Leisure Activities: Lesson Activities for ESL Student

Objective: Express hobbies and other leisure activities students enjoy.

Target Language:

I like to (base verb/go/do, etc.). . .

My hobby is/hobbies are

What are your hobbies?

Hobbies/recreational pursuits (jogging, swimming, reading, listening to music, etc.)-focus on -ing ending for activities.

Activity 1: Bring in several objects related to hobbies and leisure activities to the classroom. Some might include a baseball, goggles, books, CDs and running shoes. Ask students to guess the activities that go with each object. Write them on the board, focusing on the -ing ending for activities (noun gerunds). Write the resulting list on the board. Have students copy the list into their notebooks. Another option is to have students bring an object from home related to something they like to do and have the others in the class try to guess each student's favorite hobby or leisure activity. Students could also draw a picture of the activity if they do not have an object to bring.

Activity 2: Give pairs of students picture cutouts of leisure activities and hobbies. These might be from magazines, newspapers or clip art from your computer. Go over the name of each activity with the entire class. Write them on the board. Also give students dialogue cards (or have them write their own by copying the dialogue written on the board) that have the following dialogue: Student A: What is your hobby? Student B: My hobby is __________. Student A: That's interesting! Student B: What about you? What is your hobby? Student A: My hobby is __________. Student B: That sounds like fun! Have the pairs of students practice this dialogue for each of the activity pictures you have given them.

Activity 3 : Create a worksheet for students in which they categorize different hobbies. On one half of the worksheet, put pictures of activities with the names of the activities written below each picture. On the other half of the worksheet, create a table with headings of "Independent," "Group," "Indoor," and "Outdoor." Tell students to write the names of the activities in the appropriate column in the table. For example, a picture of a person reading might be an independent activity that could be done either indoor or outdoor. Tell students that some activities might go in more than one column and that that is okay.

These activities are better suited to beginning to intermediate English language students. The more activities they do in groups, the more they are likely to learn from each other and to increase their vocabulary. Whenever possible, have students work in pairs or small groups. Watch out for one student either not participating or for another dominating the group. You may need to mix groups or pairs up to get an optimal mix of students in each.