LONDON GUIDE WEBQUEST

Introduction

How many times have you seen documentaries about London? How many people have you met who have been to the capital of the UK? You have probably seen photos of Big Ben. Has the expense of visiting London ever prevented you from going? It would be a good idea if an alternative city guide were to be made available for students, don’t you think?

The Task

The aim of this WebQuest is that the students, working and cooperating as a team, produce an alternative London city guide. You should work in groups of two or three classmates. Each student will have a different role. Students will be in charge of finding the following:

• Transport
• Accommodation
• Pubs, bars and nightclubs
• Cultural activities and tours

To realise this WebQuest, you should use a word processor, or Powerpoint.

Using the Internet links provided you will discover what London has to offer to a student of English keen to absorb the culture, history and tourist attractions of the city, through the realisation of a tourist guide.

The Process

1. The class will be divided in groups of eight students, The team as a whole will be responsible for the project but each member will have his/her own task.
2. As described in Evaluation, both individual effort and team communication are important. Only by working together will you make this excursion to London come to life.
3. You should divide the task among you.
4. You should search the information needed in the given links.
5. Create a BLOG where you will publish your research. You can use text, videos, images, links to important sites etc. You'll share the blog's address with your classmates, so everybody can access all the projects. 
6. Finally, with the help of the laptop and projector, give an oral presentation to the rest of the group about your findings. 
   
   Resources

London's main sights and attractions

• http://www.capital-calling.com/
• http://www.virtual-london.com/
• http://www.uktravel.com/london.asp
• http://www.londontown.com/
• http://www.londonnet.co.uk/
• http://www.travelbritain.com/london/
• http://www.ukguide.org/london/londonmap.html

Accommodation

• http://www.hostelword.com
• http://www.hydeparkinn.com
• http://www.hostellondon.com
• http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/england/london

Transport

• http://www.ryanair.com
• http://www.flymonarch.com
• http://www.britishairways.com
• http://www.bmibaby.com
• http://www.easyjet.com
• http://www.londonbuspage.com
• http://www.londontransport.co.uk/tfl/

Pubs, bars and nightclubs

• http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/clubs-bars.php
• http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/out/ent/clubs.html
• http://www.offtolondon.com/nightlife.html

Step 1

Decide who is going to search for the different topics and how are you going to organize the BLOG and the oral presentation.

Step 2

Students in charge of the trip:

You are responsible for finding and comparing information about prices on travel. You will review the given links to compare the overall costs of the trip. Your goal is to find the cheapest rates you can. Furthermore you can find other links about London metropolitan transport, using it find the best way to move you across London.

Step 3

Students in charge of the accommodation:

You are responsible for finding and comparing information about prices on London accommodation. You will review the given links to compare the overall costs of the lodging. Your goal is to find the cheapest rates you can. You will also need to find cheapest prices for a hotel room.

Step 4

Students in charge of the night parties:

You are responsible for finding and comparing information about how to arrive, prices and music played in each place. You will review the given links to compare the different options. Your goal is to find the places in which they play music that you like, and you will be able to arrive.

Step 5

Students in charge of the cultural activities:

Go to the given links in order to find the information you need for each monument, play, concert or something with a cultural interest. Try to find all the information in the selected web pages and explore all their options. Find prices, timetables and how to arrive.

Step 6

Using all the information found, organize it using the different tools and publish it in your BLOG. 

Prepare an oral presentation. You all have to participate in it. 

Evaluation

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Web search and planning	Passive role in team work Shows little effort or interest Random, last-minute activity	Shows more effort and interest but should improve research, planning and collaboration skills	Demonstrates an ability to effectively use many sources of information. Contributes useful ideas to team work and assumes a responsible and encouraging role	Assumes full responsibility for his/her own work and contributes a lot of original ideas to team effort. Is good at summing up ideas and presenting arguments and solutions to problems
Design	Work barely meets the minimum requirements	Work includes a few important ideas but are superficial and disorganized	Work includes many good ideas clearly and logically presented Text and picture ratio well balanced Shows attention to language and visual impression	Clearly and logically presented. Work demonstrates skilful use of web resources and ICT. Work is original in approach and visually attractive Able to help others
Research and Gather Information	Does not collect any information that relates to the topic. Student didn't fill in the tables, didn't collect a map.	Collects little information   Some relates to topic.	Collects good information.  Most of it relates to the topic	Collects a great deal of information.  All of it relates to the topic.
Content	Does not report trip has planned. Shows little concern for topic.	Reports trip vaguely. Information is appropriate but report lacks organisation and cohesion.	Report contains main information	Relays a great deal of information. Report is organised
Grammar	Contains many grammatical errors.	Contains several errors.	Contains some errors.	Is virtually error free.

Conclusion

You have learned a lot about the alternative face of London.

You have worked in group and that is very satisfying.

You have used a lot of web pages in English and you have surfed the net in English.

You have used different tools to publish and share your findings and prepare the presentation (Prezi, Blogger, Scoop.it etc....).  

You have used English as the project language to find out info about London and present it to your classmates.

YOU CAN FIND THE SUMMARY AND RESORUCES IN THIS SYMBALOO