulary words in exercises, quizzes, and more, be sure to sign up for the classroom at AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. There's a ton of bonus material on there for each episode. I hope you're having a nice week and until next time, bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the American English Podcast. Remember, it's my goal here to not only help you improve your listening comprehension, but to show you how to speak like someone from the States. If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode, or you just want to support this podcast, make sure to sign up to premium content on AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Thanks and hope to see you soon. One last thing. If you do have a hard time understanding temperature in Fahrenheit, I highly recommend checking out episode number 18. Take a rain check. I speak quite a bit about temperature.