Summer

Look at the info. What are your priorities when it comes to summer activities?

Think of:

6 pieces of summer clothes

6 things you can see on a beach

6 words with 'sun'

6 words with 'sea'

6 summer fruits

How about you? Do you protect yourself from the summer sun?

1. How do you protect your eyes?
2. How do you avoid over exposure to the sun?
3. How do you protect your head?
4. How do you protect your skin?
5. What kind of sunscreen do you need?
6. Have you ever had a sunburn?
7. What do you have to do if you get a sunburn?

In summer you may often come across very hot weather. Do you like hot weather? What problems can you have if it’s too hot?

Watch the news report and say if the statement is true or false

True or False?

1. The hottest weather is in Portugal and Germany. 
2. There are wildfires in Greece. 
3. Tourists in Rome can't have their pictures taken because the sun is too bright on their eyes. 
4. The city of Rome distributed 10,000 bottles of water. 
5. To keep tigers and hippos cool the zoo tries ice cubes and fruit. 
6. The drought is hard on farmers in Germany and Spain. 
7. The Times Magazine climate reporter blames the hot weather on the unusual solar activity. 
8. A mountain glacier melted in Norway. 

Match two halves of sentences from this video.

A stifling heat wave	by these hot dry conditions.
Europeans are united in seeking shade	and some ice water.
Many are wishing those temperatures	were searing.
Wildfires are fueled	more than a billion dollars in drought aid.
Rome's Spanish steps	all over this particular heat wave.
Farmers in Germany are seeking	is blanketing Europe this weekend.
Human fingerprints are	were in Fahrenheit, not Celcius.
Down at sea level folks flock to the beach	or to ice-cream stands.

Look at the words in bold. Find the right word for each of the following meanings.

1. making it difficult to breathe because of being too hot
2. very hot
3. avoiding the sun and hiding from it
4. very dry weather 
5. made larger and stronger 
6. (informal) people 
7. covering 
8. come together in big quantities 
9. a trace revealing responsibility 

Answer key
 

Sea idioms

1 If you feel like a fish out of water, you

• are very happy
• are very uncomfortable in the situation you are in

2 If you tell someone that the world is their oyster, you mean

• that all opportunities are open to them and they can get everything they want from life
• that they will fail in any aspect of their lives

3 To keep something at bay means

• to prevent something from harming you
• to put a lot of effort into something

4 When you say 'The coast is clear' you mean that

• someone is watching you
• nobody is watching you or paying attention to you

5 A drop in the ocean is

• something really precious
• a really small part of what you really need

6 If you say that there are plenty more fish in the sea

• you say it to make somebody feel better and mean there are more people or possibilities to be found
• you mean that there is a lot of competition

Use one of the idioms to react to the following situations.

a) You are at the beach with your friends. Your friends all like playing beach volleyball. They invite you to join in. You do, but you are not very good at it. How do you feel?

b) It's a hot sunny day and you are spending it at the beach. To prevent sunburns, you use sun cream. What do you do when you take care of your skin?

c) There are people who travel a lot, who have a lot of hobbies, who like to make the most of their lives. What can you say about them?

d) You learn a new language. So far you know only a few words and it's not enough to start speaking. What are these few words compared to what you need to know?

e) One of your relatives has lost his job. He feels very bad. What can you say to him to make him feel better?

f) There is a grumbling granny who lives next door. She doesn't like it when you play a musical instrument at home. Now she is not at home.