How was your

◤
vacation?
◤
OBJECTIVES

▪ At the end of this lesson you will be able to describe an

experience you had while on holiday.
▪ Review some vocabulary about traveling and vacation.

▪ Listen and summarize information

▪ Talk about experiences you had when you were on

vacation.
▪ Tell an anecdote using simple past and Past continuous.
 ◤Discuss the following questions with your partner. Find
two similarities and two differences. Write down the
similarities and differences you find.

What kind of tourist are you? Student 1 Student 2

You don’t have much spare time so your holidays last a week
or two weeks.
You usually plan your vacation months in advance.
You like taking lots of clothes and staying in comfortable
hotels.
You usually travel with groups of people.
You go on long holidays (a month or more) and you don’t like
planning them.
Your favorite holidays are backpacking or hiking.
You enjoy meeting local people, eating local food and staying
at small hotels or camping.
You usually travel on your own or with one friend.
 ◤
Mishaps while on holiday

Read the following conversation and answer the questions:

Where did Josh go?

What happened at the hotel?
What happened to Josh in the metro?
What is being food poisoned?
Did Josh have a problem with his luggage?
Katy: Hey, how was your trip to Barcelona?
◤ disaster! First, I couldn't find
Josh: Oh, it was a complete
my passport, so I was already stressed out from the
beginning.
Katy: That's terrible! And then?
Josh: Well, when I finally arrived at the hotel, they
couldn't find my reservation. I spent hours arguing with the
receptionist.
Katy: That must have been frustrating. What happened
next?
Josh: Things got worse! A pickpocket stole my wallet
while I was trying to navigate the crowded streets. I felt
awful!
Katy: That's awful! Did you at least enjoy sightseeing?
Josh: Not really. I got lost several times because the map
I had was outdated. It was so confusing.
Katy: I’m sorry to hear that! Did you manage to find some
Josh: Unfortunately, no. I got food poisoned from a local
restaurant. It was a nightmare trying to find a bathroom
everywhere I went.
Katy: That sounds like a nightmare. What else happened?
Josh: Well, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, it
started raining heavily. I didn't have an umbrella, so I was
drenched and miserable.
Katy: Oh no! Did anything go right during your trip?
Josh: Well no. To make things worse, the airline lost my luggage.
I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and wait for days before
they finally located it.
Katy: That's terrible. Did you at least make it back home okay?
Josh: Well, that's the silver lining. After enduring all the previous
mishaps, my flight was canceled due to bad weather. So I had to
stay in Barcelona for an extra day. But eventually, I made it back
home.
Katy: Wow, that sounds like a truly bad trip. I hope your future
travels go much smoother!
Josh: I hope so too!
 ◤
Read the following conversation and answer the questions:

Where did Josh go?

He went to Barcelona

What happened at the hotel?

They couldn’t find his reservation.

What happened to Josh on the metro?

Someone stole his wallet.

What is being food poisoned?

It's when you get sick because of spoiled food.

Did Josh have a problem with his luggage?

Yes, the airline lost his luggage.
 How
◤
was your trip to New York?
It was terrible ….

Read the following examples of travel

mishaps

A pickpocket stole
I lost my passport The hotel couldn’t find my cellphone when I
when I was having my reservation when was riding on the
dinner at the airport we were trying to metro.
restaurant. check in.
How was your vacation in
◤

New York?
It was terrible ….

I got lost when I was It rained all day when

visiting Manhattan I got food poisoned
we were spending the
when I was staying in
day at Coney Island
New Jersey
beach
How was your vacation in
◤

New York?
It was terrible ….

My flight was canceled

The airline lost my
because a tropical storm
luggage while I was
was hitting the East
coming back home.
coast
 ◤
Activate vocabulary
Did this happen to you?
Ask your partner the following questions.
Tell your partner when and where it happened.
▪ Can you remember a time when you lost your bag or
documents?

▪ Can you remember a time when an airline cancelled

or delayed your flight?

▪ Can you remember a time when you got sick while

traveling?

▪ Can you remember a time when you had problems

with your reservations?
 ◤
Telling stories
You can use the past continuous with the past simple to talk
about two actions that happened at the same time.
Use the
past simple
to talk
about
actions and I got lost when I was visiting Manhattan
situations
in the past

Use the past continuous to talk about actions and

situations in progress at a particular moment in the
past
8:00 9:00 12:00

You can start the

sentence with
when or while When / while
Telling stories
Use the past continuous to talk
about actions and
The second, shorter action
situations in progress at a
sometimes interrupts the action
particular moment in the past
already in progress

◤
I was riding the metro When a pickpocket stole my cellphone
While

You also often use the past continuous to

describe the background to a story
 ◤

Past continuous
Wh Was/were Person Verb ING ?
Was/were Person Verb ING ?
Yes/ no Were you flying back home last night ?
questions
Who were you traveling with ? WH
Questions
 Scary travel stories
◤

Watch Drew Binsky video

about some of his worst
travel experiences.
Which of the three do you
think is the worst of all?

https://youtu.be/-Lsidnpi1ms
 ◤
Look a the following pictures taken from the
video. What do you remember ? What
happened to him while he was traveling?

It _________________ raining when he ______________ a boat in the middle of the ocean

 ◤

When he ___ ________ Congo, a local tour guide tried to ____________ money from him

When he ___ ________ in India, he got ____________ with some chicken curry
What happened in your vacation?
◤

✔ Tell your partners about bad experiences you had

when you were traveling OR Imagine you were
traveling and you had the worst vacation in your
life.
✔ Use some of the words you learned in this lesson.

✔ Be sure to use past continuous and past simple.

✔ Remember to use when or while to connect your

ideas.
◤

Exit ticket

▪ You can tell two misfortunes that happened to you during a trip

▪ You can make sentences in past tenses using when and while

▪ You learned vocabulary for vacation