Are you Under the Weather English Idiom Practice

hello hello welcome to today’s live

English lesson here on the speak English

with Vanessa YouTube channel I’m so glad

that you’re here to improve your English

to practice and to participate and today

to learn a useful idiom that native

speakers use all the time my English

students often ask me how many idioms do

I need to know do I need to learn all of

them do native speakers actually use

them and my goal for you is to help you

learn the idioms that native speakers

actually use so today we’re going to be

talking about an important idiom that I

used last week thankfully I’m not using

it this week but I was using it a bit

last week so I hope that at the end of

this lesson you’ll feel comfortable and

confident using it yourself if you’re

new here welcome I’m Vanessa and we have

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friends who are here live now hello

Gabriela hello Navjot eileen welcome

Anna thanks so much

Anna I’m Brazil welcome thanks for

joining me from Algeria from India from

China wonderful I hope that today no

matter where you are around the world

you’ll feel connected to our friends

from the other side of the world who are

also learning English you have

same passion as you I have a question

today for you to start our lesson I want

to know what is something when you have

a cold when you have a cold a cold means

maybe your nose is running your throat

hurts maybe you have a little bit of a

headache

maybe you’re coughing when you have a

cold what do you usually do to help you

feel better when you have a cold right

now it’s the beginning of summer kind of

the middle of spring beginning of summer

but two weeks ago it became really cold

in my city typically at this time of the

year it should be 25 degrees around 25

degrees but two weeks ago it was maybe

12 in at night maybe five degrees it got

much colder then everyone was expecting

so the weather was hot then the weather

was cold and then the weather was hot

again and almost everyone got a cold

including me so at the moment I don’t

have a cold but I want to know what do

you do when you have a cold and we’re

going to use this with our idiom today

Mattie on says I drink warm water uh-huh

not just as I avoid drinking cold water

interesting so the temperature of the

water is important to you well let’s

combine this idea of drinking something

warm maybe like Ali says drinking warm

ginger tea well if we drink warm ginger

tea maybe you start to feel better

maybe your cold symptoms go away let’s

use that with our idiom today as you

guessed a lot of you are writing in the

live chat box that our idiom is under

the weather does it mean that the

weather is above you because really the

weather is always above you the weather

is all

in the sky but in this case under the

weather simply means you’re not feeling

too well you have a cold maybe your

stomach hurts a little bit maybe you

just feel bad you don’t really have a

specific problem you just don’t feel

well so let’s say when I am under the

weather and the reason why this is an

idiom is because it’s not literal like I

said we are always literally under the

weather because you’re on the earth and

the weather is in the sky but here this

means that you’re not feeling well it

has nothing to do with the actual words

it’s just a figurative meaning when I’m

under the weather

I drink Hut ginger tea great so here we

have our idiom under the weather when

I’m under the weather I drink hot ginger

tea Andres is the same thing when I’m

under the weather I drink ginger tea

with honey and lemon great great so what

about for you what do you do when you

feel under the weather and just to let

you know we don’t use under the weather

for serious problems maybe if you break

your leg or you have a disease a disease

is a sickness that lasts maybe your

whole life for some something that’s

much more serious we’re not going to use

this idiom for something serious this is

just temporary couple days maybe a week

I’m under the weather I have a cold I

have a stomach problem I have a headache

something temporary and it’s not the end

of the world it’s not so serious it’s

not going to change your life but you

still want

to do something to help yourself cartas

is when I feel under the weather I just

want to have a good night’s sleep

I agree when I was thinking about this

idiom I was thinking what really helps

me and yes drinking hot drinks like

ginger tea and other warm things it

feels good but I think what really makes

me get better is sleep sleep is so

essential so that is what helped me last

week I had a cold last week I felt so

I’m going to use the past tense here so

let’s write that down really quick we

could say I felt under the weather last

week I felt under the weather last week

and do you know what I’m gonna blame my

husband because he felt under the

weather first and then a couple days

later guess what I felt under the

weather too

and I think someone at his job was

feeling under the weather maybe they had

a cold and he caught it and then I

caught it but now I feel better it’s not

a big deal because I was just feeling

under the weather I had a sore throat I

tried to drink some hot tea have some

hot oatmeal and in the end after two or

three days I feel better I felt this is

feel feel in the past tense in the past

tense I have a question for you can you

feel on the weather is there an opposite

version of this idiom where you feel

great you feel happy

you feel healthy under the weather means

you feel sick

so can you feel on the weather or above

the weather huh have you ever heard

native speakers say this before I feel

on the weather

I feel above the weather well I have

some bad news we don’t say that we only

use this in a negative way I feel under

the weather

you don’t feel on the weather or above

the weather only under the weather isn’t

that interesting that there’s not an

opposite version of this idiom only the

negative version so make sure that when

you’re sick you use under the weather

and when you’re healthy you don’t use on

the weather on top of the weather if you

have other healthy expressions that

you’d like to share feel free to write

them in the comments but we don’t use

the specific on the weather or above the

weather on top of the weather oh not so

much for healthiness we have a lot of

expressions for being happy but not

really for being just healthy generally

healthy so thank you for all of you who

have written great things great

recommendations for what to do when you

feel under the weather I hope you don’t

feel under the weather right now for me

I feel pretty good I’ve got some

actually it’s almost finished this is

some water with a strawberry and a piece

of lemon in here and it feels really

good it’s nice and energizing and it

helps me to feel healthy it helps me to

not feel under the weather so thank you

everyone for learning this idiom with me

before we go we’re going to have a final

sentence that we use all together are

you ready to say an important sentence

using this idiom repeating it out loud

we’re going to say it all together if

you’re in Indonesia if you’re in Brazil

if you’re in Germany or China anywhere

around the world we’re gonna say this

all together and you can imagine our

friends in their house maybe you’re on

the bus maybe you’re at work I won’t

tell your boss and we’re gonna say this

all together

are you ready we’re gonna use this idiom

let’s say when I feel under the weather

I learn English and I feel better when I

feel under the weather I learn English

and I feel better is that true for you

maybe when you feel under the weather

your brain isn’t working so well and

it’s hard to learn new things but we can

just say the sentence together anyway

it’s ok if it’s not completely true for

you my challenge for you is to write

this sentence in the chat box write it

and then we’re gonna say it out loud

when I feel under the weather I learn

English and then I feel better so if

you’re feeling under the weather right

now I hope that this lesson is helping

you to feel better feel healthy and

happy when I feel under the weather I

learn English and I feel better hmm

let’s say this slowly imitate my

pronunciation this is just quick

imitation practice shadowing practice

so follow my my mouth follow my tongue

make sure that you’re using this in the

same way are you ready when I feel under

the weather I learn English and I feel

better can we say that fast when I feel

under the weather I learn English and I

feel better when I feel under the

weather I learn English and I feel

better thank you for saying this with me

all around the world no matter where you

are I hope it’s true for you that

English helps you to feel better and if

it doesn’t go drink some hot ginger tea

or sleep take it easy

thanks so much for wanting

with me today if you would like to

continue learning with live lessons come

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and you’ll be able to continue learning

live with me and if you want to learn

with me right now

after this lesson finishes I have good

news there are plenty of other videos on

my youtube channel that you can enjoy

other live lessons other shorter lessons

about five minutes or so to help you

improve your English expand your

knowledge feel more comfortable and

confident using English and if you would

like to get my free email lessons and

read my free ebook there’s a link in the

description called five steps to

speaking confident English five steps

and this will help you to become a

confident speaker to feel comfortable

when you need to speak even if you’re

feeling under the weather you’ll feel

confident so I will put a link to my

free ebook in the description and on the

screen at the end so that you can

continue to learn English with me and

really immerse yourself in English

create an English world even if you’re

living in an S country that doesn’t

speak English natively you can create

your own English world I’ll try to give

you as much English information as

possible so thanks so much for learning

with me I hope you’re not feeling under

the weather and I’ll see you again the

next time bye everyone see you later