CA1 GAP YEAR TRAVEL

OVERVIEW

Part I: September -Study the materials in the unit “Gap year travel”.
25- 28
Part II: September -Send a written contribution to the Forum
28- October 1 (CA1_GapYearTravel folder)

Part III: October 1-6 - Comment on other students’ written contributions in

the Forum.
-Make a voice recording and send it to LANGblog.

Part IV: October 6-9 -Comment on other students’ voice recordings in

LANGblog.
Part V: October 9-15 -Reading Comprehension Exercise.

OBJECTIVES

• Writing informally about travel plans.

• Exchanging opinions in an online Forum.
• Prepare a short talk about a travel destination.
• Listen to descriptions of travel destinations.
• Practice reading comprehension.

EVALUATION

40% Individual writing task sent to the Forum (CA1_GapYearTravel).

40% Individual recording task sent to LANGblog.

10% Participation in the Forum and LANGblog.

10% Completion of the Reading Comprehension Exercise.

PART I: September 25th – 28th

CA activity 1 corresponds to Unit 1 “Gap year travel” in your Web materials. This
unit is about holidays and travel. There is a set of exercises related to this unit,
which you will find under Recursos in the classroom. These exercises are self-
correcting (the answers are provided for you) and you can do them at your own
pace. We recommend that you start your work for this CA unit doing these
exercises so that you can learn the vocabulary needed, revise grammar and read
about the topic.

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PART II: September 28th – October 1st

Write a message (between 150 and 200 words) to the folder in the Forum
“CA1_GapYearTravel”. In this message you should provide the following
information:

o Talk about your travelling experience, i.e. Where have you been?
When did you go? etc.
o Where would you like to go for a month abroad if you could choose
anywhere in the world?
o What kind of activities would you like to do during that month?
o What kind of people would you like to travel with? (e.g., extroverted,
adventurous, cautious, smokers/non-smokers, etc.)

Think of a suitable subject line for your message that gives a clear idea of what
your message is about (e.g., Surfing trip).

Here’s an example:

Hi everybody,

I haven’t really travelled very much, except for my honeymoon when

my wife and I went to Cancún in Mexico, but there are lots of places
where I would like to go.

If I could go abroad for a month I would like to go to a good surfing

spot such as California, Australia, Japan or Hawaii. Personally I’d
prefer to go somewhere English is spoken so that I can get an A in my
English course when I’m back! J I would also prefer to go to a place
where it is warm because I love sunbathing.

I don’t have a lot of money so I would prefer to stay in hostels, camp

on the beach or wherever. Therefore, my ideal travel companions
should be willing to sleep outside, able to improvise and enjoy the
stars in the sky at night, and be good-humoured when there’s only a
can of tuna for breakfast. I have to warn you that I’m a heavy smoker
and not very good at planning.

I’m looking forward to reading about more travel ideas.

All the best,

Alex

Important
All work which you submit must be original. It is perfectly acceptable to find
information from web pages and/or books, but your contribution must be
written in your own words, and any material taken from another source
must be credited (for more information about originality of work,
http://cv.uoc.es/~pangles/web_aula/Plagiarism.htm).

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PART III: October 1st – 6th

A. Read the messages the other students have sent in to the forum and consider
who you would like to travel with. Reply to at least two messages in the forum.
You may, of course, comment on as many as you like. Here are some examples of
what a reply can be like.

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Hi Alex,

I think you plan sounds wonderful, I’d love to see one of the places you
mention but like Marta and Federico I have never surfed before. Do you
think I could travel with you even if I don’t go surfing?

All the best,

Isabel

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Hi Alex,

What a coincidence, I am also an experienced surfer. I went to Hawaii

last year. It was brilliant! We were able to catch really good waves. I
wouldn’t mind trying a new place. How about Australia? … unless you
are afraid of sharks of course!

Esther

B. Record an audio contribution to LANGblog of approximately 1 minute about

one of your favourite travel destinations. In this talk you will be expected to
mention some (but not all) of the following points:

Describe the place.

How do you get there?
What’s the weather like?
What can you do there?
Who would you recommend this travel destination to?

BUT DON’T SAY THE NAME OF THE PLACE! In the next part of this CA
we will ask other students to guess which place you are talking about.

Please note the following:

Record your contribution in LANGblog > Activities > CA1 Gap Year Travel.

You should prepare what you are going to say in advance and you may use
notes to remind you of the main points of your talk and develop them as you

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 speak. You should try to sound as natural as possible and, therefore, are
advised not to read word for word from a written piece.

We also recommend listening to your recording before you send it to make

sure you are happy with its quality. If you want to repeat the recording, click
on the record button and a new recording will be created (deleting what you
had previously recorded).

4. Once you are happy

with the quality of the
recording click on
1. Click here to
“Continuar” and send the
start recording. file.

3. Click here to listen to your recording.

2. Click here to stop If you would like to make a new
recording. recording click on the red recording
button again (1).

PART IV: October 6th – 9th

Listen to other student’s voice recordings in LANGblog and comment (orally or in

writing) on at least two of them. You may, of course, comment on as many as you
like. If you know the name of the place described by the student, write in and tell
us what it is!

PART V: October 9th – 15th

You will do 3 Reading Comprehension Exercises this semester. For the first two
readings you will get a participation mark regardless of the results of the exercise.
For the third one you will get a mark based on the result of the exercise.

To do this exercise go to “Recursos” and click on CA1 Reading Comprehension

Exercise. You will have to read two texts and answer a multiple choice exercise and
a vocabulary exercise for each text.