Bite Sized English

This is an entry in the “Garden Fresh” series. You can find more information at the series’ main page. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

What are garden verbs? Well, there are a lot of things that you do in your garden, and today we’re going to talk about the verbs to describe them. Many of these verbs are things that you do in your garden. . . but you can use them to describe other things you do. Raising children, for example, is an activity where you can use your gardening vocabulary.

Before You Listen to the Recording
Think about all the things you have to do in the garden. Maybe make a list in your native language. If you can, make a list in English. Can you tell us everything you do in the garden in English? Make a note of what you can’t say. (If it’s not in the recording, contact me to improve the next gardening lesson.)

Now, start the recording.

After You Listen to the Recording
These are all basically pretty simple words for things that you do almost every day. Many of these things you do outside the garden, too! How would you use these verbs in a non-garden context? Do you think you have a boss who ‘nurtures‘ new ideas? Is there anything in your life that needs ‘weeding‘ besides your garden? (I think I could ‘weed’ my clothes out—I have a lot of clothes that I don’t wear.) Of the verbs we learned today, though, I think ‘weed’ is the one that we use least outside the garden. Probably because it’s no fun in the garden!

How many sentences can you form using these verbs? Try to make sentences both for the garden, and for something other than the garden. Let us know what you come up with!

Vocabulary

Water: Plants need water. You know this, and, as a gardener, you give them water when there isn’t enough rain. You water your garden. ‘Water’ is the verb for ‘to give a plant water.’ Never tell me that English isn’t easy to learn!

Nurture: A garden doesn’t grow overnight. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of care. You don’t only water your garden, you also try to give it the things it needs, and to keep away the things (and animals) that can harm it. This is nurturing. Nurturing is caring for something over time, and helping it grow. You won’t find this in the dictionary, but I think of nurturing as something you do for the young or injured. . . you help them until they’re strong enough to survive on their own. In the spring, there is a lot of nurturing to do in the garden.

Plant: You know what ‘a plant’ is from Monday (if not before!). But do you know what ‘to plant’ is? Planting is the verb for ‘to put a plant or a seed in the ground.’ When you put a plant in your garden, you plant a plant. It’s that simple. Spring is the main planting season for most gardens.

Weed: ‘Weeds’ are the plants that you don’t want in your garden. And there certainly seem to be a lot of them, don’t there! A lot of the time I spent in my parents garden was spent pulling out the weeds that shouldn’t be there. Or, I spent a lot of time weeding. Like ‘to water’ and ‘to plant,’ the verb ‘to weed’ is pretty clear once you know it. How often do you weed your garden?

Tend: If you have a garden, can you go away for three months? Not if you want your garden to survive! Even a simple garden needs you to look at it and do a little work almost weekly. This idea of constant, periodic care is ‘to tend’ a garden. Tending is related to nurturing in that it’s over time—you can’t tend only once—but nurturing stops when the thing you’re nurturing is strong enough. You never stop tending something. Tending is a great verb for the garden, and for other elements of your life. You have to tend your house by checking small things regularly, and you should tend your relationships, too!

Putz around: Like ‘to tend,’ putzing around is a great verb for the garden, and for any area of your life. You do this when you go to outside to do some gardening, but don’t know what gardening you will do. If you’re just killing time in the garden, doing what you feel like doing, you’re ‘putzing around’ in the garden. I ‘putz around’ on the Internet, a lot. And my favorite way to cook is just to ‘putz around’ in the kitchen: I don’t have a clear plan or recipe, I just experiment at a relaxed pace until I have something to eat. Where do you ‘putz around.’

May 13th, 2009 | Tags: garden, gardening, verbs | Category: English Two, Vocabulary, listening | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL