Week 6 Individual Session: Getting unique experiences
Week 6 Individual Session: Getting unique experiences
Session Goals
- Talk about getting new experiences when traveling
- Create a bucket-list of travel experiences
Pre-Session Instructions for Learner
Pre-Session Instructions for Volunteer
During the Session
- [5 min] Start with the warm-up activity. Discuss the difference between people who:
- Go to the Maldives and those who go to Outer Mongolia.
- Enjoy meeting local people and those who enjoy meeting people from their country.
- Buy a lot of souvenirs and those who think that souvenirs are tacky.
- Enjoy sunbathing and those who enjoy trekking.
- [5 min] Here are some words and phrases that relate to this week's activities. Go through them with your buddy and challenge them to use each word/phrase at least once in the session!
- To get itchy feet = to start to want to travel
- After three years on the job she began to get itchy feet.
- Vulnerability (noun) = the fact of being weak and easily hurt physically or emotionally
- Those who organized the attacks exploited vulnerabilities in the nation's defenses.
- Thirst for adventure = to have an intense desire to travel, explore new places and have new experiences
- She has a thirst for adventure. She just can’t stop traveling.
- Picturesque (adjective) = attractive in appearance
- We strolled through the picturesque streets of the old city.
- [10 min] There are some people who take risks while traveling by trying really dangerous activities such as whitewater rafting, tree-top adventuring and others. Talk to your buddy. Why do you think people opt for heart-pumping pastime activities on vacation? Possible variants: They want to take photos to impress their Instagram followers; they want to test their limits, etc.
- Screen share and look through this article talking about thrill-seekers. Discuss the following questions:
- Which activity offered in the article are you ready to try? Which one would you never do?
- Can you think of any other life-threatening activities? Are there any others originating from your country?
- Are you a risk taker? Have you ever done any risky activity in your life?
- Would you ever risk your life for anyone? How about your money?
- Are risk takers more successful in life?
- [15 min] Another way of getting totally new emotions and the best practices is staying in diverse places. Discuss the video about the unusual hotels to stay in using the questions below:
- Where is the weirdest place you have slept during your travels?
- In which of the hotels in the video would you like to stay overnight?
- Why do some travelers prefer to stay in unusual places overseas?
- What is your opinion on exclusive accommodation offers such as living in a tree, in haunted houses, on a safari, or living in local tribes. Are they just posh offers for the rich or a real opportunity to broaden one’s horizons?
- Where do you generally prefer to stay when you go on vacation? (Hotel, hostel, Airbnb house/room, etc.)
- What are the most important amenities for you?
- Compare staying at a hotel/hostel or camping while being on vacation.
- Do you think the type of accommodation one takes reflects one's social status?
- How do accommodation preferences change with age?
- [10 min] Tell your learner you are going to watch the video about CouchSurfing. Then discuss the following questions together:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of couch surfing?
- Have you ever tried or would you like to couch surf? Are you ready to host any tourists in your home? What tourist attractions would you show them in your location?
- What are the dangers involved in couchsurfing?
- What is the difference between Airbnb, Booking (and other websites offering accommodation) and CouchSurfing?
- [10 min] Watch the video about space tourism, in particular, how space tourists come back to Earth after three days in orbit.
- Would you like to travel into space? Why or why not?
- Will space tourism be more affordable in the future? How much are you ready to pay to visit space?
- Would you agree to help colonize a planet if you knew you couldn’t come back to earth?
- Do you think people will ever communicate with intelligent aliens? Why or why not?
- [15 min] Create a bucket list of travel experiences. Screen share this website with your learner.
- Explain that you're going to create a bucket list (a list of the experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime).
- Ask the learner to complete a to-do list of experiences for their lifetime - talking about places to visit, to stay, to try, to see, to learn, etc. Ask them to choose from the available options and give at least 5 points for each of the sections (travel, new experiences, skills etc.). Go through them together step by step.
- Give them a few minutes to plan their response and justify their choices.