Georgie Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have everyday conversations in easy English. I’m Georgie.
Neil And I’m Neil. Don’t forget to visit our website to find a text version of this podcast so you can read along.
Georgie Hi, Neil. How are things?
Neil I’m very well, thank you, Georgie. And how about you? How’s your week going?
Georgie My week’s going really well, thank you. And I’m excited because later I have choir practice.
Neil** Choir** practice. That means you sing with other people.
Georgie It does.
Neil Well, that’s good because we’re talking all about hobbies and those are the activities that we do after work or college, or at the weekends.
Georgie So, Neil, I go to choir. Do you have any hobbies?
Neil Yes, I also have a musical hobby. I like to play guitar.
Georgie Nice. How often do you play the guitar?
Neil It depends. Sometimes I play for a long time and often. Usually, if I’ve heard a song I like I want to learn how to play it.
And then sometimes I don’t play at all for a while, for weeks.
Georgie OK, so you go through phases, I suppose.
Neil Yeah. And how about your choir? Tell me more about that.
Georgie Well, so I go to choir practice weekly, every Monday. And at the moment we’re practising for a Christmas concert. We did just do a concert, which was really fun and we’ve got another one… another one coming.
Neil Right, OK. And do you really enjoy the singing? How does it make you feel?
Georgie I love the singing because I put my phone in my bag and I just sing with my friends and we have a really nice group of people that do choir. So, I really enjoy it.
So, Neil, you like playing the guitar but maybe there’s a new hobby you’d like to try?
Neil Yeah. So I’ve been playing guitar for many years, but I don’t have any training and I can’t read music. So I thought that maybe I should learn piano and learn properly.
Georgie Oh. That would be good. Then you can play the piano with my choir.
Neil OK. When do I start?
Georgie Next Monday?
Neil So, do you have any hobbies that aren’t musical?
Georgie Yes, I like doing some exercise. So, I like running and I like doing yoga. At the moment, I’m not running regularly. I’m running probably monthly, so once a month, which is not very good. I’d like to run more.
Neil Yeah, I also run, but I struggle to do it regularly. I think if you do it twice or three times a week, it’s easy to keep going. But once you stop, you stop for a long time.
Georgie I completely agree. It’s difficult to stick to a routine with running, I find. It’s very easy to lose your routine.
Neil So, Georgie, you go to choir regularly, but you don’t run regularly. What’s this word regularly?
Georgie Well, regularly means that you do something often as part of a regular routine. So, for example, I regularly get a coffee when I come to work. So, I get a coffee most times I come to work. But I don’t regularly buy lunch. I usually bring my own lunch from home.
Neil Saves money.
Georgie Neil, what about unusual hobbies? Do you have any unusual hobbies?
Neil I suppose I do. I quite like making sauerkraut.
Georgie OK sauerkraut. What is sauerkraut?
Neil It’s a kind of food. You get some cabbage and you slice it thinly and you add some salt, you crush it and you leave it. And after a while it changes into something new, which is very good for your stomach.
Georgie OK, so why do you like making sauerkraut, Neil?
Neil It’s very relaxing and it takes a while for it to be right. And I think in today’s world, we do lots of things that happen very quickly. So it’s kind of old-fashioned, but satisfying.
Georgie OK, makes sense. I wouldn’t do it, but I’m glad you have found something you love.
Well, let’s recap the language we learned during the conversation. We had weekly, which means every week.
Neil Yes, and monthly, every month.
Georgie We had regularly, often.
Neil We also heard the word choir, a group of people who sing together.
Georgie Yes. Thanks for listening to Real Easy English. Continue you learning on our website where you’ll find worksheets and courses for all levels. Visit bbclearningenglish.com.
Neil Next time, we’ll talk about the things we do to stay healthy.
Georgie Bye for now.
Neil Bye.