^{Based on a lesson plan by Rashmi Sudhir, instructor at the West Windsor-Plainsboro STARTALK Hindi Urdu Student Camp (Rajni Bhargava, Program Director Hindi), Audio by Aashna Dangaich}  

Theme: Ecotourism/Travel 

Topic: Natural Surroundings and/or City Plan

Proficiency level: Intermediate High/Advanced Low

Age: HS-College

Time: 3X 75 min

Learning Objectives: At the end of this lesson students will be able to:

• exchange information about and describe in detail the geographical features and the layout of a chosen place in India and where they reside in the U.S. (as a real estate agent).
• negotiate and come to a consensus about places worth visiting by outdoors-lovers in terms of their geographical, natural and city plan features (one in the U.S. and one in India)
• discuss the advantages of one area over another and explain its advantage because of its proximity to nature (forest, beach, park, mountain, etc.) or outdoors sports facilities.
• compare and contrast activities outdoors preferred in India and the U.S.

Language Targets:

Various relative-correlative sentences: जैसे… वैसे…, जितने… उतने… जहां… वहां…, जब… तब…

Subjunctive to express polite requests and recommendations: आएं, पार करें, फोटो खींचें

Passive Voice: घोषित किया जाता है

Vocabulary: 

• adjectives: विशिष्ट, अनोखा,उल्लेखनीय,  सुविधाजनक, सुगम्य, उपलब्ध, स्थापित, स्थित, निम्नलिखित,पूर्वकहित; 

• nouns: विशेषताएँ, अवस्था, परिस्थिति, परिवेश, वातावरण, सुविधा; 

• verbs घोषित करना, सुझाव देना, संकेत करना, etc.

Performance Tasks:

• Interpretive: Students view video and fill out a Frayer Mode. They explore an assigned website for 5 interesting facts about Uttarkhand.
• Interpersonal: Students negotiate and come to a consensus about places worth visiting for cultural experience and nature.
• Presentational (RAFT) Students compete to receive a contract with a travel agency. Role: Students are in the role of international real-estate agents; Audience: They recommend vacation rentals to travel agencies working with echo- tourists and outdoors-lovers; Format: Students make a video presentation; Topic: Recommend two places of choice worth visiting in the U.S. and India. Students compare and describe in detail their features that make them unique.

Learning episodes:

Stage 1. Opening activity:

• Input: Teacher shows on Google maps the area wheres/he lives and talk about the main features of the neighborhood and the surroundings appealing to outdoor-loving travelers. She models a real estate agent talk who is trying to convince a travel agency to consider the vacation rentals in the chosen neighborhood by using the targeted grammar structures
• Interpretive Task: Teacher provides a list for students to check out when they hear him/her use vocabulary and grammar items (above in language targets). The vocabulary list  is mixed and teacher asks the students to put the words in three categories (having in mind the parts of speech categories, but students might come up with other categories).

 Stage 2. In pairs, students find the satellite images on Google Maps of their residential area on their laptops. They take notes describing the place, the surroundings, the geographical features and all its advantages for outdoors-lovers. Students write down the questions on index cards to ask and in the role of real-estate agents provide detailed descriptions of the places they reside in order to promote the area to a travel company as a great vacation destination.

Stage 3. Learners are in inner-outer circles and each has index cards. They ask and answer questions about the advantages of the place where they live for outdoors lovers. The activity continues with different partners.

Stage 4. Gigsaw: A group of students (lower proficiency level) view some portions of a video clip about the geography of Uttarakhand:

and another group (higher proficiency level) watches portions of a clip on the pilgrim travel places in Uttarkhand:

 

After viewing the assigned video, in pairs, students fill out in Hindi a graph on Echo/Outdoors Travel  based on the Frayer Model:

Stage 5. Interpersonal: Students switch their partner who had worked on the other video and negotiate and come to a consensus about those places worth visiting for cultural experience and nature to promote to a travel agency. They explain their graphs to each other and by looking at the satellite images on Google maps of the state, they locate the pilgrimage places and look at the geography of the place in order to make a decision. they make recommendations and list  the advantages of the chosen places.

Stage 6. Interpretive: Students explore for relevant information  http://hindi.nativeplanet.com/uttarakhand/.

Stage 7. Interpersonal: They compare and contrast what U.S. and Indian travelers prefer as activities outdoors on a Venn Diagram.

Stage 8. Presentational: Students video-record their presentations as real estate agents competing to offer vacations rentals to a travel agency working exclusively with echo travelers in the U.S. and India.  They present their Venn Diagram. Students have a check list of grammar structures and vocabulary they have to use and 5 facts from the website they explored. Students in the role of the travel agency take notes from each other’s presentation based on a graphic organizer which includes (a) मुझे क्या मालूम था? (what I know already), (b) मैं और क्या जानना चाहता/चाहती हूँ? (what I want to know), (c) मैं ने क्या सीखा? (what I have learned).