HOBBIES AND PASTIMES (B1 Course)

Recreation is important because it helps people relax. When people have fun they reduce their stress levels and improve their health. Healthy people are more productive. Types of recreation include: playing sports, visiting family members and friends, going to the zoo, enjoying the beach, and watching a movie. 

Having a hobby is a great way to relax and enjoy your free time, and spending time developing interests can also have many emotional, intellectual, and health benefits. Write a sample sentence for each word to learn how it is used in context. Use the Internet to find related information 

http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/hobbies/english-words-for-hobbies.html

Interests and Hobbies Originally a listening task, but the script below suits well as a reading task. Do both

1. bird watching
2. coin collecting
3. cooking
4. dancing
5. drawing
6. gardening
7. genealogy
8. hiking
9. knitting
10. painting
11. photography
12. playing chess
13. playing the piano
14. pottery
15. quilting
16. reading
17. scrapbooking
18. stamp collecting
19. surfing the Internet
20. woodworking

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Now, complete the sentences below with the best answer:

1. Laurie decided to take up _______________ as a hobby because she has always been fascinated with old money.A. knitting B. coin collecting C. dancing
2. I developed an interest in ____________ after my grandmother told me about our ancestors.
A. genealogy B. gardening C. cooking
3. Since she loves working with her hands and clay, __________ was the ideal hobby for her.
A. photography B. quilting C. pottery

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IFollow-Up: Top

Search the Internet to find out more about two of the hobbies listed above. What supplies are needed for each hobby? Which hobbies are popular among teens, adults, and seniors?

Listening

Peter’s hobbies ; Melissa’ hobbies. Listen to these two audios and write your answers on this worksheet (year 5)
Free Time An interview with an 11-year-old. Vocabulary and Comprehension quizzes available
Things to do Choose an article to read and/or listen to
Listening Activity for Hobbies Vocabulary A challenging listening comprehension activity (year 6)

Watching

Alfy Goes Camping An interactive book to watch, read and play with online. Some may find childish. See below for more (year 5)
Top 5 Strangest Hobbies In The World (3:31) Just for the weird fun of it

Speaking

What do you do for fun? (3:22) Asking about hobbies, example dialogue phrases to practise
Hobby – Questions and Answers Learn different ways to ask and answer by listening to these sentences and make your own dialogues (year 6)
20 Conversation Questions to choose from for your class (year 6)

More Materials

11 Surprising Celebrity Hobbies Odd things famous people are into
Alfy’s Stories If your class enjoyed Alfy, here are some more stories
277 FREE ESL Hobbies printable worksheets, exercises to download and copy
ESL/EFL Teaching Resources Loads of pdf-worksheets
Which activities would you like to do? Explore new hobbies. A long list of ideas that pupils can find information about as a project