Talking About Free Time and Hobbies in English

Introduction

• Lecture by Oli from Oxford Online English.
• Focus on discussing free time and hobbies in English.
• Importance: Great way to start conversations and find common interests.

Part 1: Vocabulary for Free Time Activities

• Home Activities: watching TV, reading, cooking.
• Sports: playing football, basketball, tennis; going swimming, jogging, climbing; doing boxing, judo, yoga.
• Social Activities: hanging out with friends, relaxing with family, going shopping.
• Creative Activities: taking photos, painting, writing stories or blogs.

Part 2: Expressing Preferences

• Basic structure: "In my free time, I like..."
  • Examples: playing basketball, relaxing with family, reading books.
• Pattern: After 'like', use verb + -ing.

Varied Expressions

• Use verbs like 'love', 'enjoy', 'hate' to avoid repetition.
  • Examples: "I love going swimming." "I hate going shopping."
• Use intensifiers: 'really', 'sometimes', 'absolutely'.
  • Examples: "I really like taking photos." "I absolutely hate playing football."

Adding Details

• Frequency:
  • Examples: "I play football every Tuesday evening." "I only go shopping once or twice a year."
  • Phrases: 'every weekend', 'every day', 'once or twice a week'.
• Location:
  • Examples: "I play football at the park near my house." "I enjoy having coffee in the city center."

Giving Background Information

• Discuss start and reasons for hobbies.
  • Examples: "I started playing tennis when I was 10." "My friend got me into climbing."

Adding Descriptive Words

• Positive and negative adjectives to describe activities.
  • Examples: "I like climbing because it's exciting." "I find jogging tiring."

Practice

• Encouragement to practice speaking using sentences combining these elements.
• Example answers provided to illustrate comprehensive responses.

Conclusion

• Encourage practice and adding details to make speaking more interesting.
• Invitation to visit Oxford Online English for more lessons.