City Vocabulary Teacher’s Notes – by Lindsay Clandfield
Level: Intermediate +
Aims: Students learn fifteen items of city lexis. They play a speaking game that extends
their city vocabulary as well as giving them opportunity for speaking practice using the
vocabulary they have learnt. The optional cultural aim of this lesson is to make students
aware of some of the landmarks of three famous American cities.
Note: This lesson first appeared in August. The game is therefore called Summer in the
City and is intended as a fun activity ideal for summer courses. It can be used at any
time of year.
Warmer
Spell out the following words to your students. After you have spelled all four, ask them
what they have in common:
N-E-W-Y-O-R-K, W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N, C-H-I-C-A-G-O, S-A-N-F-R-A-N-C-I-S-C-O
They are all cities! Today’s vocabulary lesson will be on city vocabulary.
Wordsearch
Set the wordsearch for your students. The words can go in any direction and can be
horizontal, vertical or diagonal. On the worksheet the words have been provided. If you
think that makes it too easy, see alternative procedure ii
Alternative procedure: Photocopy the wordsearch onto a transparency and project it
onto a whiteboard with an OHP. When a student sees a word, he/she should shout “I’ve
found one!” and can then circle it on the paper or on the board.
Alternative procedure ii: Copy the wordsearch but cut out the words. Give students the
first and last letters of the words and a clue to what they are (see below for examples)
C----H (noun, a place)
D------D (adj)
D------N (noun)
D-------E (noun, a place)
H----C (adj)
etc.
Categories and Writing
Set #2 for students to do alone and feedback the answers. Clarify any words that the
students don’t know. Then do #3, which could be set either for homework or done as a
collaborative writing task in groups.
Answers: a) places in a city: CHURCH, HOSPITAL, DRUGSTORE, SHOPPINGMALL, TOWNHALL b)
parts of a city: PROJECTS (from HOUSING PROJECT), DOWNTOWN, SUBURBS, UPTOWN c)
adjectives to describe a city: DESERTED, HECTIC, HISTORIC, PACKED, RUNDOWN, SPACIOUS
Summer in the City Game
Go through the instructions with the students. For larger groups, students can play in
pairs. For very large groups, make a copy of the task sheet and assign students the roles
of giving the tasks. Circulate and help.
NOTE: Teachers should adapt these tasks to suit their students’ level and background.
If you want to play for more than one tour around the board, you can write some more
questions for each section.
© onestopenglish 2002 This page may be copied for use in class
Downloaded from the vocabulary section [Link]
Summer in the City Task Sheet – Intermediate + Tasks
DESCRIBE: For these tasks, the student must describe one of the following:
• a famous site in their country
• a local attraction or festival in their city
• the rich or poor parts of the city/town they are from.
• their route to school or work (what they drive/walk past)
A TOURIST ASKS… For these tasks, set the student a mini roleplay. Tell them to imagine they
are in a city they know well and you are the tourist (you can assign the tourist role to another
student if you like). The tourist asks them a question, or questions and they must respond. Note:
To make it more authentic, the tourist should preface the question with “Excuse me, do you
speak English?” Here are some examples:
• A tourist asks you to take their picture in front of a monument. They have a very
complicated camera!
• A tourist is lost. He/She asks you the way.
• A tourist tells you “I’ve been robbed! What can I do?”.
• A tourist wants to see the “real” city, not just the tourist parts.
TELL US THREE THINGS YOU FIND: For these tasks, the student must name at least three
things they find in the following places.
• in the Town Hall
• in a drugstore
• in a hospital
• in a church
NAME THAT CITY! There are four ways of doing these tasks. 1) Use the descriptions below
of famous American cities. Read out the description and they have to guess the city 2) Invent
descriptions of famous cities yourself or 3) ask students to describe a city and the others identify
it and finally 4) play the capitals game: every other student in the group challenges the student
on the square to name the capital of a different country!
Sample city descriptions:
• This is a very big city in the north of the USA. It is famous for many of its buildings,
including the Capitol, the Pentagon and the Lincoln Memorial and the White House.
The government of the United States is here. The President lives here. It is in the
District of Columbia, also known as DC. (Washington)
• This city is also called the Big Apple and it is home to Broadway, the Statue of Liberty
and Wall Street. It is famous for its big skyscrapers. (New York)
• This city is on the Pacific coast of the United States. It is very big. Many film stars live
there. It is famous for Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood. One of the rich areas of this
city is called Beverly Hills. It has a Spanish name (Los Angeles).
EITHER, OR, BOTH. For these tasks, the student must state their preference for one thing or
another and say why. If they have no preference (they like or hate both) they must still give
reasons.
When you are in a city, which do you prefer…
• Public transport or travelling by car?
• Shopping or sighseeing when you visit a city?
• Going to a restaurant or having a picnic in a city park?
• Living in the city or living in the country?
• Living downtown or in the suburbs?
© onestopenglish 2002 This page may be copied for use in class
Downloaded from the vocabulary section [Link]
