How often do you …? Talking about routines

Hello! In this unit, we are going to learn where we can practice the different sports and how frequently we practice them.

1- Reading comprehension

1.1- Talking about routines

Read the following text about Fred. Then work on the exercises below.

 

Hello! My name is Fred. I go to school in the morning and I play tennis in the afternoon. I want to be a professional tennis player, so I train every day. I walk to the tennis court near my house and I meet my coach there. As part of my training, I play tennis, I go swimming and I do some stretching exercises every day.

 

Before completing the text about Fred, let us have a quick reminder on how to use the Simple Present Tense:

 

Simple Present Tense
Affirmative / Positive (+)	Structure	Subject + verb (He/She/it + s/es) + rest of the sentence
	Examples:	I go to school in the morning. She goes to school in the afternoon.
Interrogative / Questions (?)	Structure	Do / Does + Subject + verb + rest of the sentence + ?
	Examples:	Do you read in bed every day? Does she watch TV in the evening?
Negative (-)	Structure	Subject +  do (don’t) / does not (doesn´t) + verb + rest of the sentence
	Examples:	We don’t play table tennis at the weekend. She doesn´t go swimming in the morning.

 

For example, in the text Fred says “I go to school in the morning” but when we talk about him, we say: “He goes to school in the morning.” We add “es” to the verb. 

A) Can you try to complete these sentences?

 

1.2- Grammar snack on Frequency adverbs

We use adverbs of frequency (always, sometimes, every …) to say how many times we do something. Let´s have a look at the chart below.

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
X	X	X	X	X	always
X	X		X	X	usually
X		X		X	often
	X		X		sometimes
					never

 

Remember!

• We write the adverb of frequency between the subject and the main verb.  For example, I always go to the gym in the evening.
• 3rd person singular (he/she/it) we add “s” or “es” to the verb.  For example, she always goes to the gym in the morning.
• We use every … to talk about something we do regularly (every day, every Saturday, every summer).  For example, we go to the club every Saturday.  
• Every … goes at the end of the sentence.  For example, he goes to the gym every Saturday.  They go to the beach every summer.  Does he watch TV every day?

 

1.3- Grammar snack on collocations

Let´s have a quick reminder on the different verbs we use to talk sports.

 

Verb	Kind of sport	Example
Go	-ing like swimming, dancing, roller skating	I go roller-skating on Saturday morning.
Play	Sports with balls, like football, volleyball, tennis.	He plays tennis every day.
Do	Individual sports, like yoga, karate, yudo.	She does karate after school every Wednesday.

 

1.4- Grammar snack on places where we practice sports

Fred likes playing tennis but some of his friends prefer doing some other activities.  Let’s see what they like and where they go to practice them.  

Jackson:     I like swimming. I go swimming to the swimming pool near my house every Saturday.
Jason:         I love football. I usually play football in the local football pitch.
Daniel:        I like karate. I always do karate at the dojo opposite the school.
Catherine:  I like dancing. I go dancing at the local dance studio on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Bridget:      I love basketball. I usually walk to the basketball court near my house, but I sometimes ride my bike.
Brenda:      I like yoga. I sometimes do yoga at home and I sometimes do it at the local yoga club.  

 

1.5- Practice

A) Read the text about Fred’s friends again and match the sports (swimming, football, karate, dancing, basketball, yoga) with the places (swimming pool, football pitch, gym, dance studio, basketball court, yoga club) where you can practice them.

 

 

2- Focus on Writing

Look at the chart below and write how often these kids do the different activities.  Remember to use the correct verb before each activity and the correct place where we can do each activity.

 

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Peter / tennis	X	X	X	X	X
Kevin / swimming	X	X		X	X
Cathy / dancing	X		X		X
Peter / karate		X		X
Sheila / football

 

Example:

Peter always plays tennis at the tennis court.

Kevin usually goes swimming in the swimming pool.

 

A) Can you write about the other kids?

1) Cathy ________________________________________________.

2) Peter ________________________________________________ .

3) Sheila ________________________________________________.

Solution:

Please remember to work on your own before having a look at the answers below.

Can you write about the other kids?

1) Cathy often goes dancing at the dance studio. 

2) Peter sometimes does karate at the dojo.

3) Sheila never plays football at the football pitch.