I believe one important way to learn a language is by watching how natives speak it, English is no exception. In this blog post, I'm going to share a few vocabulary and phrases that I learned from a bunch of videos about Fat Bear Week on YouTube.
But first and foremost, what is Fat Bear Week?
According to Wikipedia:
Fat Bear Week is an annual event held in late September or early October by Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, commemorating the seasonal preparations made by Alaska peninsula brown bears inhabiting Katmai as they ready themselves for their winter hibernation.
So watching some videos about Fat Bear Week helped me learn different native ways to describe wildlife, nature, competitions, etc. And here I want to share some of my notes I took while I was watching these 5 videos. If you've already mastered these, then congrats, your English is really good! Otherwise, you will also learn some new words and expressions, let's start right off the bat!
1. What is Fat Bear Week and why is it important?
At 00:11
Fat Bear Week kicks off next week. Conservationists say this is more than just a playful online vote.
At 00:35
She is a park ranger.
At 01:15
This is 128, she packs on. (=she gains weight)
At 01:42
Katmei National Park is a very remote place, it's really difficult to get to.
2. Fat Bear Week Kicks Off: See the 2025 Contenders
At 00:55
Thanks to extraordinary salmon number, this year these bears could be more rotund than ever.
rotund, adjective uk
/rəʊˈtʌnd/us/roʊˈtʌnd/(especially of a person) round or rounded in shape
At 01:20
Nature cams have become a hot ticket online.
At 01:57
Brown bears are solitary creatures.
solitary adjective uk
/ˈsɒl.ɪ.tər.i/us/ˈsɑː.lə.ter.i/A solitary person or thing is the only person or thing in a place:
- On the hill, a solitary figure was busy chopping down trees.
- In the distance was a solitary building.
- He was a solitary child (= he enjoyed being alone).
3. Introducing Fat Bear Week 2025
At 01:03
She bosses the falls, schools the balls, and still smashes salmon like a pro while raising cubs.
At 03:43
I've got to say, I've loved picking up his leftovers.
leftover, adjective [ before noun ], uk
/ˈleftˌəʊ.vər/us/ˈlefˌt̬oʊ.vɚ/A leftover part of something is the part that has not been used or eaten when the other parts have been.
- some leftover chicken from last night's meal
leftover, noun, uk
/ˈleftˌəʊ.vər/us/ˈlefˌt̬oʊ.vɚ/, leftovers [ plural ]food remaining after a meal:
- This recipe can serve four easily, and the leftovers are just as good eaten cold.
At 03:54
Bear 609, sound the alarm, a new bombshell has entered the villa.
villa, noun [ C ], uk
/ˈvɪl.ə/us/ˈvɪl.ə/a house, usually in the countryside or near the sea, especially in southern Europe, and often one that people can rent for a holiday
- They have a villa in Spain.
4. #TheMoment Chunk was crowned Fat Bear Week champion
At 00:07
The winner of this year is 32, Chunk, who has lived up to his name.
chunk, noun [ C ], uk
/tʃʌŋk/us/tʃʌŋk/a roughly cut piece
- a chunk of cheese/meat
- pineapple/tuna chunks
At 00:40
He really deserves the title of Fat Bear Week champion.
At 01:07
They think Chunk weighs over 1200 pounds, he did it all with a broken jaw, maybe that was part of his charm.
5. The winner of Fat Bear Week 2025 has been chosen!
At 01:24
They look very well set up to survive the winter.
At 01:26
Chunk's transformation seemed to impress, as he secured 96-thousand votes.
At 02:00
It's a really great thing to have eyes on the National Park Service right now.
Recap
These are the 5 Fat Bear Week videos I love to share today, I hope it helped you a bit.
As you can see from those screenshots, keep notes with timestamp on the right side helped me learn things in a context, and from there I can revisit them just with a few clicks.
If you're also interested, you can install our Chrome extension:
Install the ExtensionPlus, what types of YouTube videos do you like to watch to learn your target language? Feel free to share and comment below!