PT (Public Transport)

The objective

To give detailed directions using public transit maps

The language

Imperatives: Turn left..., turn right..., exit the station...

1st conditional: If you take the red line, you can get of at...

Connectors: First, second, third, next, then,

Clauses: After you leave the station, you´ll see...,

The set-up

Find a transportation map of your city--or various maps according to the various forms of transport. They´re usually free! If not, they can be downloaded in PDF format off the internet. Have enough for each group. Next, decide on starting and finishing points around the city to give out as challenges. Make a list of say, five (you can repeat some) for each group/pair to hand out (could be hand-written). Or if you know you´ll have an even number of groups, you can just make two different lists and label each A and B.

The low-down

Tell your students that you´ve been so busy, you haven´t had time to visit some important landmarks while you´ve been here! Not only that, but you need help with directions to each place! Tell students the starting point (for example, the classroom) and then hand out to each group their list a list of places you´d like to visit (some could be outside the city!). For higher levels, you could ask them to include street directions too. Ask students to write up directions to each place on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure they don´t write the name of the destination!

Now what?

When everyone is finished, ask them to exchange their directions and challenge them to figure out what the destination/landmark is based on the directions.

Time to teach

Probably the most important language that will come out of this is that of giving instructions/directions. Not only that but how we naturally do so. In addition, you can elicit different ways of saying the same thing to add variety to learners´ vocabulary.

More talk-time

Do you use public transport very often? When?

Do you think public transport is good here?

Is it affordable or expensive, in your opinion?

What´s the best/worst thing about the trains/buses/underground?