3G
A
Wish you were here
Match the phrases, then use them to complete the emails.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
the holiday of
stayed up
an easy
only a phone call
stick
live on
get
on the same
a good bonding
run out of
awavelength
btogether
cmoney
dexperience
elost
f all night
g a lifetime
htarget
iaway
j junk food
Hi Grace
Hope you’re enjoying the holidays. How was your trip to Ireland?
As you know, my mate Ruby and I are away in Brighton for the week. Although this is my first holiday without my family, I don’t
miss them at all! Mum reminded me before I left that she was 1
, but I haven’t rung her once!
Brighton is awesome! We’re staying in a trendy hostel really close to the beach. We’ve made friends with the girls we’re
sharing a room with. Even though they’re a bit older than us, we’re all 2
we 3
. The day we arrived,
chatting with them! The only drawbacks of being in a dorm are that it’s a bit cramped and it
gets quite noisy; it doesn’t help that one of the girls snores!
There are loads of great places to eat here. Our favourite is a cosy Italian restaurant. It’s got a casual, relaxed atmosphere, in spite
of always being packed. We’ve been clubbing a couple of times too – one place was a bit rowdy, but the other one was far more
laid-back.
Brighton’s quite pricey, unfortunately, and Ruby and I have spent a fortune. We’ve nearly 4
we’ll probably have to
now, so
’til Saturday!
5
Can’t wait to catch up soon!
Lila xx
Dear Riley
How are things? What have you been up to over the holidays?
I’m in Los Angeles with my family at the moment. We’re staying in a really glamorous, posh hotel in Beverly Hills. It’s costing my dad
an arm and a leg, but it’s Mum’s fiftieth birthday and Dad wanted her to have 6
. I’m sharing a room
with my sister, Becky – it’s really palatial and has fantastic, contemporary décor. I haven’t spent much time with Becky since she
went to uni, so it’s been 7
for us both.
The other guests at the hotel are very affluent and lots of them are quite stuck-up. The staff, however, are nothing like as snobbish
and have been really helpful and courteous. They’ve given us lots of advice about what to do in LA and some maps, so hopefully we
won’t 8
so Mum’s insisted that Becky and I
! They also warned us that tourists can be 9
10
for pickpockets,
when we’re out.
We’re off to Universal Studios now – should be exciting!
I’ll ring you when I get back.
Susie ;)
B
Read the emails again. What are the pros and cons of each holiday? Find all the adjectives in the emails – do they
have a positive or negative meaning?
Solutions 2nd edition Upper-Intermediate
© Oxford University Press • Photocopiable
3G
Wish you were here
Aims To review and practise vocabulary to describe places and
phrases from 3G. To give students practice in suggesting and
identifying pros and cons.
Time 15 minutes
Materials 1 handout for each student
• As a lead-in, tell students to discuss the pros and cons of
staying in a posh hotel for a holiday or a hostel. Get some
feedback from the class.
• Give each student a handout and tell them to match the
phrases in A. Check answers as a class.
Answer Key
1 g 2 f 3 h 4 i 5 b 6 j 7 e 8 a 9 d 10 c
• Tell students to read the emails and insert the missing
phrases. Check answers as a class.
Answer Key
1 only a phone call away
2 on the same wavelength
3 stayed up all night
4 run out of money
5 live on junk food
6
7
8
9
10
the holiday of a lifetime
a good bonding experience
get lost
an easy target
stick together
• Tell students to reread the emails, to identify the pros and
cons of each holiday. They should highlight/underline these
in different colours. Check answers as a class.
Answer Key
1Pros: doesn’t miss family/staying in trendy hostel near beach/
made new friends/good places to eat/went to a laid-back club
Cons: dorm is cramped and noisy/one club was rowdy/Brighton
is expensive/almost run out of money, so need to eat junk food
2Pros: Staying in glamorous hotel/large room with modern
décor/spending time with sister/staff are polite and have
helped by giving advice/have maps so shouldn’t get lost/going
on exciting trip
Cons: Hotel very expensive/other guests are snobbish/potential
pickpockets/need to always stick together
• Ask the class if any of the pros/cons they came up with at the
•
beginning were mentioned in the texts.
Tell students to look over the texts again and identify all the
positive and negative adjectives. Check answers as a class,
eliciting synonyms/antonyms where appropriate.
Answer Key
+ awesome, trendy, great, cosy, casual, relaxed, laid-back,
glamorous, posh, palatial, fantastic, contemporary, affluent,
helpful, courteous, exciting
− cramped, noisy, packed, rowdy, pricey, stuck-up, snobbish
• In pairs, students discuss which holiday they would have
preferred to go on and the reasons for their choice.
Solutions 2nd edition Upper-Intermediate
© Oxford University Press