You know the world of English is a fun and exciting place to be,
I’m so glad you could join me for another lesson.
Hi everybody this is Mr Duncan in England.
How are you today? Are you okay? I hope! Are you happy? I hope so!
In today's lesson
we will be taking in the sights of a season, not everyone gets the chance to experience.
For us here in the UK, it is the third season of the year.
In this lesson, we are going to share the experience of...
Autumn.
When we talk about the seasons, we are actually
describing the characteristics of each definable period of weather.
Usually this is denoted by the temperature.
Whether it has increased or decreased.
How dry the season tends to be, or how wet.
The further North or South you go, then the more the seasons are divided.
At the very far North and South, the temperatures are extremely low all year round.
These places define their seasons by the amount of daylight they receive.
At the Equator the temperatures
tend to be high. Tropical countries exist at the Equator. The seasons there are always hot.
The seasons at the Equator are defined by the amount of rain that falls there.
what makes autumn so special? Well just like spring, autumn is a period of transition.
You could say that it is the opposite of spring in the sense of it being the time when plants
and trees and even many wild animals prepare for the onset or arrival of winter.
It is the season when almost everything in nature winds down.
The leaves on the trees turn gold and...
fall to the ground.
Flowers will wither away after shedding their seeds. Animals will
begin to store food in their nests and burrows. The days will become shorter and the night
time temperature will begin to drop.
Trees that lose their leaves in autumn are called deciduous.
This word relates to the loss of the leaves, which normally turn gold or red, before falling to the ground.
Unsurprisingly trees that never lose their leaves are referred to as evergreen.
Tropical trees are almost always evergreen,
as they usually exist in countries where the temperature and moisture level is high all year round.
The climate here in the UK is often described as temperate. The average weather here is rarely extreme.
However there are times when the seasons here do cause real harm. We have in the past experienced
very hot and dry summers. During which time , water was in short supply.
The last drought to affect us here in the UK was in 1976.
The wettest summer was not that long ago.
2007 saw one of the wettest summer seasons for many years. Autumn is a moderate season.
It is never too hot, rarely too cold, and only occasionally too wet.
It is strange how your memory can play tricks on you.
By that I mean the memories from your childhood that seem
to have the ability to make the things we experienced back then much better than they are now.
My memories of past seasons are pretty distinct and tend to Romanticise each season
as being perfect and never unpleasant. In my mind the summers back then were golden
and warm, and seemed to go on and on. To me the winters were always cold and white with
snow, but never unpleasant. Wonderful memories of when we were sent home early from school
because the heating system had broken. The strange thing is I have no childhood memories
of spring or autumn. Those seasons did not seem as relevant or noticeable as they are now.
These days I seem to be noticing the transitions caused by spring and autumn more and more.
Maybe it's my age.
Everyone has their own favourite season.
For me I have to pick summer as my favourite, closely followed by spring, autumn and winter.
I would love to live in a place that has long hot summers. A sunny climate really does cheer the soul.
But then I would find myself missing the unique sensation of walking out on a snowy winter's day.
So living in England gives me the chance to experience both, with spring and autumn
added as a pleasant bonus. Do you have many seasons in your country? Which one is your favourite?
In the United States autumn is usually described as 'the fall'.
In many instances 'fall' is used instead of autumn. People in the big cities there will travel hundreds
of miles just to witness the vivid colour and overall beauty of fall. They are often
They are often described as 'leafers'.
You may notice that the trees behind me have not yet begun to
lose their leaves. This is because autumn affects the various animal, tree, and plant
life at different times. Some trees will shed their leaves at the start of the season,
while others will lose theirs towards the end.
As I have explained in the past, the seasons
are not the same everywhere in the world. Some countries have no discernible seasons.
In these places there is very little change in the weather. The climate may remain hot
all year round, with the occasional fall of heavy rain, sometimes causing flooding and
loss of life. This is referred to as the 'rainy season' or the 'monsoon' season.
Other countries can remain dry all year round. Water usually becomes scarce in these places.
A shortage of water is called a 'drought'. This often leads to food shortages, disease, famine,
mass starvation and death.
I hope you have enjoyed the autumnal sights we have seen today
and I look forward to you all joining me again for another lesson very soon. Enjoy the seasons,
however many you happen to have. This is Mr Duncan in England saying, thank you for watching
me, teaching you. And of course...
ta ta for now.
Autumn serves as a reminder to us all that everything has a pattern.
A beginning and an end.
The seasons come and go,
even in places where those changes are very subtle, but exist they do.
Even in our lives there are seasons.
A time to grow.
A time to blossom.
A time to live.
And a time to die.
These changes have and always will decide how things must be.
Autumn's fall and winter's chill, will choose the fates
of you and me.