martes, 17 de julio de 2012

Introduction


GIVING DIRECTIONS


Dear students,
welcome to this new Blog in which we will find interesting materials and resources to improve your English.
Come often to see new games and songs.
You are welcome to leave your comments and suggestions.


Before talking about the main purpose of this blog, these are some instructions of what are you going to find in this space:


*First of all, the main page, that contains introductions and definitions related to the topic


*The game and activities page, designed to interact with our visitors about a certain topic


*And finally, the grammar, structure, and explanation page, responsible for the content related to the main topic.


You can also find many tools available for you to explore with them, such as the translator.


To start, this is a brief introduction in which we are going to analyze all of the topics we will be developing, how to improve some of the most important skills, and mainly use interactive tools to achieve a more precise approach to the student.


Let's get started.
Now you will see a short definition of the topic we are going to work with that is called 
"GIVING DIRECTIONS"

As well as some videos.



There are two basic ways to give directions, the "route perspective" characterized by landmarks, and the "survey perspective" characterized by references to cardinal directions (north, south, west, east). The system you use depends on where you are and who you're giving directions to. Most of the time it's best to use a combination. The most important thing is to be brief and clear!







Resources


RESOURCES

Below, we have a set of examples and resources that include, verbs, expressions, vocabulary and prepositions that are totally essential when trying to give or ask for any kind of direction or information, we also have the meaning in Spanish, sentences with each one of them. At the and there is a conversation about a tourist and a person, you can use this one as a guide.










EXAMPLES OF DIALOGUES:

Tourist: Excuse me, can you help me? I'm lost!
Person: Certainly, where would you like to go?
Tourist: I'd like to go to the museum, but I can't find it. Is it far?
Person: No, not really. It's about a 5 minute walk.
Tourist: Maybe I should call a taxi ...
Person: No, no. It's very easy. Really. (pointing) I can give you directions.
Tourist: Thank you. That's very kind of you.
Person: Not at all. ... Now, go along this street to the traffic lights. Do you see them?
Tourist: Yes, I can see them.
Person: Right, at the traffic lights, turn left into Queen Mary Avenue.
Tourist: Queen Mary Avenue.
Person: Right. Go straight on. Take the second left and enter Museum Drive.
Tourist: OK. Queen Mary Avenue, straight on and then the third left, Museum Drive.
Person: No, it's the SECOND left.
Tourist: Ah, right. The second street on my left.
Person: Right. Just follow Museum Drive and the museum is at the end of the road.
Tourist: Great. Thanks again for your help.
Person: Not at all.

Games


Let's play some games

After finishing studying all the grammatical aspects, it is time to reinforce what we learned.
Enjoy playing with these games.
Click  the following images that will redirect you to the web page which contains the game.




Word search
Directions Word Search

Try our directions word search puzzle and have fun finding a range of words related to directions such as far, west, next, right and stop. Search horizontally, vertically and diagonally for all 20 words, put your skills to the test and see how many you can find!


Activities

Activities
this next activity contains three parts, it follows a sequence.
First of all Look at the map and try to Indicate whether the statement is true or false. Keep in mind all the material we have studied and use your logic to position yourself into the map.
Then identify each one of the names of the buildings according to the order.
Finally, fill in the missing preposition





 


lunes, 16 de julio de 2012

How to ask and give directions

How to ask and give directions


This is not so much a lesson plan but is instead a collection of resources that can be used to teach how to give and ask for directions. In this section I've identified three common ways to give directions based on different situations.



Part I: Street Name and Nearby Landmark.
Perhaps, the easiest way to give directions is just to say what street it is on. Granted, it's not so easy in countries like Korea where there are no street names, but even there it can be modified to fit. For countries that don't use street names you can give an area and a landmark.

Examples:


It's on Pine Street.
It's on 4th Avenue.
It's on the corner of Fourth and Pine.
It's next to the bank.
It's across from the school.
It's opposite the bookstore.
(It's in Yeonsu Dong
across from the CGV theater.)







Part II: Subway or Bus Directions
Another common way to give directions is to tell somebody what bus or subway to take, where to transfer, and where to get off.
Examples:

Take the Green Line to Central Station.
Transfer to the Main Line.
Get off at Market Station.
Go out exit number 4.









Part III: Directions by Foot or Car
A third common way to give directions is to tell somebody which streets to go down and where to turn.
Examples:

Go down Main Street to Broadway.
Turn left on Broadway.
It's on your right.






Purposes And Examples

Purposes and examples
This section is basically designed to show and explain the aim of this subject, how to give information about an address using the proper verbs, prepositions and expressions.

Not everyone knows where they are going and may need help with directions from time to time. Directions may be needed to get to a near by town, or directions to the newest mall in town or directions to the nearest rest room in a large building.

This is a series of videos created to give the viewer a high understanding level.






As you saw at the bottom of the page, giving and asking for directions is not a hard if you follow some of the sequences exposed in the previous videos, of course, we have to keep in mind that there are structures and ways to ask or give directions, some of which we are going to see in a more detailed way on this next page called Grammar, structure, explanation.