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Shadowing practice: 30 Phrases to Talk about your Free Time in English

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  1. What do you do in your free time?0:00
  2. Do you have any interesting hobbies?0:03
  3. Let's find out.0:06
  4. Hello, my name is Keith from English -speaking success and the website the Keith -speaking Academy here to help you speak better English, give better answers and get a higher0:18
  5. score on the IELTS speaking test.0:30
  6. So in this lesson I'm going to show you lots of cool phrases so that you can talk confidently and naturally about what you do in your free time or0:33
  7. your leisure time or your leisure time as they say across the pond in America.0:45
  8. And also I'll be showing you how to use these phrases, right?0:53
  9. So by the end of the video you'll be able to talk confidently about your hobbies, how often you do them and why you like them.0:57
  10. Great!1:05
  11. Oh and it gets better because I'm going to show you how you can use different tenses to talk about hobbies as well.1:06
  12. Now if you're an IELTS student pay attention.1:13
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  1. Oi, wake up!1:17
  2. If you're an IELTS student you know that in IELTS speaking you need to show a wide range of grammatical structures including different tenses.1:19
  3. So this video ticks all the boxes.1:29
  4. That's a great expression to tick all the boxes meaning to fulfill all the requirements.1:32
  5. Great!1:40
  6. And it gets better.1:42
  7. Listen up!1:44
  8. As a bonus at the end of the video I'm going to tell you the most common mistake that I see students make when talking about this topic of hobbies1:45
  9. and free time.1:55
  10. Now before we start let me tell you the secret to succeeding in IELTS speaking.1:58
  11. Oh and if you're new here, if this is the first time you're watching me you may not know this so listen up this is important.2:04
  12. The secret to success in IELTS speaking is to speak natural spoken English.2:13
  13. Not formal academic English?2:21
  14. No.2:23
  15. Natural spoken conversational English.2:24
  16. That's it.2:27
  17. And that's exactly what I show you in all of my videos right?2:28
  18. Now once you've learned these phrases today of course you need to practice.2:32
  19. Unfortunately it's not enough to just sit back and watch me.2:38
  20. No.2:42
  21. You need to be practicing.2:42
  22. And you can practice on your own but I think one of the best places you can practice is Cambly.2:44
  23. It's a fantastic online platform with native English speakers where you can practice all the English that you need especially for IELTS speaking.2:51
  24. I'm going to tell you more about Cambly later and I'll tell you how you can get a free lesson as well as some great discounts on their platform.3:00
  25. So look out for that but right now let's start to talk about your free time activities.3:11
  26. Okay so let's talk first about different types of free time activities.3:22
  27. Okay or as I said we could call them leisure activities or hobbies.3:28
  28. We can also say pastimes.3:33
  29. I think there are probably four common types of activities.3:37
  30. There may be more but this is where I would put most of the activities and hobbies people do.3:42
  31. First of all indoor activities.3:48
  32. Right so this could include playing games, board games or video games, reading, watching TV or watching films or just chilling out, hanging out with friends.3:51
  33. Admittedly that last one could be outdoors and that moves us to the next category which is outdoor activities.4:04
  34. Now this can include things like sports, be it playing football, skiing, swimming, jogging, gardening.4:12
  35. It's a very popular hobby in the UK.4:23
  36. Traveling although I know not so much lately but for a lot of people traveling is a great pastime and also going shopping.4:27
  37. Again going shopping right could be outdoors, could be indoors.4:36
  38. Next category is collecting things or collections.4:40
  39. The most common collections are stamps, coins and nowadays things like NFTs.4:45
  40. Yes if you're a modern newfangled young man like me.4:54
  41. No seriously.5:01
  42. NFTs right non fungible tokens.5:02
  43. These are all the rage nowadays.5:06
  44. Lots of people are snapping up and buying NFTs.5:08
  45. An NFT if you don't know is basically a unique digital item that you can buy and sell.5:12
  46. It may be a painting, piece of art, video clip.5:19
  47. All the rage check them out.5:23
  48. The fourth category is creative activities.5:25
  49. So I'm thinking about things like playing a musical instrument.5:30
  50. Right I play the guitar for example.5:33
  51. Painting, maybe knitting or some similar handcraft work and also I guess taking photographs.5:36
  52. Another popular one.5:46
  53. So there you have four categories and lots of different types of hobbies.5:47
  54. Let's now move on to see how we can talk about your hobby.5:52
  55. So how do you answer the question what do you do in your free time?6:03
  56. Well here are some nice phrases you can use right you could say I get up to a lot of things meaning I do I get up to means I6:08
  57. do a lot of things or you could say I don't get up to much.6:20
  58. If you don't do very much.6:26
  59. Most importantly don't say nothing.6:29
  60. Especially if you're doing an English test like I else don't say I don't have a hobby say something right it's important that you speak out.6:33
  61. So to get up to means to do now sometimes to get up to something can mean to do something that's maybe bad that you shouldn't do.6:42
  62. But to be honest we use this when you say to people what did you get up to at the weekend it just means what did you do.6:53
  63. So in the context of hobbies it's fine to say I get up to a lot of different things.7:02
  64. We can also say more simply I like to do yoga or I like doing yoga.7:10
  65. Oh Keith I've been thinking about that.7:19
  66. What's the difference between I like to do something and I like doing something.7:22
  67. Well it's a very good question and thank you for asking.7:29
  68. Great.7:33
  69. It's very very simple right you can use both to express your enjoyment of something right.7:34
  70. So I enjoy yoga I like to do yoga I like doing yoga.7:42
  71. However and I like to do something can also be used to show a habit or a choice.7:47
  72. For example I like to do yoga on Thursdays.7:57
  73. You're focusing on the habit every Thursday or the choice to do it on Thursdays rather than focusing on the enjoyment.8:02
  74. That's it super simple.8:12
  75. More phrases to show that you love an activity or a hobby.8:14
  76. I'm fond of playing video games.8:19
  77. That's true.8:22
  78. What about you.8:24
  79. I'm fond of.8:25
  80. Great.8:28
  81. Or I'm into playing video games.8:29
  82. What about you.8:32
  83. I'm into.8:33
  84. Nice or I'm passionate passionate.8:36
  85. I'm passionate about playing video games.8:41
  86. What about you.8:44
  87. I'm passionate about.8:45
  88. Very very nice.8:50
  89. Now here is a really good learning tip.8:52
  90. Notice if a verb follows a preposition then that verb must be in the gerund with the I N G right.8:54
  91. I'm fond of playing of playing preposition verb I N G I'm into playing games right.9:06
  92. I'm passionate about painting.9:15
  93. Remember that important learning tip.9:18
  94. Now I appreciate sometimes you may not be passionate or love a hobby but you do it less seriously just for a bit of fun right.9:21
  95. In this case you can say well I like to dabble in cooking.9:32
  96. I sometimes dabble in painting.9:38
  97. Last week I dabbled in NFTs.9:42
  98. Not true just an example right.9:47
  99. So notice I dabble in something or doing something.9:51
  100. I dabble in painting.9:56
  101. What about you.9:59
  102. I dabble in.9:59
  103. Nice.10:05
  104. In addition we can say I play the guitar.10:06
  105. I'm just an aficionado.10:09
  106. An aficionado from the Spanish word aficionado just means you're not professional in many cultures right.10:12
  107. You may like to be quite humble.10:19
  108. You don't say I play the guitar and I'm fantastic.10:21
  109. No I play the guitar.10:25
  110. I'm not very good but I play.10:27
  111. I'm just an aficionado or I play for fun.10:30
  112. I just play for fun or I'm a nammature.10:35
  113. I'm a nammature.10:40
  114. Say that I'm a nammature.10:42
  115. Again meaning I'm not professional.10:46
  116. So it's just for fun not too serious.10:48
  117. Lovely.10:52
  118. Now leave me a comment down below.10:52
  119. Tell me what do you do in your free time.10:55
  120. Now when talking about your hobbies we can not only talk about what you do but also how often you do it.11:04
  121. It's great to go into more detail.11:11
  122. So to talk about how often we use adverbs of frequency from the simple to the advanced.11:14
  123. Simple I often paint.11:22
  124. I regularly paint.11:26
  125. I frequently paint.11:28
  126. I regularly and you I regularly.11:32
  127. Good.11:40
  128. More complex.11:42
  129. I paint whenever I can.11:44
  130. I whenever I can.11:47
  131. Or I paint as often as I can.11:53
  132. As often as I can.11:57
  133. I as often as I can.12:00
  134. Or I paint whenever I get a chance.12:08
  135. And more complex.12:17
  136. I don't paint as much as I would like.12:19
  137. I don't as much as I would like.12:23
  138. Or I don't get round to painting as much as I would like.12:26
  139. I don't get round to, hmm, Gerund, I don't get round to painting as much as I would like.12:31
  140. Excellent.12:41
  141. Now let's move on.12:43
  142. Okay, so we've talked about adverbs to make your answer more interesting.12:50
  143. Let's make your answers, right?12:55
  144. Even more sophisticated, clever, better.12:58
  145. We can use different tenses, right, in order, and especially if you're an IELTS student, this is important that you show off or you show your ability to use different13:03
  146. tenses in English.13:13
  147. We can start with the simple and become more complex.13:15
  148. Let's start with the present simple.13:19
  149. So we can say, I paint.13:22
  150. I recently took up painting.13:23
  151. To take up a hobby means to start doing a hobby.13:28
  152. I recently took up painting.13:32
  153. I'm new to it, meaning it is new for me.13:35
  154. I'm new to it.13:40
  155. I'm new to it.13:42
  156. Next, simple past.13:44
  157. I started painting a couple of years ago.13:47
  158. Or I decided to have a go at painting.13:53
  159. To have a go at something means to try something new.13:59
  160. I decided to have a go at painting.14:05
  161. Or even I decided to try my hand at painting.14:09
  162. To try my hand at is to try something new, right, especially a hobby.14:15
  163. I decided to try my hand at painting.14:23
  164. It doesn't have to be a handcraft activity, right?14:26
  165. I decided to try my hand at playing football, where you don't use your hands.14:30
  166. Well, unless you're a goalkeeper, or it's American football.14:37
  167. Right.14:43
  168. And then more complex, present perfect continuous.14:44
  169. So present simple now.14:49
  170. Simple past, past simple in the past.14:52
  171. Talking about something that began in the past and carries on until today, right?14:56
  172. It's a hobby you still do.15:02
  173. Present perfect and present perfect continuous.15:03
  174. We can use both.15:07
  175. I've been playing or I've been playing football for as long as I can remember.15:08
  176. For as long as I can remember.15:15
  177. Can you say that?15:18
  178. Feel the rhythm for as long as I can remember.15:21
  179. Good.15:26
  180. I've been, I've been painting for as long as I can remember.15:27
  181. And you?15:33
  182. Nice.15:39
  183. And a nice little idiom.15:40
  184. I've been painting for donkey's years, meaning for a long time.15:43
  185. Great.15:49
  186. So we can put it all together, right?15:50
  187. Present, past, present perfect continuous.15:52
  188. I often paint.15:56
  189. I decided to have a go at painting because my daughter was taking classes.15:59
  190. Yeah.16:04
  191. So I've been painting for about two years now.16:04
  192. Lovely.16:08
  193. You can pause the video and practice for you.16:09
  194. Right now we're going to move on.16:13
  195. By the way, if you're liking, if you're liking, if you like this video, if you're liking, sounds like a McDonald's advert, I'm loving it.16:15
  196. If you like this video, press the subscribe button, turn on notifications to hear about more videos coming.16:24
  197. Don't go away.16:31
  198. Don't fall asleep because right now we're going to talk about the benefits of hobbies.16:32
  199. Okie dokie.16:43
  200. Let's talk about the benefits of hobbies.16:44
  201. Okay.16:47
  202. I think the three most common benefits of hobbies are help you to relax, help you stay healthy, and to socialize.16:47
  203. There may be other benefits, but these I think are the three most common.17:02
  204. Let me now give you some very good templates you can use to talk about the benefits.17:07
  205. First of all, it helps me blank.17:13
  206. Even better, it just helps me blank.17:17
  207. Okay.17:22
  208. It helps me to unwind.17:22
  209. It helps me kick back.17:25
  210. It helps me chill out.17:27
  211. All of those meaning to relax.17:30
  212. Oh, Keith, I've been thinking, right?17:33
  213. Do we say it helps me to relax or it helps me relax?17:36
  214. It's another good question and well done for being so proactive.17:42
  215. The simple answer is they are both the same.17:46
  216. You can use both.17:49
  217. It's fine.17:52
  218. Another template.17:54
  219. I find that it helps me blank.17:56
  220. Okay, we can say I find that it helps me get into shape.18:01
  221. I find that it helps me keep fit.18:14
  222. I find that it helps me stay in shape.18:17
  223. Right.18:21
  224. Especially talking about sport or eating or cooking.18:22
  225. Healthy.18:25
  226. Staying healthy.18:26
  227. Lovely.18:27
  228. Next, it allows me to or it allows me to just blank.18:28
  229. It allows me to just blank.18:35
  230. Yeah.18:43
  231. So if we're talking about socializing, right, it allows me to hang out with friends.18:44
  232. It allows me to just meet up with friends.18:50
  233. It allows me to chill out with friends.18:54
  234. Also, it's a nice way to blank.18:57
  235. It's a nice way to socialize.19:06
  236. And if you want to sound really British, right, and this is so natural, it's quite a nice way to blank.19:09
  237. It's quite a nice way to get close to nature.19:18
  238. Have a go.19:23
  239. It's quite a nice way to so natural.19:25
  240. Brilliant.19:34
  241. Finally, three nice phrases you can use to talk about, again, relaxing and fighting stress that we have so much of in the world.19:35
  242. First of all, it has a calming effect.19:44
  243. It's really therapeutic.19:50
  244. It's a great stress buster.19:54
  245. Excellent.19:59
  246. Some nice phrases and templates you can start practicing.20:00
  247. I tell you what, I am so impressed that you're still watching, that you're still awake, and that you're actually practicing as well.20:09
  248. It's great.20:18
  249. So listen, in a moment, I'm going to tell you the most common mistake students make when they talk about free time and hobbies.20:19
  250. First, I'd like to tell you about a way you can practice even more all of this language.20:27
  251. And that is with Cambly.20:33
  252. Now, Cambly is a great online platform where you can find teachers, native English speaking teachers from around the world.20:36
  253. So you've got teachers that are available 24 seven anytime of the day, wherever you are in the world, all you need is a good internet connection.20:45
  254. In addition, the teachers are not only qualified teachers, but they come from different backgrounds, which can be interesting for you, right?20:55
  255. You can find teachers who may also have a background in hospitality, in business, in art, in human resources, can be very, very useful.21:04
  256. In addition, I mean, what's great, right, about Cambly is you're getting to practice your English with a real live person one on one, and you're getting feedback.21:15
  257. But on top of all of that, I love the flexibility that Cambly gives you, right?21:26
  258. You can choose the teacher that you want.21:32
  259. You can choose when you want to have the class.21:35
  260. You can even choose the content if you want to decide what you want to study.21:38
  261. And also, because the classes are recorded, you can go back in and review and practice again the things that you need to.21:43
  262. Cambly have lots of different packages, so there's bound to be one that's just right for you.21:50
  263. Now, as Cambly are sponsoring this video, thank you so much, Cambly.21:56
  264. If you are a first -time user for Cambly, you can get a free 15 -minute lesson to see if the platform is right for you.22:01
  265. If you go for the one -year plan, the 12 -month plan, you can use the code NEWKEETH, and you'll get a 40 % discount off that plan.22:09
  266. Fantastic.22:21
  267. You can click on the links below, go and check it out.22:22
  268. If you feel it's right for you and it's just what you need, go and sign up for a plan, use the code NEWKEETH, you'll get a 40 % discount.22:26
  269. I think it's so important to practice, so important to get the feedback, to help you level up your spoken English, and if you're doing IELTS, to help you get22:35
  270. the score that you need on the IELTS speaking test.22:44
  271. Okay, let's move on and let's have a look at the most common mistake students make.22:49
  272. Okay, so let's talk about the most common mistake.23:01
  273. Now, in IELTS speaking, talking about hobbies and free time is such a popular topic that I practice this a lot with students, and here is the mistake so many23:04
  274. students make.23:15
  275. See if you can spot the mistake.23:16
  276. I'll give you a few examples, right?23:18
  277. My favorite hobby is play the guitar.23:20
  278. My favorite hobby is collect stamps.23:24
  279. Can you see the mistake?23:29
  280. Play the guitar is a verb.23:33
  281. Collect stamps is a verb, but my favorite hobby is and a noun.23:37
  282. You need a noun, right?23:44
  283. What it should be is my favorite hobby is playing the guitar, or my favorite hobby is collecting stamps.23:47
  284. Playing the guitar is the noun phrase.23:56
  285. We can take a verb, put it into the gerund to make a noun phrase.24:00
  286. Playing the guitar is the noun phrase.24:06
  287. My favorite hobby is painting.24:09
  288. My favorite hobby is playing computer games.24:13
  289. It's a simple mistake to make, but such an important one.24:17
  290. Make sure you don't make that mistake, and you can avoid mistakes like this by practicing more, right?24:21
  291. Go and click and check on Cambly.24:29
  292. You can practice and get feedback with a teacher who'll help you correct your mistakes as well.24:31
  293. And don't stop watching.24:37
  294. Stay with me.24:40
  295. Go and watch the next video, which is all about small talk in English.24:41
  296. How to start a conversation in English.24:47
  297. Quite tricky, right?24:50
  298. Go and watch the next video.24:52
  299. It'll show you how to do it.24:53
  300. Lovely, and I will see you very soon.24:55
  301. Thanks for watching.24:59
  302. Take care, my friend.25:01
  303. Bye -bye.25:02

British IELTS speaking practice: Keith's lesson on free time and hobbies

This clip is a British IELTS coach working through one of the recurring ielts speaking topics: free time and hobbies. Keith, from English Speaking Success, opens with the two questions he wants you to answer well, "What do you do in your free time?" and "Do you have any interesting hobbies?", before promising a run of phrases for talking about hobbies naturally.

The recording sits at B1 level and runs at 153 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, so this is english speaking practice for someone who already has the basics and wants to sound less rehearsed. Across 316 lines Keith keeps circling back to one idea, sound like a person and not a textbook, which makes repeating his lines useful if you want to speak English fluently under exam pressure, not just recognise the words.

The language in Keith's pitch: idioms explained mid sentence

Three lines are worth stopping on before you repeat the whole clip aloud. Keith's phrasing swings between exam register and casual aside, and copying that swing is the real skill here.

  • "Oi, wake up!": a two beat shout in the middle of a calm explanation, useful for practising the stress on "Oi" and the drop in pitch on "up" before you settle back into his normal pace.
  • "across the pond in America", from "your leisure time as they say across the pond in America": a relaxed idiom dropped into a formal exam context, good for hearing how momentum carries through a longer clause.
  • "tick all the boxes", from "That's a great expression to tick all the boxes meaning to fulfill all the requirements.": Keith defines the idiom in the same breath he uses it, so you get meaning and delivery together, which is worth copying if you want to improve your english accent on set phrases rather than single words.

English shadowing practice for this IELTS free time lesson

Work through the clip in order rather than jumping to a random line. Keith builds each phrase before he uses it, so hearing the setup first makes it easier to shadow this line accurately.

  • Start with lines 1 and 2, "What do you do in your free time?" and "Do you have any interesting hobbies?", since these are the exact questions you may hear in the real test.
  • Move to line 9, "So by the end of the video you'll be able to talk confidently about your hobbies, how often you do them and why you like them.", and repeat it until the stress on "confidently" lands where Keith puts it.
  • Say line 13, "Oi, wake up!", a few times to feel a British exclamation, then contrast it with the flatter line 24, "The secret to success in IELTS speaking is to speak natural spoken English."
  • Finish on line 27, "Natural spoken conversational English.", said as three stacked words, first at Keith's pace and then slower until each word is clean.
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