2002 Oral Set 10

What type of trip would be most suitable

As we only get a limited amount of money, the trip to other countries should not be far away from Hong Kong.  We should choose a place that is near Hong Kong so that we can save the cost of flight.  I think the best place would be New Zealand. They will spend three days there.  The trip is not very expensive since the exchange rate of New Zealand dollar is currently low against the Hong Kong dollar.  Besides, the students can have a chance to see snow there in winter and I think many Hong Kong students have never come across this chance.  More importantly, English is the official language in New Zealand.  All students have more chances to speak English when they communicate with the local people.  Practice makes perfect.  As they speak more, their oral English language skills will better. 

In order to save money, all students will not be arranged to live in a hotel.  We will join the Youth Hostel Association which is a worldwide organization to assist travelers by providing them with cheap accommodation.  There are cooking facilities in most hostels and students can save money by cooking their own meals.  Although it is not as comfortable as staying in a hotel, students can learn to be independent by cooking themselves.

Students will not need to attend some language courses as we do not have enough money and it is not interesting enough for students.  Instead of attending language courses, students will be divided into a group of two and to conduct an interview with the local people.  The topic should be related to their custom and food culture.  Beforehand, students should set at least 15 questions in their questionnaire and each group should interview 10 local people.  They should present their results after coming back to Hong Kong.  Conducting an interview is far better than attending language courses since students can have a real life experience to communicate with native speakers in English.  In addition, they can learn about their culture via interviewing and thus can enrich their knowledge.

Which students would most benefit from the trip

All students will benefit from this trip, especially the shy ones  who have no confidence to speak in English in public  After the trip, they must gain their confidence and will not be shy to speak English anymore.  They will find great improvement in their English speaking skills. Moreover, the relationship between each classmate will be tightened since they will live together for three days .