[00:00:00] On today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'm teaching you 22 slang words, phrasal verbs, and idioms for spring storms and weather. You'll be learning words like drizzle, gloomy, drenched, taper off, die down, and more. Let's get to it.
Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations. Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.
Hello? Hello, happy spring. Today is spring Equinox [00:01:00], also known as the first day of spring here in the USA. I know that for those of you listening in the Southern hemisphere, it's the first day of fall or autumn. So happy fall or autumn to all of you down in the south. But here in the USA, it's spring. In the Northeast where I live, it's our rainy season. March and April have tons of rain to prepare for all the beautiful flowers that will be all over the place for spring, summer, and fall.
We say, "April showers bring May flowers." The word showers here refers to rain. I love spring. I'm an April baby. Woo. So any other April babies out there? So I was born in April and actually, on the day that I was born, it was raining. And ever since then, I've loved the rain.
So I was really excited to teach this [00:02:00] topic because we talk about rain and spring a lot in English. We talk about the weather all the time. My approach to teaching weather vocabulary has been taking it season by season. So instead of teaching one dedicated episode to all types of weather, I've been teaching it seasonally. For example, back in episode seven, I taught all about cold weather and winter weather, and I really loved doing it that way because I was able to focus more on it. If you want to hear about winter weather and the cold, you can head back to episode seven. But today, I'm very excited to teach this episode because I love the rain. But also, when I taught about snow, it was a totally new concept and idea for so many people listening. For those of you who are from warm countries, I got a lot of messages saying, "Oh, I wish that I could experience snow," but rain [00:03:00] is something that we all experience. So it's very important to talk about.
In today's episode, I'm teaching you 22 new vocabulary words and expressions. So let me tell you what I'm going to be teaching you: Spring cleaning, in full bloom, to rain on and off, rain or shine, a breeze, clear skies, overcast skies, gloomy, gusty wind, mist or Misty, drizzle, a downpour, pouring or to pour, drenched or soaked, steady rain, let up, rage on, lighten up, taper off, clear up, died down, and puddle. [00:04:00]
Before we get into today's story, I just want to remind you about this episode's study guide. Just in case this is your first episode, I want you to know that I create a study guide every single episode just for you. And every study guide includes the full transcript, definitions for every new word, new example sentences that you don't hear in the episode, and practice exercises so that you can practice what you hear in the episode.
The reason why I create a study guide for every episode is because according to neuroscience, the brain needs to hear something six to seven times before it becomes set into the brain or before it becomes a memory. So practice, practice, practice. Not only do I want you to listen to these episodes, but I want you to have extra practice with this study guide so that your brain will remember [00:05:00] all of the new information that I teach you.
To get the study guide, head to the show notes and click on the link. Then it'll ask you what email address you want it to be sent to, and it'll be sent right to you. I hope you enjoy the study guide.
Let's get to today's story.
Today, I'm teaching all the new vocabulary through a story about a family who experiences a big storm. Remember to listen for the context of all the vocabulary words while you're listening to the story. After the story, I'll review all of the new vocabulary with you. I love teaching vocabulary through context instead of just telling you the definitions because you're more likely to remember them that way.
All right, so let's get to the story.
It was a very busy month for the Rodriguez family. Spring had just arrived, so the time for spring [00:06:00] cleaning was finally here. After a long, cold, and dark winter in the Northeastern United States, the days were finally getting longer and the weather was warming up. Trees were coming back to life and flowers were almost in full bloom.
All week long, they had been cleaning the house, but since it had been raining on and off, they couldn't work in the backyard or the garden. Today, the rainy weather had finally cleared up. Since it was the weekend, they were hoping for at least one beautiful spring day. They were going to work in the garden, rain or shine. So they were extremely lucky to get a beautiful morning. The morning started off bright and cool with a gentle breeze blowing through the trees. The family worked quickly trying to finish their tasks early because there was a [00:07:00] chance of rain in the afternoon.
They worked hard all morning, but sure enough, right after lunch, the beautiful, clear sky quickly became overcast and gloomy. The gentle breeze turned into a gusty wind, fog started coming in, and mist started to wet the air. A few minutes later, it started to drizzle and the low boom of thunder could be heard from far away in the distance. Lightning strikes could be seen lighting up the sky. The family quickly ran to gather all of their tools and supplies, knowing that this light drizzle would soon turn into a heavy downpour.
Just as they reached the house and ran inside, the skies seemed to open up and the rain began to pour. Since they were all drenched, they ran to change their clothes and close all the windows that were open around the house. They watched from the windows as the streets outside filled with water. Their phones all lit up at the same time as an emergency flood warning beeped loudly. It was only one o'clock in the afternoon, but the sky was so dark that it looked like the middle of the night. Lightning, thunder, strong wind, and steady rain continued for the next few hours. Despite this unexpected storm, they decided to enjoy themselves with a family game and movie night.
They knew the storm wouldn't let up for a few hours, so they wanted to make the best of it. They had a lot of fun with each [00:09:00] other, watching a scary movie, playing fun card games, and eating snacks while the storm raged outside. Finally, around six o'clock, right before dinner, the storm began to lighten up. The rain began to taper off, the skies cleared up, and the winds died down. After dinner, they decided to walk through the backyard and check the damage. There were a lot of puddles and branches throughout the backyard, but aside from that, there was thankfully no major damage.
As they looked up at the setting sun, they saw that the sky was a beautiful mix of red, orange, and purple. As the sun began to set, they were extremely grateful for the beautiful end to such a crazy day.
I'm not sure about where you live, but here in the USA, we get these types of storms often throughout the year. As I mentioned earlier, I was born in the spring, and because I love the rain, this episode brought me back to such great memories from my childhood. A lot of the storms that we have here honestly are pretty scary and dangerous, especially the storms that happen during hurricane season in August, September, and October. But spring storms, like the one that I mentioned in the story, these are a lot less threatening. These types of storms are some of my favorites, and thunder and lightning, though scary, are very fun when you're a kid. In your part of the world, do you have storms like this? I'd love to hear about similar experiences. So don't forget to shoot me an email or send me a message on social media.
All right, let's get into this vocabulary. Shall we? Firstly, before we even get started, I just want to clear something up about thunder and lightning. Thunder is the boom, and lightning is the flash, the little crack that's in the air that lights up the sky. I say this because I teach English every single day to students here in New York City, and my main class is B2, but I also teach some other mixed-level classes. So one of the weeks we talk about the environment, weather, climate change, all that good stuff, and I have to say that like 90% of my students get confused between storm, thunder, and lightning. So that's one of the other reasons I wanted to do an episode like this, because there's a lot of confusion around weather vocabulary. Okay, now that that's settled, let's go ahead and talk about these words.
So firstly, we use the term "spring cleaning". This actually has nothing to do with weather. This is really interesting. So in the USA, it's very common to use the term spring cleaning to mean that we do a really thorough cleaning, typically at the start of spring. So every year, when it's the first few weeks of spring, families around the US are like, "Okay, it's time to clean." So spring cleaning time, it's the time of year when we get rid of things we don't need, we do a lot of what we call decluttering. So we get rid of things that we don't need, but that they're just taking up space in our apartments and houses, so we do a lot of organizing and a lot of deep cleaning. Typically, everyone in the family helps, and we are given different [00:13:00] assignments and tasks to complete for spring cleaning.
All right, so I'm curious, I'm curious if in your cultures, spring cleaning is a thing. It's just like a tradition here. It's like, okay, it's spring time to clear out the house after a long winter.
All right. Next, we're talking about the expression "in full bloom". The word "bloom" is a verb, and it means to develop and grow. We use the word "bloom" a lot for flowers, so we'll say, "Oh, this flower's blooming beautifully." In full bloom means full growth, so it refers to plants or flowers that have reached their maximum level of growth. They are displaying their full beauty. Here in New York City, spring is an absolutely amazing time to be here, especially in Central Park. All the flowers are just in full bloom. There's so many colors, it's beautiful. My favorite is still autumn, but I've got to say that spring gives it close competition.
Next, we have the expression "raining on and off". Raining on and off is for periods of rain that are alternating with periods of no rain. It's literally as though the sky is turning the rain on and off throughout the day. This type of weather happens very often on the east coast of the USA. It really happens throughout the USA, but some states it'll tend to rain more all day long, and then in other places, it's like on and off. And that's very typical.
The next expression is "rain or shine". This is an expression that means regardless of the weather, this event will not be canceled. So oftentimes, we see this written on invitations for outdoor events, we see it on information pages for events that are happening, and it basically just means it doesn't matter what happens, this event is happening and it's not being canceled. You might see it as "come rain or shine".
Next up, we have the word "breeze". A breeze is a gentle wind that blows, and it's typically very refreshing, very pleasant. If you close your eyes right now and imagine that you're on a beach, I'll bet that you can feel a cool breeze just hitting you. Breezes are awesome.
Next, we have two different descriptions for the sky. First, we have "clear skies". Clear skies refers to a sky that doesn't have any clouds. So if the sky is clear, it's a sunny and cloudless day. This is the opposite of an "overcast sky". This is when the sky is covered with clouds, and they're often thick and heavy rain clouds, and they block out the sunlight. So overcast and clear, two opposite ways to describe the sky.
The next word is "gloomy". This is a bit similar. It means dark, dim, and depressing. The word "dim" means without a lot of light. We often use this word to describe two things. We typically use the word "gloomy" to describe weather or mood. So a gloomy day is a day that's very dark and depressing. Maybe there's rain. And if someone's mood is gloomy, that means that they're sad, and maybe they're a little bit depressed.
Earlier in the episode, we talked about a breeze. Now, we're going to talk about the word "gusty" and the expression "gusty wind", because it's a lot different than a breeze. Gusty winds are very strong winds and usually like sudden bursts of wind. The wind is swirling all around, it's blowing lots of things. If you're watching the weather, they might say the winds are gusting to, and then they tell you the speed of the wind. So definitely the opposite of a breeze.
The next few words are used to describe moisture and types of rain. The first one is "mist" or "Misty". So the word "mist" describes really small droplets of water, these droplets of water stay in the air and they create a foggy appearance. So it makes it really hard to see clearly, and you'll notice, if you watch scary movies, they use this mist or Misty effect all the time where it looks like rain is hanging in the air and it's very difficult to see.
The next type of rain is "drizzle". Drizzle is light rain, and it falls in very small droplets. It usually drizzles pretty consistently, so we would say, "Oh, it's drizzling outside. Don't forget an umbrella."
Next, we have "downpour". So the word "pour" is a verb, and this is when you send liquid flowing from one place to another. So you pour water into your glass from the water pitcher, you pour juice into your glass from the container. So a downpour is a sudden and heavy fall of rain. It's like the sky is pouring water from the sky to the earth. A downpour is a noun. Like I would say, "There's going to be a downpour tonight." But "to pour" or "pouring" is the verb form of this, and it means a heavy rain falling steadily and continuously. So I would say, "I'm not going to leave yet because it's pouring outside right now."
The next word is "drenched", and a similar word is "soaked". The word "drenched" means completely wet, typically referring to clothing or objects that have absorbed all of that water.
After that, we have "steady rain". This means consistent and continuous rainfall. So typically with steady rain, there is no significant change in the strength or intensity of the rain. It's pretty constant, and it could be all day, it could be for a short time, but there's no change in the strength.
Next up, we have the phrasal verb "let up". "Let up" means to decrease in intensity or stop. So when rain gradually becomes lighter and lighter and then it stops altogether, we say, "Oh good, the rain finally let up."
The next phrasal verb is "rage on". "Rage on" has a few different meanings, because it could mean partying, like, "Oh, we raged on all night." But in this context, we're using it to mean when something continues with a lot of intensity. So we often use this to describe a storm or other kind of intense weather. So we'll say, "The storm raged on for hours."
Next, we have a few phrasal verbs to describe the weather conditions. Firstly, we have "lighten up". "Lighten up" means to become less heavy, less intense, particularly referring to rain when it gradually becomes lighter and lighter.
Then, similarly, we have "taper off". "Taper off" is an interesting one. This is a really high-level phrasal verb that you'd probably never learn in any textbook about phrasal verbs. "Taper off" is a phrasal verb that means to gradually decrease in intensity or amount. And like the previous word "lighten up", it's used to describe rain or snow that's becoming lighter and lighter.
The next phrasal verb we have is "clear up". "Clear up" means when the sky is becoming less cloudy or rainy. Typically, we use this to say that weather conditions are improving, so the sky becomes clearer as time passes.
The next one is "die down". "Die down" means to decrease gradually in strength or intensity. So, sounds familiar, right? Like the previous phrasal verbs. And again, this is used for rain, snow, and actually for wind. So we might say, like, "Oh, the wind is finally dying down, calming down."
And lastly, we have the word "puddle". A puddle is a small little pool of water, usually on the street or on the sidewalk, and it forms after rain or melting snow. So when you're a kid and you're walking down the street, you see a little pool of water and you jump in it. That's actually a puddle. Super cute, right? Did that just bring you some memories from childhood, jumping in puddles, wetting those around you, and maybe your parents getting upset or laughing? Yeah, fun memories.
Well, guess what? That's it. You just learned 22 awesome new words and expressions in English that you should be proud of yourself. So give yourself applause.
So here's a bit of homework for you. Next time it rains, I want you to use some of these expressions, okay? Impress those around you and say, "Wow, it's pouring outside."
Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
