Hobbies and interests

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

The speakers in this unit discuss a range of their hobbies and interests.

Before you listen answer the questions:

• 
  What are your hobbies and special interests?
  
• 
  How would you describe them in a way that makes them sound interesting to a listener?
  

Recording 1
Voc.
Influence (n) on people or situation means to affect what they do or what happens;
Blog (n) is a website containing a diary or journal on a particular subject;
Make sense (phrase): if a course of action makes sense it seems sensible;
Ingredient (n): ingredients are the things that are used to make something, especially all the different food you use when you are cooking a particular dish.

In this recording Hannah, who was born in Australia but has lived in the UK for much of her life, talks about her passion for cooking and blogging.

1. 
   Read the general comprehension questions below. Then play the recording through once and answer each question.
   

1. 
   Who passed on a love of cooking to Hannah?
   
2. 
   Which countries have influenced the food she cooks?
   
3. 
   Why did she start writing a food blog?
   
4. 
   How does writing a blog make her feel?
   
5. 
   When does she find her blog particularly useful?
   

2. 
   Listen again and note down the dishes that Hannah likes to cook.
   

3. 
   Now listen again, stop the recording as necessary and complete the gaps in the sentences.
   

1. 
   We really like to …….. and have big meals.
   
2. 
   So whether it’s a big ……………. Or whether it’s tortilla from Spain.
   
3. 
   I get the best recipes that I cook and ………… there.
   
4. 
   We’d be sharing ……………. .
   
5. 
   Why not put it there, so that they can …………….. it themselves?
   

4. 
   Complete the phrases on the left by matching them with phrases from the right.
   

It’s a real	Meatballs
I put something on	Family passion
It’s surprisingly	My own voice
I like the sound of	My blog
They can download	Relaxing
It’s pasta filled with	The recipe

Recording 2


Voc
Cockerel is a young male chicken.

In this recording, Alex talks about keeping pets. Alex lives in the countryside, just outside London. Try to predict the types of animals he keeps.

1. 
   Play the recording once. Are these statements true or false? If the statement is false, correct it.
   

1. 
   Alex’s family keeps chickens at the bottom of the garden.
   
2. 
   His children enjoy collecting the eggs.
   
3. 
   His neighbours don’t seem to enjoy being waken up by the cockerel.
   
4. 
   He has definitely decided to get red of the cockerel.
   
5. 
   His parents do not keep chickens.
   

2. 
   Now listen again. Complete the phrases, which express Alex’s uncertainty about keeping a cockerel.
   

1. 
   Summer is probably ……………………….. to get a cockerel.
   
2. 
   The cockerel’s …………………. Everybody that he’s up.
   
3. 
   We …………………… ask the neighbours if it was going to be a problem.
   
4. 
   I think they had slightly .................................. when they said that