English Quest 1: London (A2+)

English Quest 1: London (A2+)

Introduction

About this quest...

Have you ever been to London, or another big city? In this quest you're going to learn all about the city London and what to do when you're there. Have fun!

Time needed

Autonomy

Support

If you get stuck and you need help, you can...

  • ask your English coach: Mr Baldwin, Mrs Wams & Mr Witbraad.

BLP: Learning Muscle

With a touch of British humour...

Introductie Leerspier Quest London

Routeplanner + leerdoelen

Leerdoelen in Egodact

Door deze quest te doen, werk je voornamelijk aan het leerdoel English Speaking World. Als je deze quest gedaan hebt, kun je je schuifje halverwege het eerste blokje plaatsen.

Daarnaast oefen je met de volgende taalvaardigheden op A2-niveau:

  • Luisteren --> Ik luister naar mededelingen en instructies
  • Gesprekken voeren --> Ik regel iets
  • Schrijven --> Ik correspondeer
  • Lezen --> Ik lees om informatie op te doen
Routeplanner + tijdsbesteding

Hieronder vind je een suggestie over hoe je deze quest zou kunnen verspreiden over vijf weken. Dan ben je per week ongeveer 1,5 à 2 uur kwijt aan deze quest.

week 1: ca 1,5 uur
  • Maak een tegeltje aan in je Egodact Quest Monitor
  • ​Egodact voorbereiding: motivatiemotor + verderkijker
  • Google Maps opdracht
  • Egodact: Logboek bijwerken

week 2: ca 1 uur
  • Woordenlijst maken
  • Postcard from London - een ansichtkaartje
  • Egodact: Logboek bijwerken

week 3: ca 2 uur
  • In the hotel - my room
  • In the hotel - checking in roleplay (in 2-tallen!)
  • Woordenlijst bijhouden
  • Egodact: Logboek bijwerken

week 4: ca 1,5 uur
  • Paddington Bear - kijk- en leesopdracht
  • In the Tube - reizen met de ondergrondse
  • Woordenlijst afmaken
  • Egodact: Logboek bijwerken

week 5: ca 1,5 uur
  • Seesaw + Resultaat: show
  • Egodact: terugkijker

 

Motivatiemotor

Explore a Passion

 

Aim for a Goal

Delve into your Curiosities

 

Take on a new challenge

For example:

"I love travelling and I want to be able to travel the world alone one day."

For example:

"I've planned a mini trip to London in the Christmas Break and I want to know what I can do there."

For example:

"What else is there to London besides the Big Ben? And could I get by on my own there?"

Bijvoorbeeld:

"I'm going to learn to read the London Underground map and then I can use the underground trains there."

 

Reflect in  Seesaw which of these four pillars will be your best motivation to complete this Quest and why. 

Verderkijker

Questions:

Have you been to London before?

Do you like visiting big cities?

How many people live in London? And how many tourist visit London each year?

What did London look like a thousand years ago?

Watch the videos below to get an impression of London in all its glory. Don't worry if sometimes you don't understand everything that is said in the videos; just look at the pictures and enjoy!

Kids' view: Children from London talk about what they love most about the city.

London Sightseeing: An overview of the main tourist attractions of London.

Where Locals Go: about spots in London that are a lot of fun but are not something that many tourists know about.

Tower of London: about the history of the Tower of London, London's first castle.

Reflect in Seesaw on what you would want to know about London and which video you thought was most interesting to watch. 

Reis(blog)

Google Maps assignment

Assignment

There are loads of tourist attractions in London. You probably know about the most famous ones: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge...

But where are they exactly? And what do they look like? And what can you do there?

You're going to find out in this assignment.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Open this map on Google Maps.
  2. Select all the layers: Pre-A1, A1 and A2+ --> the map now shows 14 blue markers ().
  3. Zoom in on the markers to find the tourist attractions at that location.
  4. Make a new presentation in Keynote with 7 or 14 slides.
  5. Fill the slides with pictures and information about the 14 tourist attractions you found (half or full slides, you choose).
  6. Finally, do the exercise below.

Vocabulary File

Assignment

During this quest you will hear or read a lot of new English words. Maybe you've already heard some in the videos in the Looking Beyond assignment. In this assignment you're going to build a vocabulary file to help you remember these new words.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Open the app Pages and make a new file.
  2. Name this file Vocabulary File English Quest: London.
  3. Make a table with 3 columns and 5 rows, like below.
English Example sentence Dutch translation
     
     
     
     

 

  1. During the Quest, you're going to fill this table with new words you see or hear that you want to remember. The table below is filled in as an example. Obviously you're going to find more than four new words during the quest; you can add as many rows as you need!
English Example sentence Dutch translation
met Mr Brown met Paddington at the station. ontmoette
Tuesday On Tuesday, Jenny plays cricket in the park. dinsdag
palace The Queen lives at Buckingham Palace. paleis
bridge Sorry I'm late, the bridge was open! brug

 

  1. You can record as many words as you want, but the minimum you should aim for is 20 new words. Have you got to the end of the Quest, but you haven't recorded 20 new words yet? Then have another look at the videos and text fragments in the assignments to find more words.
  2. After the final assignment (In the Tube), hand in your vocabulary file as a PDF in Seesaw. 
  3. Copy the link to your logbook in the Egodact Quest Monitor.

Postcard from London

Assignment

If you're travelling, it can be fun to send a postcard home to your family or friends. The front of the postcard shows a picture or a pretty drawing of the place you've visited, and you use the back of the postcard to write a message about where you are, what you've done and what you are going to do, as well as the address of the person you're sending the card to. In this assignment we're going to pretend to send a postcard from London.

 

Step-by-step plan

  1. Go to this website 'How to Write a Postcard'.
  2. Watch the video of Emma writing a postcard to her friends.
  3. Then, read the explanation 'How to Write a Postcard' below the video.
  4. Now it's your turn! Use a spare piece of paper or your Notes app to write a first draft of the message you would like to write on your postcard - in English, of course. Use Emma's postcard and the explanation to help you, but don't copy her text altogether. Pay attention to the verb tenses (=werkwoordtijden) that Emma uses.
  5. Ask at least two classmates to read your message and give you feedback.
  6. Happy with your feedback and your message? Then make your own blank postcard from craft paper. The traditional size of a postcard is A5 (Google it!)
  7. Write your message on the back of the postcard. In English, of course!
  8. On the front side of your post card, make a drawing of one or more London tourist attractions. Tip: use your Keynote from the Google Maps assignment for this!
  9. Take a good quality picture of both the front and back of your postcard and hand it in via Seesaw. Copy the link to your logbook in the Egodact Quest Monitor.
  10. Pin your postcard to a notice board in your basecamp so that everyone can see your work!

In the hotel - checking in

Assignment

In this assignment, you will learn how to use English in different situations at a hotel. You will learn phrases to use and practise and record a conversation with a classmate.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Watch this video to see examples of people booking a room, checking in at a hotel and dealing with any problems that might happen.

 

  1. Find a classmate to do this part of the assignment together with.
  2. Look at the conversations from the first video here. Click 'Read the Full Script' to access the conversations.
  3. Together, practise the conversations. Switch roles so that you practise being the guest as well as the receptionist.
  4. Now, you are going to think of your own conversation in which you book a hotel room, check in to the hotel, ask something about the facilities, deal with a hotel problem and check out. Together, decide how you want to change the conversation on the website. Practise your conversation a couple of times, again making sure you switch roles.
  5. Are you happy with how the conversation is going? Then it's time to make a video! Record the two of you having this conversation. Make sure the audio is of good quality so both your voices can be heard. Also make sure you have an actual conversation, so do look at and talk to each other and don't read your conversation out from your screen or a piece of paper.
  6. In Seesaw, hand in your video. Copy the link to your logbook in the Egodact Quest Monitor.

Paddington Bear

Assignment

A famous character from English children's literature can be found in a London train station: Paddington Bear. In this assignment, you will read a fragment from Paddington Bear and watch a trailer for the film Paddington. There are exercises for both the reading and the listening assignment. 

 

Reading skills: Read this fragment from 'A Bear called Paddington' a few times. Then to do the exercise below. Don't worry if there are some words you don't know; you don't need to know all the words to understand what the text is about more or less. 

Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact, that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear, because Paddington was the name of the station. The Browns were there to meet their daughter, Judy, who came home for the holidays.

Mr Brown saw something small and furry near the LEFT LUGGAGE office. “It looks like a bear,” he said.

“A bear?” repeated Mrs Brown. “On Paddington Station? Don’t be silly, Henry. There can’t be!”

But Mr Brown was right. There was a bear sitting on an old leather suitcase with a card around his neck, and as they drew near it stood up and politely raised his hat.

“Good afternoon,” it said. “May I help you?”

“It’s very kind of you,” said Mr Brown, “but as a matter of fact, we were wondering if we could help you?”

“You’re a very small bear,” said Mrs Brown. “And I have never seen a bear on a railway station before. Where are you from?”

The bear looked around carefully before replying. “I come from the jungle in Peru. I’m not really supposed to be here at all. I’m a stowaway. "

“You don’t mean to say you’ve come all the way from South America on your own?” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. “Whatever did you do for food?”

Unlocking the suitcase, the bear took out an almost empty glass jar. “I ate marmalade,” it said. “Bears like marmalade.”

Mrs. Brown looked at the label around the bear’s neck. It said, quite simply, 

PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR. THANK YOU.

“Oh, Henry!” she cried. “We can’t leave him here all by himself.There’s no knowing what might happen to him. Can’t he come home and stay with us?”

“Stay with us?” repeated Mr. Brown nervously.

He looked down at the bear. “Er, would you like that?” he asked.

“That is, “ he added hastily, “if you have nothing else planned.”

“Oooh, yes,”replied the bear. “I would like that very much. I’ve nowhere to go and everyone seems in such a hurry.”

“That settles it” said Mrs. Brown. “Now, you must be thirsty after your journey. Mr Brown can get you some tea while I go and meet our daughter, Judy.”

“But, Mary,” said Mr Brown. “We don’t even know his name.”

Mrs Brown thought for a moment. “I know,” she said. “We’ll call him Paddington – after the station.”

“Paddington!” The bear tested it several times to make sure. “It sounds very important.”

 

Listening skills: Watch the trailer for the film Paddington. Then do the exercise below.

In the Tube

Assignment

In this assignment you will learn how the London Underground, also known as the Tube, works. The Tube is a system of underground trains that covers most of London. You're going to watch a practical video and a video about the history of the map design, study the Tube map and figure out a few trips.

Video assignments

  1. Watch the short video below. This man tells you, at high speed and with proper British humour, about what (not) to do in the London Underground.

 

  1. Next is a video about the history of the design of the Tube Map. First you will do a vocabulary exercise to help you with the language used in the video. Then, watch the video 'The Genius of the London Tube Map' and do the comprehension exercise.

Practical assignment: learning to read the Underground Map

In this assignment you'll learn how the Underground Map works. You're going to look at the map and do an exercise with it.

Step-by-step plan

1. Go to the Tube Map. (don't be scared, it looks a little complicated... but it won't bite.)

2. On the map, you see all the different underground railroads in London. These are called lines. Every colour is a different line. On the bottom right of the map you see the names and colours of the map.

3. Make sure you can find the following lines on the map: Bakerloo, Central and Circle.

4. Now look for Paddington station. Hint: it's on the Bakerloo line.

5. Now do the exercise below.

Show

Put together your ideal minitrip to London. Present this trip in English in a Keynote. Your Keynote will have the following slides:

  • the top 3 attractions you want to visit.
  • for each attraction: what can you do there, where is it, how expensive is it? (so three of these slides)
  • transport: how are you going to use the Tube to travel from attraction to attraction?
  • words: which English words and phrases will you need to get around?
    • You can write this down, but you can also record this in a video or audio fragment!

Seesaw: Export your Keynote as a PDF and hand it in via Seesaw. Copy the link to your Results in the Egodact Quest Monitor.

 

Terugkijker

Use the 'Terugkijker' in your Egodact Quest Monitor to rate your preparation/planning, execution/report, results/sources and time management skills.

Write a reflective journal in your evaluation in which you answer the following questions:

  • Did your motivation motor work? Why (not)?
  • Did you succeed at the level you aimed for?
  • What was difficult for you? What did you do to get around this?
  • How did the show go? What feedback did you get?