Year 7
Lesson 39
Travelling the world
Keywords
Reading and understanding an interview
and a web article
Completing gapped texts with words or
short phrases
Writing a short diary entry
Contents
Aims
Learning goals:
Skills: Reading
and writing
Present perfect Have you ever?
Recap transport and travel:
adventure, balloon, bike, boat, holiday,
journey, place, sail, tour, traveler
Language Analysis
In English there a lot of words connected with travelling. The three below are very often confused.
Travel (v) – the most general verb to say you go to another place.
Journey (n) – is a single piece of travelling, usually a long distance.
Trip (n) – is often for a short time, it is a short journey e.g. a five-day trip, day trip, round trip, business
trip
Trip and journey are sometimes interchangeable. Both trip and journey can also be used as verbs but
then they differ in meaning. To journey is to engage in the act of journeying whereas to trip is to cause
someone to lose their balance and fall.
There are also lower frequency words not used in the lesson but which it may be useful to use with
stronger groups of students: cruise, safari, tour, voyage, expedition.
Conclusions:
We never say: How was your travel. We need to say: How was your trip.
We make journeys and go on trips.
SUMMARY:
Travel
Verb (and noun and
adjective)
Tom travels a lot.
Trip
Noun
He is often away on business trips.
Journey
Noun
Did you have a good journey?
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Vocabulary in the lesson include:
adventure /ədˈventʃə(r)/
adventurer /ədˈventʃ(ə)rə(r)/
balloon /bəˈluːn/, a balloon flight
bike /baɪk/, travel by bike
boat /bəʊt/, a boat trip
holiday /ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/
journey /ˈdʒɜː(r)ni/
place /pleɪs/
sail /seɪl/, sail from… through…
tour /tʊə(r)/
traveler (AmE), traveler (BrE) /ˈtræv(ə)lə(r)/
view /vjuː/
Other useful geographical words from the lesson:
Mediterranean /ˌmedɪtəˈreɪniən/
Pacific /pəˈsɪfɪk/
Japan /dʒə-ˈpan/
Russia /ˈrʌ-shə/
Have you ever…?
It is very common to ask present perfect questions with ever to ask about life experience:
Have you ever cycled to school?
Ever means ‘from the time you were born until now’. It helps to talk about life experiences in general and
it means you do not have to say when exactly you did it. The focus is on the experience itself not on the
time of the action.
Present perfect vs Past simple:
When we first ask about life experiences it is the present perfect that we normally use:
Have you ever been snorkelling?
But when we want to ask about details we normally use the past simple:
Where did you do it?
Present Perfect: revision
We use the present perfect tense to talk about an action that:
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
-
is finished and:
1) happened at an unspecified time before now and the exact time is not really important:
I have seen Tom this week. (This week could be any day from Monday to Sunday – but it is not
really important here when, what is important is that they have met).
2) is our life experience that has influenced us till now:
I have driven a sports car twice in my life.
3) is an action results of which can still be seen:
Tom has broken his leg. (Probably he cannot walk properly now).
-
has not finished yet
I have learnt English for 20 years. (I started 20 years ago and I am still doing this).
(who?) personal
pronoun, name
etc.
He
have / has
has
past participle
gone
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
the rest of the
sentence
to school.
Procedure
Lead-in
Key:
No objective answer, students will read screen 2
to find out.
Ask students to read the introduction. Ask if they
can guess what is special about Sarah.
Extension:
If appropriate, ask students: How many countries
have you been to?
In stronger groups encourage students to say a
few words about their trips.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Main input
Key:
1. You’ve travelled a lot. Where have you been
to?
2. Wow! Was that difficult?
3. How did you first start travelling?
4. What’s the best place you’ve been to?
5. Have you ever wanted to stop travelling and
do a normal job?
6. Where are you going to go next?
Extension:
Before you go to the digital screen ask students to
work in pairs and groups. Encourage students to
come up with a list of questions they would like to
ask if they were given a chance to interview a
great traveler.
In stronger groups, ask students to give 2-5
names of famous travellers they know and
admire.
Ideally, students could first check this on the internet
and then report to the class: their name, places their
travelled, when (century), biggest achievement, e.g.
Captain James Cook, Zuanzang, Sir Richard
Burton, Ibn Battuta, Charles Darwin, Fridtjof
Nansen, Yuri Gagarin etc.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Ask students to read and match the questions to
the answers.
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Practice 1
Key:
1 been 2 by 3 The 4 ever 5 but 6 on 7 from 8
there 9 were 10 Have 11 about 12 at 13 about
The aim of the screen is to complete the text with
the missing words.
Ask students to read and complete the text.
Extension:
In weaker groups write all of the words on the
board so that students can choose from the list:
about (x2), at, been, but, on, by, ever, from, have,
the, there, were
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 2
Key:
1 Yes 2 Yes 3 Don’t know 4 No
5 No 6 Don’t know
The aim of the screen is to practise reading for
specific information.
Ask students to read and choose the correct
answer.
Extension: Ask a few questions to see how much
students remember from the text:
How many times has she been around the world?
Twice.
How many kilometers did she cycle?
16 000km.
When did she start cycling?
When she was 16.
What is her favourite place?
Norway.
What is she planning to do next?
She is planning to travel around the world in a
balloon.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 3
Key:
1 around 2 took 3 since 4 been 5 said
6 Nobody 7 next
Before you ask students to read, enlarge the
picture and ask students to guess what the short
text is going to be about.
Ask students to read and choose the correct
words.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 4
Key:
1 third 2 two weeks 3 by balloon
4 to start another 5 to plan
Extension: Before you look at the digital screen
ask students to say as much as they can
remember about Sarah. Use the following
questions:
How old is she? 22.
Which journey is this one? The third.
How many weeks did it take her? Two.
When did she start travelling? When she was 16.
Go to the digital screen Practice 4.
Ask students to read and complete the sentences.
In weaker groups you may write the missing
words on the table so that students know what to
choose from:
by balloon
third
two weeks
to plan
to start another
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 5
Key:
Spain
Ask students to read and answer which country
Sarah is in.
Extension:
Ask students about Spain and what this country if
famous for. Ideally they should say:
Madrid, paella, football (Real Madrid, Christiano
Ronaldo), tapas, flamenco, la Tomatina festival,
siestas, bull fights.
If appropriate ask students to search on the
internet to provide a brief summary of what Spain
is famous for.
Writing: Handout
Teachers could first ask students to brainstorm
the locations they would like to write about, or
provide inspiration in the form of pictures/web
links, etc.
Ask students to write a similar postcard from a
dream place or real place they really visited.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
English to take away
Key:
(From left to right)
1 snorkeling 2 a plane 3 skiing
4 a balloon 5 lost 6 strange food
Ask students to label the pictures.
Extension:
Ask students to work in pairs, ask and answer the
questions about their life experiences:
Have you ever been snorkelling? (Present Perfect
continuous)
Where did you do it? (Past Simple)
In weaker groups make sure students know which
verbs they should use for each of the pictures and
elicit:
be snorkeling, fly a plane, go skiing, travel by a
balloon, get lost, eat strange food.
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Handout
© Young Digital Planet 2014 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide