Hobbies
Do you have any hobbies? Did you have any hobbies when you were a child? Do you have a hobby that you've had since childhood? Do you have the same hobbies as your family members?
Vocabulary
  • Jiu-Jitsu (noun) - a type of self-defence from Japan that does not involve weapons and is done as a sport. Other similar sports such as judo and karate are based on it.
  • To get into something (phrasal verb) - to become interested in an activity or subject, or start being involved in an activity.
  • Weight lifting (noun) - the sport or activity of lifting barbells or other heavy weights.
  • Principled (adj.) - (of a person or their behaviour) acting in accordance with morality and showing recognition of right and wrong.
  • Radically (adverb) - completely or extremely.
  • Diverse (adj.) - showing a great deal of variety; very different.
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Questions and Answers
M: Do you have any hobbies?

R: Oh, wow, yes, loads. I do Jiu-Jitsu, and recently got into yoga, and I've been going swimming and climbing for a while. I get a lot of weight lifting and reading done in the meantime, too. I love having a really active life and learning about new things.

M: Did you have any hobbies when you were a child?

R: I'm not sure if you can call it a hobby, since I wasn't very principled about it, but I did like collecting these small plastic models of different military vehicles. That was cool. As for other hobbies, maybe reading, if that counts.

M: Do you have a hobby that you've had since childhood?

R: Well, I've always been a big fan of reading, though I try and vary it a bit more than I used to. Apart from that, I think all of the things I do now are radically different to what I did before.

M: Do you have the same hobbies as your family members?

R: Not really. We're all pretty diverse in that regard. For example, my brother is a pretty good cook, but I hate experimenting in the kitchen. One of my other brothers collects Lego, but I don't have the time or the patience for that. We do have something is in common, though, we all love reading, for example.

M: Hey! Thank you, Rory, for your answers!
Discussion
M: So, dear listener, hobbies. Rory, tell me, how often do you use the word hobby? Do you kind of ask people, oh, what's your hobby? Do you have a hobby? Do you ever say this?

R: I honestly, outside of these IELTS questions, I have never discussed my hobbies, except for one. Someone said I had a lot of hobbies, but I don't think I do. I think I'm very boring.

M: Hmm. So usually people don't use the word hobby. Okay? They say, like, what do you like? What do you do in your free time? Like, what else do you ask? I'm into reading.

R: What are you into? What do you get up to when you're not working?

M: Yeah. So you can talk about like, I enjoy, I'm into, I'm into climbing, I'm into swimming. I really enjoy reading. I do karate, I do Jiu-Jitsu, I do yoga, or I'm into yoga. I'm into yoga, I'm into swimming. I get a lot of reading done. I do a lot of reading. Reading could be a hobby, right? I love having an active life. I love learning about new things. And actually, I'd say that Rory does have a lot of hobbies. Yeah. Check it out. Like wild swimming, yoga, climbing, weightlifting, reading. Well, Rory is a writer. He's published his novels. So that's writing, being an author. Podcast. Oh, actually, podcast is a job, okay? Yeah, Rory, you see? So, too many hobbies.

R: Okay, if I... Well, what should I prioritize then? Weight lifting and reading. There we go. And yoga.

M: Nice.

R: It's difficult for me to give up my hobbies. I like them.

M: When an examiner asks you about your childhood, you can use used to.

R: I think that should be the trigger. If you're asked to compare or your childhood to now or talk about your childhood, I think that should be like a used to alarm and immediately just be like, I used to do this.

M: Absolutely, dear listener. It's a common question. Like did you... When you were a child? Bam, used to. You don't do it anymore. So you can say, I used to go swimming, I used to go dancing, but not anymore.

R: Even in the negative way, I didn't used to do blah, blah, blah, as much as I do now. For example, I didn't used to exercise as much as I do now, for sure.

M: Correct. I did like collecting plastic models of military vehicles, military cars, tanks, some other vehicles, and you can say like I did like collecting, like I really liked collecting. Or I used to collect small models of something. Or I used, I used to collect coins. I used to go dancing. Or you can just lie about it. Then Present Perfect, maybe you are still collecting these coins. So I've been collecting coins since childhood. Present Perfect Continuous, actually.

R: I've been collecting coins in my bank account. My hobby is saving money.

M: Or I've been into dancing since childhood. So you started dancing when you were a child. You were doing it, and still you are, you enjoy dancing. So I've been into dancing. I've been into reading since childhood. Or you can say I've always been a big fan of reading. So I've done it all my life. Yeah? So I've always been a big fan of swimming, or I've always been a big fan of sport, snowboarding. So I did it as a child. So all my life. Apart from reading, apart from that, all the things I do are radically different to what I did before. So everything I do now in my free time is radically different, like, totally different.
R: Very different.

M: Super, very different. To, different to what I did before or what I used to do as a child. Or you can say, like my childhood activities are radically different to what I like now. Your family members could have the same hobbies, the same interests, but not for Rory. So he says, not really, we are all pretty diverse in that regard, or in this area. Diverse? Meaning we're all very different. And then Rory explains why. My brother is a pretty good cook, but I hate experimenting in the kitchen. Well, we know how Rory microwaves his eggs.

R: I don't anymore. I cook them in the saucepan.

M: Thank you, dear listeners, to those of you who wrote to Rory personally about, well, eggs.

R: And expressed your distress at this situation.

M: Thank you, dear listeners, for those of you who wrote on our YouTube in the comment section telling Rory like stop microwaving eggs. Thank you. Because of you, Rory now fries his eggs on a frying pan. Wow, revolution. Thank you. One of my other brothers or sisters collects Lego and you pronounce it as Lego, yeah?

R: I pronounce it Lego. Is it pronounced any different elsewhere?

M: Yeah?

R: Lego.

M: I don't know, Lego. Yeah, but I don't like it, right? So, but we all love reading, so we do have some things in common. You can say like my family members and I do have some things in common. Or we have some things in common, we all love reading. Yeah, very nice. Rory, you know, like I Googled top hobbies to try in 2025. Okay? So today.com, so the best hobbies to try in 2025. Are you ready? The first one is gardening.

R: Really? But it's so much work.

M: It could be a communal garden. Like a local community garden. So kind of you grow things together, herbs, veggies together in your community with other people. Then, at home cooking, okay? It's a cheap hobby they say. Come on. So you kind of just go to TikTok, you watch some recipes, and then you cook. So today.com. Okay, dear listener? Reading number three. All right? You could join a book club if you can't read on your own. Knitting or crocheting. What's crocheting?

R: It looks like crocheting, but it's not. So my friends will be able to explain this much better than I can, but if you imagine knitting, the difference between crocheting and knitting, I think, is in the technique that is used to bring the strands together. I don't know that for a fact, though.

M: So crocheting is the activity of making clothes and other things using wool and a special needle with a hook. Ooh... Yeah, dear listener, just Google it. Okay/ Yeah, so knitting and crocheting. Interesting. They are therapeutic activities. So you kind of like, you come down, you know? Like you just like... I'm calm. Journaling is another activity, okay? Collecting scraps of everyday pieces of junk. What? And then gluing these little pictures, them to journal pages. Oh... So you kind of like you have train tickets, pay bills, receipts, pictures, and you just glue them onto a special notebook. Oh, my God. Team sports. Okay? And that's it. Wow. So very refreshing, dear listener, isn't it? So much new information in 2025. We haven't known this before. Wow. Now, dear listener, Rory's vocabulary show.
R: So let's go right back to the start. And let's talk about the hobbies that I have. Maria, I mentioned about 300 hobbies, but if you can remember three of them, then I will be very impressed.

M: Going climbing, weight lifting and swimming.

R: Nice. And important to point out, it is go or do the collocations. Do Jiu-Jitsu, do yoga, but go swimming, go climbing. Then we talked about the hobbies I had when I was a child, and I referred to things being different in the past to how they are now. But I used a very special expression to do this. What was it?

M: I did like collecting.

R: I did emphatic do here. So you can say used to, but you can also say I did like doing this with the stress on did, which is very important for varying your pronunciation. Then we talked about the hobby I'd had since childhood, and I said that I had one that I started when I was younger, and I continued to do now. But what was the grammar that I used to describe that?

M: I've always been a big fan of reading.

R: And then, for the last one, Maria, you asked me if I had the same hobbies as my family members. And I said, no, I don't have the same hobbies as my family members, but I did not repeat the question in my answer like that. What did I do instead?

M: In that regard.

R: Yes, so in that regard means in terms of doing things in the same way as your family members. So this is another way we can avoid repeating the question in our answer. Since Maria got four out of four, I now have a bonus question for you, Maria,. I said things were almost completely different to what it was like when I was a child, but I didn't say completely different. What did I say instead?

M: We do have some things in common.

R: No, Maria, no, you have failed a bonus question. Radically different. It's not even the same thing. You did that on purpose.

M: Yes, I did. Yeah, we are radically different. If you say that we do have some things in common, this means that we have similar things. We like similar things.

R: Thank you very much for joining us. Hopefully you got five out of five unlike Maria. Nice try, Maria. But I am listening always for the incorrect answers.

M: Thank you very much. Bye!

R: Bye! Oh, you, you shrewd, shrewd person.

M: I'm evil.

R: Evil, yes.
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