The teaches goes to the sites of online dictionaries (www.dictionary.com, http://dictionary.cambridge.org, www.yourdictionary.com) to see which is the most comprehensible and the easiest for students to understand the definitions.
The teacher may also provide bilingual dictionaries online. Here are some for Polish students(e.g. www.slowniki.onet.pl, http://slownik.angielski.edu.pl/slownik/, www.ling.pl, www.multislownik.pl)

Assumptions: Students know basic information on animals such as kind of food they eat, places they live in, which family they belong to etc.

Anticipated problems & possible solutions:

The website should be checked by the teacher before the lesson. In case it is under construction or not available the teacher may use a following site: www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html.

If most of students have got no Internet friends (e-pals) the teacher can give their e-mail address to students and they can send electronic postcards to the teacher. This exercise can be also done as homework if there is not enough time during the lesson and students have got an easy access to the Internet after the lessons.

Materials: English-Polish dictionaries

Procedure:

I. Pre–stage

1) The teacher says: Write a list of words you associate with the following animals; an orca (killer whale), a cheetah, a tiger, a dolphin and a panda.

2) Students report back and they are given the sites of online dictionaries they can find useful later during the lesson (the addresses are given above).

II. While-stage

1) The teacher tells the students to enter www.nationalgeographic.com/kids

2) Students select Creature Feature in the left column. Then they can choose different wild animals in the right column.

3) The teacher divides the class in 5 groups of 2-3 students. Each group is given a different animal to work on. The animals are: an orca (killer whale), a cheetah, a tiger, a bottlenose dolphin and a panda (giant panda). Each group is to give the following information concerning their assigned animal.

A/ The weight of the average animal –

B/ The places the animal lives in (you can go back to the map to check) –

C/ The names of food they eat -

D/ Two interesting facts about the animal -

4) Students write the answers in their notebooks then report back giving the lacking information to the other groups. When the exercise is finished each student has got complete information on 5 different animals in their notebooks

5) Students are given phrases that may be used while writing a holiday postcard (e.g.

With love,

Here I am at last!

Dear Jack,

P.S. How are you doing on your holiday?

Mark

I’m sitting on the beach and watching seagulls flying in the sky now.

Please drop a line.

Australia is really beautiful.

Mandy is sleeping in her room.

Wish you were here.)

They put the phrases in the correct order to make a postcard and report back.

III. Post-stage

1) The teacher tells students to select any two animals they like and write postcards to their friend or friends while watching their favourite animal in the wild. They need to click the animal in the right column again on www.nationalgeographic.com/kids and then click the postcard. The teacher assists students during the task.

VISIT POPULAR LONDON ATTRACTIONS TODAY!

by Dorota Kunstler

Gimnazjum nr 2,

Ustron near Cieszyn,

Poland

newlife888@wp.pl

Topic: Visit Popular London Attractions Today!

School: Junior secondary school (Gimnazjum)

Level: Pre-Intermediate

Time: 45 minutes

Aims:

· to find out more information about popular attractions of London

· to practise making questions in Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses

· to practise reading for a communicative task

· to describe past events

Preparations

The teacher checks sites for London given below to see if they are still accessible.

· The teacher goes to the sites of online dictionaries (www.dictionary.com, http:/dictionary.cambridge.org, www.yourdictionary.com) to see which is the most comprehensible and the easiest for students to understand for definitions.

· The teacher may also provide bilingual dictionaries online. Here are some for Polish students (e.g. www.slowniki.onet.pl, http://slownik.angielski.edu.pl/slownik/, www.ling.pl, www.multislownik.pl)

Assumptions: Students have basic knowledge of English history, know the names of main museums and places of interest in London.

Anticipated problems & possible solutions: The website www.londontown.com should be checked by the teacher before the lesson. In case it is under construction or not available the teacher may direct students to the following one: www.travelbritain.com/london/tourism/sites/attractions_index.html. In case students do not have enough time to write the report of the most exciting day in the class they do it as a homework assignment.

I Pre-stage

1) The teacher asks one volunteer student to stand in front of the class.

2) They choose a famous London attraction not telling the rest of the class which one it is.

3) The rest fire questions at them trying to find out the name of the attraction. The volunteer student can only give ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.

4) A person who gives the right answer gets 5 or a plus from the teacher.

II While-stage

1) The teacher tells students about three people who are going for a three-day trip to London. They have got 3 full days in London and they want to visit popular London attractions. The people enjoy doing different things and have got different interests.

Here are the three people and their preferences:

· Jack - interested in history, geography, English lifestyle, famous people, likes taking photos

· Mary - loves animals, biology, staying outdoors, painting pictures

· Nick - likes tennis and all kinds of sports, interested in explorations of the world and wildlife

However, they have got a few things in common:

a) the amount of money to spend while in London – £100 each

b) a return ticket and hotel with full board already paid

c) they want to spend only one day together doing something interesting

2) The teacher divides the class into 5 groups of 2-3 students.

3) Students go to: www.londontown.com .

4) Each group is to make three separate schedules of the stay in London for 3 people during 3 days. Students are to include attractions visited by each of the young people according to their interests and how much money they paid. Students should remember each of the three people has only £100 to spend and that Jack, Mary and Nick are going to spend only one of the days together.

5) Students report back, then decide which of the 3 schedules is the best and which one they would choose for themselves as a group.

III Post-stage

1) The teacher reads a short description of a day spent in London written in present tenses (e.g. It is 2 p.m. and I’m watching an interesting exhibition in National Gallery.) The teacher reads sentence by sentence and different students are to change the sentences (saying them out loud) into past tenses. The above sentence is going to be – 'It was 2 p.m. and I was watching an interesting exhibition in National Gallery.'

2) Students choose one of the people visiting London and they write a report of the most exciting day spent there using past tenses.

3) Students report back and then choose the most exciting description.

GOING PLACES

by Ewa Krzywicka-Dzioch

Zespol Szkol w Ostrowie Lubelskim,

Ostrow Lubelski, Poland

ewakdz@interia.pl

Introduction

Although the usefulness of the Internet materials for English teaching is beyond all dispute, the overwhelming amount of information and the difficulty of the authentic language may appear to be discouraging for students at an early stage of learning. It is not easy to find a website that would offer simple language, brief information and be attractive for teenage learners in terms of its subject. When I encountered www.virtualtourist.com/vt/ website I came up with the idea of a lesson for pre-intermediate students based on this website.

VirtualTourist is driven by its members, people from many countries who share interests and experiences to help each other to travel smarter. It delivers valuable and interesting information about places you may want to visit, you can find photographs, comments, detailed tips, reviews, forum as well as create your own web page and share your pictures and tips with friends and fellow travellers. The website looks professional, is well-organized and easy to search. The English used by its members seems to be quite simple and without obvious errors.

My intention was to find material for a 45-minute lesson as it is often the case that teachers have no time or possibility for 2-hour lesson in the computer lab. The lesson has been thought as a follow-up stage for further practice of 1^stconditional inspired by Opportunities pre-intermediate, Module 5, lesson 19.

Aims:

to practise searching information on the website and scanning it
to revise vocabulary related to tourism
to find out about interesting places to visit
to practise the use of 1^st conditional
to practise writing an informal letter/e-mail

Technical requirements:

One computer with Internet connection per 1-2 students, word processor, multimedia projector desirable.

Anticipated problems:

Ss may get lost on the webpage if they click the wrong links or do not listen to the teacher’s instructions. Also, the language of the website may be too difficult to some of them.

Pre-stage activities (7-8 mins)

Ask Ss which country and which particular places they would like to visit if they could go anywhere in the world. Tell them to give reasons for their choice. Before you ask some of them to speak in front of the group allow them to practise in pairs.
Ask Ss what things they would have to consider if they were planning a weekend trip. Try to elicit such as accommodation, food, transport, places to visit, things to pack, dangers, etc.
Ask Ss where they can get information that could help them to plan their trip. Ss may point at travel agencies, media advertisements, the Internet. Tell them about the site they are going to search.(see introduction)

While-stage activities (25 mins)

Ss type the website address: www.virtualtourist.com/vt/
Ss choose a place to visit from the drop-down list on the right of the map. If the destination they would like to visit is not on the list, they may type the name of the place into the search box or click the continent on the map and the list of countries that will lead to most popular places will appear. Because such searching is very time-consuming, it is better to encourage Ss to choose a place available from the list.
Ss complete the worksheet (see below) with the following table by clicking a few options in the Show Me check box:

Place:…………	Name	Why?/Why not?
1. Hotels & Accomodation	Jan III Sobieski	huge buffet, great choice of food
2. Must See Activities	1. Palace of Science and Culture………… 2. ………………….. 3. …………………..	the most beautiful panoramic view of the city
3.Restaurants
4.Tourists traps
5. Things to pack

When Ss click one of the options, they are linked with a page where they can find lots of reviews and tips from tourists who have already visited the places. After scrolling down they will see a list of the most reviewed places. Ask them to choose any of them at random as their names will not be probably meaningful to them. The task requires scanning the text for finding some information, e.g. why it is useful or not worth visiting the place. If a multimedia projector is available the teacher can show the stages of work to Ss so that they save more time for practice.

4. Once completed the table Ss make sentences in 1^st conditional on their worksheets using the collected information according to given patterns, e.g.: If you stay in Jan III Sobieski, you’ll have great choice of food in the hotel buffet. If you want to see the most beautiful panoramic view of Warsaw, visit the Palace of Culture and Science.

Post-stage activity (12 mins)

1. Ask Ss to write a letter or an e-mail to their pen pal who is going to visit a place they have already been to. They are expected to advice on a weekend trip using as many conditional sentences as they can. The letter can be typed in the word processor and sent to the teacher’s e-mail account as an attachment. If you are short of time, set the task as a home assignment.

GOING PLACES - STUDENT WORKSHEET

I. Type in the following URL: www.virtualtourist.com/vt/, choose a place you would like to visit from the checks box, read one or more reviews and complete the table:

Place:………

Name

Why?/Why not?

1. Hotels & Accommodation

2. Must See Activities

1. ……….

2 ……..

3. …….

3.Restaurant

4.Tourists traps

5. Things to pack

II. Using the information from the table write 6-8 sentences in your notebook according to the following patterns:

If you (Present Simple)…….., you (will +verb)……………..
You (will+verb) ………..if ….(Present Simple)…………….
If you (Present Simple)…………, …(infinitive) ……………
(infinitive)………….., if …(Present Simple)………………

Example: If you visit Poland in winter, take warm clothes with you.

III. You have received an e-mail from your pen pal who wants to go for a weekend trip to a place you have been to recently. Recommend to him/her the interesting places to visit and give advice on accommodation, food, etc. Use as many conditional sentences as you can.