Hopping on and off the Metro
This idea was a mix of others I have read, I can't take full credit,but I thought I'd share. It's fairly easy prep, and designed for pre-intermediate or intermediate adult students. One good thing is if you live in a city where there is a metro or subway, (or if not, a bus system would work well too). Basically I picked up about 10 subway maps in my local station. First, introduce the idea of the metro to your students. Ask them if they take it, if it's reliable, if they consider it expensive or cheap, what is their biggest gripe about it (i.e. it closes too early, they're always doing construction, there's no air conditioning, etc.)
Next, put them in groups of 2 or 3 and ask them to brainstorm around the idea of "the metro". I usually write the word on the board and then let them create a spider-gram of some sort. Then go over vocab. This is the time when you hit "to get on" "to get off" "to transfer" "mind the gap" (which people of all countries seem to know...funny), "platform" "car" or "booth" "monthly pass" "turnstyle" "delay" "station", etc.
Next introduce a telephone dialogue. Pick 2 students to read/act out. Basically I wrote one up about Javier coming to Madrid and needing Lucia to help him buy a suit for a job interview. Here's the dialogue to give you an idea:
A: Hello?
B: Hi, Lucia. It’s Javier.
A: Javier! What a surprise. It’s been a long time!
How are you?
B: I'm keeping busy, you know, the usual. Listen. I’m in town this afternoon. I have to do some shopping and I was hoping you would
join me.
A: Sure. What do you need to buy?
B: Well, I’ve got a job interview soon so I need to
buy a suit.
A: Well, then, you should check out Trajes Florencia.
They are having a big sale right now and the customer service is excellent.
B: Wow, great! The only problem is I don’t know how to
get there.
A: Well, where are you now?
B: I’m at Lista Station.
A: Take the Line 4 to Bilbao Station and then
transfer to the Line 1. Get off at Iglesia
and go out the exit for "impares", ok?
B: Great! What time should we meet?
A: How about 4 o’clock?
B: Four o’clock sounds good. See you there.
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