Oxford Dolphin Readers

Level Two

A Visit to the City

Mary Rose
Illustrated by Mark Ruffle

DESCRIPTION
In this book students take a trip to the city to see the sights. They go
by train, and visit a park, a zoo, a museum, a very tall building and
a market. There are all kinds of interesting things to see and do in
the city.

CROSS CURRICULAR
Social studies: Places in the city, transport.

VALUES
Curiosity and interest in our surroundings: Students find out about
interesting places and activities in a city. This can be extended to an
investigation about another city.

LANGUAGE
Vocabulary: beautiful, bicycle, boat, bridge, bus, by, car, city, down,
elephant, giraffe, grapes, high, holiday, hungry, into, lemon, long,
monkey, motorcycle, museum, old, over, panda, pineapple, plane,
river, small, strawberries, street, tall, taxi, train, tunnel, under, up,
watermelon.
Level Two

Structures: There is/ there are, adjective-noun placement (one and

two adjectives).
Expressions: Lets, Come on.

1
Lesson Plan

BEFORE
1 Tell the students you are going to visit a city (if you like, you can dress up like a tourist, with a cap,
backpack, camera, map, etc). Ask them what kind of things they think they will see in a city. Let
them talk to each other to get some ideas, and then collect their ideas and write them on the board.
2 Ask them How can we travel to/ in the city? What kinds of transport do you know? Repeat step 1.
3 Use flashcards or pictures to review any necessary vocabulary, writing the words on the board.
4 Show the book and tell the students that in this book we will visit a city for a day, and see lots of
interesting things to see and do.

DURING
1 Show the book and read the title. Give out the books and give the students a few minutes to look at
the pictures the book. Ask Do you think this book will talk about any of the things you said?
Refer to the list on the board.
2 Go to page 1 and read the phrases. Ask Where can you travel by? and get some ideas from
the students.
3 Read the text while the students follow along in their books. On page 4, explain that the yellow
cars are taxis. Ask What colour are the taxis in our city?
4 When you have finished reading, go back and check the list on the board to see which words the
children predicted correctly.
5 Read again, asking some questions as you go.
6 Page 3: Stop and ask Where did the train go?
7 Page 5: Ask What kind of things can you see in the park?
8 Page 8: Ask What kind of things are in the museum?
9 Page 9: Ask Why is this train called a skytrain?
10 Page 12: Ask What do we have to cross to get over the river?

AFTER
1 Students can take turns reading to each other in small groups.
2 Ask students if they have ever visited a museum/ market/ park/ zoo in their city or in another city.
Ask What did you see there?
3 Pages 13 and 16: Review the vocabulary with the students before they do the pages in class or
for homework.
4 Page 14: Draw a bridge, tunnel, and a river on the board. Write into, over, under on the board.
Do some gestures to review the prepositions. Ask students to work in pairs to see how they can put
these words together, for example we can go over a bridge. After a few minutes, ask for ideas
from the students and write them on the board. Go back to page 3 and read the text. Students
then complete page 14.
5 Pages 15, 18 and 20: Remind students to go back to the text to find or check their answers.
Students can complete these pages in pairs.
6 Pages 17 and 21: Remind students to use the Picture Dictionary to help them.
7 Page 19: Read the words in the text box with the students. Do the first example together, before
they continue on their own, in class or for homework.
EXTRA PROJECT IDEA

Virtual tour: With the students, take a virtual tour of your city or another Spanish city that interests
them. This can also be done in small groups.

Some questions for students to answer are:

What city are you going to?
What kinds of transport are there?
What important buildings are there?
What can you do there?

This Website is for a language school, but it has virtual tour photos and maps of many different cities:
http://www.enforex.com/virtual-tour-spain.html

This site is in Spanish but has a lot more cities to choose from:
http://www.360cities.net/area/spain

Song about transport: Early In The Morning

Come to the train station early in the morning,
See all the trains standing in a row.
See all the drivers starting up the engines,
Into the tunnel,
Off they go!

Come to the garage early in the morning,

See all the buses standing in a row.
See all the drivers starting up the engines,
Over the bridge,
Off they go!

Come to the seaside early in the morning,

See all the motor-boats floating in a row.
See all the drivers starting up the engines,
Under the bridge,
Off they go!

Come to the airport early in the morning,

See all the aeroplanes standing in a row.
See all the pilots starting up the engines,
Over the city.
Off they go!

Adapted from: http://www.bigeyedowl.co.uk/show_songs.php

Music: http://www.momsview.com/downbystation.mid