WebQuest

A Long Weekend Abroad

A WebQuest for levels A1 – A2 of the European Languages Portfolio (English)

Lucia Barranco
lbarranco@educacio.caib.es

Introduction

There’s no school on Thursday and Friday, so…why not visit London, Paris or Rome with a friend?

Don’t be lazy: you can start your trip right now!

The Task

You must be having a wonderful time! Why don’t you send us a postcard?

And when you get back home, write a letter with all the details of your long weekend abroad.

The Process

Step 1: Where do we go? When?

With your friend decide which city you want to visit:

London?

Paris?

Rome?

When do you want to go? Click here for calendar.

Step 2: Planning your weekend.

Friend A

Friend B

You are in charge of the practical details of the trip: booking the flights, finding a hotel and getting from the airport to the hotel.

Flights: Maybe there is no direct flight from Eivissa to your destination: In that case, find a flight to Barcelona first, then to the city you have chosen and, finally, the return flights. Remember you must be back on a Sunday!

http://www.orbitz.com

http://travel.excite.com

http://www.easyjet.com/splash.asp?lang=en

Hotels: Now that you have the dates of your flights,you can make your hotel reservations. Don’t spend more than 50€ per night.

http://www.bookings.es/index.en.html?label=gog235jc

http://www.expedia.com

http://www.lonelyplanet.com

How do we get there? You have rented a car to get from the airport to the hotel but, how do you get there? Try this link to help you find your way.

http://www.mapquest.com

Click here for documents.

Decide which places you want to visit and look for information.

Sightseeing: There are a lot of places to visit in London Paris or Rome. Choose one monument and one museum you would like to visit with your friend.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com

http://www.visitlondon.com

http://www.london-sightseeing-guide.com/index.htm

http://www.parisitravel.com

http://en.parisinfo.com

http://romaturismo.com/v2/en/main.asp

http://www.rome.info

Restaurants: After so much sightseeing, you must be very hungry! What about lunch in a nice restaurant? What would you like to have?

http://www.sugarvine.com/London/search/cuisine_search.asp?cuisine_type=British

http://www.franceway.com/paris-restaurants/

http://www.hoteljulia.it/rome_restaurants.htm

Click here for documents.

Friends A and B: Share your information before going on to Step 3.

Step 3: A postcard

Using the word processor, create and write a postcard from the place where you are at the moment. What are you doing? What’s the weather like?

Step 4: Back home

What was the weekend like? Write a letter to a friend telling him / her all about it. Remember the envelope!

Evaluation

	Fair 1	Acceptable 2	Well Done 3	Excellent 4	Score
Planning the weekend
Research and gather information	Does not collect any information related to the topic	Collects very little information related to the topic.	Collects basic information related to the topic.	Collects all the necessary information related to the topic.
Share information	Does not share any information with partners.	Shares very little information related to the topic.	Shares basic information related to the topic.	Shares all the necessary information related to the topic.
Postcard
Contents	Information is confusing and incomplete.	Some points are missing and / or confusing.	Information is complete but some points are confusing.	Information is complete and clearly stated.
Layout	More than 5 parts are missing.	3 – 5 parts are missing	1 – 2 parts are missing.	The layout of a postcard is complete.
Punctuation and capitalization	More than 4 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	3 - 4 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	1 - 2 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	No errors in punctuation and capitalization.
Grammar and spelling	More than 5 errors in grammar or spelling.	3 – 5 errors in grammar or spelling.	1 – 3 errors in grammar or spelling.	No errors in grammar or spelling.
Image	No image shown.	Image not relevant to topic.	Adequate image but not well printed.	Adequate image and well printed.
Letter
Contents	Information is confusing and incomplete	Some points are missing and / or confusing.	Information is complete but some points are confusing.	Information is complete and clearly stated
Layout	More than 4 parts are missing.	2 – 4 parts are missing	1 – 2 parts are missing.	The layout of an informal letter is complete.
Punctuation and capitalization	More than 4 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	3 - 4 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	1 - 2 errors in punctuation and capitalization.	No errors in punctuation and capitalization.
Grammar and spelling	More than 5 errors in grammar or spelling.	3 – 5 errors in grammar or spelling.	1 – 3 errors in grammar or spelling.	No errors in grammar or spelling.
Task
Tables and written work	Task is incomplete and /or it is apparent that little effort was taken in developing it.	At least two of the steps were not accurately completed.	One of the steps was not accurately completed.	All the steps of the task were accurately completed.
Total score

Conclusion

Next time you go on holiday remember how you can plan your trip and that friends and family are always happy to hear from you.

Anyway…don’t forget to leave a little space for adventure!

Credits & References

Thanks to Francesca Vidal, who introduced us to WebQuests; to Scott South and his ELF lessons based on authentic websites; to Sandra Ribas for the technical help and advice; and to all the teachers who have helped develop this lesson with their work.

All the images have been downloaded from Clipart except the Conclusion image: http://www.basildonbond.com/images/art-letter-writing.jpg

Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page