Turn the classroom into a travel agent’s

Lesson plan
 Length: between 1 hour 15 minutes and 2 hours 10 minutes
 Target language: present tenses, can, question formation (assumes some previous
knowledge)
 Class profile: adults / young adults of mixed nationalities (minimum 4 students)

Main aims
 enquiring at a travel agent’s
 describing a country
 expanding travel vocabulary

Subsidiary aims
 improving class dynamics
 using students’ knowledge as a resource

Materials
 a sheet of A3 paper per pair
 felt tip pens
 Blu-Tack
 a map of the world or a globe

Lesson procedure
Step Method Time
Warmer 1. Tell the class that they have won a free holiday voucher that 15 – 20
they can use with any travel agent. Check the concept of minutes
‘voucher’ by asking questions such as: ‘Is this money?’ (No.);
‘Can I buy a holiday with this? (Yes.); ‘Where did I get it from?’
(I won it.).
2. Show students a globe/map and explain that you have no idea
where to go.
3. Point at some countries that your students come from and ask
questions about the culture, such as: ‘Can I wear a bikini on the
beach in Saudi Arabia?’; ‘Why not?’; ‘Can I get vegetarian food
in Vietnam?’; ‘What can I eat?’.
4. Asks pairs to brainstorm the other factors a tourist should think
about before they choose where to go on holiday.
5. Gather students’ ideas and add them to the board. They could
include: transport, accommodation, security, sights/activities,
weather, money, language.

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 Turn the classroom into a travel agent’s

Step Method Time

Question 1. Take one of the topics from 5 above, e.g. weather. Display on 20-25
Formation the board four jumbled questions which a tourist might ask a minutes
travel agent on that topic, e.g.:
need to do umbrella bring an I?
(Do I need to bring an umbrella?)
sunrise/set is what usually time?
(What time is sunrise/set usually?)
temperature average what’s the?
(What’s the average temperature?)
heated buildings are or usually air-conditioned?
(Are buildings usually air-conditioned or heated?)
2. Ask students to put the words in the right order. Review
question formation if necessary.
3. Pair students off with one or two of the topics from 5. Ask
them to write four questions together on a sheet of A3 paper in
big, clear writing.
4. Stick the questions around the classroom so everyone can see.
5. Give students a different coloured pen and invite them to
correct any errors they can spot and to explain their
corrections.
Free 1. Split the class into travel agents and holiday-makers, with a mix 40-60
speaking of nationalities in each group. The holiday makers visit the minutes
practice travel agents, asking the questions stuck around the room and
any more they can think of. The travel agents answer about
their own countries.
2. Holiday-makers visit two or three agents (depending on time,
enthusiasm and student numbers) and then decide which travel
agent to book their holiday with.
3. Students swap roles and the activity is repeated. Monitor
throughout, silently noting good points and errors.
Error If there is time, you can discuss good points and errors at the end by 10-30
correction noting them on the board. If not, you could prepare a grammar minutes
gamble for the following lesson:
1. In advance, make a list of students’ good sentences and errors.
2. During the lesson, have students place bets on whether the
sentences are right or wrong.
3. If they think the sentences are wrong, they should correct them
4. Students total their gains (correct bets) and subtract the losses
(incorrect bets).

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