📘 Part 3: Outdoor activities

This episode's vocabulary

Nature connectedness (noun) - the extent to which individuals include nature as part of their identity.

To take the edge off something (idiom) - to make something unpleasant have less of an effect on someone.

Perpetually (adverb) - always or very often.

Warehouse (noun) - a large prison, hospital, etc. in which people are kept but given little help with their problems.

To warehouse (noun) - to store something in a warehouse.

Express (adj.) - clearly and intentionally stated.

Ease (noun) - the quality of needing little effort or not being difficult.

To enhance (verb) - to improve the quality, amount, or strength of something.

To put someone off (something) (phrasal verb) - to take someone's attention away from what they want to be doing or should be doing.

Profound (adj.) - felt or experienced very strongly or in an extreme way.

Facility (noun) - a place, especially including buildings, where a particular activity happens.

Prerequisite (noun) - something that must exist or happen before something else can exist or happen.

Questions and Answers

M: Do people relax when they see nature?

R: They absolutely do. I've spoken before about nature connectedness and how this helps people to manage their stress levels. But it could also just be the experience of being away from work, whether physically or mentally that people get when they look at things in the natural world. It definitely takes the edge off, that's for sure.

M: Is the environment important for people to relax?

R: I mean, if we didn't have the environment, then we would be dead. But seriously, yes. You need to design or have spaces where people are not perpetually stressed, rather than just warehousing workers who are constantly stressing out in the harsh lighting and horrendous air conditioning. Otherwise, life just doesn't seem worth living.

M: Do you think children today enjoy outdoor activities as much as children in the past?

R: Well, I'm not even sure how you would begin to measure that, really. You can't exactly interview kids from previous eras about their preferences, can you? Moreover, previously, some options that we have today didn't exist before. So how could you even begin to compare these experiences? However, since children haven't changed much in human history, the level of enjoyment is probably the same.

M: How can outdoor activities be made more accessible to people living in cities?

R: Well, I mean, lots of spaces and buildings have been adapted for this express purpose. There are schools which have green space on the roofs and parks have increasingly been having equipment added to them so that people can get the most out of them. If it's a case of getting to the places then there could be more public transport links to these places just to increase the ease of access.

M: Do you think technology has an impact on people's participation in outdoor activities?

R: I mean, it could if you'd rather spend time doing something with the use of technology rather than being outside. But most tech is portable these days. And most people aren't so hopelessly addicted to their gadgets that they can't put them down for a little bit and join in things. So I don't think it's done much harm. It might even enhance participation for disabled people if they use various devices to take part in things.

M: Why do you think some people prefer indoor activities?

R: I mean, have you been outside? It's cold, and sometimes it rains. That's enough to put anyone off things sometimes, especially if they're a bit under the weather. And sometimes they've done a lot of things and they're tired or bored of being outside. Not everything has to be a profound engagement with the world, does it?

M: How do seasonal changes affect outdoor activities?

R: Well, I suppose it'll be difficult to go skateboarding after a snowstorm, won't it? So winter conditions might reduce access to various facilities. On the other hand, it might be a prerequisite for them too, since you can't do outdoor ice skating without cold conditions, can you?

M: Should schools have more outdoor activities as part of their curriculum?

R: I think that will depend on the school, to be honest. I mean, some schools are already outdoor schools. And it doesn't get much more outdoor than that. If we're talking about your standard inner city school with minimal outdoor space, though, then yeah, kids would definitely benefit from having more time away from the desk, provided there's time for specific skills and reflection on what they've learned.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers. This is the end of the speaking test! Bye!

R: Bye!

Discussion

M: So outdoor activities and nature. Okay? We kind of do these activities outdoors. Okay? In the nature. Nature connectedness.

R: Which we've spoken about so many times, we're not going to bore you with again.

M: Could you use it in a sentence? As an example.

R: So nature connectedness helps people manage their stress levels.

M: It's about the experience of being away from work. So be away from work in the nature.

R: Although, it's important to draw attention to the grammar here as well. Because it could also just be the experience of being away from work. So you don't need to be an expert in nature connectedness to make this suggestion, it could be this or it could be that, maybe it's this, maybe it's that.

M: And being surrounded by nature takes the edge off. So "takes the edge off".

R: Takes the edge off of being alive, or being stressed. So if you take the edge off something, you just make it more manageable, less stressful.

M: Yep. So for example, like take the edge off something. It's an idiom, to make something unpleasant, have less of an effect on someone. So have an apple, it will take the edge off your hunger. So it will make your hunger kind of less horrible. Or his apology took the edge off of her anger, for example.

R: Make something less, or have less of an impact, less impactful, have less of an impact.

M: Yeah. And could you give us another example that takes the edge off of work and being surrounded by nature?

R: Yeah. Making sure you have appropriate time for sleep, relaxation and fun takes the edge off any work stress.

M: And what do I say? I'm in nature?

R: I think you're in nature. I don't think that we can say anything else. You can't be on nature. And you cannot be at nature. Nature surrounds you, so you must be inside it. Now, I'm looking out my window at all of nature and thinking oh my god, I want to be outside.

M: We need spaces where people are not perpetually... Perpetually stressed?

R: Yeah. Perpetually just means stressed all the time. You ignored my joke, though. I'm very upset.

M: Yeah, I was, I was, I was sneezing. Sorry. What was the joke?

R: Well, it says the environment is important for people to relax. I said, yeah, if we didn't have it, then people would be dead.

M: Ha, yeah, very funny.

R: A joke about death.

M: Rory jokes about death. Okay. Well, yeah, right. Like, feel free to crack jokes in your speaking exam, you know?

R: About death?

M: Yeah, like, it's okay. Feel free to react to stupid questions, as long as you are professional, polite, and nice and friendly. Perpetual. Perpetually. Always or very often. For example, she's perpetually asking me for money. Is it used, Rory? How often do people use this word?

R: Well, I use it all the time.

M: For example.

R: Well, for example, people could be perpetually stressed. I am not. But I'm also... Oh, I'm perpetually chilled out. Yes, that's me.

M: Very often people are constantly stressing out in harsh lighting. Okay? So if we talk about the environment where people are, so the lighting, the lights could be quite harsh, you know, like very bright, like too bright, or horrendous air conditioning, like horrible air conditioning, or no air conditioning. So people need air conditioning, people need sensible lighting. Okay? To take the edge off.

R: Otherwise, life doesn't seem worth living. Ooh, otherwise is good, actually. Because that's another way to give a conditional, isn't it?

M: Oh, yeah?

R: It is. Yeah. Otherwise, the alternative is life doesn't seem worth living. If we didn't do it, life wouldn't seem worth living.

M: Could you give us another example with otherwise?

R: Yeah, sure. It's important that I sleep eight hours a night, otherwise, I'm very cranky the next day.

M: Yeah. When we compare children in the present and children in the past, we can say that previously, some of the options, well, outdoor activities options didn't exist before.

R: Yeah, that's a weird question. And so I used my good old fashioned "I'm not even sure how you would really begin to measure that". Because how do you? How do you compare the experiences of the past and the present? When, for example, in the past, they didn't have computers. So I mean, that might affect people's enjoyment or it might not, and how do you measure enjoyment, anyway?

M: Make sure you use present perfect, okay? So children haven't changed much. Or children have started enjoying indoor video games, okay? Or today children have started doing this and that. So the level of enjoyment is probably the same. Okay? Yeah. And like now we do have more options for all sorts of outdoor activities. I recommend children these days enjoy e-scooters. You know, dear listener, these electric scooters. They go crazy about them.

R: Well, they're outdoors when they use them, at least I hope so.

M: Outdoor activities could be more accessible to people. So people have access to outdoor activities, they can do outdoor activities. But what are, what about other verbs? So we do outdoor activities. What else? We participate in.

R: Take part in.

M: We enjoy outdoor activities.

R: We involve ourselves in or we are involved in them.

M: And lots of spaces, and buildings have been adapted for outdoor activities. Well, buildings, I mean, in the open air, right?

R: Yeah.

M: Because even like an open-air tennis court needs like a changing room. So it's going to be like a building.

R: Unless you walk there. I mean, do people really put that much effort into getting changed for tennis?

M: Well, yes, girls do. You know? We have our special uniforms.

R: Am I the only person that plays tennis in jeans?

M: Oh, no... Oh, no. Oh, Rory. Simple Rory.

R: Yes, I like my life to be simple.

M: Schools have green spaces on their roofs. Ah, really? Okay.

R: Some schools do.

M: Some hotels have swimming pools on their roofs.

R: Oh, that's nice.

M: Parks have increasingly had heavy equipment added to them. Yeah, so a recent trend, you go to a park and you see different kinds of equipment, and also kind of machines to do like exercises. What do you call these? I don't know, machines? But they're not machines. They're kind of special devices.

R: They are. They're exercise machines.

M: Exercise machines, yeah?

R: Yeah. I don't, I mean, different places will have different kinds of exercise machines. Though, it's hard to say what will be there and what will not be there. You need to find out what's in your local area and learn the names of them.

M: Yeah, but generally, we can say exercise machines or special kind of equipment to do exercise to work out. Yeah?

R: Yeah.

M: Yeah, even in like, in parks in forests. Well, like an organized forest. There's this special place with exercise machines. Technology and outdoor activities, dear listener.

R: And this is a fun one. Because there are lots of things here. Like it could be, or it could have an impact on your participation if you would rather do something. So a modal and a conditional. Wow.

M: Most technology or most tech is portable, meaning that you can carry it with you. Like a mobile phone, some, I don't know, gadgets.

R: And for part three, we're required to talk in general. So we can see most people aren't so hopelessly addicted. And I don't think most people are hopelessly addicted.

M: So they can put them down for a little bit while they're engaged in an activity. I don't think it's done much harm. Again, present perfect. I don't think technology has done much harm. Or you can talk about people getting distracted by all the gadgets, but then you can say that most people can put down their gadgets for a little while.

R: Yeah, or a little bit. A small piece of time.

M: Technology can also enhance participation for disabled people. So we use the verb enhance. Like improve, boost. Technology can enhance participation for disabled people. We have outdoor activities, and also we have indoor activities. Some people might prefer to stay indoors, doing indoor activities. When it's cold and when it rains, when the weather is just dreadful.

R: Did you like my opening?

M: Fabulous. Like have you been outside? Like have you been outside? Like, come on.

R: I say this like as I was speaking, I was looking out the window and it's extremely sunny in this country right now. In fact, it is 14 degrees. And it's sunny. So perhaps this was a bad time to give that answer, but I was looking at it like this will not last it will be cold again soon.

M: Yeah, but in the middle of winter, when it's like snowing, when it's really cold, when you have a blizzard. Okay? So it's just dangerous to get outside. Yeah, like staying indoors is a good idea. Also, if people feel a bit under the weather, if people feel unwell, okay? Doing something indoors is a good option. And then Rory used a very good structure.

R: Did I? Ooh... Where? Was it towards the end?

M: Yeah. The very last sentence.

R: Yes, not everything has to be a profound engagement with the world, does it?

M: First of all, a profound engagement with the world. Is this how you paraphrase outdoor activities?

R: No, but it's probably a consequence of doing them I would imagine. You're engaging with the outside world.

M: Yeah. So when you're kind of, you are out and about, you do something outdoors, you engage, you communicate with the world. A profound? Like deep, like thorough. And then it's not a question. It's kind of like, does it? Kind of like you kind of state that no, not everything has to be done outdoors, does it? Seasonal changes affect outdoor activities. By seasonal changes, we mean rains, snow, and blizzards. Like the weather is too cold. And Rory gives examples here. It will be difficult to go skateboarding after a snowstorm. Okay? Like winter conditions might be too harsh to go skating, for example. Or winter conditions might reduce access to various facilities. When we go skateboarding, we need certain facilities, right? Like slopes and lifts, they may not work. Due to strong winds, for example. We talk about the school curriculum and the school program. And here Rory says that schools already have outdoor facilities.

R: Well, some of them do. And some of them are outdoor schools. The schools themselves or the school itself is outdoors.

M: If we're talking about a standard inner city school, like a standard school, in a city with minimal outdoor space, then the yeah, like schools might benefit from more outdoor facilities, like an open swimming pool, an open tennis court. What else can be open? An open picnic area. Like a special meditation zone.

R: Maria knows all of these ones. I have absolutely no idea.

M: Yes, yeah. I'm just talking about an ordinary school, dear listener. But again, I go crazy with the ideas. Why not? Like an open-air yoga zone. All right?

R: Do you need to have a special area... Oh, my God, we already talked about this mental yoga stuff before.

M: You do need special yoga stuff.

R: The commercialization of yoga is not a good thing.

M: So yes, dear listener, you should say like, yes, schools should have more outdoor activities and outdoor facilities or amenities.

R: Thank you very much for listening!

M: Thank you. Bye!

R: Bye!

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