Even very busy people usually have some time for recreation and leisure activities. What do people do, and how can you talk about these activities?

Beginning Learners:

Learn some words associated with leisure activities, such as games, sports, films or theatre or dance or musical performances, children’s toys and games, parks. The particular vocabulary will depend on the games or activities people do.

Learning Activities:

Use pictures of people or your family of dolls, as well as pictures representing the things people do for recreation. Have your LH say sentences like: “Ali is going to play football.” You point to Ali and the football to show you’ve understood.

Intermediate Learners:

Ask people to tell you about their own favorite leisure or recreation activities. Get a story about something they did recently, or get them to tell you how to play a particular game or activity. Listen several times: once for content, once for new words or grammar or for how the whole story is told (Discourse structure). Try to tell about what you like to do for recreation. Record yourself and ask your LH to retell your story, using appropriate grammar and vocabulary where you made mistakes. Listen to your version and your LH’s version of your story, noting the differences, then try again to tell your story.