Materials for the lesson

Common accessories of a tourist:

A backpack, a hat, sun glasses, a selfies stick, a tourist guide, a photographic camera.

Printed photos of historic European sights, monuments, works of art, cultural events

Printed information of these European sights / monuments, works of art, cultural events

Flags of European countries
Souvenirs, books, typical products of different countries  like  French cheese, German sausages, spaghetti… or printed photos of them
CDs or mp3 files  of songs of different countries and in their respective languages
A Cd player or a laptop
A map of Europe
Printed ‘blank’ maps of European countries, which outline only the borders, size A3  minimum
Glue, markers, crayons

Layout of the classroom

During the Phase 1, the students may be seated as per usual.

For Phase 2, desks and chairs are placed in such a way, to make students work in small groups of 4, with ease.

Phase 1

The teacher is in a role of a tourist and tries to show to the students using questions the importance and cultural value of  historic sights, monuments, figures, events, works of art, music etc. as well as the contribution, of all of them, to the  development of the European civilization.

The teacher choses 4-5 European countries, on which the students will be later, be divided into groups. For example: Italy, France, Germany, England, Greece

 The teacher may have a backpack at his/her back, a photographic camera hanging from the neck, sunglasses, a hat and also, in one hand, a selfies stick and in the other, a tourist guide.

The  backpack can contain:

Printed photos of historic sights and monuments, works of art, cultural events of the chosen countries that have been assigned to the groups.

Printed information of these European sights / monuments, works of art, cultural events

Flags of these European countries

Souvenirs, books, typical products of these countries   like French cheese, German sausages, spaghetti… or printed photos of them

CDs of different kind of music. For example, classic, opera, pop, rock, folk music

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 The teacher walks into the classroom looking and acting like a tourist. In a foreign accent, the ‘tourist’ asks for information about sights that are worth visiting in Greece.

For example: What should I visit in your city?

The students may propose different monuments. The ‘tourist’ asks for more details. For example:

Could you please tell me what is the so called “Parthenon”  / “Caryatids”?

 What people used to do there, what was its purpose?

 Why do people all over the world admire this monument?

The ‘tourist’ thanks the students and before leaving, checks the messages on the mobile, and stressed asks for a favor.

Phase 2

 The ‘tourist’ says that has already been to 5 European countries. ‘Tourist’s’ employer has suddenly demanded an article  on which the ‘tourist’ will describe the journey and the impressions these countries left on him/her.

The ‘tourist’ pulls out of the backpack flags of these five countries and distributes them to the students. The students who choose the same flag make a group. So there is a German, an English, a Greek, an Italian and a French group.

The ‘tourist’ gives a blank map of the chosen country to each group. He/she also empties his/her backpack on all of the group’s desks: All photos, things, cds, souvenirs, notes are mixed up and have to be shorted by country.

The groups try to identify things, pictures, products, match information and monuments, events …

There is interaction between all members of groups. Children exchange pictures, things so to obtain everything that belongs to the country that they work for. For example: They use the Cd player or the laptop to listen and identify from which country come the music and songs. Opera from Italy, Classic music from Germany, Folk music from Greece etc..

Phase 3

 Every group uses the material that has been collected for the country it represents and creates a cultural map.  For example: The students may place the photos on the blank map, draw and paint the products, texts, flag.

The ‘tourist’ guides and helps groups when needed.

Variation

If there is access to internet, the students look for more information or material.

Phase 4

 Every group writes a small summary of their journey, expressing their personal experiences in it. For example: The students describe what they have seen, where they have   been, whether they liked it and why they liked it etc.

Phase 5-Evaluation

 Every group presents its work: cultural map and summary.

The groups comment on the other’s group works, ask questions.

Finally, they discuss about what have they learnt, if they liked it and what kind of problems they faced.