Let's Learn English! Topic: Getting Ready for Winter! 🥶🧥☃️
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Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about getting ready for winter. If you live in a country that experiences winter, there are a lot of things you need to do in order to get ready for winter and in this lesson, I will talk about most of them.

you don't need to get ready for winter, you should still watch this lesson. Many of the things I talk about can also be used to talk about getting ready for other things. Maybe if you switch one word, it will mean getting ready for summer. For instance, one example, you sometimes put extra blankets on the bed to get ready for winter. You might have a colder season where you are where you put an extra blanket on the bed. So, even though the

lesson is about getting ready for winter. It is a multi-use lesson. You will learn many useful phrases in this English lesson. So once again welcome to this English lesson about getting ready for winter. Get out the winter coat. And

So, in Canada and in other cold countries, we often put away our warm winter coats in the spring. So, when spring arrives and when I don't need my winter coat, we actually put it in the basement.

sometimes in a box or sometimes we hang it in a closet. But then when cold weather comes, you need to get out the winter coat or get out your winter coat. You can see this person here is nice and cozy and warm wearing their winter coat. So, what this means for me is I go to the basement. I find my winter coat. You can see me wearing it right here and I start to wear my winter coat but first, I have to find it and get it out.

Another thing I do is I put on the snow tires. We also call these winter tires. I'm not sure if all of you are aware but there are different kinds of tires that we use in the winter in colder countries. The rubber is a little softer. So, in really cold weather, the tires grip the road really, really well. So, it's just handy and

to have. Um when it gets super cold out, it's nice to be able to stay on the road instead of sliding off the road. So, when there's a bit of snow on the road or when there's a bit of ice on the road, it's nice to have your snow tires on or what we also call winter tires.

then you might wanna stop drafts. There's two ways to spell this word. This is the long complicated way. You can also spell it DRAFT draft. But this is the word draft that means air that blows under the door or from the around your window. If your windows and doors are

aren't sealed nicely. You might have drafts and this is something called a draft dog. Some people have these types of things to lay along the bottom of a door to stop wind from blowing in. There are many other things you can do to stop a draft. You can put uh stuff on the door itself to stop a draft but this is something people do. They stop drafts.

Put an extra blanket on the bed. Jen and I actually did this a few weeks ago already. When the nights start to get colder, your house starts to get a bit colder. In fact, most people in cold countries have their house go a little colder at night than it probably goes in the summer. At least we do. And so, we put an extra blanket on the bed. This sometimes is called a duvet.

Sometimes in my part of Canada, we call it a comforter. It has many names. Some people might call it a quilt but there are lots of thick, warm types of blankets and you will probably put one of those on your bed so that you stay warm at night. Last night in particular was quite cold so it was nice to have an extra blanket on the bed.

also going to get out your gloves. You're going to get out your winter hat or what I call a toque. You're going to want to cover up. So I would not go outside with my hands uncovered right now. I would not go outside with my head uncovered. It's way too cold for that. So you're going to get out your gloves. You're going to get out your winter hat. We keep all of these in a box in the spring, summer, and fall and then we pull out the box and

then you hope that you can find a matching pair. Here's something that some people think

is controversial and bad for the planet but you start to warm up your car in the morning. I usually start my car about five minutes before I leave. Some people say you don't need to do this but I like to warm up the car so that I can clean the windshield and the side windows better. So you sometimes need to warm up the car in order to be able to drive safely. So sometimes I get up early and

so that I can warm up the car for about three or four minutes, sometimes five minutes so that when I get in, it's warm but also so that the ice and snow has melted off the windows and then you need to put the ice scraper and snow brush in the car. If you are not familiar with these two tools, this is one that has a scraper at one end and a snow brush at the other.

So this is what you use to clean off your car windows in the morning. So when you get up on a winter morning, you need to get up earlier because you probably want to start your car and let it run for a few minutes and you're going to need to clean the windows. So normally, we do not have an ice scraper

a snow brush in our car in the spring, summer, and fall. So, in the fall, late fall, we put the ice scraper and snow brush in the car. Um just so that you can clean the windows. It's important to be able to see when you drive.

So this is something I don't have a snowblower like this. I have one that goes on the tractor but a snowblower is a machine that you only use in the winter. So when you are getting ready for winter it's important to check the oil fill the snowblower with gas and start it up.

don't want to start your snowblower for the first time during the first snowstorm. You want to be ready for the first snowstorm. So if you start the snowblower you when it's a nice warm day in the late fall then you are ready for winter. So you should definitely start the snowblower at least once. Make sure everything works properly and do this before you get a large snowfall.

You should find the shovel. Um there are things called snow shovels. They're designed especially for shoveling snow. Uh you should probably find the snow shovel if you are getting ready for winter. Um sometimes our snow shovel gets used other places on our property and then it's not in the right spot. So, you might need to find the snow shovel so that when it snows, you can shovel the snow.

then put warm clothes in your car. So if you live in a country like Canada or one of the countries that experiences cold winter you should always have gloves, winter hats, maybe a blanket, maybe an old winter coat. You should have these things in your car all the time.

So that if you go in the ditch or if your car breaks down, you can stay warm. When I go to work, I wear gloves, a winter hat, and a winter coat but I don't always dress warm enough to be outside for a long period of time.

I'm warm enough to be outside for 10 or 15 minutes or more but if my car broke down I would probably put on another winter coat over top of my winter coat and maybe warmer gloves. Um so it's important to uh put warm clothes in your car so that you're ready in case your car breaks down in the winter or um or if you need

your car breaks down or if you go in the ditch. That happens. Sometimes you slide off the road.

should get the furnace serviced. So a furnace is an appliance that heats your house. Um you should make sure that it's working properly. Um it's very important that the house stays warm in the winter. So you will call someone to come and service your furnace. Not necessarily every year but maybe every two years or every five years you will have a professional person come to service your furnace.

check the windows. So, an interesting thing happens. Sometimes around your windows, there's something called caulking and it can fall out and then you will find out there's a draft by that window. So, usually about once a year or every other year, we go around and we check the windows to see if there are any spots where air can blow in and then you can find different things. You can buy different things to put around the window to stop it.

most half of our windows are sorry I'm trying to think about how to say that most of our windows are fairly new so we don't have this problem but when our windows were older before we had them replaced we often did this we would check and then kind of make sure put the

the markers along the driveway. Many of you see this in my lessons and ask what are all those orange sticks that you put along your driveway. This person has put orange sticks along the sidewalk. We sometimes put orange sticks along our driveways because when it snows you can't tell what is driveway and what is grass.

people sometimes drive on the grass or on the lawn. So when we know winter is coming before the ground freezes we often will put out these orange stakes or sticks. Some of them are reflective so that people know where the driveway is so that they don't drive on the lawn.

Bring in outdoor plants. If you have any plants in pots, most plants do not like winter. They die and so you might bring them in. Sometimes, you leave them out until they go dormant in the fall. So, sometimes when plants sense cold weather, they stop growing and they go dormant and then you put them in the garage or in the basement where they won't freeze so that next spring, you can take them out again.

might get out the sleds. Sometimes we have to find the sleds when winter is coming because we might want to go sledding or what is sometimes called tobogganing. So you might go and get out the sleds so that they're ready to use. By the way, sleds don't work very well when they're warm.

So, we often keep our sleds in the garage where it's colder or even outside because a warm sled when you put it on the snow just melts the snow and it sticks. So, we often get the sleds out early so they're ready to use. By the way, sledding is when you slide down a hill on the snow on a sled. It is a lot of fun.

might find your skates if you're someone who likes to skate. You might get out your skis. You might get out your skates. We have skates that we keep in our basement in storage. So in the fall and late fall when winter is approaching we will find our skates. Um sometimes it's hard to find because I share my skates with my son. So I have to figure out who used them last and where they are.

Um you'll need to prepare to leave early or you'll need to start to leave early. What this means is that when winter comes it takes longer to get to work because you need to drive slower. So yesterday I drove about 70 kilometers an hour on my way to work. The speed limit is 80 kilometers an hour and usually I drive 90 kilometers an hour.

I drive a little bit faster than the speed limit. But when it starts to snow, when the roads start to get a bit of snow and ice on them, you need to slow down. Sometimes, I can only drive 50 kilometers an hour on my way to work. If it's really snowy, if it's hard to see. So, you need to

prepare to leave early or be ready to leave early for work for the whole winter. You need to start setting your alarm earlier because you need to clean off the car. You need to start the car and then you will need to drive more slowly on the way to work.

you have a generator you might want to fuel up the generator. Winter sometimes brings really really bad storms. So sometimes it's a good idea to be prepared for a power outage. If the power goes out if there's no electricity for a day you need a generator in order to run your furnace and to run a heater and to keep your house warm. So it's always good to fuel up your generator.

Um so this depends on the type of tap you have but you might want to turn off outside taps. Outside taps are interesting because this is an outside tap.

you turn it the the mechanism is on the inside of the house where it's warm. That's how an outside tap works. So you don't really have to turn them off. I guess that's a bad way to describe it but you have to make sure there's no hose connected to it and that that part that goes through the wall can drain freely. Hopefully I hopefully I explained that well and you and understand what I am saying.

So, you need to drain everything. If you have any garden hoses outside, you should drain them. Garden hoses outside, you should drain them. If you have a bird bath, you should empty it. If you have anywhere where water can freeze, you should take the water out when you are getting ready for winter because water when it freezes expands. So, if you have a cup of water and you freeze it,

There will be more ice when it's frozen than there was water and that is very destructive. Water can break things very easily. Water is very strong when it freezes. When it turns to ice and it expands, it can break bird baths. It can, if you have a water pump outside with water in it, it will break the steel. It will break

Water, we drain everything. So, drain means to take the water out of it.

Uh you should put away your patio furniture and you should clean up the yard. Once it starts to snow, it can be quite a mess. Snow is beautiful but there are certain things you do not want to have outside. So, this is outdoor furniture or what we call patio furniture um and there's even a barbecue on the far side there. Let me make it a bit bigger. You want to put away your patio furniture or at least cover it.

people have special covers for their patio furniture. Uh and you'll wanna do this for a couple reasons. One, it will get covered in snow. Uh and two, it might blow away. Like, it gets really windy in the winter as well. Uh you also want to clean up your yard. Oh, let me check the focus here. We're all good. Um you don't want to leave things out in the winter because it

when it snows they get covered. So if you leave a shovel on the lawn and it snows and then you're out running with your dog you might step on the shovel and trip. So it's a good idea to clean everything up so that your yard is nice and tidy and ready for winter. Always fill up. This is something you should do if you know bad weather is coming.

So, in the winter, something that's different than the summer, I don't often let my car get all the way to empty. Often, when it's just below half or when it's at a quarter tank, I'll fill up because you don't always know when it's going to snow again and more importantly, you don't know if you might get stuck or

Either maybe you go off the road or you're in a traffic jam and if you're doing that for a long period of time, you have to keep your car running to stay warm. So, it's not, I don't know if everyone does this but I keep my cars full. Like, if it's half a tank, I'll fill up. Uh especially if I know bad weather is coming.

You need to wear layers. You can see I'm already doing that. I'm wearing two layers. When I put my coat on, I will have three layers. The best way to stay warm in cold weather is to wear layers. So, when you're getting ready for winter, you will probably look for an extra t-shirt to wear underneath. Sometimes, I'll wear four layers. I'll wear a t-shirt, a shirt with a collar, a sweater, and a coat when I go outside. When you wear layers, you stay warmer.

just it's kind of a funny thing that people might not understand but if you wear a t-shirt, another shirt, a sweater, a vest, and then a coat, you will be really warm. The layers will keep you warm. So, when you wear layers, this guy, it looks like he's wearing one, two, three, he's probably wearing at least four layers of clothing that will really help him stay warm. So, getting ready for winter, I'm

You need to make sure you have the clothes you need to wear layers.

By salt, this is a little controversial as well because it's not good for the environment but salt will melt ice. So, if you have a walkway in front of your house, if there's an area where you've cleared the the snow away but there's still ice, usually, we will put salt on the ice to melt it. For some reason, salt and ice together, salt changes the freezing temperature of the water so it will actually melt.

the ice. Um we do this a little bit on our front walkway. We usually put down some salt um so that you don't slip and fall. So, in order to do that, you need to buy salt in order to get ready for winter. Uh check to make sure the humidifier is working. A humidifier is an appliance that puts moisture into the air. It puts water into the air. When you heat your home,

the air becomes drier. It's just a natural process. So, some people will have a humidifier so that they can keep the air in their home more humid and so you might want to check the humidifier to make sure it is working. You might wanna change the furnace filter. Um the furnace is again the appliance that heats your home.

And if you have one that has air going through it, there's usually a filter in it. In order for the furnace to work correctly, you should change your furnace filter. You should actually do this a lot more often than you might realize. Um we usually change ours every six to eight weeks but yes, you should change the furnace filter so the furnace runs properly.

then test your smoke alarms. So, you should make sure they have fresh batteries in them and make sure they're working properly. Because you are going to start heating your home, that means somewhere in your home, there is a flame. Like a furnace burns gas.

a wood stove burns wood. You are using fire of some form to keep your house warm. Uh so you should make sure that your smoke alarm and your CO2 detectors are all working properly. So make sure you do that. And then when you use your windshield wipers, you can squirt washer fluid onto your window. You should make sure you have winter washer fluid.

Almost all washer fluid won't freeze but winter washer fluid is even better. So this one goes down to minus 34 Fahrenheit. So that's really cold. This will not freeze. So it just is a good idea to have the right kind of washer fluid in your car. And then make sure you have flashlights and batteries. Sometimes in the winter the power goes out and it's hard to see in the dark. And

most countries that experience winter, it's also the time of year when the days are the shortest and the nights are the longest. Right now, at quarter to five in the afternoon, it starts to get dark here. By quarter after five, 530, it is dark.

and then it doesn't get light out again until six in the morning or something like that. So, it's a very dark time of year. It's a time of year where there could be storms and the power might go out. So, it's always a good idea to have flashlights and batteries. Most of most of the time, we just charge our phones now though.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.