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Age range: 11- 18
Theme: School holidays
Lexical area: Holidays
Instructions for language assistants in italics
Classroom materials
Introduction
This is a lesson that can be used as you near the end of term and everyone is looking forward to a long break from school! Task 1 starts by taking a look back at the academic year that has just finished. Task 2 is a brainstorm of vocabulary connected with school holidays and Task 3 is a class survey. Task 4 is a reading task about holiday trends in the UK and Task 5 looks at holiday jobs for teenagers. Task 6 is a creative one for students to plan their ideal school holiday in small groups. Happy holidays!
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1. Thinking about the last school year
When the end of an academic year comes near it can be a good idea to ask your students to think about the year that’s just gone. It can also be a useful time to get some feedback from your students on the parts of the class they’ve really enjoyed and the activities they may not have found so useful. Ask students to complete the sentences on their own first and then to compare their answers with a partner or in a small group.
Task 1 Thinking about the last school year
Before you start the school holidays let’s think about the last school year. Use your memory and complete these sentences on your own. Then compare your answers with some of your classmates.
- The best subject was ____________ because...
- The worst subject was ___________ because…
- I think I made the most progress in __________ because…
- The funniest thing that happened in a class last year was...
- The class I remember most from last year is...
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2. It’s nearly the school holidays!
You could do this task on the board as a group brainstorm. Ask students to close their eyes and think about the school holidays. Ask them what they thought of and write the words around the bubble to make a mind map. You could add to it too. If you think of completely different things to your students, ask each other why you thought of those things and compare your school holiday experiences.
Task 2 It’s nearly the school holidays!
Close your eyes for a minute and think about the school holidays. Then write the words or draw pictures of the things you thought of here:
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3. School holidays – class survey
Ask students to add two questions of their own to the survey and then interview four of their classmates and make notes of their answers in the table. If you have a huge class, put students into groups of five, if not students could walk around the room and interview whoever is free when they are. When everyone has finished ask students to feedback their findings to the whole class.
Task 3 School holidays – class survey
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| 1) What did you do during the last school holidays? |
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| 2) Do you have any plans for the next school holidays? |
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| 3) What’s the best thing about being on holiday? |
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| 4) What’s the worst thing about the school holidays? |
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4. Hobby or holiday? – reading task
This is a reading task for higher levels taken from the British Council’s Trend UK team. If you think your students are going to struggle with some of the vocabulary, pre-teach some of the words beforehand or make dictionaries available. When students have read the text, use the questions below to provoke discussion.
Task 4 Hobby or holiday? – reading task
Read the text and then discuss the questions below in small groups.
Hobby or Holiday? Ever wanted to go gorilla spotting or is wine tasting more up your street? Find out what is popular in the UK. Experiential holidays
'Experiential' holidays are the new vogue. Brits are no longer content with two weeks spent sunning themselves on a beach, they require something more to fulfil their holiday needs - whether trying something new in familiar places, or going to somewhere completely different. Even though Spain is still the UK's number one holiday destination it is themed holidays such as riding, dancing, golfing and trekking that are popular rather than the beach. France attracts people interested in golf, cultural, gastronomic and spa holidays. Further afield there is gorilla spotting in Uganda, whale spotting in Iceland and white water rafting in New Zealand. Survey results
A report commissioned by a leading UK insurance agency has found that 59% of Brits thought that the most important consideration when going on holiday was to travel to somewhere new and undiscovered. 69% are saying goodbye to the traditional two week beach holiday and heading for unusual resorts and short breaks. (Norwich Union) Beer holiday
Philip, a librarian from Gloucester, enjoys beer drinking holidays. He goes to a country specifically to taste their beer. With a dislike of beach holidays, cities are the ideal holiday location. If they happen to have their beer festival at this time, then even better! He prefers short breaks as he dislikes being away from work for too long (strange person) and is also aware that you cannot drink beer continuously for days on end. He is a connoisseur not a lager lout! Philip's favourite watering hole destinations are Belgium (top country) and Vienna (top city). They both offer vast varieties of excellent quality beer. Yoga holiday
Natalie is a shop assistant. Her priority for a holiday was to relax and improve her yoga moves. She chose to go to Ibiza as it is a beautiful place, it offers fantastic beaches and is a world renowned yoga retreat. She says 'As a single person, I was nervous about going on my own but found that most other people on the holiday were also single and of a similar age'. Not only did she find like-minded people but also improved her mental and physical well-being. The world is feeling smaller. With cheaper flights and flexible holidays it is getting easier for us to follow our dreams and attain the ultimate holiday experience. Text written by Nelly, British Council’s Trend UK team. Source: http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan-trenduk-hobbyholiday.htm |
- If you could choose an ‘experiential holiday’ and combine a holiday with a hobby, what would you do? Why?
- Do you know anyone who has gone on a holiday like those mentioned in the text?
- Why do you think the typical holidays taken by British people are changing?
- Do lots of British people visit your country for their holidays? Are they generally good guests? Why/ why not?
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5. Holiday jobs
If you’ve ever had any holiday jobs I’m sure your students would be interested in hearing about them. You could give them a few hints and then ask them to write three questions they’d like to ask you about your jobs. Or you could make it a guessing game and you only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and they have five minutes to find out as much as possible. Then go through the list of typical holiday jobs and make sure they know what each job entails. Put students into groups to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each job and then hold a class vote to decide on the best job. You could extend this task by asking students how much they would expect to be paid per hour for each job and discussing what they would buy with their extra holiday money.
Task 5 Holiday jobs
In the UK it’s quite common for teenagers to have holiday jobs and/or jobs they do at the weekends. Is it common for teenagers to work in your country? If so, what type of jobs do they do?
Look at the list of common holiday jobs and add one more. Then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Make notes in the table as you discuss them.
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| Babysitter |
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Paper Boy/ Girl
(doing a ‘paper round - delivering newspapers to people’s homes) |
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| Shop assistant |
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| Cleaner |
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| Waiter / waitress |
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| Dogwalking |
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6. Our ideal holiday
Put students into small groups or pairs and ask them to think about their ideal holiday. Money is no object so they can do whatever they like. Students should discuss their ideas in their group or with a partner and then tell the rest of the class about their ideal holiday. If you like, you could hold a class vote to see which is the most popular holiday. If you can, bring in some maps and holiday brochures to give students some ideas. If you have internet access you could ask students to find their flights, accomodation and to find things to do on their trip. You could make this more challenging by setting a budget.
Task 6 Our ideal holiday
Work in groups to plan your ideal holiday.
- What are you going to do?
- Where are you going to go?
- Who are you going to go with?
- How long are you going to stay?
You can do absolutely anything you like!
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Internet links
http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan-trenduk-hobbyholiday.htm - this is the link to the Trend UK website in Japan where the reading text in task 4 came from.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/ - CBBC’s Newsround site. Some information about the law for children who work.
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