On-Focus Questions
Traveling and Summer Plans

 I. Summer Plans: (vocabulary 1)

1. What do you usually do in summer?  Now that you are not going to have summer vacation soon, do you think that you have made use of every summer vacation you had?   How did you waste some of your vacations?
2. What do you plan to do this summer?   Will you consider applying for some part-time job(s)?  Do you plan to study?  Or travel?

• In general:
1. When you are on a long car journey (or on a plane or in transit at an airport), what do you usually do?  Do you play games or sing songs to occupy your time?
2. In general do you like traveling?  Do you like to travel in Taiwan?  What are the places you want to go to?
3. When taking a short trip away from a city, where do you usually consider going?  The mountains, a lake or a beach, amusement park, national park, etc.?  Do you like to go hiking or mountaineering?
4. What are some things that you always take with you on a trip in Taiwan or abroad?

 
• In Taiwan
1. Which places in Taiwan do you like to go for a visit?  Which places do you recommend a foreigner to visit?   Will you recommend your hometown?
2. How do you usually travel in Taiwan?

 
• Abroad
1. What are your goals when going on a short trip to a foreign country?
2. How do you plan your trip or find your way in a foreign place?
3. Have you ever taken a package tour?
4. How many countries have you been to? How many states?   How many times have you traveled abroad?
5. What places do you usually go to in a new city?  What kind of things do you think you will buy?
6. What do you like to do out in a countryside?   Or which type of countryside would you like to go to?

1. How do you usually travel in Taiwan and/or abroad (by car, by bus, hitchhiking, by bike, on foot)?
2. Where do you like to stay when you visit a new place?  (Your friend's, a hotel, motel, youth hostel, tent, etc.) What are the pros and cons in staying in one of the above choices but not the other?
3. Do you usually talk to the stranger who sits next to you when you travel long in a tour bus or on a plane?

1. Have you ever been in a difficult situation while traveling?
2. What if you lose your direction (or purse, passport, airplane ticket, money) when traveling in a foreign country?  What would be the prevention measures we can take?
3. What if you find yourself being mistreated by the custom officers (or passengers on the plane, on the street, or clerks in a store) but they cannot understand Chinese or not even English?
4. What would you do if your luggage is too heavy for you?  What would you do if you are injured in a foreign country?

 

 
 




Vocabulary

1. Summer Plans:

travel: a package tour (with a tourist agency), bag packing, travel with one's family,
plans: itinerary,

2. Places to Go to and Things to Do:
 
places: scenic spots, amusement parks, historic sites, festivals,
examples of places in Taiwan: Taichung Encore Garden; Taichung: Tungshih Forest Recreation Area;
 Bird Watching at Dadu River; Changhua:Tianwei Roadside Flower Farms; Kaohsiung: Hsitzu Bay Beach;
Kaohsiung: Chichin Scenic Area;  Kaohsiung: Cheng Ching Lake; Kaohsiung: Cheng Ching Lake Ocean World;
Taipei City Zoo; Sun Moon Lake; Gandau Nature Park; Chiufen; Leofoo Village Amusement Park; Fushing;
 Miaoli Lion's Head Mountain; Miaoli: Tai-an Hot Spring Area,  Taroko Gorge, Wuling Farm, Northeast Coast . . . for more please go to our Tourism Bureau.

things to do: shopping, buying souvenir, going to scenic places and enjoying the picaresque scenery, visiting the museums, visiting the historical sites, eating local cuisine and snacks, watching shows,  talking to local people, visiting friends, going to local universities, taking short-term classes.


3. Transportation and Accommodation:
Accommodation: bed and breakfast, hotel, motel, student/youth hostel, home stay with a local family, cabin, sleeping bag, tent, reservation, front desk, room service, check in, check out, book up, double room, single room, bellhop (a hotel or club employee who escorts guests to rooms, assists them with luggage, and runs errands), redcap (at a railroad station), skycap (one employed to carry hand luggage at an airport )

Transportation: hitchhike, take a cruise,


4. What if . . . Hypothetical Situations

 



Acknowledgment
 
1. This is a page for English majors on the intermediate level.  Please go to Daily English for English Conversation lessons for college students.
2. The questions are made with reference to the following two sources:
• Conversation Questions: Travel; After a Vacation (from Internet TESL journal)
• Campus Talk.   Tracy Su.  Tung Hua Book Company, 2001.

 

Related Websites:
Taiwan's Tourism Bureau, A Glance at Taiwan