Travel: when things go wrong

Objective & content

This sheet on travel opens on a teenager's travel blog, "Backpacking: my top tips". Noah went backpacking around Europe with two friends: their flight was delayed by five hours, the airline lost his luggage, a strike cancelled their train in Rome and a man tried to steal his phone in Barcelona. He ends with his tips: keep your documents safe, travel light and travel responsibly. The blog carries all the target words in context, from itinerary, budget and accommodation to delayed, claim compensation, fully booked and travel insurance. By the end, pupils understand and use the words to plan a trip, deal with problems while travelling and complain politely ("My flight was cancelled", "I would like to claim compensation").

Pedagogical guide

The vocabulary work comes out of the blog, never from a list. Page 1 checks understanding with six multiple-choice questions, then pupils write the right word under six pictures from a box of eight (departures board, baggage reclaim, hostel); two words have no picture. Page 2 matches eight words with their meanings (an itinerary, in advance, a connection, fully booked) and six collocations (miss a connection, claim compensation, travel light). Page 3 uses eight words from a box of ten in new sentences, with two extra words, and turns verbs into nouns with -ation (reserve, reservation), with a worked example and five items. It ends on Noah's email to the airline, where each of the six gaps is a choice between three topic words. It is the hardest task: the wrong words come from the same topic (hostel, itinerary or insurance). Every task tests words, never grammar.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask pupils about a journey that went wrong; write the travel words they know on the board.
2. (15 min) Pupils read the blog, answer the six questions and label the pictures.
3. (10 min) Page 2: match the meanings, then the collocations.
4. (15 min) Page 3: complete the eight sentences, the nouns with -ation, then Noah's email.
5. (10 min) Correct with the answer key on page 4; pupils read Noah's email aloud with the right words.

Adaptations

[S] Read the blog aloud together first; ask pupils about a journey that went wrong.

[A] After the collocations, pupils write five tips for a first trip abroad.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy per pupil of the three pupil pages, in colour or black and white. Page 4 is the answer key with teacher notes: keep it. Pupils should know the past simple, the present perfect, had to and could, the first conditional and the imperative. To take it further, pupils plan a three-day trip with an itinerary and a budget, or act out a conversation at a hostel reception in pairs.