Travel Writing

1. Complete the mind map with attractions from your own country.

Created by Sam Weekes

Travel Writing Worksheet 1

Historical attractions

Cultural attractions

Religious sites

Cultural Experiences

Activities

Cuisine

Your Country .............

Natural attractions

Created by Sam Weekes

Worksheet 1

2. You will produce a piece of travel writing about your country. Your writing should be very descriptive to convey to give your reader gets

real sense of your country. Before you start writing, plan your article.

Introduction (Strong opening sentence to get the reader’s attention. An overview of the content).

Paragraph 1 Paragraph Theme _______________________________



Conclusion (Strong, memorable closing sentence or sentences about the country).

Adjectives (and things they describe): Descriptive verbs:



Details:

Details:

Details:

Travel Writing Preparation Task

Go on the internet and read the following article by Lonely Planet, Introducing Asia http://www.lonelyplanet.com/asia Complete the following tasks before your next lesson to help you prepare.

1. Decide what the main theme of each paragraph is.

2. Find three verbs that are really descriptive.

3. Write down all the adjectives used in the article and the noun they describe.

4. Think about your own country. Think of as many adjectives as possible that could describe places, sites, experiences, food etc in your country.

Bring your preparation task to next lesson

Travel Writing Preparation Task

Go on the internet and read the following article by Lonely Planet, Introducing Asia http://www.lonelyplanet.com/asia Complete the following tasks before your next lesson to help you prepare.

1. Decide what the main theme of each paragraph is.

2. Find three verbs that are really descriptive.

3. Write down all the adjectives used in the article and the noun they describe.

4. Think about your own country. Think of as many adjectives as possible that could describe places, sites, experiences, food etc in your country.

Bring your preparation task to next lesson

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/asia














Overview This is a writing lesson, in which students will produce a descriptive piece of travel writing. There is a preparation task that the students have to complete independently before the lesson. During the first part of the lesson, the students will give feedback on their findings from the preparation task. Then they will complete a mind map with information about travel information in their own countries. They will then plan and produce a piece of descriptive travel writing about their country. In the optional extension activity, the students read each others’ travel writing and choose a holiday destination. Preparation This lesson includes, two student worksheets and a preparation task handout. Before the lesson you will need to give the students a copy of the preparation task and explain that they must complete it and bring it to the following lesson. Make sure there is enough time to do this. You should read the article yourself so that you are familiar with it. You will also need to decide how to allocate lesson time. You could have one lesson to do the preparation tasks and then ask the students to complete the writing outside of class. Alternatively, you could allocate one or two more lessons for writing time, so that you can support them during the writing and editing process. Finally, you will need to make enough copies of the student worksheets 1 and 2 for every student in your class (please copy on both sides of the paper to save trees).

Objectives: * To analyse a piece of travel writing. * To work independently to complete a pre-lesson preparation task. * To plan and produce a piece of descriptive travel writing. Language: Descriptive adjectives and verbs. Level: Intermediate – Upper Intermediate. Time: One 2 hour lesson or two/three 1 hour lessons. Materials: Student worksheets 1 and 2, preparation task handout.

Equipment: A whiteboard.

The Texts For the preparation task, the students are asked to find and read Introducing Asia, on the Lonely Planet website http://www.lonelyplanet.com/asia. Lonely Planet was founded in 1972 and is the largest producer of travel guides in the world.

Lesson Guide

1 Created by Sam Weekes

Travel Writing








1. All of your students in your class should have completed the preparation task before the lesson. Ask them to tell you what their impression of Asia is after reading the article. Ask them why they got this impression (Hopefully the descriptive language in the article will have effected their impressions).

2. Ask the students to tell you the adjectives and the nouns they describe that they found in the article (number 3 from the preparation task) .

FEEDBACK: Write them on the board.

3. Then ask the students to tell you what adjectives they thought of to describe things in their own countries (number 4 from the preparation task).

FEEDBACK: Add the students’ ideas to the ideas on the board from number 2.

4. Ask the students to tell you what descriptive verbs they found in the

article (number 2 from the preparation task). Write them on the board, under the heading of verbs.

Lesson Guide

Created by Sam Weekes 2

2. Answers

Sweet perfume, heavenly aroma, spiritual place, ancient spirits, architectural wonders, sacred spaces, lesser known marvels, sublime coastlines, snow capped mountains, steamy jungles, falling coconuts, remote islands, fiery Indian curries, local dish, road side stall, hearty bowl, deliciously rewarding.

4. Answers

The verbs that I think are descriptive are: sticks, impart, infused, fed, fizzling, gulp.

5. Ask the students what the main theme of each paragraph in the article is (number 1 from the preparation task).

6. Hand out the student worksheets. Ask the students to look at number 1 on their worksheets. Explain that they should think about attractions in their own countries and complete the mind map with as much information as possible.

FEEDBACK: Ask the students to show their mind maps to a partners and

tell them about famous sites and attractions in their countries. Walk around and monitor.

7. Ask the students to look at number 2 on their worksheets. Explain that they are going to produce a piece of travel writing about their country. Explain that their writing must be really descriptive to help the reader get a vivid picture of their country.

Before they start writing, they must plan their writing. There is a plan to complete on student worksheet 2. Explain each section.

Introduction: The writing should start with a strong sentence to grab

the reader’s attention. There could also be another sentence which gives a brief overview of the what is included in the piece.

Paragraphs: The students should decide on the main theme of each

paragraph. For example, historical and cultural sites, the natural environment, food, cultural experiences and activities. They should also think about possible adjectives and verbs they could use in their writing.

Lesson Guide


4. Answers

Paragraph 1: Introduction and overview of Asia. Paragraph 2: Religious and historical sights. Paragraph 3: Environment and natural attractions. Paragraph 4: Food and concluding sentence.

Conclusion: A strong closing sentence or sentences to leave a lasting impression on the reader.

8. Once the students have finished their plans they can start their writing.

Depending on your students’ ability and writing skills you might want to allocate another lesson for the writing, so that you will be available to help them. Alternatively, you might want to ask them to finish it for homework. If your students have access to computers, you could ask them to do their writing on the computer because it is easier to edit. Then for the final draft, they could add some pictures to their writing.

I generally ask students to write at least two versions of a piece of writing, so that they can develop their ideas and edit and refine their writing. After they produce the first draft I read it with them and point out any language errors they should correct. Then I would highlight areas that could be expanded or developed. Sometimes, I would point out sentences and ask them to think about more interesting or dynamic ways to express their ideas.

9. Once the students have had a sufficient amount of time to write and

redraft their travel writing pieces, you could use them for an extension activity. Tell the students to imagine that they have decided to go on holiday, but they do not know where to go. They should read every travel writing article, decide which country they would like to visit. (You could either put the writing around your classroom, or if you have a student blog ask the students to post their writing online). After the students have read the travel information for every country, you can ask them which country they want to visit and why. Or have a vote on which country sounds most exciting.

Lesson Guide


If you have a 1 hour lesson, stop here.

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Travel Writing