Have your students ever asked you where you are going to travel over winter break or summer vacation? Why not let them help plan a trip for you?
It is not important whether you take one of these proposed trips or not, but it will help your students feel like they are making an impact on your life, the same way they know that you are impacting their lives.
For this activity, you should have enough maps for each group in your class. Because your students are likely more familiar with their home country than the country whose language they are studying, you should be sure to have local maps—and everyone should work under the assumption that this is going to be a true “road trip,” meaning that you will be driving.
At the beginning of the class, you should ask each group what information they need from you in order to plan the perfect trip. This might include the number of days you wish to travel, your budget and what you like to do while on the road or in your free time. Once your students have this information, set them loose with their maps and give them time to plan!
When they are done, have them present their trip to the entire class. Your class, as a whole, can now vote on which trip you are going to take! Of course, they should be able to explain why they made the choice that they made, especially if they chose a trip other than the one their group created for you.
What about homework? Depending on the level of the students, there are a couple of options. If it is a lower-level class, they could write a short postcard home, telling some key points of one day of the trip. And if it is a more advanced level class? Then they could write two or three days’ journal entries, similar to a postcard, but more detailed and, of course, using more language skills