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Speaker 1: Hey, I hope you're getting fired up for this English lesson,

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because today we're gonna talk about how Americans kick off

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the summer. Let's dive right in.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight thirty three,

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kicking off Summer. Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining me

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for another episode of the Happy English Podcast. I'm your

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English teacher Michael, and I'm glad you're here because I've

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got something special for you. This week. We're kicking off

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of brand new summer series that I'm calling This Week

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in American Life. Each week this season, I'll be sharing

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some fun facts in cultural tidbits about how Americans live, eat,

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and chill during the summer months. And of course I'll

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throw in some English learning points like idioms, slang, and

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Fraser verbs too. So let's get started with kicking off summer.

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According to the Farmer's Almanac, summer begins on Friday, June

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twentieth this year. That's the day in the Northern hemisphere

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when the sun moves in its most northern path in

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the sky, resulting in the day which has the longest

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amount of daylight summer. But in the US, summer actually

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and unofficially begins on Memorial Day weekend, which is the

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last weekend of May. That's when people break out the grills,

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by pool floats and start planning beach trips, in backyard barbecues.

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In fact, places that are only open in the summer,

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like public swimming pools and beaches, officially open for the

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season on Memorial Day weekend. And even though school isn't

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out yet, that's when the summer vibe really starts. Now

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here's a fun fact. Americans eat over one point five

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billion pounds of watermelon every year, and most of it

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is eaten in the summer. That's a whole lot of watermelon.

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It's a kind of a summer must have. We'll see

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big watermelon wedges at cookouts, picnics, and even at baseball games.

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And speaking of weekends, here's something interesting. Most American adults

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say that on summer weekends they just want to relax,

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stay home, hang out in the backyard, maybe invite some

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friends over for a barbecue. Or a picnic. It's not

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always about big trips or events. Sometimes just grilling in

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the yard and sipping iced tea is the perfect weekend.

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And did you know the official start of grilling season

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in the US is Memorial Day weekend. After that, people

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are cooking burgers, hot dogs, chicken, veggies, you name it,

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pretty much every weekend until Labor Day in September. Nothing

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says summer like food cooked outside on the barbecue grill. Now,

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let's take a minute to learn a few conversational expressions

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that you'll hear a lot during summer in the US.

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The first one is kick off. This phrasal verb comes

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from the start of a football game called the kickoff.

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That's when the ball is first kicked into motion to

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start the game. In everyday conversation, kick off means to

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start something, usually some kind of event, like this year,

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we kicked off the summer with a barbecue at my

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cousin's house, and the town where he lives kicked off

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the holiday weekend with a big fireworks show. Hey, why

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don't we kick off this weekend with some cold drinks

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and good music? How do you usually kick off your weekend?

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Next up is chill out, which means to relax and

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take it easy, like we're just gonna chill out by

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the pool all afternoon. And these days you might hear

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people just use the word chill by itself, like after

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a long week at work, I need to just chill

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at home this weekend. Hey, if you're not doing anything

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on Saturday, come over and chill out. We'll put some

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drinks on ice and crank up the stereo. And finally,

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and especially when the weather gets warm, you'll hear the

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phrase fire up the grill, like it's time to fire

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up the grill. Everyone's getting hungry. We often add the

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preposition up to a verb to mean do that completely,

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or do that with effort and passion. And if there's

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one thing Americans are passion about in the summer, it's grilling.

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So fire up the grill means to start the barbecue

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and begin cooking outdoors, like it rained a bit in

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the park, but as soon as the sun came out,

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we fired up the grill. My friend Paul loves to

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fire up the grill on Sundays and cook up some sausages.

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Classic summer vibes. Right by the way, we also say

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that someone is fired up, which means they are excited

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about something. In the summer, everyone gets fired up for

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the free concerts in the park. I'm always fired up

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about helping you speak English better, and I hope you

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keep getting fired up about this podcast. All right, that's

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it for this week's slice of American Life. Next week

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we'll talk about fireworks, food, and the big Fourth of

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July celebration. Until then, stay cool, stay curious, and keep learning,

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and keep in mind the best way to remember English

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like this and any other word or phrase in English,

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is to take that word or phrase, write it in

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a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,

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and then memorize your sentences. Hey, do you want to

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get more practice using your English, then you should join

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my podcast Learner's study group. There you can make new friends,

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join us for live group lessons every week where we

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practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to

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the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English

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podcast in the past and in the future. And on

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top of that, each episode has exercises where you can

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practice this English point with speaking and writing. Check by me.

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To learn more. Just visit Myhappy English dot com and

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choose podcast Lesson eight thirty three. Remember learning another language

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is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here

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to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit myhappy english dot com. Show your support for happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy

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Happy English.