My Summer Vacation -A Back to School Activity

It's almost time for "Back-to-School" in many countries, including Canada. Many students are asked to write essays or paragraphs about their summer vacation. Here is an idea that is more interactive! It's a great way for students to get to know their teachers better. Create a Word Cloud (or have your students create one using something like Wordle that they can use to get to know each other better) with words that remind you of your summer vacation. Then have the students guess what the words might signify. We've done this a few times already on MyEC. It's a fun way to learn new vocabulary, share memories, and practise making guesses. I recently returned from a family vacation. Do you want to play along?

Your Task:

1) Choose a word from my most recent memory Wordle (see above).

2) Guess why I included the word you chose. Write your guess in the comments.

How to guess:

a) Ask a question (direct): Did you discover a new species?

b) Use "I think" + past tense: I think you discovered some interesting seashells.

c) Use "I bet" + past tense: I bet Tara saw a hamburger bun in the Atlantic Ocean.

d) Use "I wonder if" + past tense: I wonder if the food in South Carolina was bland.

3) Read my responses. I will unravel the story of my trip down south by sharing a memory (and sometimes a photo) related to each word after a guess is made. I'll respond in the comments too.

Have you been on a trip recently? Why not create your own Vacation Wordle and challenge MyEC members to guess your memories!

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Admin Comment by Tara Benwell on August 28, 2012 at 14:15: @Nafis No, I don't think there was an undertow in the aquarium. :) There was an undertow at the beach, though. The water outside our hotel was quite rough for a few days. The lifeguard was on his feet all day and there were flags outside of his chair that told swimmers to "Swim at your own risk". I had my sunglasses knocked right off my head the first time I went out in the waves. Good thing they were just cheap ones! I never found them again. I wonder how many sunglasses are floating around in our beautiful ocean. I felt guilty that I had polluted the beautiful water.

BTW-When you are on vacation, make sure to check what the flags mean. I learned that there are some flags that mean "sharks in the area". We didn't see that flag, but when I watched the news I heard that there had been sharks further north up the beach. I'm glad my kids were asleep when that news came on!

Mod Comment by Nafis on August 28, 2012 at 4:04: I wonder if Tara could see the undertow when the swordfish was moving in the aquarium.

Mod Comment by Robbie on August 24, 2012 at 10:15: @ Tara

The swordfish is very interesting! It's a different specie from what I've seen on Animal Planet. It is smiling at you! : )

Mod Comment by Nafis on August 23, 2012 at 21:01: Dear Tara, ohhhhhhh NOOOO! that was close! hehehehehehe..... How exciting! The photos are great! I also feel it's above my head! wow! How giant it is!

Admin Comment by Tara Benwell on August 23, 2012 at 15:00: @Nafis, Good guess! We didn't go to Disney World, though. I think my son is a little bit too short for some of the rides, so we are putting off that trip for another year or two. We did go to Ripley's Aquarium, where the sharks swim right over you as you stand on a moving sidewalk. The best part was the sawfish. It's sword was right above us as we passed by.

Mod Comment by Junco on August 23, 2012 at 3:06: I wondered why you have chosen South Carolina as a destination of your summer vacation at first. However, when I saw the beautiful beach on the internet, I bet you thought that your whole family would enjoy very relaxing holidays there.

PS: I don't think I'm a purpleologist. But I love purple, especially the color of lavender or wisteria ;)

Mod Comment by Junco on August 23, 2012 at 2:49: Thank you Tara! This is really a great way to share holiday experiences. We need to use our imagination and can learn some new English words :) I wanted to ask you about Karaoke, but I was too late :X

Mod Comment by Nafis on August 22, 2012 at 20:59: Thank you dear Tara for the explanation.

I bet Tara's children tried to take the sword out of the stone in Disneyland.

Mod Comment by Robbie on August 22, 2012 at 11:24: Thanks Tara, for sharing us what Ford means in your Wordle. I'm glad that Ford was able to resolve the issue and that you had an exciting road trip. : )

Comment by Zahra on August 21, 2012 at 6:50: Oh I see! How cool it is!I bet you were all excited to spot that lizard!

Anyway, thank you so much for sharing all the fantastic memories of your trip along with amazing pictures with us.

Have a great time

:)