I’ve been passionate about hobbies my whole life I love reading knitting and playing musical instruments Some of these hobbies have proven very useful in my career like I love Chinese literature Now I'm teaching literature both in Chinese and English and some of the skills are just for me to enjoy and have fun I believe our hobbies make our lives better and help us to find friends who have the same interest What about you What hobbies are you in love with right now As students you might work on your project every day busy doing your homework or assignment If you are feeling stuck or feeling upset what helps you to relax Just listen to my students from Hong Kong, Australia and the United States They will chat with their friends about the hobbies and will see what they are doing From these dialogues we will learn how to talk about things you like and dislike We also learn a lot of expressions about how to discuss your interests You may also share hobbies and interest with your friends Some of you may have lots of diffrent stuff In this situation You may say Hobbies make for very good conversation topics When speaking to somebody about hobbies you can find a shared interest with person and also learn something new about another hobby maybe you haven't tried this hobby before Below is a list of words that you may use while you are making conversion with your friends about your hobbies Leisurely activities are activities done in your free time when you are not hurry such as painting or going for a walk for example She prefers leisurely activities like gardening to more physically demanding activities like sports Outdoors person Someone who prefers activities that are done outdoors for example in this context we can say Tom is a real outdoors person After being in the office all week he loves to spend his weekends hiking The third expression is Sports fanatic A sports fanatic is someone who is passionate about playing or watching one or more sports for example David is a real sports fanatic He plays baseball or football almost every day and he watches hours and hours of rugby in his spare time Another expression is Extreme sports These are sports that could be very dangerous or physically demanding Popular extreme sports include skydiving mountain bike racing skateboarding and surfing for example I’m not really into participating in extreme sports but I enjoy watching them Another expression is Homebody This is a person who prefers staying at home rather than going out for activities He enjoys the warmth and simple pleasure of being at home for example Mary wouldn’t enjoy joining a sports league because she’s a real homebody another example I’m a homebody and I don’t want to go out come over and I’ll make you dinner Next expression is a little bit difficult is called Aficionado Aficionado is a person who is very knowledgeable he knows everything about an activities and subject for example He is a baseball aficionado If you ask him about any player he can tell you their name their history and even their hobbies Social butterfly A social butterfly is a person who loves to do all kinds of activities with lots of people he is very sociable and easy going this expression has nothing to do with butterflies It can be used to refer to either a male or a female for example Alice is always out with friends and makes more friends everywhere she goes She’s such a social butterfly party animal A party animal can be a sensible person who can manage a healthy work/life balance and it also mean someone who enjoys parties and loves to go to different parties they go to as many kinds of parties as possible for example Sarah is really a party animal and she likes to dance all night next expression is called Cosplay the full name is Costume Play in Chinese its meaning is 'jue se ban yan' for this kind of play you dress up in costumes and pretend to be a character from a film a book or video game this expression was originally used in United States But in 1955 it gained popularity in Japan now it's very common in both China South Korea United States and Japan for example noun Avatar cosplay was excellent He really looked like a Na’avi it can also be used as a verb Whenever he goes to Comic Convention he likes to cosplay LARP is called Live Action Role-Playing This is a kind of role-playing game where people get together usually in costume they act out a play or part of a play or an episode for example He was LARPing last weekend instead of doing his homework the last expression is not a word it's a suffix -phile P-H-I-L-E this expression is used together with other words refer to some person who enjoys a particular thing or has it as a hobby who likes a particular place for example Technophile is somebody who loves technology so much Anglophile is somebody who is interested in England Cinephile is somebody who really loves movies and films Next we will listen to three dialogues Class is over Hey Kevin Oh Hi Christine Long time no see How have you been I've been great how about yourself I mean I've been okay Good Tell me do you have any hobbies Everyone has got hobbies don't they I guess What are your hobbies Well I like playing guitar and I like singing I have been doing that since I was little Really You must be really talented Umm no I am really not that talented It is just I really like music and it relaxes me What about you How do you kill time I really enjoy gardening Gardening You you It is a bit unusual You mean like planting and weeding Absolutely I have a huge garden in my front yard I have planted roses and sunflowers and lilies The lilies are absolutely my favorite Ah That is actually pretty awesome Your family is really lucky to have such a big yard Yeah we really are My parents have used part of the garden as a vegetable patch And every day we fertilize and weed and water the vegetable patch so that we can have fresh vegetables That is great that your family shares your interests Gardening is a great way to keep your lawn beautiful and stay healthy Absolutely I love being able to eat fresh vegetables from my garden every day My friends all of our friends really are very jealous Yeah you could probably count in that group I wish I had a garden These works are fantastic Do you know who drew them I have no idea I also found those works well-done Liam are you familiar with Chinese drawing and calligraphy No this is the first time I have been to a Chinese Art Exhibition I absolutely love the calligraphy Yeah it is amazing I have started to learn to write with a brush when I was ten wow that must be really hard to write with a brush I bet you are great I am just a beginner My dad he is a professional calligrapher and he taught me how to write That's amazing I'd really love to learn calligraphy actually if I ever got the chance If you stay here one more year I could introduce you to my tutor Thank you very much You are welcome As well as working hard at school and university it's really important to have hobbies so that you can spend your spare time so for example if I am not working or studying I like to go swimming or I like to play the guitar Does anyone here have any hobbies Mike Yes I like playing basketball and running I play basketball and go running everyday I just try to keep fit Also I listen to music when I am under a lot of pressures to relax myself so Okay I really like listening to music and normally do it when I'm drawing I think drawing can help you relax and you can express yourself with it so I really like spending my time doing that That's fantastic and that's a really good point as well Hobbies can really help you to relax Jess and Stanley Do you find that the hobbies you do help you to relax or to stay focused Yes my hobby is swimming and when I was little I was always sick but after I started swimming I haven't been sick for two years That's really good to hear Yeah I really enjoy running and reading I think they provide a really good contrast I enjoy being active and being out for a run but then being able to come back and sit down and relax with a good book That's really true and all these sound like fantastic ways to spend the weekend So what hobbies do you like I like skiing swimming and drawing Eh That is interesting What is your favorite hobby I like to draw as well Also I like climbing ancient history and building Lego Great Why do you like climbing I like it because I'm not very good at most sports but with climbing I'm good because I can go up maybe sit there for a bit and then carry on Why do you like swimming Because I can swim in different ways I like to stay in the pool Then why do you like drawing I like drawing because I can make comics and stories What about you I like drawing because I can draw anything I want to out of my mind Then why do you like ancient history I like it because we can study how we were in the past and how different it was but also how similar it was too Why do you like skiing Because I think it's fun and a little bit dangerous
