📙 Part 2: Describe an outdoor activity you did in a new place recently

You should say: what the activity is, who invited you to participate in it, whether you asked for help during the activity, and explain what change you had.

This episode's vocabulary

Of late (adverb) - recently.

Beneficial (adj.) - helpful, useful, or good.

To go along (phrasal verb) - to go to a place or event, usually without much planning.

Hand (noun) - help with doing something.

To get out (phrasal verb) - to leave a closed vehicle, building, etc.

Frankly (adverb) - used when giving an honest and direct opinion, often one that might upset someone.

Questions and Answers

R: Oh, wow. I started going to this wild swimming club a little while back. And that has been fun. It's basically swimming in an area of the sea or other open bodies of water that has become quite popular of late. At least in my country. I mean, I say wild swimming. Most of the time the people in the group just stand in the water and freeze. I feel like I'm the only one who does any actual swimming around sometimes. However, it's not like the cold water isn't beneficial. So the non-swimmers aren't actually losing much. I was asked if I wanted to go by one of my friends I made recently. And I hadn't thought much of the whole thing before. But I was down for trying out new things. So I went along and found I really liked it. And the company I got to keep, so I kept going back. It's held near a castle in my home town. I've never been in that part of the water before actually. I used to think it wasn't even possible. But now I know otherwise. I've not really needed any help with it so far, to be honest, it's just swimming, which I do well in any case. I think I've been swimming for about 18 years now at least. Sometimes it's a struggle to get there on time. And I have to ask for a lift, but that's not really connected to the activity itself. Oh, and the one time I wore a wetsuit I needed a hand getting out of it. But aside from that, I've been fine while I'm actually in the water. If I hadn't started doing this it would have been a bit of a missed opportunity, I think, because I met a few good friends through it along with my new tenant, who will be moving in soon. Plus, it's been a good excuse to do some exercise and get out of the house where I could spend all of my time, frankly.

M: And will you do it again soon?

R: Yeah, I'm doing it, well, on Sunday, I suppose. So like I say, I do it every week.

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener, so the topic is a bit strange. Describe an outdoor activity you did in a new place.

R: It's so random.

M: Yeah, kind of like open air. Okay? Into a park or forest, I don't know. And then you did an outdoor activity. What is an outdoor activity, Rory?

R: An outdoor activity could be wild swimming, rock climbing, walking, or hiking. What else do people do? Canoeing? Paddleboarding? Anything you do outside. It's summer. Barbecuing.

M: Yeah. Like volleyball, yoga in the open air, for example. Okay? But could you please choose an activity which is easy for you to talk about. Maybe something about the sport, dear listener, okay? And even if you did it in a usual place, you can say like, oh, yeah, this place was new. I had never been there before. So you lie, dear listener. It's okay to lie.

R: In my case, I had been there before, but I hadn't been in the water. And the water is a totally different place to the land.

M: Rory started by saying, I started going to this wild swimming club a little while back. So some time ago, a little while back.

R: And you've got to say recently. So a little while back is another way to say recently.

M: And then like what is a wild swimming club? It's swimming in the sea. Okay?

R: Or any other open body of water.

M: Yeah, kind of like wild swimming. You go and swim in a river, or in the ocean. Wild, you know? Like this, wild and crazy.

R: That's the sound of the wild.

M: Freedom. And then Rory describes the process. So you go to the river with the group. Group of people. Wild swimmers. And some people don't swim, they just stand in the water and freeze, because that water in the water is cold.

R: Well, yes. And also it can take a lot of effort and courage to actually go up to your neck in the water and swim around. It's not a delicate process.

M: Okay. Yeah, this is what wild swimming is all about. It's cold, it's difficult. You know? It's scary, and cold water isn't beneficial. So there are swimmers, people who do swim like Rory. And non-swimmers, who are just, you know, like standing there. Not swimming.

R: Yeah, I'm trying to think of another way to put it. But there are people that swim and there are people that do not swim. So non-swimmers is a good way to describe it. And it shows flexibility with your prefixes, which is good for your lexical resource score.

M: I went there. Kind of I joined this wild swimming club because I'm always down to try new things. So to be down for trying new things, it is kind of like you enjoy doing new things.

R: Not quite, you're willing to try new things, it can also be up for trying new things. But both of these mean the same thing.

M: I'm always up for trying new things, or I'm down for trying new things. And I did this... So because we are talking about doing something in a new place, dear listener, you can say, oh, you know, I am always down for trying new things. And I went to this new park. What was the second one?

R: Oh, I'm up for trying.

M: I'm up for trying new things. And I went to this mountain I'd never been before. Hey! You can say I hadn't thought much before I went there. Careful, dear listener. We use past perfect because the story is in the past, you did this new activity. And before you did it, you hadn't thought much. And then you went there and did it.

R: There's a small difference in meaning here. Because if you hadn't thought much about something, that means you didn't think about it. But if you didn't think much of something, you didn't think it was worth your time.

M: I was asked to go by one of my friends. So somebody asked me to go, and I was asked to go. And I went along. I went along. I went along with them. I found that I really liked it. So I kept going back. Ooh, and then, of course, it's near a castle. Right, Rory?

R: Because of course, it's in Scotland. The club events are held near a castle.

M: Oh, what a coincidence! It's near a castle.

R: But it's not actually in the castle itself. It's in the water around the castle. So even though a castle is involved, the castle does not play the main role here.

M: So you should describe the place where it's kind of it's happening. In this context, Rory goes to this swimming club and the club activities happen near a castle in my hometown. You can say like, I'd never been in that part of the water before. Or I'd never been in this place before. It's new. I had never seen this before. But kind of like the group meets in a special area? In a kind of like sporting area. An opening near a castle and then you go to the river? Or the river itself is near a castle.

R: The river itself is near the castle. It's literally the castle and then the water.

M: Oh, beautiful.

R: But you can walk down from the beach that's next to it.

M: Oh, nice. What a beautiful place! So it's just swimming, which I do well. So Rory is a good swimmer. It's a struggle to get there on time.

R: Which just means that it can be difficult to get there. Because I live in the middle of my hometown now and the castle is at the edge of my hometown.

M: I have to ask for a lift, which means like somebody needs to pick Rory up and just drive him there. But Rory, don't you drive yourself? Why don't you drive?

R: I don't drive. Have you seen the way that people drive on the roads? Absolutely not.

M: Ah, okay. So you can say like it's a struggle to get there, or it's a struggle to get out of there. Or it's just a struggle to find the place.

R: It's just a struggle, really. Life is a struggle.

M: Yeah, just a struggle. Life is a struggle, you know? Or kind of I have to ask for a lift. I have to get a taxi to get there. As for the equipment, it's an outdoor activity, so you should speak about the equipment. So it's like things you need. I wore a wet suit. So I was wearing a wet suit. And I needed a hand getting out of it. Oh, so you kind of, needed some help?

R: Yeah, need a hand. Need help. Yeah, it's like the wetsuit is, it clings pretty close to your skin, so it's difficult to get off. It's not as difficult to get on, but that's still a struggle.

M: And we can finish off with a third condition, dear listener. It's a very good idea to use the third conditional to show a range of your grammar structures. So if you can learn how we build up, how we form the third conditional and use it once, in your speaking by to do it, please. So here we imagine it didn't happen. So we imagine the unreal situation, if I hadn't started doing this, it would have been a missed opportunity.

R: Yeah. A missed opportunity is when you don't get the chance to do something. So it would just be like if I didn't do this, then I would have missed all of these other things that were positive about it.

M: Or if I hadn't started doing swimming, I would have found something else. Or if I hadn't gone to this place, I would have gone to somewhere else. Yeah? So just make sure, well, again, it's a good idea to use the third conditional in any speaking part two, at the very end of your talk, to kind of wrap it up.

R: And I did. And I also gave another reason that it was a good excuse to get some exercise and get out of the house.

M: Yeah, I got out of the house, I visited a new place. I did some exercise. Hey! Everyone's happy, happy, happy. What helped you organize this answer?

R: Oh, God. Well, it followed the order of the task, which it usually does. So it's good to take these things off, I spent a little bit more time talking about what happened. Like when I started a little while back, it's been popular of late. I've been going there of late. And then I described it in more detail. And how I got into it, being invited to go by one of my friends, which is connected to who invited me. And then I spent a bit more time talking about the help. And actually, you'll see as I talk about the help when I'm thinking about it, I start off by saying I didn't need to help. Oh, but I needed to help with these other things, but they're not really connected. And then finish off with this nice conditional sentence, it would have been a missed opportunity if I hadn't, because I made all these friends. And you could say the same thing about just about any other activity that you did recently.

M: Sweet. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll come back to you in our next episode, speaking part three about outdoor activities. Bye!

R: Bye!

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