An Activity for Travel/Weather/Seasons

I'm still studying away for the Delta.  The test is on June 5th, so I feel like the day of reckoning is coming or something like that.  Anyway, hoping for the best.  This is just a quick study break to write a blog post.

Almost every ESL textbook has a unit on Travel or Weather or Seasons.  Here is an excellent "task-based" kind of activity that you can do with your students, which will fit into any of these units really well:

Put the students into groups of 4-6 (I do it randomly).   The students are a tour company and the customers are my parents who are coming from Canada to Busan for a visit.  I will show them a picture of my parents and explain about the kinds of things they like and don't like (example: they like walking around, and sightseeing as well as watching sports, but they hate seafood).   Then, the students have to plan a 1-3 day tour (depending on the time for the activity/level of students) of Busan (or your city) for my parents. 

I usually give them around 20-30 minutes for the task, and at the end they have to share their ideas with me and the class.  I make a rule that 2-3 people should do the speaking, to give more students a chance to talk.  I pick the top groups, based upon the following:

1. I think my parents would love the tour
2. They just speak, and don't read from a paper
3. Their presentation was convincing. 

 And of course, they get a little prize (one stamp as part of my reward system).

This could also be adapted into a more comprehensive task, such as making a brochure or promo video or something like that.

Free: 40 Tried and Tested ESL Games and Activities

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