Home Country

Aim: To Compose a Travel Brochure for the Home Country of a Classmate

Grade: 10th / Intermediate ESL

Instructional Objectives: Students will be able to navigate the Internet for source information on the home country of a classmate; integrate the facts they learn to design a travel brochure; practice note-taking skills; learn the components and layout of a travel brochure; work cooperatively with partners; appreciate a culture other than their own; produce a report of information for a travel brochure and present the brochures orally in class.

Standards: Use the Internet to locate and comprehend information related to the project; analyze and integrate facts and ideas to communicate information; produce a report demonstrating an understanding of the rules of the English language.

Materials Required: Sample brochures from a travel agency. A globe, a world map, and maps of the countries students are from. Computer with Internet access, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Publisher. (Maps help students to locate the major cities of the country they are working on.)

Time Required: 6 or 7 periods of 45 minutes

Vocabulary:
brochure            component
layout                 category
option                 cruise
indulge in           superb
delightful            casual
relaxation           cuisine
palace                hike

Procedures and Activities:

1. List on the board the various countries students come from.
2. Have students work in pairs to choose a country other than their own; develop a list of five questions they would like to explore; use the questions as a basis for a travel brochure.

For example:

What is the most fascinating city in Poland?
What are the three most famous tourist attractions in Poland?
What is the climate there?
What language is spoken there?
What type of currency is used?
How does the Polish flag look?
What are the typical foods and beverages in Poland?
What are the main cultural festivals or special events there?
What can be a thrill in a one week vacation in Poland?

3.    Assign students to bring two travel brochures of any countries from a travel agency in their neighborhoods.
4.    Introduce new vocabulary words from the brochures.
5.    Discuss purpose, components, and design of a travel brochure:

What is the purpose of a travel brochure?
What are the elements that make it most effective?
Examine the language used. (elicit variety of descriptive adjectives)

6. Navigate the Internet for source information on the countries they have chosen and take notes for informational writing. Students will find the following sites on Poland, China, and Hong Kong helpful:

Eastern Tours: Hong Kong
http://easterntour.com/index2.html
http://hongkong-tour.com/hkinfo.html

AsianNet: Trade information on all Asian countries
http://asiannet.com/

Poland Tour: Official Site of the Polish National Tourist Office
http://polandtour.org/
http://polandtour.org/travelinformation/transportation/index.html
http://polandtour.org/aboutpoland/generalinformation/index.html

7. Produce a report of informational writing for a travel brochure with the source information from their notes:

Highlight the important points from your notes.
Outline your ideas into five categories.
Use your notes to write a five paragraph report with a subtitle for each paragraph.

8. Use Microsoft Publisher to design a brochure:

Select "brochure" and then click OK.
Choose the style you want.
Add the text and pictures.
Press F9 to view the full page.
Edit your text.
Print your brochure.

Click here to see samples: Chinavista side one / side two

9. Edit the writing to eliminate minimal errors of English grammar. See the checklist below.
10. Present the travel brochures to the class with the partner. See Rubrics for oral presentation.

Bring a map of the country appeared on your travel brochure.
List on the broad the sites where you obtained the information about that country.
Explain to the class how you and your partner worked together.
Report to the class the information on your travel brochure.
Describe each illustration on your travel brochure. (An illustration gives an idea of how each place looks)

Students need to work in pairs to compose and present their travel brochures.

Editing Checklist:
Have students use the editing checklist below to check their writing for common errors and make needed corrections.

Do all sentences begin with a capital letter?

Do all sentences end with a punctuation mark?

Did you indent the beginning of each paragraph?

Do all sentences have a subject and verb?

Did you use spellcheck to look up any words that might be misspelled?

Homework (one assignment each night):
1. Bring two travel brochures of any countries from a travel agency in your neighborhood.
2. Make sentences with the vocabulary words you have learned in class.
3. Have a journal entry every day for what you have learned.
4. Construct an outline of your report writing. Please include an introduction, a brief description of a major city, a cultural event, major transportation, and hotel information.
5. Make a draft of your report writing for your travel brochure.
6. Prepare the oral presentation of your travel brochure.

Quiz: Vocabulary words in context.

1. We went on a cruise on the Caribbean Sea.
2. There are many types of cuisine in the world.
3. It is delightful to get 100 on a test.
4. Out of all the options, he chose to pick the color blue.
5. There are several categories on a restaurant menu.
6. We went to the beach for relaxation.
7. A king usually lives in a palace.
8. You need to wear boots in order to hike on a mountain.
9. I didn't know where to go for my vacation, so I checked all the brochures on the stand.
10. What are the components of writing a good essay?

Additional assessment: Oral presentation of the travel brochures.

Evaluation:
1. Self Assessment:

What organizing aids did you use? (signal words, layouts, colors)
How did your notes help you?
What new vocabulary words did you learn?
What computer skills did you acquire?
How do you feel working with your partner?
How did the checklist help you?
What would you do differently next time?

2. A Short Evaluation Form:

Country I chose: ___________

Some things I learned in doing this project are:	Some things I want to learn more about are:



The most useful part of this project is:	Some suggestions I have for future projects:

Extensions: Report writing for practice of HIGHER STANDARDS of English Regents:
Have students use relevant information from their brochure to produce a five paragraph report on that country. They should use a tone and level of language appropriate for report writing, and organize their ideas in a logical and coherent manner.

Other Sample Worksheets:

1. Student task sheet:
Name: ___________ Class:________ Date:_________
Topic:___________________________

K
(What I Know) W
(What I Want to Know) L
(What I Learned)

2. Rubrics for oral presentation:

Checklist for Oral Presentation of the Travel Brochure
3=very good
2=good
1=needs improvement

Student Name	Country	Content	Illustration	Pronunciation	Intonation	Fluency	Body Language	Suggestions