M: What do you like to do in your free time?

R: I do a lot of exercise these days, like weightlifting and yoga, and I try and balance that out with reading and video games as well. Which is probably a good thing, since if I didn't do that, I'd probably knacker my joints.

M: Who do you spend your free time with?

R: Mostly by myself, really. Weightlifting is pretty solitary. So I only have the company of whatever I'm listening to on YouTube and then, well, for yoga and climbing, that's usually my friends or whoever's in my classes, and I don't really mind either setup, to be honest.

M: Did you have a hobby as a child?

R: I did a lot of drawing and writing and reading, but nothing like stamp collecting or anything like that. Oh, actually, that's not entirely true. I did have a small model collection, but I wasn't very principled about adding to it or anything like that.

M: What would you like to do with your free time in the future?

R: More of the same, I think. I'd like to get into yoga more and find more time to read, but I haven't planned on doing anything new, frankly. I'm more of a creature of habit these days, and maybe I always have been.

M: Hey, free time, dear listener! Or you can say leisure time. So what do you do in your free time? Or, what do you do in your leisure time? Any other synonyms, Rory?

R: Oh, when you have the time. That's a phrase. When you have the time, meaning, when you have the time to do stuff. Or things with your free time.

M: Yeah, when I have the time. Yeah, when I have the time, I go jogging, for example. And dear listener, free time is important for our sense of self-worth, okay? So, like we love ourselves, we take care of ourselves, yes, and free time is important. Free time, outside of work. So to kind of, to get in touch with yourself, to find a good work-life balance, dear listener. All right? So you should develop a routine that allows you to have some spare time. Is also another synonym. So leisure time, spare time and to have the time for something. So what does Rory do? I do a lot of exercise. I do yoga. I do weight lifting. Okay? I do reading, I play video games, and I balance between sports and playing computer games, for example.

R: Can we draw attention to the phrasal verb?

M: Yeah. What's the phrasal verb?

R: Balance out. If we type in, balance out, I wonder if it will be a band nine word.

M: I can't find it in Cambridge online dictionary.

R: I can.

M: Oh, so...

R: Oh, I can, but it doesn't tell me the level. Where is the level? Nothing here about the level, but I would bet that balance out is a band nine or a C2 level.

M: Excellent.

R: If only there was some sort of course for phrasal verbs...

M: We have a course on phrasal verbs, dear listener.

R: Not to mention that in quite some time.

M: Yeah. So what does it mean, to balance out? And what can I balance out?

R: You usually balance out like a lot of something with something else. So something, let's say you balance out something positive with something negative to keep things equal and balanced.

M: For example.

R: So, for example, you balance out a lot of exercise, which is very intense, with something more chilled out, like reading a book. I mean, most books are quite chilled out. The last book I read was a bit of a roller coaster.

M: Can I say that I balance out dancing with reading?

R: Yeah. You can balance out most intensive exercises with reading, to be honest. I balance out mountain climbing with a little bit of reading.

M: And then you said something like knacker my joints. So to knacker is a verb, and my joints.

R: Yes. Or just to destroy or damage. And your joints are the things that connect your body parts and bones. So you have your elbow, that's a joint that helps you move your arm, or you have your knee, that's a joint that helps you move your leg.

M: Knacker. Knacker means to break something.

R: Well, it could be to break something or just to exhaust it or render it unusable.

M: So dear listener, if the examiner asks you what you usually do in your free time, it's much better to speak about something unusual, some interesting free time activities. For example, beekeeping, I enjoy beekeeping. I enjoy bees, you know, like, you can lie, imagine, but these are like good words, or, for example, you enjoy calligraphy, dear listener. Calligraphy is this, you know, like Chinese characters. Like calligraphy is very therapeutic. It's very relaxing. So you kind of, you draw all these Chinese characters. Or you enjoy brewing, you enjoy making beer, brewing. So you can google unusual hobbies or unusual free time activities and choose. All right? Soap making, dear listener. Maybe you enjoy making soap. It doesn't matter if you do it or no, just use the freaking words, okay? And you will be very interesting for the examiner. And the examiner will, oh, wow, I have just met a person who makes beer. I usually spend my free time or my spare time by myself, like alone or with my friends. Or you can say I usually do some solitary activities, so I'm by myself. Solitary? Like I do something alone. Like solitude. Solitary activities. Or, for example, like weight lifting is pretty much solitary. So you do it alone.

R: By yourself.

M: Yeah, by yourself. Yoga, climbing, you can do these activities with your friends. And you can say, I don't really mind doing something by myself, to be honest. You can say that, yes, as a child, I did have a hobby. I collected soldiers. I collected, I don't know, chocolate.

R: Do people collect chocolate?

M: I don't know...

R: I collected chocolate in my tummy.

M: Yes, I collect food. I ate everything. Yeah. So kind of I collected small models, I collected models of cars, but I wasn't very principled about adding to my collection. So to be principled about something means like to do it regularly. Yeah?

R: Yes. Well, it could be to do it regularly, or at least you have something that guides your actions. Usually, people that collect things, they have a system for tracking and filing everything, and they would do it regularly, or they do something with their collection regularly.

M: Yeah, or we can say I used to collect... But I wasn't very organized about adding to it. So you add items to your collection. So I didn't do that. And again, dear listener, Google unusual hobbies, and you can say, haha, I used to do ice sculpting. Okay? Ice sculpting? Like ice sculpture.

R: Or you talk about some regular hobbies and how they balance each other out.

M: No. No, it's boring. As a child, I used to make ice sculptures. You see, dear listener? And then the examiner looks at you like really, did you? Oh, how interesting. Band nine.

R: That is absolutely not what the examiner does or will say.

M: No, come on. Oh, fire-eating, of course. How could I forget about fire eating? Dear listener, have you ever seen these people who eat fire, you know?

R: Okay... Um, moving on from there. Returning to planet Earth, where people do not do that as a regular hobby.

M: Yeah, when the examiner asks you, what would you like to do in your free time? What would you like to do with your free time in the future? You can use the second conditional. If I had more time, I'd... If I could, I'd learn fire-eating. Or like, I'd like to get into yoga more. Okay? If you want to start yoga, for example, you can say, I want to take up yoga, or I'd like to get into yoga, to get into something. Rory, for example, you want to start cooking. What do you say? I want to take up cooking?

M: Yes, sweet. If you want to start fire eating.

R: Of course, I would never take up cooking, because I don't cook. So that's not, that's not something I'm likely to say

M: Exactly. But fire eating is a different thing. It's daring, it's, you know, it's mesmerizing, and it is a captivating hobby. It's, you know, all these flames and fire and kind of like warm. Floating, dear listener, is also a nice hobby. You know, when you go to a special centre and they put you in a capsule and you float. Float in water. That's a hobby?

R: Well, you can do it regularly. It could be your hobby, yeah. Like swimming, but floating. But when you swim, you swim, but when you float, you do nothing. You just, you know, just...

R: Chill out in the water.

M: Yeah, you just relax and meditate. So it's a kind of a meditation. Floating, check it out. You see, dear listener? Your examiner will be like... Amazed.

R: I think your examiner will be hitting the panic button probably.

M: Or you can say that I'm a creature of habit. I'm a creature of habit. I don't do anything new. I stick to my routine. So I do what I always do. I'm boring and I stick to my routine. I haven't planned anything, I haven't planned on taking up any new hobby.

R: Which makes sense, because if you're taking IELTS, then you're probably thinking, I'm going to emigrate to another country. Do I really have the time to take up a new hobby?

M: But you can kind of talk about the future. So when I, you know, if I have more time, or if I had more time, I'd start soap carving. Ooh, extreme unicycling. What's unicycling?

R: Unicycling is like bicycling, but it's one wheel instead of two. Oh, God. What is extreme unicycling? Doing it on a tightrope?

M: Yeah, rocky terrains, narrow paths. So are you a creature of habit? I think I've given you some ideas. And if you feel bored, you know, with your life, like, oh, what, what do I do? Maybe start playing Quidditch, or go learn fire-eating. Just for fun, you know? Like... Oh, there's also ostrich racing, dear listener.

R: Yes, for all of those spare ostriches you have lying around.

M: Oh, check it out. Worm charming.

R: Oh, my God.

M: This like worms, you know, little insects. Worms. And you can attract worms from the ground using vibration, vibrations...

R: Could we talk about the idiom that I used instead of these insane hobbies?

M: What idiom did you use?

R: I used a creature of habit. A creature of habit is someone who likes to do things regularly. They like their habits. They don't change things a lot. And because it's an idiom, it's more likely to result in a band nine score, rather than making up crazy hobbies, which Maria has done for the last five minutes.

M: I'm not making them up. It's the Internet.

R: Oh, good. Well, let us put the internet in charge of everything.

M: I'm just saying, dear listener, that you should be interesting. Okay? And if you talk about interesting things, you use different vocabulary items, your examiner is interested. Everyone is happy. So why not say...

R: You're off your head.

M: I'd like to take up fighting. Come on. It's much better than like, oh, I enjoy swimming, I enjoy reading. Boring. Right, dear listener, now you know what to do, okay? Me, personally, I'm choosing extreme ironing, okay? Ostrich racing and fire-eating, definitely. Oh, also soap carving, all right? And Rory, Rory will do fire eating. I think fire-eating, Rory, for you.

R: Rory is gonna do a lot of meditation to get over what I've just been subjected to.

M: Rory is gonna do floating. Thank you very much for listening! Now you're full of super unusual hobbies and activities to do in your free time. Bye!

R: Bye!

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