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Unit 5, Hobbies, is a dynamic, student-centered ESL speaking unit designed for multilingual learners ages 6–18. This unit uses universally fun topics—sports, music, games, nature, cooking, art, and creative activities—to build real conversation skills.
Because all students have hobbies, this unit naturally encourages:
Confident speaking
Personal expression
Longer, more descriptive answers
Higher engagement
Strong peer-to-peer conversation
Teachers searching for ESL speaking lessons, hobbies conversation worksheets, A1–A2 ESL oral activities, or K–12 speaking units will find this unit a perfect fit.
This unit helps students talk about:
Sports and physical activities
Music, instruments, dancing, and performing
Cooking, gardening, outdoor adventures, and collecting
Creative hobbies like drawing, crafts, photography, and building
Each lesson is built using a speaking-first framework:
Chat-a-Bit oral warm-up
Short readings to introduce speaking vocabulary
Bolded vocabulary discussed aloud
3–4 speaking questions per reading
Four structured dialogues for oral fluency
Speaking tasks and role-plays
“Would you rather…?” speaking challenges
Reflection questions to extend conversation
This design ensures every learner gets dozens of chances to speak in each lesson.
Students practice:
Asking and answering open-ended questions
Sharing opinions about hobbies
Talking about interests, activities, and personal routines
Speaking in full sentences
Using descriptive, emotional, and comparative language
Students improve:
Listening to partners during dialogues
Understanding oral instructions
Responding naturally during conversations
Students learn and use vocabulary related to:
Sports: team, solo, confidence, champion, practice
Music: band, choir, rhythm, concert, equipment
Fun hobbies: nature, binoculars, recipe, creative, patience
Creative hobbies: model, tripod, imagination, kit, crafts
This vocabulary is immediately applied through speaking—not memorized passively.
Present simple for hobbies (“I enjoy…,” “I play…”)
Opinion language (“I think…,” “My favorite is…”)
Comparative speaking (“I prefer…,” “This is more fun…”)
Describing frequency (“always,” “sometimes,” “once a week”)
Students speak early and often through partner tasks and real communication.
Lessons use real tasks:
Describing a hobby
Explaining a favorite sport
Sharing a creative project
Talking about music or collections
Young learners use structured questions and sentence starters.
Teens give longer, more expressive answers.
Newcomers rely on visuals and repetition.
Students bring hobbies from their home cultures, enriching conversation.
This unit follows:
Unit 1: Daily Life speaking
Unit 2: Neighborhood speaking
Unit 3: Animals speaking
Unit 4: Food speaking
Unit 5 expands students’ speaking ability into personal interests, helping learners express themselves more deeply.
This unit also prepares them for later topics like:
Social interaction
Describing interests
Making plans
Discussing personal preferences
Speaking Objective: Students talk about sports, energy, teamwork, winning/losing, and famous athletes.
Speaking Vocabulary: depend, give up, practice, confidence, champion, inspire
Speaking Activities Include:
Warm-up about sports and group size
Short readings with speaking questions
Dialogues about sports energy, teamwork, winning/losing, and sports stars
Speaking tasks about indoor/outdoor games
“Would you rather…?” sports choices
Speaking Benefit: Excellent for energetic, confidence-building oral practice.
Speaking Objective: Students discuss music, rhythm, instruments, dancing, and performing.
Speaking Vocabulary: band, choir, rhythm, concert, amazing, equipment
Speaking Activities Include:
Oral warm-up about school shows and singing
Readings on music mood, learning instruments, dancing, performing
4 music-themed dialogues
Partner speaking about concerts & performance fears
“Would you rather…?” music vs. dance questions
Speaking Benefit: Supports expressive speaking through emotion and creativity.
Speaking Objective: Students talk about cooking, gardening, hiking, collecting, and games.
Speaking Vocabulary: recipe, nature, binoculars, patience, creative, results
Speaking Activities Include:
Warm-up about relaxing vs. active hobbies
Speaking questions after each reading
Dialogues on cooking, gardening, nature hobbies, collecting
Describing favorite games
“Would you rather…?” hobby choices
Speaking Benefit: Encourages storytelling and descriptive speaking.
Speaking Objective: Students describe drawing, building, knitting, music-making, and photography.
Speaking Vocabulary: model, kit, tripod, imagination, crafts, unique
Speaking Activities Include:
Warm-up about making vs. playing
Readings with speaking questions
Dialogues on art, building, crafts, music, and photography
Creative reflection tasks
“Would you rather…?” creative choices
Speaking Benefit: Builds expressive vocabulary and encourages personal sharing.
Encourage students to bring in real items (instruments, photos, drawings).
Let students interview each other about hobbies.
Use sentence frames for beginners (“I enjoy…,” “My hobby is…”)
Invite students to demonstrate or teach a hobby if appropriate.
Use speaking circles or small groups for maximum talk time.
Oral description of a hobby
Dialogue performance
Short presentation: “My favorite hobby”
Peer interview about hobbies
End-of-unit speaking check focusing on detail and confidence