Let’s Talk About Travelling!

Say It better! Series. B2 First Season. Episode 3

Entrance to the cinema today is worth a quiz!

Say it better?

1. I was totally surprised by the beauty of the firework display.
2. We had much fun at my last birthday party.
3. After a busy week at work, I’ve decided to relax and enjoy myself.

You’ve got your ticket, haven’t you? Check out our previous episode about holidays and fiestas in case you need to brush up on this topic.

Why have I chosen the topic of TRAVELLING for today’s episode?

Here are some Part 1 questions from the B2 First Speaking test. They are taken from sample test materials:

How do you prefer to travel, by train or plane? Why’s that?
What’s the longest journey yo’ve ever been on?
What’s the public transport like in your country?
Where did you spend your last holiday? What did you do?

As you see, these questions belong to the TRAVEL category.

What other topics can you think of that the examiner could ask you about? Candidates are asked questions related to their home life, personal experience, education and work, leisure and entertainment, and the media. 

To make sure you show a hefty vocabulary range in the very first part, as well as the fourth part of the Speaking test if the collaborative task in part 3 is travel-related, today’s episode will help you enrich your active vocabulary related to the theme of travelling.

By the way, not only in the Speaking paper is vocabulary range important, it is also paramount in the Writing test. In all types of texts must you show a rich lexical resource, but first and foremost in articles and review, where the language is colourful, descriptive and persuasive.

Are you ready for a new episode? Roll up your sleeves!

TRAVEL Matters

Topic vocabulary

Download the PDF. Translate and/or write the definition of the words in the list. Make sure while looking them up in the dictionary, you look for the episode-related meaning. 

Word formation

Download the PDF and complete the table with the missing words. 

ADVENTURE n., BREATHTAKING adj., CAMP n., FLIGHT n., FORTHCOMING adj., INHABITANT n., MOUNTAIN n., PACKAGE n., PICTURESQUE adj., SIGHTS n., TRAVEL n., TREKKING n.

Speaking paper

Step One: Read the questions. Make changes to the answers provided. Use the TOPIC language.

Step Two: Write your own answer. Use the TOPIC language.

Step Three (optional): Record yourself while answering the questions. Send your answers to your English teacher for assessment and feedback.

Part 1

Question:  “Where did you go on your last holiday?”

Answer: “Well, my family and I decided to do something different. So, we called our friends who live in a village close to Andorra, a mountainous region, and suggested we change houses for a week or so.  We were all very happy since they found our idea fascinating. What an amazing experience! Since it wasn’t our house, we had taken everything we might need, just in case, like towels, all kinds of food, and things like that. We have spent a great time waking in the countryside and hiking up in the mountains.”

Part 4

Question: “Is it better to visit lots of different places when you go on holiday, or stay in one place? What do you think?”

Answer:  “Hmm, there are so many factors that would influence our choice, like budget, weather, preferences, and many others. Of course, most of the tourists, I guess, prefer to visit different places while on holiday rather than stay in one place, which might be boring. The reasons are obvious. What can be better and more exciting than visiting many more places of interest than one or two, or making all the preparations like the places to visit, the hotels to book before the journey? It’s way better to see more than a place, even if we decide to visit such places by ourselves, without all the luxuries of an all-included holiday, simply walking and exploring them on our own.”

Reading and Use of English quiz

Part 1

Look up these words in the dictionary. Make sure you understand the difference in meaning between them.

• Travel n., trip, journey, way, voyage, excursion
• Season, phase, period, stage
• View n., sight, appearance, look n.
• Fare, ticket, fee, entrance
• Arrive, get, reach
• Miss, lose, avoid, drop

The options given in Part 1 of the Reading and Use of English paper are either similar words or, together with the words before and after the gap (e.g. a preposition), must form a grammatical collocation. Let’s look at the questions below. As you see, the four options, for each question, are similar. Since you already know their meaning, helped by the context, you’ll easily choose the correct one.

Decide which answer best fits the gap.

1. When we … our destination, our tour guide will meet us at the airport.

a. arrive
b. get
c. reach
d. achieve 

2.  It can be quite crowded here during the tourist … .

a. season
b. period
c. phase
d. stage

3. My classmates and I always enjoy our school … to Italy.

a. excursion
b. journey
c. way
d. travel

4. Australia was our first port of call on our … to the Pacific.

a. voyage
b. excursion
c. travel
d. trip

5. If we don’t set off early, we’ll … the train.

a. avoid
b. miss
c. drop
d. lose

6. The brochure says that the aparthotel has a great … of the sea.

a. appearance
b. look
c. sight
d. view

7. The sunset over the waterfall really is a magnificent … .

a. look
b. sight
c. view
d. appearance

8. Once I got on the bus, I showed my … .

a. fare
b. fee
c. ticket
d. entrance

Notes

• arrive at, get to/at
• journey – how we get from one place to another, especially in a vehicle; trip – the journey in which we visit a place for a short time and come back again; travel – the general word which means the activity of travelling; excursion – a short journey, often made for pleasure, often by a group of people; way – the route we take to get from one place to another; voyage – a long journey, especially by ship
• sight – sth that is in our view; view – what we can see from a place; appearance – the way we look; look – the appearance of sth e.g. “I liked the look of the hotel”
• fare – the money we pay on the bus or train; fee – the money we pay for a particular service; ticket – proof of payment; entrance – the right to be admitted to a place

Part 2

Think of the words which fit the gap.

As the tourists start to make … the bright lights of this British city once again, it appears that the great seaside has a brilliant future ahead.

Part 3

Use the word given in CAPITALS to form a word that fits the gap.

As we got closer to this remote village, into the heart of the Amazonian forests, the … came out to meet us. INHABIT

Part 4

Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word. You must use between three and five words.

“The shuttle isn’t far from the airport”, said the tour guide.

WALKING

The tour guide told us that the shuttle ________________ the airport.

Topic word cloud

The word clouds are a priceless learning tool. Make sure they are there for you, within easy eye-reach, in your cosy study corner. Check the one below. It’s got all the TRAVEL-related expressions, (phrasal) verbs, adjectives and nouns from the wordlist above, but in eye-catching layout.

Now that you’ve worked with today’s topic vocabulary, without looking at the Travel wordlist, write down, in around 4 minutes, as many words and expressions related to the theme of Travelling as you can remember. Once you’ve done it, check which ones have been left out. Why don’t you try and use them in your own sentences, about your future plans to travel around your country or abroad?

Let’s call it a day! I’m sure you deserve a break now. It’s time you let your hair down!

Stay tuned for more words of advice and handy material!