Responsible tourism: Planning a sustainable holiday

• Show Slide 2. Elicit the four types of holidays [cruise; hiking trip; beach holiday; city break]. Show Slide 3. Ask learners to think about which holiday they would like best and why. Highlight the useful language and structures they could use to talk about this.
• Put learners into pairs and ask them to tell their partner. Monitor closely and write interesting ideas and other useful language on the board.
• Do some short class feedback and find out the most popular holiday type with a show of hands.
• Show Slide 4 (Worksheet Task 1) and ask learners to work with their partner to complete the sentence.
• Show Slide 5 with the answers. You may need to draw attention to the fact that 'the planet' takes a definite article, whereas 'nature' doesn't, which is why the two can't be interchanged in this sentence.  

• Show Slide 6 (Worksheet Task 2). Ask learners to read the texts and complete each gap with one of the holiday types they saw on Slide 2.  
• Ask learners to compare answers with their partner.
• Show Slide 7 and ask them to check the answers. 

• Show Slide 8 (Worksheet Task 3). Tell learners to read the texts again and complete the table with their partner. This activity aims to help learners develop critical-thinking skills and go further than simply understanding the language used in the texts. Considering the different aspects of each holiday type and whether it is good or bad for the environment and for local people will help learners make informed choices about how sustainable each holiday is. They also develop collaborative skills, sharing prior knowledge of the topic.
• Show Slide 9 and ask them to check their answers for the first three columns. Then hold a whole-class discussion to determine which aspects of each holiday have a negative or positive impact on the environment and local people.  

Suggested answers:

Cruise: Bad for the planet as it uses a lot of natural resources and creates a lot of pollution. Bad for local people as cruise ship tourists don't spend much money in the places they visit. They contribute to overcrowding of the cities they stop in, with thousands of people arriving at once.

Hiking trip: Good for the planet as bus travel doesn't cause much pollution and walking causes none at all. They aren't using any electricity so they are saving energy. As long as hikers take their rubbish with them, stay on permitted paths and ensure that they don't cause forest fires, they don't cause damage to the environment. Low impact on local people.  

City break: Low-cost flight causes carbon emissions, but hand luggage only could help. Both good and bad for local people. Contributes to overcrowding of cities, but they do help local businesses by spending money.

Beach holiday: Not too bad for the environment. Although car travel causes emissions, bike travel is environmentally friendly. As long as they are respectful when they are at the beach or in the sea, for example not leaving rubbish or damaging coral, they are not harming the environment. For local people, it depends on whether the area is overcrowded or not. They are spending money in local businesses (supermarkets and bike hire).

• Show Slide 10 (Worksheet Task 4) and ask learners to work in pairs to rank the holidays from the most sustainable (a) to the least sustainable (d). As they are doing this, monitor and give support with useful language.

Suggested ranking:  

a. hiking trip

b. beach holiday

c. city break

d. cruise

• Do some group feedback, asking learners to share their ranking and their reasons for it. Do all the pairs agree?  

• Show Slide 11 (Worksheet Task 5). Tell learners that they are now going to work with their group to design a sustainable holiday. They should think about how they are going to travel, where they are going to sleep and eat, and what activities they're going to do. They then justify why their holiday respects the environment and supports local people.  
• Before beginning the task, use the 4Cs to remind learners of the best way to do project work like this.

Communication: Use English as much as possible to express ideas. If you don't know how to say something, ask classmates or the teacher for help.

Collaboration: Make sure that everyone has had the opportunity to share their ideas, and listen respectfully to others.

Critical thinking: Use your knowledge of the topic to make informed decisions and complete the task.

Creativity: Think imaginatively and build on each other's ideas.

• Tell learners they have 12–15 minutes to complete the task, and they should nominate one group member to report back on their holiday at the end. Monitor closely and help with language where necessary.
• Each group presents their holiday plan to the class. If you are short of time, give a time limit to each group.  

• Give feedback on task completion. Highlight positive aspects of how each group communicated/worked together/used critical-thinking skills/used creativity. Suggest some areas for improvement.
• Praise those who have made sustainable choices. For less sustainable choices, suggest how they could be made more sustainable.
• Invite learners to vote for their favourite holiday with a show of hands. 

• Each group turns their holiday plan into a poster or travel advert, to include:  

- a title, holiday name and location

- travel, accommodation, food and activities

- reasons why their holiday respects the environment and local people.

• Display posters around the room and let learners vote on the most original idea/the most sustainable holiday/the most attractive poster.