A city tour: understanding

descriptions of locations

Theme:
Listening: Leisure time
Pre-lesson activities

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Lesson objectives

In this live part of the lesson, you will:

• follow descriptions of maps
• complete map labelling tasks confidently.

You will also use language to describe locations that you

learned before the lesson.

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 Part 1 Questions
Now in this first part, I’m going to ask you some questions about yourself.
First let’s talk about where you live.
1. Do you live in a small or a large place? [Why (not)?]
2. What do you like most about where you live? [Why (not)?]
3. Is there anything you would change about the place where you live? [Why (not)?] Part 3 Discussion Questions
4. Do you think you’ll continue to live there for a long time? [Why (not)?] We’ve been talking about a city that you
Now let’s talk about learning languages. enjoyed visiting and I’d like to ask you
1. Which languages can you speak? [Why (not)?] one or two more general questions
2. Did you enjoy learning languages at school? [Why (not)?]
related to this.
3. Do you find learning languages easy? [Why (not)?]
4. Is there another language that you would like to learn? [Why (not)?]
First let’s think about visiting cities.
• Which cities are popular tourist
Part 2 Task
destinations? Why?
Now I’m going to give you a topic and I’d like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.
Before you talk you have one minute to prepare, and you can make some notes if you • What sorts of preparations do people
wish. Do you understand? visiting cities need to make?
D
I’d like you to describe a city that you enjoy visiting. [GIVE 1 MINUTE] Now let’s consider living in cities.
You should say: • What are the benefits of living in
cities?
• what the city is • Why do some people dislike living in
• When and with whom you visited it cities?
• what you did there • How might cities change in the
future, do you think?
and explain why you enjoyed visiting it.
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Introduction

What city have you most enjoyed visiting? Why?

How would you describe the layout of the city?
Where are the main attractions in the city? Are they close or far apart?

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Task focus
Look at the map. Think of two different
ways to describe the locations A–I.
Two examples have been done for you.

A is to the north west of the square

To the east of the map, you’ll find..

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 Task focus
B. is between A and D
B is north-west of the centre
C. is right next to B
C is just to the right of B
D. is at the top
D is between C and E
E. is to the east of the square
E is on the right of the map
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F. is to the right of G
F is in the south-east corner
G. is at the bottom of the map
G is on the southern edge of the map
H. is in the middle of the square
H is between E and I
I is in front of the Transport Hotel
I is to the south of B
Task focus
Look at the list of places numbered 1–
5 in activity 7. Then answer the
questions below.
1. Which buildings on the map look like
they could be a stage?
2. Where in the map could the ATMs be
located?
3. In your experience, where are markets
usually located?
4. Do you think NGV Australia is the name
of a large building or a small building?

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Task Practice
Listen and answer the questions.

D
E
I
H
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 Task
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 Task Practice
The Reynolds House is one of the oldest houses in the city, and it is open to the
public. It's on the north side of Crawley Road, next to the footpath that leads to
the public gardens.
Nucleus
The
The area's particularly interesting for its unusual sculptures. ‘The Thumb’ is just
Museum
what its name suggests, but it's about 10 metres high. You'll see it on Hill Road
across the road from the bank.
The Thumb
The museum's got a particularly fine collection of New Zealand landscapes. It's on
the east side of the Sheepmarket on City Road. It's on the other side of the road
from the public gardens, immediately facing the junction with Hill Road.
Warner
Contemporary Gallery
The Contemporary Art Gallery is on a little road that leads off Station Square, Art Gallery
not far from the public gardens. The road ends at the gallery, it doesn't go
anywhere else. Reynolds
House
The Warner gallery specialises in 19th century art. It's on City Road near the 1 H
junction with Crawley Road on the same side of the road as the public gardens. C
2
3 F
Finally, if you're interested in purchasing high quality artwork, the place to go is
Nucleus. You need to go from Crawley Road up through Station Square, and east 4 G
along Hill Road, until you get to a small winding road, turning off, go up there
5 I
and it's on your right. If you get to city road you've gone too far.
6 B
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 Exam Practice

C
____ 1 New car park
a new car park on the opposite side of the Community
Hall [to the line of trees], right next to it

F
____ 2 New cricket pitch We’ve now purchased additional space to the east of
the recreation ground, beyond the trees

A
____ 3 Children’s playground
A children’s playground which will be
accessible by a footpath from the
Community Hall and alongside the river.

I
____ 4 Skateboard ramp In the end, we decided to have it in the southeast
corner near the road.

E
____ 5 Pavilion
The Pavilion…will stay where it is for now – to the
left of the line of trees and near to the river.

H
____ 6 Notice board A new noticeboard…will be directly on people’s right as they go from the road into the recreation ground.

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 Exam Practice

F___ 1 Scarecrow The scarecrow you can see in the car park in the
corner, beside the main path.

G
____2 Maze
If you look ahead of you, you’ll see a maze. It’s opposite the
New Barn, beside the side path that branches off to the right
just over there.

D____3 Café
If you want to go to the café, go towards the bridge and turn right
just before it. Walk along the side path and the café’s on the first
bend you come to.

H 4 Black Barn
____ If you take the side path to the right, here, just by the New
Barn, you’ll come back to the Black Barn just where the
path first bends.

C____5 Covered picnic area Of if you’d prefer a covered picnic area, there’s
one near the farmyard: just after you cross the
bridge, there’s a covered picnic spot on the

A___ 6 Fiddy House right.

Fiddy House itself. From here you can cross the

bridge then walk along the footpath through the
field to the left of the farmyard. That goes to the
house.

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 Part 1 Questions
Now in this first part, I’m going to ask you some questions about yourself.
First let’s talk about where you live.
1. Do you live in a small or a large place? [Why (not)?]
2. What do you like most about where you live? [Why (not)?]
3. Is there anything you would change about the place where you live? [Why (not)?] Part 3 Discussion Questions
4. Do you think you’ll continue to live there for a long time? [Why (not)?] We’ve been talking about a city that you
Now let’s talk about learning languages. enjoyed visiting and I’d like to ask you
1. Which languages can you speak? [Why (not)?] one or two more general questions
2. Did you enjoy learning languages at school? [Why (not)?]
related to this.
3. Do you find learning languages easy? [Why (not)?]
4. Is there another language that you would like to learn? [Why (not)?]
First let’s think about visiting cities.
• Which cities are popular tourist
Part 2 Task
destinations? Why?
Now I’m going to give you a topic and I’d like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.
Before you talk you have one minute to prepare, and you can make some notes if you • What sorts of preparations do people
wish. Do you understand? visiting cities need to make?
D
I’d like you to describe a city that you enjoy visiting. [GIVE 1 MINUTE] Now let’s consider living in cities.
You should say: • What are the benefits of living in
cities?
• what the city is • Why do some people dislike living in
• When and with whom you visited it cities?
• what you did there • How might cities change in the
future, do you think?
and explain why you enjoyed visiting it.
English Online | www.britishcouncil.org
What’s next?

Remember to practise after class with more online activities.

For private classes only: Get your lesson report within 24 hours.

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