How to talk about sports in C1 Speaking? Let’s find out!
Hello, this is Kristian from Cambridge Advanced Speaking, how are you doing today? I’m grateful that you’re listening to this episode, and I hope you’re ready to learn some English with me.
If you didn’t know, I run the website Get Ready For Success, and there you can find the audio files, videoclips and lesson notes for all the podcast episodes.
In addition, I’m also the founder of the C1 Speaking Club.
In this private community we help each other go from struggling speaker to confident communicator.
How do we do achieve that transformation? Well, we practise a lot. We have online live lessons, we do vocabulary challenges and we participate in speaking practice rooms.
And these speaking practice rooms, that’s the one thing I’m particularly excited about, because the response from our community members has been extremely positive.
If you want to know why our members love the speaking practice rooms, then there’s no better way than to try this experience yourself. You can already become a member for €9.99 and get full access to all the rooms for one month.
The speaking rooms are particularly useful for students preparing for C1 Speaking, and anyone else who wants to learn to talk about interesting topics in natural spoken English.
All right, that’s all about the C1 Speaking Club for now. Let’s move onto today’s topic.
VocabularyÂ
We have an exciting episode today all about the topic of sports. We are going to be looking at vocabulary, collocations and a model answer. Let’s begin!
First of all, listen carefully to the next two sentences.
Which sport do you like?
I like to do / play / watch / practice ___.
Which sport do you like?
I like doing winter sports, like skiing and skating.
Sport (n. – uncountable)
I did a lot of sport when I was younger, but I don’t do much sport these days.
To sport (v.) = to wear
She is sporting trendy sunglasses.
Sporty (adj.) = someone who enjoys doing sport
He is not really the sporty type.
Verb + Sport
There are different verbs we can use with the word ‘sport’, and also different sports will take different verbs.
- Do sports
- Play sports
- Practice sports (more serious)
- Play soccer / football / tennis
We usually use ‘play’ for competitive team sports.
We usually use ‘do’ for individual sports without a ball.
- Do yoga / pilates / judo
Below we have some different ways of saying ‘I like’ a sport:
I’m into _____
I’m keen on _____
I’m a big fan of _______
I’m one for _____
I really dig _______
Which sport did you practice as a child?
I used to ____
I played____
I was into ___
I would ____
Which sports do you do now?
I’m into _____
I currently play / do ______
At the moment, I am doing ______
I’m fond of _______
Idioms
To try your hand at = to try a new activity
I’d like to try my hand at snowboarding, it looks so much fun!
To take up = to start a hobby / sport
I’d take up water skiing, if I had the time and lived near a lake
To root for = to support (a team, a player)
I’m rooting for Feyenoord Rotterdam, that’s my favourite football club.
Question and Model Answer
Participation is more important than winning. Do you agree?
Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more! First of all, when you’re active, you become fitter. Secondly, when you participate you learn other invaluable life skills, such as how to build a strong habit, and how to respect others.
Of course, I understand that winning can be a motivating factor that drives people to achieve their goals. What’s more, winning can also provide a sense of pride. But here’s the thing: only a minority can win, while the vast majority can still benefit from participating, even if they’re not winning.
So, by and large, participation is significantly more important than winning.
Closing Notes
Okay then, in this episode we have been talking about the topic of sports. Of course, this is just the start. You should practise, repeat and review. If you want to do that with friendly people, why not join the C1 Speaking Club? Next week we’re doing a vocabulary challenge all about sports. In addition, we also have live lessons and plenty of speaking practice rooms.
Sounds amazing, right? So, if want more speaking practice to improve yourself, the C1 Speaking Club is the perfect solution. The regular membership fee is €97 per year, but now you can get a yearly membership for only €48.50. And if you don’t want to commit for one year, you can also become a member for just €9.99 per month.
Why wait any longer? Join the C1 Speaking Club today and become part of an engaging community, where friendly people are helping and motivating each other to become confident English speakers.
The place to join and become a member is getreadyforsuccess.com, there you click on the big yellow C1 Speaking Club button. I hope to see you on the inside!
All right, that’s all from me. Take care of yourself, and each other.
Speak soon, my friends.
Bye!
