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IELTS Speaking Lesson about Free Time

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IELTS Speaking vocabulary: Free time

Fill in the gap with one or two words

  1. Whenever I have __________ time, I like to go for a stroll in the park
  2. My favourite hobby is __________  music.  

See answers

  1. Whenever I have free / spare / leisure /got / down / some me / enough time, I like to go for a stroll in the park
  2. My favourite hobby is listening to / enjoying / exploring / diving into /making / playing / classical / pop / folk / sharing music. 

Vocabulary to develop your answers

  • Whenever I have ____
  • If I find myself with _____

Whenever I have free time 

If I find myself with free time

Synonyms of ‘free time’

  • Free time
  • Leisure time 
  • Spare time 
  • Time to kill 
  • Time on my hands 
  • Downtime 

I am at a loose end = I have nothing special to do

What are your hobbies/pastimes?

You can answer this question in many ways, for example,

  • Noun (gerund as a noun)

Reading, riding a bike, cooking….

  • I like + noun (gerund as a noun)

I like reading

I like cooking 

  • I’m into + noun (gerund)
  • I’m fond of + noun (gerund)
  • I’m keen on + noun (gerund)
  • I’m obsessed with + noun (gerund)

I’m into cooking 

I’m fond of sleeping in 

I’m keen on studying English 

I’m obsessed with listening to Kpop

  • I like to dabble in / with = take a not too serious interest in something (for a short time)

I dabbled in acting when I was at university

I sometimes dabble with new recipes 

woman reading a new recipe

Remember to use adverbs

  • Really / quite 

I’m really into painting 

I am quite fond of listening to music 

Saying why you like a particular hobby

  • It helps me ______
  • It’s a great way to ______

unwind, relax, disconnect, kick back  (verbs)

  • I find it ________

therapeutic, relaxing, rewarding, satisfying  (adjectives)

I like watching British films, it helps me to unwind and it’s a great way to learn English too. 

If you don’t like an activity

Gardening isn’t my thing

Gardening isn’t really for me

If you don’t have any hobbies

I don’t have any hobbies as such, I struggle to find time, I am always swamped with work!

  • To be swamped with work = to have too much work

'Like to do’ or ‘like doing?’

  • Whenever I have free time, I like to listen to music
  • Whenever I have free time, I like listening to music

Both are correct, but the meaning is slightly different

  • A choice / a habit = I like to do

I like to get up at 6am on Fridays to go to the gym 

I like to listen to music when I am at a loose end 

  • Emphasise enjoyment = I like doing 

I like getting up at 6 am because the sunrise is beautiful 

I like listening to music when I am at a loose end 

IELTS Speaking: Popular hobbies

Which hobbies are these? (all popular in the UK)

Hobbies in IELTS Speaking

See answers

  1. Gardening 
  2. Doing puzzles, opening time with family and friends 
  3. Fishing 
  4. Photography, train spotting, traveling  

The most popular hobbies in the UK

  1. Reading 
  2. Cooking and Baking
  3. Travelling 
  4. Socialising
  5. Pets 
  6. Playing Video games
  7. Gardening 
  8. DIY (Do it yourself….e.g. doing renovations at home)
  9. Doing sport 
  10.  Watching films
  11.  Running 
  12.  Fishing
  13.  Photography 
  14.  Painting 

IELTS Speaking discussion

How have hobbies changed over the years?

In the past, we used to ____

Previously, we would ____

Back in the day, we often _____+ simple past

  • play outside 
  • go rambling, go hiking, go trekking  
  • get some fresh air 
  • explore nature  

In the past, we used to play outside

Previously, we would play outside

Back in the day, we often played outside past

Nowadays, we tend to _________

These days, we typically _________

  • be glued to our screens
  • spend a lot of time indoors

Nowadays, we tend be glued to our screens

These days, we typically spend more time indoors

In the future, we will _____

In the future, we might _____

  • All hobbies will be virtual 
  • We will be glued to our screens, even more than now
  • There will be creative hobbies like blogging
  • We might use augmented and virtual reality to travel virtually
Virtual reality

IELTS Speaking model answer

An activity I enjoyed in my free time when I was young

 

  • Listen and watch. What activity did I enjoy?

  • Listen again and note any useful vocabulary (collocations or idioms)

See answers

  • Listen and watch. What activity did I enjoy?

Playing the guitar

Useful phrases and idioms

  • Well, this is a tricky one (=a difficult question) because as a kid, as far as I remember (=if I remember correctly), we had so much free time and I did so many activities, 
  • whether it was playing footie (= football) or playing tig (= a child’s game) in the park lots of outdoor activities. 
  • It’s difficult to choose. 
  • But the one activity I’d like to tell you about is one that I grew to love as a teen, and it is playing the guitar. 
  • So I took it up (= began a hobby) when I was about 15 years old. And I remember I took it up after listening to a famous guitarist, Eddie Van Halen, who has since passed away (= died).
  • And I was smitten (= to be in love). I loved it. I knew I wanted to play like him. 
  • I think at that time I wasn’t really one for (= I wasn’t a fan of) hobbies. 
  • My parents were always going on at (=to nag, to tell someone to do something they don’t want to do) me to pursue a hobby. 
  • They said it would look good on my CV and when applying for a job. 
  • So in the end, I took heed (= to listen and follow advice) and I decided to take up the guitar. I got into it big time. (=I did it a lot)
  • I would while away (= to spend time do something) the hours practising, practising my scales, playing by ear (= to improvise) picking up (=to learn informally) tunes as I went along. 
  • It was great. 
  • I think for me it was a great way to disconnect from study. 
  • In fact, so much so that I remember my parents were quite on edge (=worried or nervous), worried that it was interfering with my studies. 
  • So we had to agree a fixed time for playing the guitar and a fixed time for study so I could only play in my scheduled downtime (= planned free time)
  • Talking about the impact on my life. I think it’s been very beneficial for my life. 
  • I joined a band at university, and it was a great way to socialise and meet other friends. 
  • And for me, music has always kind of been a major part of my life since then and up until today.
man playing guitar

More Free Lessons​

If you liked this lesson, leave a comment below!

There are more lessons you can follow in the links below too.

EDUCATION in IELTS Speaking. Vocabulary and idioms you need to describe about education.

FRIENDS in IELTS Speaking Listening practice about friends and essential vocabulary to talk about your friends.

MONEY in IELTS Speaking Learn how to talk about earning, saving and spending money.

RELATIONSHIPS in IELTS Speaking Improve your listening and speaking skills for the topic of relationship

THE INTERNET in IELTS Speaking. Vocabulary and collocations to talk about The Internet.

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