Free time

Objective & content

This sheet on free time starts from Grace's interview for the school newsletter with two new pupils, Kai and Amira, with a picture of each. Kai plays basketball, goes swimming and loves climbing; Amira does judo, plays the guitar, is learning the drums and collects stamps. Pupils answer six multiple-choice questions, name six sports pictures from a box of eight words, match eight words such as coach, goalkeeper and to join with their meanings, complete nine sentences and choose play, go or do in nine collocations (play football, go swimming, do judo). The sheet ends on a crossword with eleven clues and no word list.

Pedagogical guide

The interview shows the three verbs in use before pupils choose them: play for ball games and games, go with -ing activities, do for martial arts and gymnastics. Every subject in the collocations task is I, we, they or a plural, so the answer is always play, go or do and never turns on the third-person -s. The crossword is the hardest task: some clues send pupils back to Kai and Amira, others to words from the earlier tasks (racket, helmet, chess).

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask "What do you do in your free time?" and sort the answers on the board under play, go and do.
2. (10 min) Three pupils read the interview aloud as Grace, Kai and Amira; the class answers the six questions.
3. (10 min) Pupils name the six pictures and match the eight words with their meanings.
4. (12 min) Pupils complete the sentences, then read the worked example together and do the collocations.
5. (8 min) Pupils solve the crossword alone or in pairs.
6. (5 min) Check with the answer key on pages 4 and 5.

Adaptations

[S] Run a class survey before the collocations: "Find someone who goes swimming."

[A] Pupils interview a partner with Grace's questions. To take it further, they write a newsletter interview with a new pupil in their own class.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of the three pupil pages per pupil, in colour or in black and white. Pages 4 and 5 are the answer key: keep them. Pupils should know the present simple and the days of the week.