Read the model-dialogue

Situation: Mrs. Tashikama calls the Thai Grand Hotel in Bangkok to book the room for her visiting English friend Mrs. Fielding.

Receptionist: Thai Grand Hotel. May I help you?

Mrs. Tashikima: I'd like to make a reservation, please.

R...: Just a moment. I'll put you through to the reservation desk.

Clerk: Reservations. How can I help you?

Mrs. T...: I'd like to make a reservation for six nights next week for Mrs. Fielding, please.

Clerk: Certainly. What days will she be staying?

Mrs. T...: She'll be arriving next Thursday and leaving Wednesday.

Clerk: And what kind of room would you like to book?

Mrs. T...: I'd like a single room with bath, please.

Clerk: A single with bath...yes, that's no problem. Could I have the name again, please?

Mrs. T...: Yes, it's for Mrs. Fielding from England

Clerk: That's fine. We'll be expecting Mrs. Fielding on Thursday then.

Mrs. T...: Thank you very much.

Clerk: You're welcome.

 

Make up dialogues on the model. Use the key expressions:

1) Taking the call

Asking about accommodation requirements:

What days he/she will be staying?

When do you want the room?

What kind of room would you like to book?

Do you want a single room?

Confirming a booking:

A single room with bath....Yes, that's no problem.

I've reserved a double room with shower for next week.

We'll be expecting Mr.\Mrs. ...on Tuesday then.

Saying why you are calling:

 

2) Making a call

Saying why you are calling:

I'd like to make a reservation, please.

I'd like to make a reservation for six/one/three nights next week, please.

I want to book some accommodation for a friend for the next month.

 

Describing accommodation requirements:

He'll be arriving next Tuesday and leaving Saturday.

I'd like a single room with bath, please.

Do you have a double room with shower?

Is the parking lot/top floor/ available?

Are there mini-bars in the rooms?

Does your hotel have a swimming pool/a fitness room?

Do you provide for the transfer/ theatre bookings?

 

Situations

1. Call the Tower Motel and book a single room with shower for Hans Wondel from Holland for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He will be arriving late on Friday and leaving early on Monday morning. He wants a mini-bar and reservation on the parking lot.

2. Call the Manhattan Hotel and reserve a double room with bath for Mr. and Mrs. Smith for three nights from tomorrow. Special requirements are: top floor, fitness room, or swimming pool, theatre bookings.

3. Call the Luxus Hotel and book two double rooms with bath, bar for tonight only for Ms. F. Stevens and Mr. N. Adler. They need a transfer service.

 

Unusual Hotels

When people started to go on holidays in the 1960s, they wanted to stay in hotels that were cheap but clean. Today many are looking for something unusual. For example, the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi in Sweden. The walls, the rooms, and all the furniture are made of 100 per cent ice and snow. The hotel falls down every May because the weather gets warmer. Every November, when the weather is colder, they build it again. The hotel is bigger each year. Some famous people have had a drink in the hotel bar. The bar is made of ice, of cause - and the glasses are made of ice, too. The hotel has a cinema, a small church, and 120 beds. But only about 4000 people each year stay for the night there. The bedrooms and beds are made of ice and are always cold.

One more unusual hotel is in Florida, near Miami, in the USA. It is a small under- the -sea hotel. It is called Jules' Undersea Lodge. The hotel has two bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom. People who stay at the hotel can look at the beautiful fish through the windows. They can also go scuba-diving.

The Salt Palace and Spa is a hotel in the middle of the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. The hotel, like a lot of furniture, is made of salt. A room here is very expensive to rent.

There are many other unusual hotels around the world. For example, you can stay in a lighthouse in La Manga in Spain, in an old castle called Doyden Castle in Cornwall in the UK, or thirty meters I above the ground in a tree-house in the Western Ghats in India.

Perhaps there will soon be hotels in space. Hilton International are already planning a hotel on the Moon. It will be 325 meters high, and they will build a beach for it.

1. If you are to choose, which hotel would you book? Why?

2. Have you ever stayed at an unusual hotel? Would you like to?

3. Can you describe a tree-hotel? Try?

4. How soon do you think the hotel on the Moon will be built?

5. What hotel is shown in the film “The Fifth Element” of Luc Besson? Describe it.

6. Give your ideas of the dream hotel of the future

7. Is living in the camp similar to living in a hotel? What are the main similarity and the main difference?

8. Make up a dialogue on the topic:

«Camping is the Ideal Way of Spending Holiday»

Use the following ideas:

The argument key words and phrases:

1. No longer considered poor way of spending holiday.

2. No inconveniences

3. No discomfort

4. Modest sum: insulated tent

5. Large sum: portable bungalow, three bedrooms, kitchen, etc.

6. Portable furniture: gas stove, coffee, steak, frig, beer, ice-cream

7. Camping offers absolute freedom

8. No advance hotel booking, or driving round cities at midnight

9. Low cost holiday

10. Great mobility: go or stay as you please

11. sheer fun: esp. with family

12. always active, always close to nature

13. a real change, completely different way of life

14. great opportunity to meet people

15. a lot of physical exercise.

 

The counter argument key words and phrases:

1) There are inconveniences: mosquitoes, freeze, hump great weights, corned beef and brackish coffee.

2) What about rain, cold, boring diet of fried food?

3) What about packing and re-erecting a wet tent?

4) What about vast number of things to be carried? Large car is necessary.

5) Frequently setting up house and disbanding house: enormously inconvenient and tedious.

6) Most real beauty spots are inaccessible by car: everything must be carried.

7) The real beauty spots have no amenities, not even running water.

8) Camping sites are not beauty spots: primitive living conditions, each camper has little space.

9) Camping sites can be just as crowded as hotels

10) Camping is not a real holiday for a family

11) Wife has to cook, etc., under primitive conditions; no change for her.

12) Husband must drive long distances, children get tired or may fall ill

13) Even cheapest and simplest hotel provides rest and freedom from care for everyone in the family.

14) You get what you pay for; when camping, you don't pay much and don't get much.

Text

World-shaking news was seldom broadcasted by the radio station serving Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere. Local baseball scores, another car accident, a fire in a chicken coop, and death notices were the usual fare. In late June, listeners snapped to attention, then, when a Sunday evening newscast included this bulletin:

"An unidentified backpacker of not known address may or may not be a missing person, according to Moose County authorities. The Caucasian male, thought to be in his early twenties, stowed his camping gear on private property in the Fishtop area three days ago and has not returned. He is described as fair-haired with blue eyes and of medium build. When last seen, he was wearing cut-off jeans, a white T-shirt, and a camera on a neck strap. Anyone seeing an individual of this description should notify the sheriff's department."

Since the description might fit any number of vacationers in Moose County, the listening audience ignored the matter until the next day, when it was reported in the local newspaper. A detailed story - written in folk-style by Jill Handley, feature editor of the "Moose County Something" - made sense of the incident.

"Where is David & Missing Hiker Baffles F'port"

By Jill Handley

Magnus Hawley of Fishport, a veteran on the commercial fishing boats, flagged down a sheriff's patrol car on Sunday and told a curious tale. Hawley and his wife, Doris, live in a trailer home surrounded by flowerbeds on Lakeshore Road near Roaring Creek. “T'other night” Hawley said, “me and m'wife had just ate supper and was watchin' TV when there came a knock on the door. I goes to the door, and it's a young feller with a big backpack, wantin' to pitch his tent down by the crick for a coupla nights. He says he's gonna do some hikin’ on the beach. He’s kinda sweaty and dusty, y'know, but he has a reg'lar haircut and talks decent”.

Doris Hawley approved of the stranger. "He reminded me of our grandson - nice smile, very polite. I asked if he would be hunting for agates on the beach, because I could suggest a good spot, but he said he was mostly interested in taking pictures. His camera looked expensive, and I thought maybe he was a professional photographer. We told him he could camp near the picnic table at the bottom of the hill, so long he didn't throw trash in the creek or play loud music".

The stranger said his name was David. "I never knew a David who wasn't trustworthy," she said.

She gave him some of her homemade ginger snaps and filled a jug with fresh water from the well. Her husband told David it was okay to take a dip in the creek but warned him about slippery rocks and strong current. Shortly after, they saw the young man heading for the lakeshore with his camera.

"Funny thing, though," said Hawley. "After that we di'n't see hide or hair of the feller. I went down to the crick in a coupla days to see if he'd cleared out. The water jug - it was still on the picnic table, full up! And his pack was underneath all strapped and buckled. On’y thing gone was the cookies. We talked about it, Doris and me. I said he could’ve took up with somebody he met on the beach. There's no tellin’ what kids'll do these days, y'know. But m'wife was worried about him slippin’ on the rocks and getting’ drowned, so I hailed the patrol car.

A sheriff’s deputy and state trooper inspected the campsite but found no identification of any kind. A description of the hiker, as given by the Hawleys, was broadcast Sunday night, but no response to the bulletin had been received at press time.

Following the appearance of the story, the local gossip mill started grinding out idle speculations and inventing sensational details. Abduction was a possibility, many said, nodding their heads wisely. A few busybodies suspected the Hawleys of foul play. “Don’t eat any ginger snaps” was the popular quip in bars and coffee shops.

(after L.J. Braun)

Group work

1. Discuss the situation described in the text in groups according to the following outline:

-The location; the place of action.

-Why this particular place; what attracts people?

-Why should David come there?

-The description of the missing man.

-What could have happened to him (according to the text and according to your opinion)?

-The end of the story.

Destinations

Destination is a place to which one is traveling, it is a location that serves as a goal on a trip.

Brighton

(video film)

Previewing

Key questions

a. What is your idea of a destination?

b. What places can be a goal on a trip?

c. How do you choose where to go?

d. Is it easy to choose a place to go?

Discussion

1. What uplifting cultural experience would you anticipate?

2. Would you sample the delights of London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Amsterdam, Madrid or Nice, or try further a field with New York or Toronto?

3. Maybe you would like a taste of paradise in the French Caribbian, or of sight and sounds of Sicily, or of lakes and mountains of Lapland?

Prediction

Work in groups. Based on the title and your own background knowledge, what do you think youwill see and hear on the video?

Sights (Things you expect to see)

Words (Words you expect to hear)

Sounds (Sounds you expect to catch)

Essential words and phrases to know:

1. life is bumpy and stressful

2. a shrewd move

3. to take cure

4. to be health conscious

5. healistic centres

6. to chill out

7. to recharge one's batteries

8. a yoga week-end

9. to feel stiff

10. to wake up one's body

11. kiss-me-quick brigades

12. people of all abilities

13. fantastic stretch

14. residential

15. remedies

16. ear candles

17. promenade

18. dilapidated pier

19. cycle run

Viewing

Getting the main ideas

Read he questions watch the video and choose the best answer to each question.