ESL Group Activities - Communicative!

Students will get a lot of speaking practice while talking about a new place they have created for tourists, like themselves, to visit.

WARM UP:
1. In small groups get students to list what they think are the top 3 landmarks in your city or country. Compare their answers. (You can probably get some statistics off the internet) eg. Canada: Niagara Falls, The CN Tower, The Rocky Mtns.

2. If teaching an international class, students can write down the top 3 landmarks in their own countries and describe them to a classmate from a different country.

ACTIVITY:
1. Tell students that they are part of the planning department of your city and that the have been commissioned to come up with a new, original and exciting tourist attraction for the city. Divide students into pairs.

2. With their partner, students design a large poster for their new attraction.
Their attraction should have a name and a slogan.
On the poster, students can also include things such as magazine cut-outs, drawings, a brief description of the attraction and the address.
Encourage students to be imaginative - anything is possible!!! (eg. underwater nightclub, chocolate spa)

ROLE-PLAY:
1. Hang up students completed posters around the classroom. Students stand in front of their poster.
-With each pair of students, one student becomes a "tourist information centre guide", and the other student becomes a tourist.

2.The "tourists" visit the other "tourist info centres" to inquire about interesting place to visit in the city. "Tourists" rotate so that there is only one tourist at each "tourist info centre" It's best if the "tourists" travel in a circle and only move to the next centre on your command to keep things running smoothly.

3. "Tour guides" recommend their attraction to the "tourists" who visit their tourist info centre.
- Encourage the "tourists" to ask for lots of info such as opening and closing times, entrance fees, how to get their, etc. (These types of questions could be pre-taught. See examples below.)
- Each visit should be about 3-6 min., depending on the level of the students.
- "Tour guides" remain at their poster until each "tourist" form the other groups has visited their poster.

Example Questions:
1. Could you recommend an exciting place to visit in Vancouver?
2. What time does it open?
3. Are pets/children allowed?
4. What is the cover charge/entrance fee?
5. What else can I do there?
6. How do I get there?
7. Is it open year-round?

4. When each "tourist" has finished visiting all the tourist info centres, the partners switch roles and repeat step 2.

FOLLOW-UP:
At the end of the activity, partners can compare their experiences (what types of questions they were asked and how they responded). Pairs can also tell each other which attraction they would like to visit the most.