Plan A Tour

Setup

Choose the city where students will plan a tour, ideally in an English-speaking country. Students will work in groups of two or three, and each group will need a tourist map and some information about sights in the city (unless they have Internet access, or are already familiar with the city).

Divide the class into groups of two or three students.

Project

1. The groups act as different tour companies, which will each plan a different tour around the chosen city (and surrounding area). You may want to specify the length of the tour; a weekend or a few days usually works well.
2. The students research the tourist sights in the area and choose their favourites. They then create an itinerary which includes visits to these sights, the time spent at each one, and transport between them. They should also include information about each place (e.g. cost), meal options and what to bring on the tour.
3. If computers and a projector are available, students could create a presentation complete with pictures for each place/activity. If teaching in an English-speaking country, you could even do an excursion where they can research sights and take photos/videos for their presentation.
4. Each group presents their completed tour to the class, using the target language. All members of the group should speak.
5. At the end, students vote on which tour they would like to go on the most.

Target Language

The Plan A Tour ESL project requires students to speak with a reasonable degree of fluency across a variety of simple language topics. As such it is most suitable for intermediate students.

Aside from being a great fit with travel, you can also use this project to practise places in the city (fountain, square, museum, statue etc.), sequence adverbs for the order of activities, and/or the future with going to to describe the plans themselves. Make sure you highlight which language you wish the students to focus on beforehand.

If you’re looking for a similar activity which lends itself more to practising directions, try City Walking Tour. In this exercise the tour is self-guided, so students have to give clear instructions on how to get from one place to another.