Tourist Hunting

Hi, there!
Nowadays when we speak about teaching, we cannot forget that we have to prepare our kids not for tests or final exams but for life. In this blog we are going to present you the skills that can be taught at school and be valuable for students' social life.
The teacher from José Luis López Aranguren school, which is in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, is more than happy to share one activity with our readers. Teacher Juan Manuel Palacios Somoza believes that children need to be educated socially. That is why he asks students to go to the centre of Madrid and find the tourists who would want to be interviewed by schoolchildren. It is a very useful activity for the children as it teaches not only English skills but also other skills, very important in our life. 
You are welcome to use this activity in your lessons.

TOURIST  HUNTING

Aims of this activity:

1. To provide the students a natural context for practising and improving their speaking skills
2. To show the students how practical and real is what they are learning in the English lessons.
3. To  provide more class cohesion

I´ve been doing this activity for a long time. It´s amazing how students perception of the subject changes when they notice they can communicate with foreign people using what they are working in the school English lessons.

This is why it is better to organize this activity at the beginning of the first term. It makes the subject students perception to change and helps to provide more cohesion to the class group.

STEPS TO ORGANIZE IT

Before the excursion

1. The whole group has to work the questions they are going to ask the tourists. There are two exercises in the appendix. After students have practiced the pronunciation and they know the meaning of the questions they have to memorize a list of 30 questions. (appendix 1)
2. Divide the group into smaller groups of 4 or 5 students. Each student of the group has to ask 5 or 6 questions to the tourist. If it is a high level group, questions can be asked by only 2 students.

In the excursion

1. When the students get to the meeting point (Oriente café corner), they are told to start the activity with their group. No more than 5 or 6 students per group.  Bigger groups can frighten the tourists. After greeting the tourists in a very polite way, two students of each group conduct the interview. Lower level students can distribute 5 questions for students in order to help them to participate in this activity.
2. Two students are responsible for recording the interviews.
3. When students are in the place they have to conduct the interviews, they walk around looking for tourists to record as many interviews as they can.

After the excursion

1. Students have to edit the video using the easiest questions and answers to be understood.
2. Students have to transform the second person questions and answers into third person questions and answers in order to make a multiple choice exercise

Example: Where are you from? I´m from London.

                  Where is he/she from?

                   He/she is from      -New York /Liverpool /London.

3. Students watch the videos and underline the right option in the multiple choice exercise their classmates have prepared.