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ENGLISH FOR TEENAGERS · GENERAL ISSUES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

THE BEST
AND WORST
VACATIONS
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1 Warm up

Look at the images below and match them to the types of vacations.

adventure vacation beach vacation camping vacation

city break cruise theme park vacation

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Answer the following questions.

1. What are the good things and bad things about each vacation?
2. What type of vacation do you prefer? Why?

Write down five words connected to one vacation type. Can the rest of the class guess the vacation?

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match each word or phrase to its correct definition.

Group 1

excel (v) cabin (n) stimulate (v) unbeatable (adj.) unique (adj.)

1. being the only one of its kind

2. impossible to defeat

3. a small house, usually made of wood

4. be very good at something

5. make someone interested or excited about something

Group 2

horizontal (adj.) literally (adv.) sandy (adj.) tropical (adj.) vertical (adj.)

1. covered with sand

2. coming from, found in or typical of a hot, sunny place

3. going straight up or down

4. flat and level and going across

5. in the most exact, obvious way

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Part B: Write the correct word or phrase from Part A in each sentence. Do you find any of the
sentences surprising?

1. This place is a paradise. I’d love to stay forever.

2. There are millions of people on Facebook right now.

3. Young children should be given toys that their senses.

4. He was laid on the floor. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, ‘sleeping’!

5. You will be given a code. Don’t share it with anyone.

6. We stayed in a little in the mountains when we went skiing last winter.

7. The team looks at the moment. They haven’t lost all year.

8. All children at something whether it is maths, science, sports or music.

9. There was a drop from the top of the cliff to the beach below.

10. I much prefer beaches to those with lots of stones.

Discuss these questions with a classmate and use the word in bold in your answers.

1. What do you excel at?

2. Would you like to go to a tropical island for your vacation? Why/Why not?

3 Reading: general comprehension

You’re going to read about four types of vacation for teenagers. What’s important for teenagers when
they go on vacation? Rank these ideas from most to least important.

✷ pool and beach activities ✷ spending time with family

✷ shopping ✷ computer games, pool or ping-pong tables
✷ sightseeing ✷ food
✷ clubs, music, nighttime entertainment ✷ adventure sports (canoeing, climbing,
go-karting)

Read the article from a travel magazine and write the vacation type each text is about: beach vacation,
theme park stay, city break, adventure vacation.

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Exciting vacations for teenagers

You’ve finished your exams and you’re ready for a break, right? Well, we’ve been looking at thousands
of UK vacation destinations for teenagers and chosen four that we think you will love. Take your pick!

A.

Teens in search of excitement and extreme sport will have an unforgettable time at Wales’ newest adventure
center. Deep below the Snowdonia National Park, The Llechwedd Slate Caverns hide a strange underground
world of trampoline nets and zip lines where you can fly and jump through an old mine.

Above ground, there are 4x4 drives and a tourist train for those who want something more relaxing, but others
need to prepare themselves for a truly unique and breathtaking experience: the fastest zip line in the world! Fly
over the Welsh countryside for nearly a mile and a half, where you can travel at speeds of up over 100 mph while
taking in unbeatable mountain views. Cabins are available from $147 per night. Book now!

B.

England’s capital is full of entertainment. This is especially the case if you are interested in history and culture.
You can walk past the UK Parliament and the guards at Buckingham Palace or enjoy many of London’s city parks
where there is always something going on. But, where London excels, is its museums. You can spend hours in the
Natural History Museum, the British Museum or the Science Museum with their amazing permanent exhibitions.
One thing is for sure, you will never be short of activities to stimulate your mind in this city. Double rooms are
available from $205 but there are plenty of youth hostels that can be much cheaper. Book now!

C.

If you’re a fan of waves or bodyboarding, Cornwall is where you want to be. It’s a great place to learn to surf,
and everyone who comes here can easily see why. The long sandy beaches are truly awesome, and the waves are
perfect for all levels of surfer.

Another reason to come to Cornwall is the Eden Project which hosts the largest indoor rainforest in the world.
Walk through thousands of plants from South East Asia, and West Africa to tropical South America. It’s like
stepping into a different world. Family rooms in luxury hotels with a pool from $319. Book now!

D.

Alton Towers is the UK’s biggest theme park. Get your adrenaline rush from rides such Rita (0-60mph in 2.5
seconds), Oblivion (the world’s first vertical drop rollercoaster) and Galactica (a "flying" rollercoaster with riders in
a horizontal flight position). New for this year is the Alton Towers Dungeon, a 45-minute hi-tech journey through
dark history with real actors. There’s plenty of places to stay, including hotels, forest lodges and stargazing pods –
wooden houses with glass roofs so you sleep under the stars. We also love the Rollercoaster restaurant, in which
food literally flies through the air to your table. Vacation homes from $147. Book now!

Sources: The Independent, The Guardian

Glossary:
zip lines - a cable or rope stretched between two points at different heights that people slide down for fun
bodyboarding - the sport or activity of riding on a surfboard or bodyboard lying on your front
adrenaline rush - a physical feeling of intense excitement and stimulation

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Read the article again and choose the correct vacation (A-D) for each statement.

1. The most expensive vacation.

2. Spend a lot of time inside.

3. Watch a live performance.

4. Learn how to do something.

5. A place that opened recently.

6. The cheapest vacation.

7. Learn about the past.

8. See a lot of countryside.

Which of these vacation would you choose to go on? Why?

4 Listening: vacation disasters

You are going to watch a video (00:00 - 03:28) called Are These the Worst Vacation Disasters? Look at
the images below. How can you connect them to a vacation disaster?

Picture 1 Picture 2

Picture 3 Picture 4

Write down three things that can go wrong on a vacation.

1.

2.

3.

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Watch the video and write where each vacation was and what went wrong.

vacation where? what went wrong? vocabulary

1 2 3
1.

4 5 6
2.

7 8 9
3.

10 11 12
4.

13 14 15
5.

Which vacation would be the worst for you?

Look at the words below and connect them to one of the vacations in the video in the table.

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5 Project: creating a viral video

Create a viral video in small groups about an amazing vacation or a vacation disaster. Follow the
following steps.

1. Go online and watch examples of viral videos about vacations. Think about what makes them
interesting and why they are popular.
2. Choose whether you are going to create a video about an amazing vacation or a vacation disaster.
Think of three main points you want to talk about.
3. Write a 2-minute script for your video and act it out.
4. Optional: Film your video using a phone and editing software. Try to include sound effects and
music.
5. Show your video to the rest of the class or act it out the video.
6. Vote for the best video or performance.

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Transcripts

4. Listening: vacation disasters

Narrator: Vacations are supposed to be fun and relaxing, but these trips were anything but enjoyable.

Cindy: I’ve never been in so much pain in my life.

Narrator: This woman went to bed at a popular resort and woke up covered in bedbug bites. Cindy
Avila of Miami was staying at the Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. She was
shocked when her husband lifted the mattress. Avila filed a lawsuit against the resort. A
representative for Atlantis said an offer was made to pay for Avila’s medical bills which she
refused.

Narrator: Tourists in Hawaii got a little too close to an active volcano and were in striking distance
of flying lava bombs.

Aaron: It was so scary. It was like a firework was shooting at my face.

Narrator: Aaron and Bryan Welsh were on a boat with about 50 people near the Kilauea volcano
when it erupted sending hot lava into the air, some of which hit nearby tourists.

Bryan: You see a rocket and it’s blowing charcoal coming right at you. There’s no time to react.

Narrator: Four boats were later told to keep a safer distance from the volcano.

Narrator: Passengers on this flight were treated to eight hours of this child’s high-pitched screaming
tantrum.

Shane: Everybody was just kind of looking at each other like oh this is gonna be a long flight.

Narrator: Shane Townley shot the video and says this went on the whole time from Frankfurt,
Germany to Newark, New Jersey. He says he heard the child’s mother tell flight attendants
that he had behavioral problems and asked them to turn on the Wi-Fi so she could pull up
a video for him to watch on her tablet, but nothing seemed to satisfy the kid.

Shane: She kind of looked like she was used to it. He was climbing all over the chairs he was just
screaming and he would not let up. He was running up and down the aisles there was
nothing she could do.

Narrator: This woman’s nightmare started when she got home from vacation and found as many as
10 strangers living in her house.

Crystal: It was a shock I mean it was I didn’t understand how people could do that.

Narrator: The squatters were in the Oklahoma house for a week and a half before police came and
gave them the boot. But Taylor says that was plenty of time for them to trash her home.

Crystal: You’ll notice their stains everywhere there were litter boxes in every room. I just never
imagined the house looking this. It’s sad.

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Narrator: And who could forget the Fyre Fest that went up in smoke. Promotional videos that
featured some of the most famous models in the world promised a luxury music festival
on an exclusive island in the Bahamas. Accommodation sold out within 48 hours but when
people arrived, they couldn’t believe what they saw.

Tourist: It looked like a refugee camp!

Narrator: Disaster relief tents and rain-soaked mattresses were not what these guests were
expecting after some of them paid up to $12,000 for five-star accommodations. After
many people arrived organizers cancelled the festival claiming there were “circumstances
out of our control”.

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Key

1. Warm up

10 mins.
Put students in pairs and ask them to discuss the images and name the vacations.
Then encourage students to think of at least one advantage and disadvantage of each vacation. You could ask
pairs to rank the vacation types and justify their ranking.
Whisper one vacation type to each pair. Students then think of five words. Students read out their words and
the rest of class names the type of vacation. Monitor and help with language and take notes of examples of
good/incorrect language to work on in a feedback stage.

1. beach vacation 2. city break

3. theme park vacation 4. adventure vacation
5. camping vacation 6. cruise

2. Focus on vocabulary

10 mins.
Part A
Students match the vocabulary to the definitions.
Group 1

1. unique (adj.) 2. unbeatable (adj.)

3. cabin (n) 4. excel (v)
5. stimulate (v)
Group 2

1. sandy (adj.) 2. tropical (adj.)

3. vertical (adj.) 4. horizontal (adj.)
5. literally (adv.)
Part B
Ask students to read all the sentences before they decide which word to choose from Part A. Students should
check answers in pairs.
Finally, ask students to focus on saying the words in bold in their answers. Students could then talk to a different
classmate. Encourage students to try to develop their answers. Monitor and take notes for feedback.

1. tropical 2. literally
3. stimulate 4. horizontal
5. unique 6. cabin
7. unbeatable 8. excel
9. vertical 10. sandy

3. Reading: general comprehension

15 mins.

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Ask students to discuss the ideas and rank them in importance. You could vote and do a top three for the whole
class.
Students then read the article quickly. This is a gist reading so set a time limit of one minute.

A. Adventure vacation
B. City break
C. Beach vacation
D. Theme park stay
Students then read the statements in pairs then read the article again and discuss in pairs. Ask students to
underline the part of the text where they find the answer so they can justify their choices.

1. C - beach vacation 2. B - city break

3. D - theme park stay 4. C - beach vacation
5. A - adventure vacation 6. D - theme park stay or B - city break
7. B - city break 8. A - adventure vacation
Students say which vacation they would choose to go on and why.
Extension: Ask students to look at the vocabulary from earlier in the lesson. Read out the sentences in the text
but say ‘banana’ instead of the vocabulary item. Students need to shout out the correct word.

Article sources:
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/katy-holland-exciting-holidays-for-teenagers-1603723.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/uk-best-family-friendly-destinations-holidays-staycations-b2096781.html

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/jul/09/best-holidays-for-teenagers-tips

4. Listening: vacation disasters

20 mins.
Students think of ideas in pairs or small groups.
Play the video and students match the images to the disaster that they see in the video.
Answers: Images A, C & D come up in the video.
Note: You only need to play the video until 3:28 to do the activities.
Play the video again and students complete the first two columns of the table and discuss their answers in pairs.
Students give a personal reaction to the video. They could rank the vacation disasters from the worst to least
bad in pairs. Ask students to look at the words in pairs and discuss what they mean. They then watch the video
again and connect two of the words to each vacation disaster. Alternatively, you could use the transcript and ask
students to find the words and discuss their meaning to aid their understanding and develop their vocabulary.
Answers to the table:

1. The Bahamas 2. insects in their bed 3. mattress, bite

4. Hawaii 5. volcano erupted, lava bombs 6. erupted, lava
7. Germany to USA 8. child screaming for 8 hours on 9. aisles, behavior problems
plane
10. Oklahoma, USA 11. people living in their house 12. trash, strangers
13. The Bahamas 14. festival on island canceled after 15. exclusive, refugee camp
guests arrived

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5. Project: creating a viral video

45 mins+
Explain what a viral video is.
Students should choose which type of video they are going to do and brainstorm ideas and main points to write
about. This can be done in pairs or small groups or individually.
If you have the facilities, encourage students to do some research online. If this is not possible, this part of the
project could be done at home as could the filming and editing. Encourage students to write scripts that include
speaking parts for each member of the group and to ask other groups for feedback so they can redraft their work
and make changes. Monitor and help as necessary.
Students show their videos or act out their scripts, while others listen and take notes on content and delivery. Get
feedback, encouraging students to share their opinions and offer suggestions for improvement. The class could
vote on the most interesting videos.

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