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
live English lessons here on this
channel
every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m. est
that’s the New York Times own and if you
would like to get notifications for live
lessons so that you don’t miss them so
that you don’t forget them because it’s
fun and useful to participate live all
you have to do is subscribe click the
subscribe button and beside the
subscribe button there’s a little bell
if you click the bell you’ll get a
notification that says vanessa has a
live lesson starting now and you’ll want
to join because you can meet other
members who are also here live like our
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
back on Tuesday Thursday at 9 a.m. est
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