My country is yours (alternative to "Road trip")

The objective 
To plan a road trip itinerary using a roadmap in a multi-lingual class 

The language
First or Second Conditionals: If they go... or If they went...
Present simple: It´s...Have/has: They have...
Past simple: I went there...years ago.
Modals: They should..., They could..., They can...
Conditionals: If they visit X, they will see Y.
Adjectives: beautiful/interesting/fun/boring/etc.

The set-up
Ask learners to bring in maps of their home-countries which include large and small cities and major roads the day before class. They can print them off the internet. Or, if you are up for it, you can do it yourself. In either case, you´ll need to think how to pair off students. Here are two alternatives. You could:choose groups and ask each group to decide on just one country (a different day, another?) or, choose groups where everyone is from the same country (uneven numbers okay) 

The low-down
Tell the class that you´re thinking about your plans for the next holiday and would like the class to plan a road trip for you in order to inform your decision (it doesn´t matter if you don´t actually go). First, ask them to decide what information they need to know about your trip (for example, budget, interests, time, etc.). Randomly call on groups/pairs to ask you questions (if they need to, give them time to prepare the questions beforehand). Answer the questions (make sure you´ve prepared your answers) until everyone is satisfied they have enough information to begin planning. Now ask them to plan the route, including stops and what you can do or see.

Now what?
When they´ve finished. Ask them to present their ideas to the rest of the class. Then ask the class to comment on one thing that sounded interesting to them for each presentation.

Time to teach
Ask groups to come up with a summary of different ways we (choose one or all):make suggestions make plans agree/disagree 
More talk-time
What was the last road trip you took? Where did you go?Do you like taking road trips?What do you do in the car on long road trips?

Teaching the art of listening

"Doing" listening is perhaps one of the least dynamic activities students do in class next to grammar "exercises".   Of course it´s your fault and not the recording´s if your students are yawning in class and not concentrating enough to do the activity the way you would like.  Perhaps, in fact, YOU are doing all the yawning.  Here then is an interesting activity that can be repeated class after class and will keep students on their toes and interested.

The objective

To improve listening skills as well as grammar

The language

It depends on the recording, doesn´t it?

The set-up

Just bring a good short recording of a monologue or dialogue, or a text you recorded yourself or plan to read aloud...and don´t forget a copy of the script for each student!  

The low-down

Tell students that they are going to listening to X and that you want them to brainstorm the words they think will appear.  Give them a couple of minutes.  Don´t check.  Now tell them to listen and write down all the key words they hear vertically down the page.  So, for example, if the first sentence is "I can remember the last time I went to an amusement park like it was yesterday", they should write words like remember, last time, amusement park, like, yesterday.  Make sure you stop the recording every sentence or so to give them time to write, even repeat if necessary.

Now what?

Once they have their key words, ask them to work together in pairs to reconstruct the text or dialogue.  This could be written or oral.  If you ask them to do it orally, then as a follow-up, ask them to write a short summary of the text.  You could challenge them further by limiting the number of words or sentences for the summary.  Get them to compare with each other and/or check in open class.  Finally, hand out the original and compare.  Discuss differences.

More talk-time

Ask personalized questions about the topic. 

Get them to create their own version of whatever the text was about, either monologue or dialogue.