Design Your Perfect One-Day Trip (Intermediate-Advanced ESL/EFL learners)

Imagine you have just won a free ticket to any city in the world, but it is valid for only 24 hours. Where would you go? What would you eat? How would you make every single hour count?

In this WebQuest, you will become a professional travel planner. You will choose a city, research it using reliable websites, design a realistic one-day itinerary, and write a 700-word descriptive travel article that informs readers about your plan.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this WebQuest, you will be able to:

1. Research a destination using at least three reliable websites and select relevant information.
2. Plan a realistic one-day itinerary, considering time, distance, transport, and budget.
3. Write a 700-word descriptive article with a clear three-paragraph structure.
4. Use advanced vocabulary and varied sentence structures to create vivid descriptions.
5. Reflect on your own writing and learning process.

Your task is to create a One-Day Trip Plan and a Travel Article.

Part 1: Itinerary (planning)

• Choose one city (it can be a city you know or one you dream of visiting).
• Plan at least six time slots from morning to night (e.g., 8:00 a.m. breakfast, 10:00 a.m. museum…).
• Include three main places to visit, at least one food place, and how to get around.

Part 2: Travel Article (descriptive writing)
 Write a 700-word article in three paragraphs:

Your article must answer: Where to go? When? Which food place, and what to eat? Why is it worth visiting?
 Language requirement: Use advanced vocabulary and expressions (see the Language Toolkit below). Also use transition words. 

<Resources>

These are some websites to visit and gather ideas about your trip planning and writing task. 

Travel information

1. Lonely Planet – destination guides, top sights, and local tips: https://www.lonelyplanet.com
2. Wikivoyage – free travel guide with “See,” “Eat,” and “Get around” sections: https://en.wikivoyage.org
3. Official tourism sites – search for your city’s board (e.g., Visit Seoul: https://english.visitseoul.net, Visit Britain: https://www.visitbritain.com, Japan National Tourism Organization: https://www.japan.travel/en/)

Transport and food
 4. Rome2rio – compare ways to get from place to place: https://www.rome2rio.com
 5. Tripadvisor – restaurant reviews and traveller photos: https://www.tripadvisor.com

Writing support
 6. British Council LearnEnglish – writing tips and vocabulary practice: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org

Step 1: Choose Your City (5 min)

Pick a city you are curious about. Ask yourself:

• Can I fit its highlights into 24 hours?
• Is there enough reliable information online?
• Do I feel excited to describe it?

Step 2: Research Like an Expert (30 min)

Read at least three websites from the Resources section. Take notes using this chart:

⚠️ Do not copy sentences from websites. Paraphrase everything in your own words.

Step 3: Build Your Itinerary (20 min)

Complete a timetable like this one:

Check your plan: Is the travel time realistic? Are the places open at that time? Is the day balanced between sightseeing, food, and rest?

Step 4: Collect Powerful Language (15 min)

Visit the writing resource and choose at least 10 new words or expressions from the toolkit below or from your own research. Use all of them in your article.

Language Toolkit

Describing places: bustling, tranquil, picturesque, iconic, vibrant, centuries-old, panoramic, breathtaking, off the beaten track, a hidden gem, steeped in history

Describing food: mouth-watering, aromatic, savory, crispy, a local specialty, a feast for the senses, to savor, to indulge in

Describing movement and time: to wander through, to meander along, to venture into, to head towards, no sooner… than…, by the time…, as the sun sets

Structure examples to show your range:

• Nestled between…, the old town offers… 
• Not only does… but it also… 
• What makes this place unforgettable is… 
• If you only have one day, you should… 

Step 5: Write Your Article (50 min)

Follow the 3-paragraph structure. Aim for 700 words. Use time linkers (First, Shortly afterwards, By midday, As evening approaches) to guide the reader through the day.

Step 6: Edit and Peer Review (15 min)

Swap articles with a partner and check:

• Are there three paragraphs and about 700 words?
• Are three places, food, and transport all covered?
• Are there at least 10 advanced words or expressions?
• Are there no spelling or grammar errors?

Step 7: Reflect (10 min)

Answer these questions in 5–6 sentences:

1. What was the most interesting thing you discovered about your city?
2. Which advanced expression are you most proud of using? Why?
3. What was the biggest challenge in planning or writing, and how did you overcome it?

Congratulations, you are now a travel writer! You researched a city, planned every hour of a day, and turned your plan into a vivid piece of descriptive writing.

Good travel writing does not just list places. It makes readers feel they are already there, smelling the street food and hearing the city around them. The skills you practiced here (researching, organizing ideas, and choosing precise words) will help you in school and in the wider world.

WebQuest created by:
 김시원 (Ciwon Kim), 신가은 (Gaeun Shin)

Purpose:
 Created as part of the TESL exploration course requirement at Sookmyung Women’s University.

Information and Educational Resources:

• Lonely Planet
• Wikivoyage
• Official tourism boards (e.g., Visit Seoul, Visit Britain, Japan National Tourism Organization)
• Rome2rio
• Tripadvisor
• British Council LearnEnglish

WebQuest Design:
 Created using CreateWebQuest.com

Disclaimer:
 All information was gathered from publicly available educational and tourism resources and organized for educational purposes.

Subject: English as a Foreign/Second Language (Descriptive Writing and Research Skills)

Topic: Design Your Perfect One-Day Trip

Target audience: Year 11 EFL/ESL learners (upper-intermediate to advanced, approximately CEFR B2-C1)

Learning objectives:
 By the end of this WebQuest, learners should be able to research a destination from credible online sources, plan a realistic one-day itinerary, write a 700-word three-paragraph descriptive article using advanced language, and reflect on their own writing process.

Suggested duration: About 140 minutes (for example, three 50-minute lessons, or two lessons in class with the final writing and reflection completed as homework)

Materials required: Internet access, a research chart and itinerary template, and a word-processing application. Optional: a projector for sharing model paragraphs.

Teaching Procedure

1. Warm-up: Ask learners, “If you had only 24 hours in any city, where would you go and what would you do first?” Let them discuss in pairs before sharing with the class.
2. Set expectations: Walk through the task requirements (700 words, three paragraphs, three places) and the guiding questions, so learners know what a successful article must answer.
3. Model the language: Show a short descriptive paragraph. Ask learners to underline advanced vocabulary and sentence structures, then link their findings to the Language Toolkit.
4. Monitor research: While learners work through the research chart and itinerary, circulate and check that they are paraphrasing and comparing more than one source.
5. Facilitate peer review: Have learners exchange drafts and use the checklist, then give feedback on language range rather than only surface errors.
6. Close the lesson: Invite volunteers to read a paragraph aloud or hold a gallery walk of itineraries, followed by the written reflection.

Assessment

Use the rubric on the Evaluation page to assess research and itinerary quality, content and structure, language accuracy and range, descriptive writing, and reflection. The research chart and peer-review checklist can serve as formative evidence.

Differentiation

• Learners who need additional support: Provide a guided writing template with sentence starters for each paragraph (for example, “Nestled in the heart of ___, the first stop is ___.”), a shorter list of five target expressions, and a pre-selected list of cities with bookmarked sources.
• Advanced learners: Ask them to add a fourth place or a budget breakdown, compare two cities and justify their final choice, or rewrite the article in a different register, such as a persuasive magazine feature.

Expected Outcome

Learners should produce a well-organized, vivid 700-word article supported by credible research, and should be able to explain what they would improve in their own writing.