Popular Pastime

How people use their free time depends on age, sex, educational background, social class and, of course, on their personal taste and inclinations. But even so, it is availability of choices open to them that usually stimulates and directs their recreations.

Enjoyments of the Countryside. The British climate confines many outdoor activity and general enjoyment of the countryside to specific times of the year. National Park are open to the public for walking, bird watching, camping, caravanning (in specific areas) and, above all, for enjoying the scenery, the peace and quiet. There are a large number of rambling clubs whose members meet at weekends and on summer evenings to walk along some of Britain’s many footpaths that criss-cross the countryside.

Many people who enjoy rambling, climbing and cycling often combine these activities with membership of the Youth Hostels Association (YHA). The hostels, doted about the country ― especially in popular areas like the Lake District and the Devon moors ― provide cheap accommodation for members in simple establishments where they normally cater for themselves.

Outings. On holidays, on weekends or days off people often go for day “outing”. Some may not get much further than local parks or private gardens open to the public. Others may visit nearby art galleries and museums, or perhaps go to London for special exhibitions. Interesting exhibitions are organized every year and attract millions of visitors from Britain and overseas. Real enthusiasts go on outing in all weathers.

Outings to the seaside. Whether they have a boat or not, most British families like to spend some time at the seaside in the summer. The beaches are very crowded in hot weather. Groups of people go on organized outings, to popular resorts like Brighton or Blackpool. Coaches full of factory or office workers drive to the coast for a day out. If the sea is warm enough they can go for a swim of they may prefer to take off their shoes and paddle in the shallow water. They may bring a picnic lunch with them , and they can buy ice-cream form the ice-cream van, tea from the refreshment kiosk and drink at the pubs. It may rain but the British are used do changeable weather. The family can always sit in the car, or find the nearest amusement arcade or simply turn round and go home.

Cultural entertainments. Not everybody in Britain is interested in sport or in outings. Some are interested in going to the theatre, to the cinema, to concerts or to the opera where music by British composers is often on the programme. But this kind of entertainment is getting expensive and it is largely city activity, towns and cities also have public art galleries and museums.

A specially classes in Adult Institutes and Colleges of Further Education. People study an incredible variety of subjects, many of them clearly vocational and others of general interest. The difference between adult learners and school- children is that adult learners are choosing what they wish to learn, and usually giving up their leisure time willingly to learn it.

The most popular subjects are foreign languages, computer studies, shorthand/typing and office skills, business administration/management, arts and cultural subjects. Some people go to practical classes like dress-making or car-maintaining but many go for pleasure to do ballet dancing, to lean how to arrange flowers artistically, or to learn a foreign language. Others join classes organized by the Workers’ Educational Association and enjoy listening to lectures and discussing subjects like philosophy.

5. What is outing? When do people usually go on outings?

6. What activities are counted as cultural entertainment?

Unit 5

Topic: Days, months, season, weather, time

Language: 1. The Present Continuous Tense

2. The construction to be going to do smth.

3. Impersonal Sentences

4. Numerals

5. Adjectives. Degrees of comparison

Text: The seasons and the weather

1. Language

1. Sentence Patterns

Key examples to be memorized

I am reading a book

He is reading a book

Are you reading a book?