1. Vocabulary
Put the students into groups of four and give them one vocabulary circle each. Tell the students not to show each other their words. Students take it in turns to tell each other their five vocabulary items (not the type of holiday in bold). The other students have to try to guess what kind of holiday the words go with. When finished, tell students to work together in their groups to make sure they understand all the vocabulary items in the four circles. Check by asking different groups to define words.
2. Advantages and disadvantages
The students stay in their groups of four (or can work in pairs if preferred) and write advantages and disadvantages of each type of holiday. Set a time limit of one minute per holiday and then elicit ideas. E.g. beach holidays – boring if it rains, camping – cheap but uncomfortable etc.
3. Travel agents
Put the students in pairs and give each pair a letter A-D. The students have to imagine that they are travel agents and their job is to ‘sell’ their holiday to another pair. (Pair A sell holiday A from exercise 1 and so on). Give them a few minutes to plan what to say and then put pairs together. The pairs take it in turn to be travel agents and customers. Encourage the ‘customers’ to ask questions about cost, what they can do, the accommodation, meals etc.
4. Questions
Tell the students that they are going to ask and answer questions about the best holiday they have had. Give them thirty seconds to think of the holiday they want to talk about and then hand out the questions, one set for each student. Elicit the first question (Where did you go?). Students then write the other questions alone. Elicit all the questions to make sure the students have written them correctly then put the students into pairs. One asks the other the questions and notes the answers. They then swap roles. Nominate one or two students to tell the class what they found out about their partner’s best holiday.
Questions: 1. Where did you go? 2. Who did you go with? 3. How did you travel? 4. How long did you stay there? 5. Where did you stay? 6. What did you do? 7. Did you buy anything? 8. What did you eat? 9. Did you meet anyone interesting?
5. Crossword
Tell the students that they are going to get half a crossword. Check ‘Across’ and ‘Down’ to say which clue is being described e.g. 5 down. They should look at the five words written in their crossword and, in pairs, think of definitions for each word in English. When they are ready, they join up with a different pair (Pair A with Pair B) and take it in turns to define a word. Tell the pairs not to show each other their crosswords. The other pair has to guess the word and write it into their crossword. When finished, the two pairs can show each other their crosswords to check that all the words they have written are correct.
6. Speaking
Tell the students to think about what they are going to do during the summer holidays this year. If they don’t know, they should think of what they would like to do. Even if they aren’t going anywhere, they can still think about what they are going to do while at home. Give them a minute to think of what they are going to say and then put them in pairs. One student starts by trying to talk for one minute about their forthcoming summer. The students then swap roles. At the end of the activity, nominate one or two students to tell the class about their holiday plans, again giving them one minute to talk.
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