Opportunities

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Read about places in the USA. Think about which places you would like to visit and what you would like to do. Also think about some of the possible problems you might have on a trip round the States (e.g. getting lost/being bitten by insects). Chicago, situated on Lake Michigan, is famous for its architecture. It has some famous skyscrapers such as the Sears Tower. The Grand Canyon is a vast gorge in Arizona formed by the Colorado River. It has spectacular scenery and is an ideal place for trekking, rafting and canoeing. Los Angeles is an enormous city. You can visit Hollywood or spend the day on the beach in Santa Monica. Miami is a resort city in Florida with pleasant temperatures even in winter. You can spend the day on the beach in Miami Beach or go on an excursion to the Everglades. Disney World in Orlando is also nearby. New Orleans is a city founded by the French and was the centre of jazz. It has a very interesting old town and lots of lively nightlife. New York is the business centre of the USA. There are lots of things to see and do here. Sights include the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Shops are excellent and the nightlife is amazing. San Francisco is situated on a peninsular between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Among its famous landmarks are the Golden Gate Bridge and Chinatown. The cities cable cars and sloping streets are also famous. Washington is the capital of the USA. Landmarks include the White House and the Capitol (=the government building of the Congress and Senate). You can also visit the Washington and the Lincoln Memorials, the National Gallery of Art, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Washington National Cathedral. Yellowstone Park is the largest national park in the USA. It is in Wyoming and parts of Montana and Idaho. It has thousands of acres or unspoilt forests with incredible flora and fauna. It is also a volcanic area and has geysers like Old Faithful which erupts roughly every hour. www.longman.com/opportunities
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Opportunities

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Instructions 1 Work in groups of three or four. Imagine you went on a journey around the States together. Talk about what happened on your journey. Take turns to say sentences about it. Try to carry on from the last person and not leave long pauses. Example: Student A: We arrived in New York in the early evening. Student B: We got a taxi from JFK airport into the centre. Student C: The taxi driver wanted to charge us $500. Student A: But luckily a police officer was walking past at that moment. Student B: We asked her the correct fare and she arrested the taxi driver. Student C: Finally, we went into the hotel and had a shower. Student A: Then we went out for a walk in the streets near the hotel. Student B: After some time we realised that there were three big guys following us. Student C: We started to walk faster but they started to walk faster too. Student A: We hid in a doorway and they walked past. Student B: When they were walking past we heard them talking our own language. Student C: We found out that they were fellow tourists who were lost! 2 Tell the rest of the class about the most interesting parts of your journey. Example: We were walking around in New York and we thought we were being followed by three guys. But it turned out that they were tourists from our country. We went out together and had a great time! 3 Decide which groups journey was the most interesting.

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Opportunities
LESSON NOTES This reading and speaking activity practises telling a story and describing a journey. It can be used after Module 7 of Opportunities Upper-Intermediate Students Book. Materials: copies of worksheet Time: fifty minutes

u p p e r - i n t e r m e d i a t e

Step 1: Give out the worksheets. Give students time to read the information and think about where they would like to visit and what problems they could have. Go through any vocabulary they dont know. Encourage students to use a dictionary, e.g. the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Step 2: Divide the class into groups of three or four. Students talk about a journey that they made together around the States. Each student has to continue from the previous sentence and the story must have some continuity. Encourage them to use their imaginations! While students are doing the activity, you can go around and listen - writing down important mistakes to go over later. Step 3: A spokesperson from each group tells the rest of the class the more interesting bits of their journey. You can ask students which journey sounded the most interesting. Follow Up Students could do the same activity based around a journey around Britain, Europe or their own country.
Michael Harris

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PHOTOCOPIABLE

Pearson Education, 2002