Chapter 6: Tourism, maps and Giving Directions

After practising the activities in this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand brochures, guidebooks and other public information.

2. Use the Internet to find information for tourists.

3. Use descriptive words.

4. Use compound words.

5. Understand maps and their keys and scale.

6. Understand language for giving directions.

7. Use action words.

8. Use the correct prepositions.

9. Use language to promote tourism or a tourist site.

10. Plan a visit.

11. Use relative clauses.

12. Use the present and future tenses.

13. Use an online Geographical Information System

Keywords

• brochures

• guidebooks

• publicity

• tourism

• directions

• information

• adjectives

• preposition

• tenses clauses

Introduction

In this chapter, you will focus on tourism and understand its importance thereof. You will develop the skill of map reading, and be able to give and follow directions to a tourist site. You will plan a visit to a nearby tourist site, which you will research, read and talk about.

Tourism brochures, guidebooks and other publicity

When you visit a new place or country, how do you find out about it? How do you know what the requirements are for entering the country? Where do you find information about which places to visit, what the currency is, what transport is available, how much things will cost or which languages are spoken?

Adjectives for description

Adjectives are also known as describing words. They tell you more about nouns and are always paired with a noun. They can describe size, colour, shape, age, number and substances, etc. For example:

a ginger cat (colour)

• an ancient cave (age)

• a plastic chair (substance)

• ten apples (number)

• a circular design (shape).

You can use many different adjectives to describe the same noun. For example a huge/enormous/gigantic/massive mountain.

Activity 6.3 Describe different types of holidays

Work in groups.

1. Everybody is different and has unique interests. This influences the activities we enjoy and the places we like visiting. Discuss your main interests and the places you enjoy visiting. For example, do you like hiking and outdoor activities? Perhaps you prefer fact-finding and learning about history? Do you like doing adventurous things? Do you enjoy watching animals and finding out their habits?

2. Share your ideas with the class. Make a list of all the possible activities and places you could visit.

3. Read the paragraphs from a tourism guidebook. Match each description to one of the holiday types on page 90:

A. Whether or not you’ve done white water rafting before, do not miss this experience! Book with our well-known company – safety is our number one concern. You will enjoy a well-organised day on the rapids, looked after by a friendly and professional guide. If you are not too adventurous, your trip will be tailored to the slower rapids and you won’t spend any time in the water.

If, however, you enjoy more excitement, you can travel at high-speed, flipping and swimming, all under the watchful eye of your guide.

B. You cannot go wrong with this tour designed to fulfil all your interests. You can choose between a seven-day tour or a ten-day tour, and tailor it to your needs and wishes. You will leave Uganda having enjoyed a safari, close view of gorillas, the beauty of nature, having learnt interesting history and met the vibrant people who live in this country.

C. The national parks of Uganda come highly recommended.

Spend a few days at Murchison Falls National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park or the wenzori Mountains National Park.

Perhaps you’d prefer to take a two-week adventure tour of all the safari parks in Uganda. Not only will you get your fill of game drives and wildlife, but also experience the spectacular beauty of the mountains, waterfalls, craters and rivers of this beautiful country close up. Unfortunately, this tour is not wheelchair-friendly as most of it involves hiking.

4. Find two-holiday destinations in Uganda that match each of the holiday types. Some holiday destinations will fit more than one-holiday type.

For example: sun and sand – Lake Nakuruba, Ssese Islands, Entebbe, Lake Albert, rafting on the Nile near Jinja.

Compound words

Compound words are formed by joining two or more words together to make a new word, with a new meaning. For example:

• camp + fire = campfire

• suit + case = suitcase

• water + fall = waterfall

• wheel + chair = wheelchair

Some compound words are joined together with a hyphen. For example:

• high + speed = high-speed

• wheelchair + friendly = wheelchair-friendly

• brother + in + law = brother-in-law

Some compound words are not actually joined, but when used together they have a different meaning to when they are used alone. For example:

• flight + attendant = flight attendant (a specific job)

full + moon = full moon (different from any other moon)

• bus + stop = bus stop (a certain kind of stop)

Using maps and giving directions

A paper map, or a digital map on the Internet, shows you where you are and how to get to your destination. If your teacher has Google Maps on their phone, they can show you how a digital map works. You need to learn how to read a map for it to make sense.

Do you know where the sun rises and where it sets?

Can you work out where north, south, west and east are?

•What is the key on a map?

•How does it help you to read the map?

•Do you understand the meaning of scale and coordinates?

Notes/Hints

• Visit a library and look for guidebooks and atlases.

• Visit a travel agent and ask for maps showing tourist sites in Uganda

• If possible, use the Internet to discover maps for tourists visiting Uganda.

You will need:

maps and atlases from a library

• maps from a travel agent

• access to a computer with Internet.

Activity 6.5 Understand and interpret maps

Work in pairs.

1. Compare the maps. What do they each show? How are they the same?

How are they different?

2. What is the scale of each map? How many kilometres in real life does each centimetre on the scale represent?

3. Look at the key in Map 2. How does it help you?

4. Name each tourist site represented by the key on Map 2. Have you visited any of these sites?

Prepositions

Prepositions are usually short words. They link nouns to other words in a sentence. They describe position or place.

Examples of prepositions are: on, in, after, up, into, above, between, through, across, under, behind and next to.

Activity 6.6 Role-play being a travel agent

Role-play being a travel agent and helping tourists decide where to go on holiday, by describing the location and hotel facilities and giving other relevant information at their request.

Activity 6.7 Give directions

Work in pairs. Take turns to follow and give these directions.

1. Stand behind me.

2. Sit in front of me.

3. Walk around me.

4. Point above you.

5. Run across the classroom.

6. Look under a chair.

7. Stand next to me.

8. Stand in a line after me.

9. Look in your bag.

Activity 6.8 Give directions to tourist sites

Work on your own.

1. Refer to Map 1 and 2. Identify the following tourist sites.

a) This site is to the east of Kampala near linia. A famous river has its source nearby. You ride on this famous river in rafts. What is the tourist attraction?

b) This national park is named after a queen. Look up at the trees and into the sky, where over 600 different types of birds live. On the grasslands are elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, buck and hyenas. In the forests and up in the trees you may see primates. Above Lake Edward is the Mweya Peninsula, and the Kazinga Channel is between Lake Edward and Lake George. What is the national park called?

c) Gorillas live in the forests here. You can only reach them on foot. You must climb up the mountains and through the forests to reach them.

The hike is difficult, but local porters will guide you across rivers and up the steep, muddy paths. The bamboo, which grows in the forest, makes it almost impenetrable. What is the name of this national park?

2. Identify all the prepositions in the three descriptions above.

Action words or verbs

Verbs are words that describe actions. A verb also has a tense that tells you whether the action happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future. For example:

• Drive along this road
• Travel north.
• Leave early in the morning.
• Return before dark.
• Walk for five kilometres.
• Do not swim in the river.
• Turn left at the first stop street.

Activity 6.9 Use verbs and direction words

When you give someone directions you need to choose your words carefully.

You use direction words, north or south, and action words that describe how far to travel, and where to turn or stop.

Work in pairs.

1. Take turns to give your partner directions to different places in your classroom or school. For example, Stand up; Walk straight; Stop; Turn right;

Walk out of the door and turn left; Turn around; Turn right.

2. Refer to Map 2 on page 93. Direct your partner to get from Kampala to five different tourist sites shown on the map. Do not tell your partner which site you are directing them to. They must find it by listening to and following your directions.

3. List all the verbs (action words) and prepositions you used when giving your directions.

Activity 6. 10 Role-play giving directions

Work in groups.

Take turns to role-play the situations.

1. You meet a group of tourists in Kampala. You must explain to them how to get to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Use Map 2 on page 93 to help you make up the route they should take. Since they do not speak the same language as you, use gestures and actions to give them directions about which roads to use.

2. You work at a tourism company in Kampala. Tourist phones say they are lost in the city. Use Map 3 to help you give them directions from the Uganda Golf Course to Shangri-la Hotel. The tourist is very upset, so do not listen carefully to what you say. You need to repeat your directions a few times.

3. You are a tour guide. You have finished showing a group of tourists the World Health Organisation building. The tourists are now going to spend time exploring alone. They must meet you at the Gallery, in Princess Avenue, at noon. Explain to them how they will get there.

4. You are a tourist in Uganda. You have been at the Tuldanya Gallery and now wish to play golf. The curator of the gallery must explain to you how to get to the Golf Club.

Promoting tourism

Tourism is most successful when the citizens of a country support it and promote it. Visitors to a country spend money on transport, food and drink, accommodation, tours, experiences and gifts to take home. All this money benefits the people of the country that tourists are visiting. Therefore, it is important to welcome tourists and make their experiences as enjoyable as possible. How do you think you can help to do this?

Tourists travel for pleasure. Tourism is the business of organising travel, holidays and services, like transport and accommodation for tourists. Tourism is sold to visitors through the Internet, travel agents, radio and television adverts, posters and newspaper articles. Think about other ways that visitors get to know about tourist sites in Uganda they would like to visit. Where would you start looking for information if you wanted to travel to another country or continent?

Activity 6.11 Use adjectives to describe a holiday destination

Work alone.

1. Choose a holiday destination, anywhere in the world! You will need to do some research that will help you choose where you want to go. Use the Internet if possible, or visit a library or tourism office.

2. Write a paragraph to describe why you chose this destination for your holiday.

3. Remember that adjectives make nouns more interesting and paint a picture of something for us. Think of ten colourful adjectives that describe the place you chose to go on holiday.

4. Work in small groups. Study the leaflet and poster advertising a holiday.

Notice what information is given and what appeals to you about each type of publicity. Is it appealing because of:

• what the place looks like? Would you like to be part of the picture? what you can do there? Do the activities sound like fun?

• the colours or design used? Do these attract you or grab your attention?

• the price or package offered? Is it affordable?

• the way it is described? What adjectives are used?

5. Write a descriptive paragraph about the holiday destination you chose. Use the ten adjectives you wrote down for number 3.

Activity 6.12 Design a leaflet

Work in pairs.

1. Choose a tourist site in Uganda. You will produce your own leaflet or poster advertising this place. It should appeal to tourists who want to visit Uganda. Remember to:

• plan carefully what colours, design and pictures you use

• think about what information is most important

• plan what to say in just a few sentences

• use adjectives that paint an appealing picture

• make all activities sound like fun

• advertise an affordable holiday.

2. Spend time planning and preparing your leaflet or poster. When you are happy with it, show it to two other pairs and ask them to comment on it.

Improve it if you can.

3. Display all the completed leaflets and posters in your classroom. Ask another class to come and choose the tourist sites they would most like to visit, based on what they see.

Activity 6.13 Use prepositions

Work on your own.

Complete the sentences with suitable prepositions.

1. We are going …………………holiday.

2. We will travel…………….. Uganda.

3. We will fly………………aeroplane to Kampala.

4. We will join a bus tour going the……….. national parks.

5. My sister will sit……………..me.

6. We will be high ………..the ground and we will look……….

7. The bus will tow a trailer………….. it with our luggage on all the animal……………it.

Plan a visit

You are going to become a travel agent and plan a visit to a tourist site nearby. You will need to gather information about costs of transport and accommodation, travel departure and arrival times, accommodation available, food and drink, opening times of the places to be visited, entry fees, and any other relevant matters. You will need to make notes about what you find out so that you can arrange the information in a way that is easy to understand.

Activity 6.15 Gather information

Work in pairs.

1. Choose a tourist site hear to where you live. It should be a place that

interests you.

2. Find information about your chosen site. Ask at a tourism office or travel agent, use the Internet if possible, speak to local people and read brochures, advertisements or tourism booklets.

3. You need to find out:

• how you can get there how much transport costs
• how long the trip takes times of departure and arrival
• whether you need to stay overnight, if so where people can stay how much accommodation costs
• what food and drink is on sale
• opening times of the tourist site
• entry fees
• any other costs such as permits, gifts and souvenirs.

Use the bullets as headings, on the branches of a mind map.

4. Arrange the information you fixed out next to the relevant heading on the mind map

Relative clauses

A clause is part of a sentence. It must have a subject and verb.

A relative clause usually adds meaning to the main clause. It tells you more about a person, place or thing. Often the relative clause is joined to the main clause with a relative pronoun like who, what, which, that, where and when.

Activity 6.16 Use relative clauses

Work on your own.

1. Complete these sentences, which all have relative clauses. You can make up the information.

a) The trip is organised by

b) You will visit _

-, who

c) You will be very happy when

which is

d) You will travel by

e) You arrive at the site when

which

f You stay overnight at a camp where you will

g) You can buy

h) The site opens, when

-, which is delicious.

¡) You pay your entry fees when j Bring money for gifts that you can

2. Now write your own sentences about the site you will visit in Activity 6.15.

Each sentence must contain a relative clause. Use one of these words to join the clauses in each sentence: who, which, that, where and when.

present and future tenses

Remember what you have already learnt about tenses.

The present tense refers to actions happening now.

Simple present tense

For example:

•We run home.

She walks fast.

He sings well.

Present progressive (continuous) tense

For example:

We are running home.

She is walking fast.

•He is singing well.

The future tense

refers to things that will still happen in the future.

Simple future tense

For example:

•We will run home.

•She will walk fast.

• He will sing well.

Future progressive (continuous) tense

For example:

•We will be running home.

She will be walking fast.

• He will be singing well.

Activity 6.17 Use of the present and future tenses

Work in groups.

1. Write a list of ten steps you must take to prepare for the trip. The list must be in point form. Your points must all be in the simple present tense.

For example:

• Visit tourism office

• Ask for brochures.

2. Use the points on your list to write full sentences about what you must do to prepare for your visit to the tourist site. Your sentences must all be in the simple future tense. For example:

I will visit the tourist office.

I will ask for brochures.

Activity 6.18 Perform from skit

1. Once you have finished all the planning and preparation on your mind map, it’s time for action! You will work with a group to select the plan they like best for the tour. You will work together to write a short, informative and funny skit of the plan you like best. Your script should include at least two lines for everyone and a scenario where the plan went wrong. Do your best to be creative but include accurate facts based on research. The other groups will watch the performance and fill in the table on the next page.

Activity 6.19 Write an essay
Work on your own.
1. Refer to page 94 to remember what you already know about prepositions and how they can describe position and directions.
For example:
• We drove up a mountain, across a river and over a smaller hill.
• The site was behind a large gate.
•There was a parking lot next to the gate.
2. Review how to use relative clauses on page 102.
3. Use the comments made by your tour group to write an essay about your experiences preparing a skit. Tell the story of how your group worked together and what it felt like to perform in front of everyone in the class.
•Make sure to focus on using the new language skills you have learnt.
•You need to start with planning.
• Your final essay should be one page in length.