BAZA ZNANJA

Kurs: -- English - Pre-Intermediate

Modul: Present Continuous Tense

Autor: prof. Gordana Matorkić

Naziv jedinice: Free Time

A lot of teenagers in Belgrade like doing various activities in their free time. The most popular are sports, playing PC games or playing a musical instrument, walking around Kalemegdan, going to the cinema, watching DVD movies. When the weather is nice they like going to Ada Ciganlia or Zemun quay. Then they usually ride bicycles, walk around with their dogs, run, roller-skate or just sit on the bench and talk to their friends.

But a recent survey among teenagers shows that they spend most of their time doing their homework, using the Internet and playing PC games with their friends. Teenagers usually have too much homework to do so they can’t relax. They don't have time for other activities. Some teenagers do part-time jobs to get some money. Most of them usually work at Mc Donald's. If they go to school in the morning and work at Mc Donald's in the evening, they are very tired at the end of the day.

Marina is an ordinary girl from Belgrade. She's 16 years old. She gets up at 6, has breakfast at 6.20 and then goes to school. She arrives at school at 6.50 every morning. Her classes start at 7. She often has a lot of homework but when she has free time she usually goes to a fantastic ice rink on Kalemegdan. At this moment Marina is at Kalemegdan Park. She is ice-skating, listening to good music and talking to her friends. Some of them are drinking tea or Coca Cola and others are eating sandwiches. They are laughing and singing along with the music. People are falling on the ice, children are crying and their parents are trying to calm them down. It's crowded and you usually have to wait in a queue for 10 or 15 minutes. She likes to go out on Saturdays. Marina and her best friends Ana, Petar, Marco and Sanja usually go clubbing.

We made a short interview with Marina's friends:

Which clubs do you go to?

There are about seven different clubs in the city centre and we like visiting them all. The best nightclubs are "Underground", "Schtamparija", "Bitef", "Resava"... with the best music and the best atmosphere. At the moment we are sitting in a famous café, called "Jazz club". It's daylight so it isn't crowded. We are on school vacation so we can stay longer in the evening. The man who’s standing over there is my friend Nicola. He's very busy now. He's serving some people and smiling at them. He sometimes works double shifts because he needs money. He goes to school with me. The girl who is sitting by the window is Sanja. She is explaining something to a waiter and waving at us.

What do you do in your free time?

Petar: I usually play football or basketball but today I am riding a bicycle and after that I am seeing my friends. We are going fishing and swimming on Sunday. I think it's a great sport. We sometimes stay at the river all day. My father usually brings a barbecue, tents and the guitar. That tall man who's standing next to my coach is my father. They are talking and discussing something at the moment. The woman with long, dark hair who's running is my mother.

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