QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #73

English for Tourism

PREVIOUS TOPICS LISTED AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

Over the past year I have received a number of requests for resources on English for Tourism. Despite extensive searching on the web, it’s been hard to come up with a collection of high-quality resources. Most hits for any search on the topic lead to promotional material for English for Tourism courses. There appear to be hundreds of these offered around the world. Here’s a description for one typical course (from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge):

English for Tourism
This course is aimed at those who have, or would like to have, a career in any sector of the tourist industry (such as travel agencies, airlines, hotels, tour operations, national tourism boards and information centres). It is designed to develop your English language skills so that you will be a more effective communicator.

Though online resources in this area of specialization are limited, the following links should give you an idea of the types of activities which can be effective in an English for Tourism program, the topics such courses usually cover, as well as some of the usual texts studied by students in these courses.

Additionally, you might find the blog entries of English for tourism students of interest. These are also contained among the links below. Finally, though they are not intended primarily as a teaching tool, the numerous websites devoted to travel and tourism can make for provocative and up-to-date course materials for EFL/ESL students pursuing a career in tourism. Another link below leads to a compendium of such travel websites.

Teaching English for Tourism

· http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/bl_tourism1.htm

· http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/bl_tourism2.htm

“Tourism is becoming more and more important - especially for those learning English. Here is a two part lesson which focuses on the question of developing tourism as an industry in your local town. Students need to develop concepts, discuss local economic problems and solutions to those problems, think about possible negative impacts and finally make a presentation. These two lessons provide a great long term project for upper level students, while offering an opportunity to use English in a number of authentic settings.”

· http://www.unav.es/espSig/walker4.htm

“…teaching the English of tourism is a little more complex than simply knowing how to change a flight reservation. Our work must avoid turning out students whose smattering of ill-learned set phrases make Manuel of Fawlty Towers appear bi-lingual.”

· http://www.grahamstanley.com/englishfortourism/index.html

“On this site you will find resources to help you improve your English as well as exercises based on the Cambridge First Certificate exam, but related to Tourism.”

· http://www.esp-world.info/Articles_3/ESP%20for%20Turismo%20in%20Spain.htm

“A recent study held at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia at Gandía investigated the main problems of 80 freshman Turismo students of English as a compulsory subject. Many of them acknowledged their limited communicative and academic skills in the language.”

English for Tourism print materials

· http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/isbn/5300?cc=global

· http://www.learn4good.com/bookstore/esl_english_books_dictionary_audio_cds_for_tourism_students.htm

· http://www.ugr.es/~talc6/talc_search/proceedings/5.html

General travel and tourism links

· http://www.longman.com/tourism/resources.html

Previous editions of the QUICK RESOURCE SHEET

#1 – Creating quizzes (and more) online                                                         

#2 – Vocabulary builders

#3 – Online discussion groups for English teachers                                    

#4 – Grammar headaches – and how to cure them

#5 – Resources for new teachers                                                     

#6 – International Education Week

#7 – Mentoring programs                                                                    

#8 – Education publications online

#9 – Applied Linguistics                                                                   

#10 – English for Young Learners

#11 – World AIDS Day                                                                      

#12 – Online writing guides

#13 – E-mail exchanges                                                                      

#14 – Free online English courses

#15 – Effective e-mail communication                                             

#16 – Libraries online

#17 – American Studies                                                                     

#18 – Teaching methodologies

#19 – Internet tutorials                                                                       

#20 – Using the newspaper – Part I

#21 – Making books                                                                           

#22 - Using the newspaper – Part II

#23 – Human rights in language teaching

#24 – Blogging

#25 – Poetry and language teaching

#26 – The communicative approach

#27 -  Idioms

#28 – Earth Day

#29 – Alternative assessment

#30 – Peer assessment

#31 – Self-assessment

#32 – Portfolio assessment – Part I

#33 -  Portfolio assessment - Part II (Online Portfolios)

#34 – Intercultural communication

#35 – Teaching Adults

#36 – Learning disorders / Special needs

#37 – Using computers in reading instruction

#38 – Use of authentic materials

#39 – English for Medical Purposes

#40 – Sources for authentic materials

#41 – Education and technology

#42 – Academic writing

#43 – Teaching and stress

#44 – Back to school

#45 – Motivating students

#46 – Action research

#47 – Internet terminology

#48 – Fluency

#49 – Curriculum design

#50 – Pragmatics

#51 - Podcasting for English teachers

#52 – Critical reading

#53 – Learner autonomy

#54 – Scaffolding

#55 – Holidays

#56 – English for Academic Purposes

#57 – Mixed-level classes

#58 – The brain and language learning

#59 – Book clubs/Readers’ groups

#60 – Teachers and technology

#61 – Using video in the language classroom

#62 – Internet-based classroom projects

#63 – Observing student teachers

#64 – Digital literacy

#65 – Group work

#66 – Giving feedback on student writing

#67 – Vlogging

#68 – Educational leadership

#69 – The first five minutes: How to get a class warmed up

#70 – Managing test anxiety

#71 – Developing listening comprehension

#72 – Discourse analysis