Interview with my grandmother / Andrea Santos

My grandparents' leisure activities were very different from our leisure activities nowadays.
My grandparents didn’t have the same time for leisure activities as us, because in the past they had to work during the week and they hadn’t got so much toys as us.
I interviewed my grandmother.

Interview:

Did you have much free time when you were about my age?
--No, I hadn’t

Why?
--Because when I was the same age as you, I had to work hard to help my family because we lived in the country and we had got cows, sheep…The only day I had got free time was on Sundays evenings.

Did you use to spend your free time on your own or with other people?
--No, with other people. We used to walk on Sunday evenings and some times when we took the cows to the meadows, we tried that another friends come to the same place and then we could play games as: “hide-and-seek”, running…

What were your hobbies?
--My hobbies were sewing, knitting, talking to my friends and dancing.

Did other youngsters enjoy doing the same things?
--Yes, more or less. Not all the girls liked sewing and knitting.

Why did you do that?
--Because my mum taught me and I liked it.

If you could, which thing or things would have you changed?
--I would have liked to have more free time, not only for playing but for going more to school.

What is your opinion about the way young people spend their free time nowadays?
--I think that you don’t have enough imagination because you can’t enjoy yourselves without computer, TV, mobile phone…You need spend a lot of money to have fun.

Conclusion:

In the past my grandmother hadn’t got the same way of enjoying themselves me because her way of living was very different from mine.

Of course, I prefer my way of life.

by Andres Santos Fernández, 1º BACH A

How leisure activities have changed ... / Sara Cid

Leisure activities have changed a lot for the last years. They aren’t the same in the past and now. Our grandparents and parents used to do other things in their free time. They enjoyed more of the nature and they spent more time together.

For example, my parents used to play with toys made of wood and painted. Nowadays, all toys are made of plastic and they need batteries. In my opinion, children in the First World don’t develop their imagination. One reason is that toys move alone, they are mechanized; other reason is that children have a lot os games, toys...

In the past many people had to go to the mount with the cows, like my father. He lived in a village and his parents were ranchers. Nowadays, everything is easier because we have supermarkets where we can find any product.

I admit that my generation has everything within our reach. We have Internet, which is an important tool, TV, radio, a lot of magazines or newspapers... We can know what happens all over the world.

Our parents had TV but there was only a channel and with few programmes, so they spent their time with family or friends. Not very frequently and only the lucky ones went to the cinema. The cinemas of before were different. There were very few movies and they spent more time in billboard.

My grandparents would play with popular games, such as spinning top, runs, to clap... My grandmother used to make dolls with spikes of corn. In the past there weren’t toys. In addition the few ones there were very expensive for the majority.

My grandparents lived in a rural way, so they used what existed in the field to amuse themselves. In my opinion this way of entertainment is good because you enjoy yourself and at the same time you respect the environment. I believe that technology is not necessary to have fun.

Nowadays, teenagers are only worried in playing with computer games and they don’t socialize. These games are addicted and very expensive and they are bad for their mind because some teenagers usually think the real world is like these games.

In conclusion, every way of entertainment is different and it has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, leisure activities in the past were cheap but there were few ones. On the other hand, nowadays there are a lot of activities but nearly all need from the technology. Probably in the future there will be other ways of spending the free time...

by Sara Cid Feijóo, 1º BACH A

Young people's leisure activities nowadays / Rubén Viso Vidal

Nowadays, many adults argue about how young people spend our free time. So I am going to write about our leisure activities and I will try to find if they are good or not, as well as the good and bad sides of each activity. First, I am going to explain what we do in our free time. School and schoolwork are very hard, so we need some activities to relax and disconnect from it. It is also important to have a good time while we do those activities. These are our leisure activities:


When a teenager finishes his/her work, the first thing he/she will do is to call some friends and go out with them. Then, most of them will go to the cinema to watch a film or go to the shopping centre. These are good activities because when a teenager goes to the cinema or shopping, he/she doesn´t annoy anybody and he/she will enjoy himself/herself. The problem comes up when the teenager spends too much money in that activity, so they will probably receive a punishment from their parents. Young people can also go to the amusement arcades, where they can play video games, billiards and table football.

This is such a good way to enjoy oneself and to meet new people at the same time. However, it can also be a problem if the teenager spends too much time at those activities because it can affect his/her school marks and he/she can waste too much money. A lot of young people will spend their free time going for a walk, doing sport or going out for a drink. They are very good activities for teenagers because those are such really good ways to meet other teenagers and to enjoy themselves at the same time. Going for a walk and doing sports are also good for our health.

However, a few teenagers will stay at home. There, they will spend their free time watching TV, playing computer games, surfing the Internet or chatting. These activities, which are very funny, can also affect their health and lead them to a sedentary life and to obesity.

In my opinion, young people can enjoy ourselves and get high marks at school at the same time. I think that our leisure activities are different from our parents’ leisure activities, but neither better nor worse. I am sure that the problems which could come up with our leisure activities can be resolved with a bit of responsibility from us, from politicians and from all citizens, especially noises at nights.

by Rubén Viso Vidal, 1º BACH

All photos taken by Rubén Viso Vidal.

What I do in my leisure time?

Nowadays most young people spend their leisure time in a wide range of activities. Usually these activities are going out with our friends, surfing the Internet, playing computer games or relaxing, but there are lots of different activities that young people normally don’t do. In this composition I’m going to talk about these activities.

First I want to talk about the world of theatre, to which I have just entered. I started relating with people, who have a special interest in it, last summer and now I’m in two groups of theatre. In the first one like a technician of lighting and sound, the name of this group is “A Sombra Teatro”. The group is composed by five actors and a technician. We have just represented “Os Carniceiros” in the MOTA, a sample of theatre in Ourense.

At the second group of theatre, I’m in it like an actor. For me, it is a special group because I started in it five years ago and I have a lot of recollections about it. Its name is “Leria” and sometimes we fuse with another group of old people, with which we do some representations. At the moment, we are preparing a new representation called “XXVI + XV” with which we are going to compete in the “MOTECES”, a sample of school theatre.

Also, I have a Cultural Association, called “Delatoute productions” (it’s not French), with a group of people that love cinema and in general, audiovisual. Here I do a lot of things, as for example, I’m the lighting and sound technician, one of the four operator camera and finally, I have a small role as an actor. I’m very happy with our new project, a television series, called “Carleision”, which mixes comedy and intrigue. This is our first project, which Telemiño (a local TV channel) has already accepted.

Finally, I will talk about the youth house of Ourense. This is the starting point for many groups and associations. The youth house gives grants to these groups and lends them a space for rehearse. It isn’t just a theatre site, because there are many other activities such as: playing chess, doing sports, dancing, renting films and music, surfing Internet, reading newspapers and magazines…

In conclusion, most young people have a wrong stereotype of leisure time, because there are thousands of different things to do instead of those mentioned before. I think people shouldn’t get drunk or take drugs to have a good time. I make an appeal to people who believe that getting drunk or taking drugs will make them happy, to try to do something new, like going to the theatre or see a good film.

by Roi López Blanco, 1º BACH – B

Leisure activities in the past and now / Adriana Iglesias

I’ve always thought that children have everything they want, and that they don’t have time to get bored. Leisure activities have improved a lot; I mean, there are many video games and facilities that 30 years ago people couldn’t imagine they would exist someday.

When my parents were very young, they used to go out with their friends. They went to the park with them and sometimes with their family. There, they exercised or they just played on the children’s playground. When they became teenagers , they started to do different things. For example, my mother loved reading romantic novels, and my father joined a band. At nights, they went to the disco to dance or to date someone, since that was the place where my parents met.

My grandparents used to do similar things. They lived in villages and there, they played popular games and they took care of animals like horses, sheep and cows. They liked going fishing to the river and there they swam. They also had picnics and went camping. My great- grandfather would hunt and he taught my grandfather how to do it, though he didn’t like it because he was fond of animals.

Nowadays, people do different things, but also the same as them. I sometimes have lunch with my friends in a restaurant and then we spend the rest of the day together. In summer, we go to the swimming pool, which is crowded, and we sunbathe, swim in the pool and play cards. Some people love going to the shopping center. They can buy clothes or whatever they want. Others like reading and they can spend all their time doing it.

One of the things that has always been very important is spending time with your family. I meet them every Sunday, and we always have a good time together. I think this was even better in the past, because it was very common to live with your grandparents or other members of the family, so you could see them every day.

We should do more things outdoors, as people did in the past. Although they didn’t have electronic machines, they knew how to have a good time and spent more time with their friends, something that helped them to be sociable and more confident. Many people stay at home watching TV or playing computer games, instead of playing sports, going to the cinema…
In conclusion, our leisure activities can improve even more if we mix things people did in the past with other things we do now. Maybe, if you’re used to doing something, you can make an effort and try to make it funnier than it is. It just depends on how you want to spend your free time.

by Adriana Iglesias Pazos, 1º E Bach

Interviewing our grandparents

Comparing parents and grandparents’ free time and mine, I realize; some years ago there were more free time, more imagination to spend it and less dangers on the street, but parent’s orders were stricter.
On one hand, my parents used to go fishing and having walks in the nature and; on the other hand, I just go out on evenings Saturday three times a month. I would like to spend more time with my friends, but with my homework I don’t have enough.
I’ve interviewed my grandmother, who is in her seventies.

Me- Did you have much free time when you were about my age?
Grandmother- Yes, I did.
M- Why?
G- Because when I was seventeen, I had already left school. I got married at the age of eighteen.
M- Did you use to spend your freetime on your own or with other people?
G- That depends. Sometimes alone, another times with friends or family.
M- What were your hobbies?
G- I used to do needlework, I liked to sew, to embroider, to knit,…
M- Did other youngsters enjoy doing the same things?
G- The girls….yes. But boys used to play football, ride horses, catch birds, climb trees, they were doing pranks every day.
When we were younger, both girls and boys, used to skip rope and play with the spinning top.
M- Why did you do that (to sew)?
G- Because we spent most of the time at home. Parents didn’t allow you to go out. If you were at the cinema, watching a film, which had already finished and you must came back at home at an hour, you had to leave the film unfinished.
M- What is your opinion about the way young people spend their free time nowadays?
G- There are good, and bad things. It’s ok a flexible timetable, leave the film unfinished had no sense, but there are too young people who go out to eight in the morning; that’s too much!

I don’t think that my grandmother’s activities were more enjoyable than mine (to sew is not funny). But they spent less money and had more imagination.
Nowadays, most teenagers spend their free time opposite the computer’s screen or television.
In my opinion, society should reflect on teenagers’ behaviour. We should take advantage of gyms and mixed groups (boys and girls friends), so, leave the TV remote control or the social drinking glass and have a walk in the nature.

by María Martínez López, 1ºBAC A

What do you think about the leisure activities of young people nowadays?

Nowadays, there is a very big source of activities for young people to spend their leisure time, the way of spending these moments depends on a lot of factors such as hobbies and personality or maybe what is trendy and what is not.

In general, I think we spend most part of this time being with our friends, you can always see groups of young people going for a walk, practising sport or talking.

Where I live, these are the principal activities young people do, since my town hasn't got a lot to offer. I agree with some people that think it would be nice to have more concerts, to have cinema festivals or some alternative activities. However, in this town there isn't a bad atmosphere at night and you can have a good time at the discos or in parties. It is true that when people start drinking alcohol, smoking or taking drugs it stops being fun and becomes very dangerous and negative.

Other people prefer staying at home instead of going out. Here, there are also good things to do. You can read, watch TV or play video games. It seems to me this last option has become extremely popular with the Play Station, in my opinion it's good to spend some time playing but taking care of doing physical exercise too. Another activity we frequently do is surfing on the internet, social networking sites have caught on a lot of popularity between us. When you are at home you can enjoy being with your family and spending a while with them.

Also, there are good schools of music, so there are a lot of people who play the violin, the guitar or other musical instruments.

In short, there are a lot of different activities so, in my view, we should try many of them and vary a lot, I'm sure that all of them can furnish us something.

by Elba Pérez Pemán, 1º A BACH