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Talking about summer plans

Episode 250718 / 18 Jul 2025

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about what they'll do this summer. Learn to talk about summer activities.

Vocabulary

what are you up to?
what are you doing?

barbecue
an outdoor grill to cook food on, or the food you cook on the barbecue

picnic
when you eat outside, usually sitting on the ground

DIY
tasks around the house such as painting or building furniture, short for 'do it yourself'

mow the lawn
cut the grass using a machine called a lawn mower

Transcript

Neil
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Neil.

Georgie
And I'm Georgie. You can watch a video version of this podcast and find a free worksheet to help you learn. Go to bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
Hi Georgie, you're looking very summery today.

Georgie
Yes, well, that is because I'm going on my summer holiday tomorrow.

Neil
Well, that's exciting and very useful because we're talking about summer plans today. It's summer in the UK at the moment, which is a time when people are often busy. So, Georgie, you're going on holiday. Tell me more about that.

Georgie
So I'm at an age now where lots of my friends are getting married, so I have a few weddings this year. But something that's quite traditional before a wedding is for the bride or the groom to have, like, a celebration. This could be a party. Or more recently, it's become quite common to have a weekend away with a lot of their friends. So that's what I'm doing this weekend. And that's what's called a hen party for a woman or a stag party for a man in the UK. I think in the US it's different.

Neil
A bachelor party.

Georgie
Yes. What about you, Neil? What are you up to this summer?

Neil
Well, we're not going away. We're staying in the UK, but that's OK for me because the weather is actually nice in the summer here usually. So we might do some day trips, go to the beach, maybe a bit of camping with the kids and then go on our proper holiday in October.

Georgie
That sounds nice. So if you're not going on holiday, do you have any goals, like things you want to complete or get done during the summer?

Neil
Well, I have a garden and it always needs things doing to it, but actually the only thing I really do is mow the lawn, cut the grass using that machine called a lawn mower. I seem to do that a lot in the summer. How about you, Georgie? Have you got any goals or plans, things you want to do over the summer?

Georgie
So I don't have a garden at my flat, but we do have a roof terrace and at the moment it looks pretty disgusting. It's not in a very good state. So my housemates and I want to clean that up a little bit. And we're also planning to buy some outdoor furniture, maybe even a barbecue.

Neil
Wow, that sounds good. Do you like DIY. When you have to build and make things?

Georgie
It's not my favourite thing, to be honest. I think I'm a bit too lazy for it. But if there's a, you know, a goal and something nice that we'll have at the end, then I'll do it. Why not?

Neil
I love to barbecue in the summer.

Georgie
Do you?

Neil
Yeah.

Georgie
What do you like to put on the barbecue?

Neil
Well, all kinds of things. So people often think about burgers and sausages. But I like to do some other things. Quite a lot of fish. I like to grill fish on the barbecue.

Georgie
You're making me hungry. It's nearly lunchtime.

Neil
Yeah. And something that you can't do in the UK in the winter, which you can do in the summer, which I love, is stay out late in the evening because it's light. Right now it's light until almost 10 o'clock at night.

So I like barbecuing in the summer. Georgie, is there anything that you do or like doing in the summer that you can't do other times of year?

Georgie
Good question. Yes. I really like going on picnics with friends, and I actually did that last week with some friends. So you just buy lots of small snacks from the shop, or you can cook stuff, I guess, and bring it. You find a park and then sit and eat with friends, maybe play some music.

Neil
Let's recap the vocabulary we heard in this conversation. Starting with the question what are you up to? Which means what are you doing?

What are you up to tomorrow, Georgie?

Georgie
I am going to the airport tomorrow.

We've also had DIY, which is short for do it yourself. And it means tasks around the house, like painting or building furniture. For example, I'm going to do some DIY on my roof terrace this summer.

Neil
We've heard barbecue. Now a barbecue is an outdoor grill for cooking on, but it's also the name of the meal that you cook on the barbecue, or the event or party that you have with barbecued food.

Georgie
A picnic is when you take food to an outdoor space, like a park or the beach. You usually sit on a blanket and eat on the ground.

Neil
And we heard mow the lawn. And that means cutting the grass with a lawn mower.

Georgie
And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Now test the vocabulary you've learnt using the worksheet on our website. Find it in the links below this episode or visit bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
And next time we'll be talking about dream jobs. Join us again.

Georgie
Goodbye.

 

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