The Holiday Maze

Holiday maze – Try - Activities © BBC | British Council 2004

THE HOLIDAY MAZE

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the holiday maze

This is a reading and speaking activity. Students make decisions in pairs or groups with the aim of going on a successful holiday. It is based on a 'maze' principle, which gives students different options and a variety of different holiday outcomes.Author: Emma Pathare There isn't one 'correct' answer - different groups find themselves going on different holidays - so you can use the activity several times with the same class. It is an excellent, fun way to practise the 'functional' language of agreement and disagreement, suggestion and negotiation, as well as specific language relating to holidays, in a genuinely 'communicative' activity. It can be used with any level from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate and beyond.

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It’s summer! You decide to go on holiday with some friends. Will you:

travel as a small group?

ask some more of your friends and go in a big group?

agree?

say no? You don’t want the group to get too big.

decide to ask a few more friends and make a bigger group?

One of you wants to bring his sister too. Do you:

divide into two small groups and go on separate holidays?

have a big meeting and try to solve the problem?

decide to plan the holiday to include all of the different places that people want to go to?

There are too many of you – everyone is arguing because they want to go to different places! Will you:

Italy?

India?

Australia?

Everyone is happy now. Should you go to:

Return to the choices.

Now nobody in the group is happy. Your holiday will be ruined if you don’t change your decision.

go back to the choices?

take a vote on where to go?

ask the advice of someone you all trust?

You try but it is impossible - you would have to be millionaires! Will you:

book a package holiday in a stylish resort by the sea?

fly to Rome and book a hotel when you arrive?

fly to Rome and then take trains around the country?

You are going to Italy! Do you:

book a package holiday by the sea in the beautiful southern state of Kerala?

book a holiday through ‘Adventure Holidays Company’, which offers tours of sites such as the Taj Mahal?

fly to Delhi, go to the central train station and then travel by train all over the country, anywhere you want very cheaply?

You are going to India! Do you:

book a package holiday by the sea which offers scuba-diving and surfing?

fly to wonderful Sydney and book a hotel when you arrive?

book a holiday with ‘Adventure Holidays Company', which advertises tours looking at the wonderful wildlife in the Australian outback?

You are going to Australia! Do you:

One of the friends in your group now tells you that they can’t swim and hate the beach! There is no point in going on a beach holiday. Go back to you last card and choose again:

Italy

India

take the train to Venice which leaves very soon and hope to get a hotel there?

wait and buy a cheap railcard which lets you travel everywhere in Italy by train?

change your plans completely and take a cheap flight to Australia?

You fly to Rome and take the train to the centre of the city. Unfortunately, the Tourist Information Office tells you that it is impossible to book a hotel in summer in Rome. Do you:

It’s summer! You decide to go on holiday with some friends. Will you:

travel as a small group?

ask some more of your friends and go in a big group?

You just have enough money for a cheap holiday in Italy, flying to Rome on a special budget flight and then travelling around by train from the central station.

You go to the office to pay for your exciting holiday. The man tells you to go back the next day to pick up the tickets. When you return, ‘Adventure Tours Company’ has disappeared – you have lost your money!

You fly to Sydney. In the airport there is a Tourist Information Office, where you book rooms in a hotel near the centre of the city. When you arrive at the hotel, you find that it is in what looks like a dangerous neighbourhood. Do you:

check into the hotel anyway?

try and find another hotel?

accept his offer?

refuse and try and find an official Tourist Information Office?

walk the city until you find somewhere to stay?

You arrive late in the evening. A man approaches you at the station offering rooms in what he calls ‘a palazzo'; a palace! Do you:

You find some benches to sleep on. It is uncomfortable and cold, and you are worried that you might be robbed. A very smart man comes up to you and asks you to go with him – he says he has a nice surprise fo you all. Do you:

go with him?

stay where you are until the morning?

You walk and walk but don’t find anywhere to stay. Your luggage is heavy and you are all feeling very depressed. Do you:

go back and sleep at the station?

return to the airport, go home and wait until next year?

The end!

You check in to the hotel. The rooms are beautiful with wonderful views over the city. The hotel staff are all very friendly and helpful. You have a fantastic holiday; the holiday of a lifetime!

The end!

The man takes you to a waiting bus. You drive through the beautiful city until you arrive at a gondola station. You all get into a big gondola and are taken to a wonderful hotel on a canal. The hotel used to be a palace. You have a holiday that you will never forget, in one of the world’s most beautiful cities!

The Tourist Information Office, when you find it, is closed. The name and address of a hotel is on a sticker on the window. You are all tired and depressed. Do you:

give up, return home and wait until next year?

go to the hotel on the sticker?

The end!

You return to the airport. You have to sleep in the airport for three nights before you can get a flight home. The flight is very expensive; there are only first class tickets available. When you do get home, your luggage does not arrive – it has been lost! Next year you will make some different decisions…

The end!

The ‘nice surprise’ turns out to be a nightmare! The man leads you out of the station, around two corners, and suddenly you are surrounded by five men who take all your money, passports, watches and jewellery. Your holiday is at an end; you go to the police, who send you to your embassy, and you have to pay for the flight when you get home.

The end!

When you get off the bus, you find that you are in the middle of a traditional festival. All the people are having great fun and are very welcoming. You are invited to stay for a free holiday; you accept and have an exciting time that you will never forget!

You arrive at the central train station. It’s late and you are all very tired. You find that there are no trains until the morning. Do you:

sleep on the station platform?

try and find a cheap hotel or hostel for the night?

you have completed

the holiday maze

Restart

We have learned some expressions that can be useful for negotiation: 'I think we should . . .' 'That's a good idea but . . .' 'What about . . .' 'Let's . . .' 'I don't agree with . . .' 'I've changed my mind.'