- What do you do in your free time? Do you have any interesting hobbies? Let's find out. (bright upbeat music) 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 higher score on
the IELTS speaking test. So, in this lesson, I'm gonna show you lots of cool phrases so that you can talk
confidently and naturally about what you do in your free time, or your leisure time or your leisure time, as they say across the pond in America. And also, I'll be showing you how to use these phrases, right? 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. Great, oh, and it gets better, 'cause I'm gonna show you how you can use different tenses to talk about hobbies as well. Now, if you are an IELTS student,
pay attention or wake up. If you are an IELTS student, you know that in IELTS speaking, you need to show a wide range
of grammatical structures, including different tenses. So this video, ticks all the boxes. That's a great expression,
to tick all the boxes, meaning to fulfill all
the requirements, great. And it gets better. Listen up, as a bonus, at the end of the video, I'm gonna tell you the most common mistake that I see students make when talking about this topic of hobbies and free time. Now, before we start, let me tell you the secret to
succeeding in IELTS speaking. Oh, and if you are new here, if this is the first
time you are watching me, you may not know this. So listen up, this is important. The secret to success in IELTS speaking is to speak natural spoken English, not formal academic English, no, no, natural spoken,
conversational English, that's it. And that's exactly what I show you in all of my videos, right? Now, once you've learned
these phrases today, of course, you need to practice. Unfortunately, it's not
enough to just sit back and watch me. No, you need to be practicing. And you can practice on
your own, but I think one of the best places you
can practice is Cambly. It's a fantastic online platform with native English speakers, where you can practice all
the English that you need, especially, for IELTS speaking. I'm gonna 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. So, look out for that, but right now, let's start to talk about your free time activities. Okay, so let's talk first
about different types of free time activities, okay? Or as I said, we could call them leisure
activities or hobbies, we can also say pastimes. I think there are probably four
common types of activities, there may be more, but
is where I would put most of the activities and hobbies people do. First of all, indoor activities, 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. Admittedly, that last
one could be outdoors, and that moves us to the next category which is outdoor activities. Now, this can include things like sports, be it playing football, skiing, swimming, jogging, gardening, it's a very pot popular hobby in the UK, traveling, although I
know not so much lately, but for a lot of people,
traveling is a great pastime. And also, going shopping. Again, going shopping, right, could be outdoors, could be indoors. Next category is collecting
things or collections. The most common collections
are stamps, coins, and nowadays, things like NFTs. Yes, if you are a modern,
newfangled young man like me, (Keith laughs) no, seriously, NFTs, right, non-fungible tokens. These are all the rage nowadays. Lots of people are snapping
up and buying NFTs. And NFT, if you don't know is basically, a unique digital item
that you can buy and sell. It may be a painting, a
piece of art, video clip, all the rage, check them out. The fourth category is
creative activities. So, I'm thinking about things like, playing a musical instrument, right? I play the guitar, for example, painting, maybe knitting or
some similar handcraft work. And also, I guess, taking photographs, another popular one. So, there you have four categories, and lots of different types of hobbies. Let's now move on to see how
we can talk about your hobby. So, how do you answer the question? What do you do in your free time? 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 I do a lot of things. Or you could say, "I
don't get up to much," if you don't do very much. Most importantly, don't say, nothing, especially, if you're doing
an English test like IELTS, don't say, I don't have a hobby. Say something, right? It's important that you speak out. 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. 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? So, in context of hobbies, it's fine to say, I get up to a lot of different things. We can also say more
simply, I like to do yoga, or I like doing yoga. "Oh, Keith, I've been thinking about that. What's the difference between
I like to do something and I like doing something?" Well, it's a very good question. And thank you for asking, great. It's very, very simple, right? You can use both to express your enjoyment of something, right? So, I enjoy yoga, I like to do yoga, I like doing yoga. However, and I like to do something, can also be used to show
a habit or a choice. For example, I like to
do yoga on Thursdays. You are focusing on the
habit every Thursday or the choice to do it on Thursdays, rather than focusing on the enjoyment. That's it, super simple. More phrases to show that you
love an activity or a hobby. I'm fond of playing video games. That's true, what about you? I'm fond of, great, or I'm into playing video games. What about you? I'm into, nice or I'm passionate, passionate. I'm passionate about playing video games. What about you? I'm passionate about, very, very nice. Now, here is a really good learning tip. Notice, if a verb follows a preposition, then that verb must be in the
gerund with the ing, right? I'm fond of playing, of playing, preposition verb, ing. I'm into playing games, right? I'm passionate about painting. Remember, that important learning tip. 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? In this case, you can say, well, I like to dabble in cooking. I sometimes dabble in painting. Last week, I dabbled in NFTs. (Keith laughs) It's not true, just an example, right? So notice, I dabble in something or doing something. I dabble in painting. What about you? I dabble in, nice. In addition, we can say, I play the guitar. I'm just an aficionado. An aficionado from the Spanish word, (speaks in foreign language) just means you are not professional. In many cultures, right, you may like to be quite humble. You don't say, "I play the
guitar and I'm fantastic." No, I play the guitar. I'm not very good, but I play, I'm just an aficionado, or I play for fun. I just play for fun, or I'm an amateur. I'm an amateur. Say that, I'm an amateur. Again, meaning I'm not professional. So, it's just for fun,
not too serious, lovely. Now, leave me a comment down below. Tell me what do you do in your free time. Now, when talking about your hobbies, we can not only talk about what you do, but also how often you do it. It's great to go into more detail. So, to talk about how often
we use adverbs of frequency from the simple to the advanced. Simple, I often paint. I regularly paint. I frequently paint. I regularly, and you? I regularly, good, more complex. I paint whenever I can. I, whenever I can. Or I paint as often as I can, as often as I can. I, as often as I can. Yay! Or I paint whenever I get a chance. And more complex, I don't
paint as much as I would like. I don't, as much as I would like, or I don't get round to painting
as much as I would like. I don't get round to, gerund. I don't get round to painting
as much as I would like. Excellent, now, let's move on. Okay, so we've talked about adverbs to make your answer more interesting. Let's make your answers, right, even more sophisticated, clever, better. We can use different tenses, right? And especially, if
you're an IELTS student, this is important that you show off or you show your ability to use
different tenses in English. We can start with a simple,
and become more complex. Let's start with the present simple. So we can say, "I paint. I recently took up paint." To take up a hobby means
to start doing a hobby. I recently took up painting. I'm new to it, meaning it is new for me. I'm new to it. I'm new to it. Next, simple past. I started painting a couple of years ago, or I decided to have a go at painting. To have a go at something
means to try something new. I decided to have a go at painting. Or even, I decided to
try my hand at painting. To try my hand at, is to
try something new, right? Especially, a hobby. I decided to try my hand at painting. It doesn't have to be a
handcraft activity, right? I decided to try my hand
at playing football, where you don't use your hands. Well, unless you're a goalkeeper, or it's American football, right? And then, more complex, present perfect continuous. So, present simple, now, past simple, in the past, talking about something
that began in the past and carries on until today, right? It's a hobby you still do, present perfect and
present perfect continuous. We can use both. I've been playing or I've
been playing football for as long as I can remember, for as long as I can remember. Can you say that? Feel the rhythm, for as long
as I can remember, good. I've been (indistinct) in, I've been painting for as long
as I can remember, and you? Nice, and a nice little idiom. I've been painting for donkey's years, meaning for a long time. Great, so we can put
it all together, right? Present past, present perfect continuous. I often paint. I decided to have a go at painting because my daughter was taking classes. Yeah, so I've been painting for
about two years now, lovely. You can pause the video
and practice for you. Right now, we're gonna move on. By the way, if you are liking, if you are liking, if you like this video, if you are liking, sounds
like a McDonald's advert, I'm loving it. If you like this video,
press the subscribe button, turn on notifications to hear
about more videos coming. Don't go away, don't fall asleep, because right now, we're gonna talk about the benefits of hobbies. Okey-dokey, let's talk about
the benefits of hobbies, okay? I think the three most common
benefits of hobbies are, help you to relax, help you stay healthy, and to socialize. There may be other benefits, but these, I think, are
the three most common. Let me now give you some very
good templates you can use to talk about the benefits. First of all, it helps me, blank. Even better, it just helps me, blank. Okay, it helps me to unwind. It helps me kick back. It helps me chill out. All of those meaning to relax, right? "Oh, Keith, I've been thinking, right? Do we say it helps me to
relax or it helps me relax? It's another good question, and well done for being so proactive. The simple answer is,
they are both the same. You can use both, it's fine. Another template, I find
that it helps me, blank, (indistinct) blank. I find that it helps me, blank. Okay, we can say, I find that it helps me get into shape. I find that it helps me keep fit. I find that it helps me
stay in shape, right? Especially, talking about
sport or eating or cooking, healthy, staying healthy, lovely. Next, it allows me to, or it allows me to just, blank. It allows me to just, blank. Yeah, so if we're talking
about socializing, right? it allows me to hang out with friends. It allows me to just meet up with friends. It allows me to chill out with friends. Also, it's a nice way to, blank. It's a nice way to socialize. And if you want to sound
really British, right? And this is so natural, it's
quite a nice way to, blank. It's quite a nice way
to get close to nature. Have a go. It's quite a nice way to. So natural, brilliant. Finally, three nice phrases
you can use to talk about, again, relaxing and fighting stress that we have so much of in the world. First of all, it has a calming effect. It's really therapeutic. It's a great stress buster. Excellent, some nice
phrases and templates, you can start practicing. I tell you what, I am so impressed, that you are still watching,
that you are still awake, and that you are actually
practicing as well. It's great, so listen, in a moment, I'm gonna tell
you the most common mistake, students make when they talk
about free time and hobbies. First, I'd like to tell you about a way you can practice
even more all of this language. And that is with Cambly. Now, Cambly is a great online platform, where you can find teachers, native English-speaking
teachers from around the world. So, you've got teachers
that are available 24/7, any time of the day, wherever
you are in the world, all you need is a good
internet connection. In addition, the teachers are
not only qualified teachers, but they come from different backgrounds, which can be interesting for you, right? You can find teachers who
may also have a background in hospitality, in business, in art, in human resources, can be very, very useful. In addition, I mean, what's
great about Cambly is, you're getting to practice your English with a real live person one-on-one, and you're getting feedback. But on top of all of that, I love the flexibility that
Cambly gives you, right? You can choose the teacher that you want. You can choose when you
want to have the class. You can even choose the content, if you want to decide
what you want to study. And also, because the
classes are recorded, you can go back in and
review and practice again, the things that you need to. Cambly have lots of different packages, so there's bound to be one
that's just right for you. Now, as Cambly are sponsoring this video, thank you so much, Cambly. If you are a first time user for Cambly, you can get a free 50-minute lesson to see if the platform is right for you. If you go for the one year
plan, the 12-month plan, you can use the code, newkeith, and you'll get a 40%
discount off that plan. Fantastic, you can click
on the links below, go and check it out. If you feel it's right for
you, and it's what you need, go and sign up for a plan. Use the code, newkeith,
you'll get 40% discount. 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 get the score that you need on the IELTS speaking test. Okay, let's move on, and let's have a look at the most common mistake students make. Okay, so let's talk about
the most common mistake. 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 a mistake
so many students make. See if you can spot the mistake. I'll give you a few examples, right? My favorite hobby is play the guitar. My favorite hobby is collect stamps. Can you see the mistake? Play the guitar is a verb. Collect stamps is a verb, but my favorite hobby is, and a noun. You need a noun, right? What it should be is, my favorite hobby is playing the guitar, or my favorite hobby is collecting stamps. Playing the guitar is the noun phrase. We can take a verb,
put it into the gerund, to make noun phrase. Playing the guitar is the noun phrase. My favorite hobby is painting. My favorite hobby is
playing computer games. It's a simple mistake to make,
but such an important one. Make sure you don't make that mistake. And you can avoid mistakes like this by practicing more, right? Go and click and check on Cambly. You can practice and get
feedback with a teacher who will help you correct
your mistakes as well. And don't stop watching, stay with me, go and watch the next video, which is all about small talk in English. How to start a conversation in English, quite tricky, right? Go and watch the next video, it'll show you how to do it. Lovely, and I will see you very soon. Thanks for watching. Take care, my friend. Bye bye. (upbeat music)
